New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-02
INV honest merchandise. Whose fault

any honest merchhholso' "HSse isus
Is that?
LET US be frank with each other.
It's partly yours and partly mine
Yours as representing businesses when
advertise cheek by Iowl with all man
ner of shady and crooked enterprises:
Mine as representing the business OF
Journalism. which, in general. accepts
any and all advertising with only one
question, Has it got the priceT Until
we can stop associating with quacks
and swindlers in paid print the taint
will cling to all of US and 70 the bust
ness of advertising, in which all OF US
are interested. Let us face this fact
souarely, gentlemen: No advertisement
is judged by itself alone. II is judged
by the company it keeps"
Tells of Suffering Clam.
This last took the fancy Of the ad-
vertisers, who applauded II. Mr..
Adams then illustrated with story
Of very good dinner which started
with six rosy clans, one OF which was
suffering from a sort of senile de-
terioration-"th sort of thing that
Sanatogen cures-in human clans
And when the laugh ended Mr.. Adams
that one clam would stick in the diners
mind when all else was forgotten.
Apply that principle TO the news
paper and the advertisement reader"
continued Mr.. Adams. Here is pub
LEGATION containing many legitimate
ads. and, we'll say, the boon to woman
hood of that sainted lady. Lydia E.
Pinkham. Now, ! don't wish TO say
anything derogatory TO lady, partic-
ularly as dead a lady as MIRA. Pinkham,
but in the advertising sense, Lydia is
a bad clam.
every reader who has been swindled
by her-and thousands who have not,
but who recognize at sight the fake
nature of the advertising character
ICES in his own mind the whole news
paper by that ad., and carries away an
unfavorable impression of all adver-
Using in that newspaper.
"That Is why every decent, honorable
advertiser has a legitimate grudge
against the medium which pits his hon
est copy against the unfair competition
of dishonest copy. For it is competi-
ton, and of the most damaging kind
Disabuse your minds Of the pleasant
fiction that the only competition to be
considered is in your own specific field.
The universal enemy of honest adver-
Using is the dishonest advertiser, and
II matters not whether he bats his
hook with cures, clothing or candy"
Plan He Favors.
Mr.. Adams then related the manner
in which the problem of dishonest ad
vertising was handled by The Tribune.
And again ne pleased his audience b.
telling them that he had profound
conviction that il the Association Of
National Advertisers should say TO the
newspapers and magazines: 1--WE will
no longer endure to be forced into COM
petition with dirt and deceit in your
columns" there would follow heart
searching and housekeeping in the
business Offices OF newspaperdom such
as American journalism has never
known.
A recital of +. P. AS "The Double
Standard" in which is introduced "edi-
torial DR.. Jekyll" and advertising Mr..
Hyde" to satirize the honest editorial
columns that appear in the same news
paper with dishonest advertising, took
the house by storm-to borrow a line
from the theatrical critic
THE double standard cannot indefi-
nitely endure in trade any more than
It can in journalism" continued Mr..
Adams. Good goods cannot be sold
consistently by bad advertising, nor
can bad goods be sold forever by good
advertising. The public is becoming
intelligent on the subject Of paid print.
and public enlightenment means the
finish of the faker. In the greatest book
in the world, complied by the greatest
nation Of traders and merchants in
history, Is written the last word Of
wisdom on this subject: IF house be
divided against itself that house
cannot stand"