Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1913-02-21
ADVERTISING HAS
COMMERCIAL VALUE.
Is Most Influential Force in
Building Up Modern
Business.
BY JOHN LEE MAHlN.


church. the army, the law or the sci
ences. To engage in trade was to
Tower social tone. Now business is
generally recognized as a world-domi
mating science. 1t is becoming more
intricate and complex. requiring the
highest grade of intelligence
Commerce in its higher attitudes is
shown when. after gathering the prod
ucts of industry, it goes farther in
changing their form and character
into other articles specially suited for
the higher needs of men and women.
Then, by every possible means stir
ring interest, creating desire, educat-
ing appetite and developing new
wants it makes a stable market for
the newly created and more complex
commercial products. In this way
the standard of living has generally
been raised to include as necessities
articles the need of which was un-
known to the grandparents of the
present generation.
In doing this, commerce requires
the wonderful new power which the
power with its skill. thought. re-
sources and judgment, virile energy.
1argeness of mental growth and equip
ment, combined with creative force
that accomplishes things, is called adj
yertising. / have previously defined
advertising as influencing the minds
Of people. 1t is making others think
as you desire. 1t means utilizing all
those forces which produce impress
sions and crystalline opinions. It is
the creating of prestige. that quality
which causes others to accept state
ment without question.
Creates Conditions.
The merchant who, through his idea
OF what will please the popular taste,
makes his calculations. giving orders
to manufacturers for six months to a
year in advance, requires great fore
sight and intimate knowledge of the
fickleness Of taste Yet he does not
possess the positive force that adver~
Using, when studied and skilfully en-
ployed will give him in his business
He only deals with conditions as he
ate conditions. but simply a shrewd
adaptation to existing circumstances.
Advertising rests on the supremacy
Of commerce. It requires stable busi-
ness conditions for its existence and
development. 1t is, therefore. a high
er form of mental activity than the
successful exercise of ordinary com
mercial transactions. because it goes
farther, In demanding not only the
power successfully to cope with COM
nercial problems, but an added abi1-
ity to influence the human mind Ad-
vertising will produce active desire
where none. or at least only that of
latent kind existed before. Advertis-
Ing. by employing the powerful mental
forces which psychologists call sua
gestion, can create weIl-deffned hab-
It's among the people which an alert
commercial mind will utilize to build
up and foster business.
A thoroughly equipped advertising
man must, then, know something of
the fundamental conditions which I'M
derlie commerce. For instance, credit,
being an essential feature of com
merce, rests upon absolute integrity
and rigid adherence to well-def1ned
principles. Advertising also without
the fundamental principles which are
necessary to commerce is no more
advertising than is love the mawkish
sentiment which some novels depict,
the love which founds and maintains
homes where the wife and mother are
cherished objects.
Advertising must secure attention,
but 1t must come from the right kind
of people and in way that produces
respect for the article advertised.
Hence, all possible knowledge OF the
human mind, its mysterious and sub
tie manifestations, and the influence
of affirmation. argument, color, sug-
gestion, or an appeal to the magma
ton, must enter into the delibera-
tons Of the mind that plans and exc
scutes an advertising campaign.
Much Is Wasted.
notwithstanding the wide preva-
lence Of mistaken ideas about adver-
Using and its true functions. the
money spent amounts to millions an
nualiy, and much OF it is spent with
intelligence and great effectiveness.
though believe much the larger por-
ton is wasted in a desultory manner
along lines that even gambler
would despite for their lack OF justif-
cation
The men who have made success
Of advertising have not looked at It
as matter OF luck. They have be-
lieved its great powers were subject
to immutable laws and have sought
70 become familiar with them. Illus
trations, words and space, and the
cost of the same. while naraf11lu