Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-12

got IT, Wnat are you gong TO 40 with ltI' For
a long time the best the discoverers could do
was to grab all the gold in sight and take
few Indians back to Europe to show them off
as Barnum showed his wild man. When the
East discovered California the best it could
do was to grab all the gold Now, California
suggests gold to no one, but it's far more
valuable crops. When the World invented
printing it made it a private matter for a
couple of centuries.
News That Creates
Every new art that civilization gets in it's
hands is like a mechanical toy put in the
hands of baby. 1t thinks 1t is only rattle
until, probably after it has broken the spring,
It discovers the hidden possibility of complex
antics calculated to inspire a delirium of
mirth. The bear the baby tried to break
starts to walk all around on its hind legs.
1t is beginning to dawn on us that for a long
time we used the telegraph, newspapers, even
railroads, pretty much as the baby used the
toy Go back over the old files of news
papers. What did they really get out of their
telegraphed dispatches? Amazingly little. The
same old accidents and crimes We're solemnly
sent across the country to the exclusion of
other news. 1t Is comparatively recent in
novaton for newspapers to select the vital,
creative news from far-off sections and "cut
down" the gruesome, the personal and the
trivial.
Creative news-a new thing. The reporters
have gradually been schooed to new idea
of selection. When the correspondent in
Seattle must choose between putting on the
wire a local political scandal or a new use for
radium, he no longer chooses the scandal-he
wires the "radium story" and drops the scam
dal. What is the secret reason for the change
general? The discovery of the art of pub.
liclty--the hidden spring in the rattle.
The discovery has bound together two arts.
Publications had thought separately of ad.
vertisements and the matter in the regular"
columns But when the national community
evolved the need for publicity, that is to say,
when invention, needs of distant and locally
unprocurable commodities, quick reactions TO
distant ideas, movements, methods forced
themselves into print, the newspaperman and
the writer of lads" looked each other over
inIa new way, you've got the makings of
a good reporter in you. my boy" said the re-
porter. And. You're not half bad as an 'ad
wrtter--er. I mean Publicity Man." returned
the other.
Evolution of "Ads"
1t is this new spirit which makes the title
given to the June convention of the Asso-
ciated Advertising Clubs Of the World not
completely descriptive, because many ad
vertlsements are real news. The money.
making phase OF selling to a man in Arizona
a device made say. in Buffalo has been
swamped by the public Importance OF the
community OF interest between the two dis
tant factors brought into being by the trans
action. The Arizonan wants 10 know more
about Buffalo. and the Buffalo people want to
know more about Arizona. Presto The news
the iction, the descriptive articles of news.
papers and magazines must respond to that
want The "ad" thus has spilled over into
the news columns; the news tells about new
needs In Arizona, new enterprises in Buffalo
And so the news spills over into the "ad"
columns again.
What is coming Is this-that ninetenths
OF the ''ads" OF the future win be vital 'news."
The news won't become ads" the cynical
would say But great thing viii be done
for It. is being done for it now; it is being
made 20 reflect the definite needs, desires,
thoughts, OF the people. Take q concrete ex.
ample. Ten years ago. even in honest news
papers. such Issues as preparedness would be
treated primarily as political weapons. Now
they are discussed rather from the standpoint
Of the actual public need. The paid "ad," II
you please. Is sounding the buEls call on the
note Of high ideals calling ths citizens OF the
country 10 action, ana II he Is only half awake
the nswspaperman Is reduced to ths humilla-
ton of getting the news OF the Gay out Of the
advertisements IN his own paper.
Ths fasiea q shat has hssn knoHn IS Rsvs