Arizona republican., 1915-01-30
MESA
ADvERT|SEs VALLEY IN
 LETTER TO HOME PAPE|
Mesa Man Secures Gratifying Results by Use of Few Sheets of Paper
 and Two Cent Stamp

In the opinion of R. E. Steele of the R. E. Steele Grocery company of this city a great deal of advertising can be done by means of a two cent stamp at tached to a letter to the old home pa per. At the outset it should be eX- plained that MT. Steele prior to taking up his residence in Arizona, occupied a position of trust and responsibility with the C. B. & Q. R. R. Co.,, being assistant superintendent of the Nebraska divi- sion, with headquarters at Lincoln, Ne braska., MT. Steele considers number of the papers throughout Nebraska as the old home paper but thus far he has only ventured to write to two of them and as result his mail is being flood ed with inquiries concerning the Salt River valley and the Mesa section in particular. The plan is a very simple one, very reasonable in price and ap parently very successful. On account of it's very far reaching effects the originator of the plan is willing that it be given publicity with the assur- ance that it will do great things toward the placing of the Salt River valley squarely on the map and. in the minds of thousands of people throughout the United States.
 MT. Steele has been a resident of the valley for ten months. prior to that time he had been here number of times through the winter months. He conceived the idea of writing the let ters to the old home papers shortly after the first of the year. He invited the letters to the editors but made them so full of information that they could not fail to be published. He re- ferred especially to the fact that Wa termelons were on the market and that strawberries were picked at Christmas time. After elaborating upon a num- Der of the characteristics of the valley winter climate he dropped few hints about the number of crops of alfalfa per year and the fact that cattle wade knee deep in the greenage throughout the year. These startling facts seemed to be effective to the snow covered farms of Nebraska. Finally after working up interest he mentioned the price of lands and the crops that are grown with success and the reasonable terms on which property may be pur- chased In conclusion he deftly men, tioned that he was wholly unable to tell of the many good things that this country had in store but that he was sure that the obliging secretary of the Commercial club would take the time to answer all questions, and, in addi- ton would forward literature, especial lv complied that would answer many of the questions that would naturally be asked by any one interested in the val ley. The letter, three typewriter pag es in length was published over his sig nature in the old homepaper. Before copy of the paper in which the letter had been published had reached him, he began to get letters of inquiries. The first mail brought eight letters asking for information and telling just how much money they had to invest and when they could make arrangements to get here. MT. Steele is convinced of the success of the plan as an advertis- ing scheme only he is also convinced that the first cost is not all for he esti- mated that at the present rate of in coming inquiries he will be forced to employ a private secretary to take care of his correspondence.