The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-07-01
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL

Brookings Register Bureau. Washington. DC.
(By ]. e. Jones)
One of the important economic prob
lens that the federal trade commission
has inherited from the Bureau of Cor
p~orations, is the use of trading stamps
in the merchantile business through
out the United States. 1t has been
openly charger hat the principal OPP
position to trading stamps comes from
the newspapers, on the grounds that
this is simply a method of advertising,
and that the money spent for trading
| stamps indirectly comes out of the
pockets of American publishers. A
few years ago the publishers waged a
similar wal against the bill board i'd
vertising. 1t was found that the bill
boards did not, as a matter of fact,
amount spent in newspaper advertis-
ing. 1t will likely be found that the
same results will follow the general
use of trading stamps. All these in
ovations, whether or not they have
merit on their own account, serve to
emphasize the value of advertising,
with the result that the columns of
newspapers, which are the best proven
methods of valuable legitimate pub
licity, cannot be overlooked by the
institution or merchant who must of
necessity reach the public in order
to sell his goods. 1t has been deter
bined time and again that methods like
bill boards and trading stamps are
simply auxiliaries to newspapers, and
that there is no real substitute for
newspaper advertising. The institu-
tons that try something else are
bound in the end to become the best
patrons of newspaper advertising,
whether they discontinue their former
methods or not. Therefore, it is rea-
sOnable to suppose that all the differ
ent methods that may be used in ad-
vertising will eventually result in a
more liberal use of newspaper space.
Colonel Gorgas has resigned his pos
ition with the government. The man
who cleaned up Havana, Cuba, and
drove the mosquitoes out of Panama,
and made the building of the canal
possible, has linked his future with the
Rockefeller Foundation. 1t is the
same old story in which the govern
ment shows it's willingness to pay enor-
nous salaries to it's politicians who
are favored in high offices, but for
rea service such as is performed by
man like Gorgas and DR.. Wiley, there
has been no hope of substantial finan-
cial reward; the result being that with
the arrival of grey-frosted temples or
a less springy step, these men have
been obliged, in self-defense, to accept
positions outside the government ser
vice. Gorgas will doubtless be able to
do good work with the Rockefeller
Foundation, but it seems a little rough
to force one after another of these
men out, because Uncle Sam is too
close-fsted to pay them what they are
worth.
From the White House point of view
the course of the Ship of State is
straight ahead, and the shadows and
danger points have been plainly chart
cd pnt thnrn ic n unar sf1Q1ev onn,ino
No one longer expects that Colonel
Bryan will support President Wilson
for a denomination, as he is positively
on record opposing a second term, and
the reasons why he might muzzle his
convictions on that score have missed.
A good many Washingtonians assert
that what Bryan has lost because of
his advocacy of prohibition, he has
gained by his support of the things
that are so dear to a large part of the
country; namely arbitration and peace.
In any event, Bryan, as a secretary Of
state, and a reported failure, is no
longer mentioned and in a single leap
he has regained his old place as the
democratic leader. The politicians as
sert confidently that he has the future
of his party in his keeping. Even those
who profess to doubt this statement
are anxiously wondering what is going
to happen when the struggle is staged
between the Wilson and Bryan forces.
PASSING OF THE FESTIVAL