Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-04-24
BY c. b. CALDWELL


Harris are to present their farce. ''It
Pays to Advertise" -, ,.'..,~'' -
- ..~.., at the y,'L-I' r.. 80 {
this week, 1t seems fitting and proper
to consider for a moment the history
of advertising as a commercial prac-
tice. The business of advertising in
comparatively recent years has as
sumed enormous proportions through
out the world. Roi Cooper Megrue
and Walter Hackett, the authors OF
1T Pays to Advertise" insert a line In
their program to the effect that the
figures quoted in this play are FACTS
NOT FARCE" During the prog
ress of the play the various amounts
paid by national advertisers for news
paper and magazine publicity are stat
ed in a rapid-flre flow of convincing
argument that finally converts a skep-
tical old soap magnate who does not
believe in modern advertising meth
DDS. But the play itself does not touch
on the aggregate expenditure of money
for legitimate advertising in this
country.
According to a recapitulation OF sta
tistics printed about the first of the
present year, we learn the annual ap-
propriations for national campaigns
of newspaper and magazine advertis-
ing amounted last year to over S147,-
larger advertising agencies. This es-
innate does not include thousands of
small accounts contracted for direct
ly with publications by individuals!
Nor does 1t comprise the amount spent
for outdoor advertising, electric signs,
billboards, and what-not.
Birth of Advertising
Printers ink is the most potent and
nnWarfI1l q In an1n hlIGiInGG
Yet the business of advertising is of
very recent origin when considered
as a serious adjunct to other phases
of commercial activity. In some ru-
dimentary form the sellers appeal to
the buyer must however, have ac-
companied the earliest developments
of trade relations. Under conditions
of primitive barter when communities
were so small that every producer was
in immediate personal contact with
every consumer, advertising was un-
necessary. But, as the primeval mans
wolfish antpathy to the stranger OF
another pack gradually diminished,
and as intercourse spread the infec-
tion OF larger desires, the trapper. for
instance, could no longer satisfy his
more complicated wants by the mere
exchange of his pelts for his neigh
bor's corn and oil. Then it must
have been that advertising was worn.
1t is reasonable to suppose that with
the introduction of currency there
came less direct relations between the
purchaser and the consumer, money
being in the hands of third party,
and so it came about that local mar
kets were established for the purpose
of the interchange of commodities.
These gradually developed into per-
iodical fairs held at regular inter
walls in the smaller communities to
which merchants from distant places
resorted, and criers were employed
to shout the worth of the wares of
fered for barter. They were the first
advertising agents, and operated pre-
cisely as do the barkers at Coney
Island to-day. That was the method
followed for centuries.
The growth of markets developed
prosperous merchants, who, in time
built permanent booths for the display
of their wares. These developed into
the store system we know to-day.
These places of business were mark
ed by various symbols and devices to
indicate the products on sale. These
signs were the first real outdoor ad-
vertising.
Then Came Printing
In England, during the third cen
tory, Stourbridge fair was the largest
aggregation of traders in Great Bri-
tain, middlemen and dealers were at
tracted from abroad, who in turn sent
other dealers information to the effect
that at the sign of the Arm and
Hammer" the Shield and Spear"
the Bull and Goats" such and such
commodities were to be had for bar
ter. AS the fairs of the middle ages
involving tedious and hazardous jour-
neys developed into permanent
camps the criers were sent forth
broadcast throughout the length and
breadth of the land to organize trad
ing parties. In time more convenient
forms developed in the system of trade
until the fifteenth century brought the
invention of printing and provided the
means that has made the modern de-
velopment of advertising possible.
The first English speaking commun-
ity in the western hemisphere had just
been founded when the first newspa-
per ever printed was published in
England. Although this first period
ical publication containing news ap-
peared on the first Wednesday in
May, 1922, the first newspaper adver-
tisement was not printed until April.
1647. 1t formed a part of mo. 3 of
Perfect Occurrences of Every Dale
Journal in Parliament and Other
Moderate Intelligence" The ad. read:
"A book applauded by the clergy
called The Divine Right of
Church Government" collected
by such and sundry eminent min
isters in the cite of London; cor
rected and augmented in many
places with a briefe reply to GER
tain queries against the ministry
of England. 1t is printed and
published for Joseph Hunscot and
George Calvert, and are to be
bought and sold at Stationers'
Hall, and also at the Sign of the
Golden Fleece in Old Charge"
The second advertisement ever
printed appeared in weekly newspa-
per called the "Mercurius Elencticus,"