Mexico weekly ledger., 1914-12-10
WILL MEXICO Be THE
ONE CENTRAL CTTY1
Advertising Expert Says Ten Years
Will See Great Change in This
Part of State
DEPENDS ON THE MERCHANT
Cites Figures Close to the Home Of
Smaller Towns Decreasing in
Size All the Time.

university Mlssourlan
within ten years from today"
said ]. B. Powell, instructor in ad-
vertising in the School of Journal
ism of the University of Missouri,
at the weekly luncheon of the Com
mercial Club today, "there is going
to be one Central Missouri town
that will overshadow all others. That
town may be Mexico, Fulton, Mober-
ly, jefferson City, or it may be Co
lumbia. twenty-five years ago there
were two cities in Michigan of about
equal Importance. Battle Creek was
one of these; / do not know the name
of the other. The great Central Mis-
souri, city will be Columbia if we do
the right thing at this critical time"
Columbia, he said, ought to have
a united chamber Of commerce,
combining the present civic organ
izations such as the Commercial
Club and the Retail Merchants AS
ISOLATION.
"There are two kinds of mer-
chants,p said Mr.. Powell, "who hold
back the development of a town.
One does not advertise at all, the
other advertises untruthfully. The
merchant who advertises judicious-
ly takes no more chance than he
takes when he walks down to nisstore
in the morning. Advertising is not a
chance; it is an essential part of bust
ness.
"The mail order man has the as
sistance of the chain stores now in
taking away the smaller towns bust
ness. The United Cigar Stores have
taken nearly all the business of the
independent retailers in New York
and Chicago. It will not be long un'
til these stores come to the small cit
les. Twelve per cent of the retail
business of the country is conducted
through the mails and the percentage
is increasing yearly. The chain storeI
always have the choice locations il
the cities and follow u~p-to-date meth
DDS of business and advertising.
Marshall Field and Company il
Chicago does an annual business o
$40, 000, 900. -Four per cent of thi
amount is spent OF advertising
! Some of the department stores il
New York City spend 6 per cent o
their total sales in advertising. TIL,
) Proctor and Gamble Company buy
more than 100000 worth of adver
Using a year in the Saturday Even
. ing Post to sell 5-cent cakes o
: soap. Other manufacturers adver
tise according to similar methods
; and to equal extent. This advertis
; ing is not an expense, but it is
; means of increasing business an
i. thereby increasing profits.
According to the last census
nearly six thousand towns in tn
Middle West lost in population dur
{ ing the last ten-year period. In Mis-
souri, were $40 Of these towns. Man
, of them perhaps had small right t
s existence. But for many more tn
{ reason for the decrease is in the fac
that the money of that region is g
ing out by every mail in response I
! modern advertising and modern met
DDS of conducting business.
"Take some figures close to HON
From 1900 to 1910 Sturgeon d.
II creased in population from 7OS
: 1858, a loss of As; Ashland decrease
from 401 to BAL, a loss of go; Roch
port decreased from 593 to 494,
loss of 159, and Fayette decrease
from 5000 to 1886, a loss of Ala.
. is not decadence of farming tn
has caused the decrease in these CT
les and others. On the lines of t
,e Rock Island it has been found that
IN per cent of the bank deposits are
IF farmers. Here is an illustration
the cause: On the road between STU
re, geon and Moberly there is a tv
ps story, eight-room house bought co
lst plete, from cellar to lightning ro'
nv from Sears Roebuck and Compar
Advertising brought this trade.
advertising, with an honest Ii
of goods and courteous treatment,
the remedy for preventing the
gs croachment of the larger Oh;
ty stores and mail-order houses on
nd small-city and town trade. Make
erything about a business up-to-da
VS. make the advertising campaigns To-
earnest and honest and make a uni
,or effort for a better Columbia, and
lso lumbia will be the town that "
1r- within ten years, dominate Cent
ty- Missouri"
me "