New-York tribune., 1915-10-28
Independent Retailers Are
Warned of Devices
Fakers Use.
POLICY OF TRUTH
PROVES BEST PAYER
Medical and Realty Sharpers
Exposed, as Is Window
Bait Method.


bers of the Independent Retailers OF
the Metropolitan District at a mass
meeting which packed the east ball
room of the Hotel Astor last night.
Senator Mills, who was heartily ap-
plauded by the retailers when he told of
the law adopted at the last session OF
the Legislature increasing penalties
for fake representations of any kind.
said in part:
"The new act covers every conceiv-
able form of advertising. thus includ-
ing many misleading window signs
which have appeared with increasing
1 frequency in New York City. II covers
every kind of false statement or fraud
/ ulent advertisement, regardless OF the
character of the misstatement. Under
the old law the offence was merely
misdemeanor, punishable by not more
than a year in prison or by fine of
not more than $500, or both. The new
law provides q maximum of $1,000 or
| Imprisonment for not more than one
year, or both.
"There is nothing particularly orig
inal about this law. 1t has been
adopted substantially by thirteen states
as a result Of the activities Of the ad-
vertising clubs"
After commenting on the moral rev.
/ olution in the business world IN the
last ten years and declaring that the
advertising business had Jagged behind
because il was inherently liable to
overstatement, Senator Mills con-
tinued:
"The evil is still widespread. For
mer Postmaster General Hitchcock de-
clared that in a single year the public
was mulctcd of more than hundred
million dollars by fraud through the
mails. Remember that every penny OF
this was taken from the purchasing
public. diverted into the pockets oi
crooks and pirates. and not only was
the consumer robbed. but the honest
business man was deprived OF MS iuii
share of legitimate profits.
"Of all fakirs, the medical fakirs who
prey on the ignorance and hopes OF the
affl icted are the vilest. Ii is literally
true that a majority OF the drug iiends
will admit that they became addicted
to the vice that virtually ruins their
lives by taking some advertised remedy,
not knowing of the poison 1t con-
tanned.
Referring to fraudulent advertise
ments of Long Island real estate and
"the beautiful orange groves OF FLORIDA,
which are under water nine months or
the year and incapable Of raising any
thing but mosquitoes" Senator Mills
said: :,
"a particularly sad case was called
70 my attention last spring OF servant
girl who had invested all her savings
in a contract to purchase two lots on
Long Island. She had paid for them on
the instalment plan, and when 1t came
10 the last payment the company was
unable TO deliver the deed. 1t had no
property, and there was nothing to be
done. :,
"And all this is ccomplished-all
these wrongs are perpetrated, the very
mention of which makes ones blood
boil-through the medium Of fraudu-
lent advertising.
"These are extreme cases. Ihere are
others, running from absolute untrutns
to mere misstatements. Typical ex-
amples are the window bats.
Dishonest Advertising Hurts.
"Dishonest advertising, much as it
hurts the consumer, hurts the retailer
as much. Not only are millions divert
ed from him into the pocket OF the
thief. but the value of his message 20
purchasers through advertising is so
diminished as TO bring IN but nith
or sixth of the return he could expect
if the public dared to take his message
at its face value"
Senator Mills then quoted a state
ment of Richard II. Waldo, at that
time manager of "Good Housekeep-
.L hot
per cent of his readers bought goods
through the advertisements.
"Mr. Waldo said: If you and | were
running a business in which, out OF
every 100000 people visiting our store,
10000 went away without buying any
thing. don't you think we'd try to hs-
ure out the reasons back Of such
condition? Don't you think we'd fire
out any merchandise that was Lowering
the confidence Of our prospects in what
we hoped to sell? There is but ono
answer. and you've got to give it ir
journalism precisely as you would IN
merchandising. The way is TO build uo
confidence in every advertisement yoi
carry. The public is honest, most bust
ness men are honest, but the newspa-
per men have been in their business so
long that they can hardly believe it. III
they would take a chance they would
have the surprise Of their lives"
"If once a newspaper" Senator Mills
concluded, "can establish the policy Of
truth in its advertising columns, and
that policy is recognized by all Of its
readers, it requires no great stretch ~
imagination to see what an advertising
medium it affords to the seller
From the standpoint OF consumer,
publisher and merchant the one great
/ need in advertising is absolute sim
cerity and truth. The liar, the fraud
and the crook must be treated as the
common enemy and absolutely ellmi-
mated"
Other speakers were Representative
. Walter NJ. Chandler. Daniel j. Griffin,
Charles Dushkind and DR.. Lee Gallo
way, professor of commerce and in
dustry in New York University. DR..
Galloway, discussing price mainte-
nance, urged the passage of the Stevens
bill now before Congress, allowing the
manufacturer to fix the prices OF ar
ticles sold through retailers.
"Paradoxical as il may SEEM" DR..
Galloway said. most retailers favor
the law, because it eliminates cutthroat
competition. The manufacturer is in a
better position to fix prices because he
has a broader view of the market, and
the consumer is benefited by having 4
standardized price for heavily adyer-
d t;eed goods" "