Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1917-04-15
ADVERTISING LOWERS COST
 OF ARTICLES
Some New Facts and Fig ures Throw Flood of Light
 on This Subject.

The rising cost of living is the great universal hardship of the present day. So great and so many have these rises been that few people stop to realize that there have been any exceptions to the general rule. But the fact is that there have been num- erous exceptions and all of these ex- captions belong to the same great class-that of nationally advertised goods.
 The present agitation on the high cost of living has led to some investi- gations which have brought out lot of facts hitherto unknown to the public Some of the most important work in this line is being done by the Association of National adver- tisers, an organization of 280 of the leading advertisers of the country. MT. Sullivan, the secretary-treasurer of the association, has given out some vitally important facts concerning the relation of advertising to selling cost.
 "The old idea" said MT. Sullivan, "that the cost of advertising raises prices dies hard. But the business man knows better. He knows that selling goods is costly business-no matter what the goods or what the selling methods. And he knows that anything which creates demand on large scale, and thus makes selling easier, is bound to reduce selling costs and thus helps to reduce prices.
 "But evidence is better than argu- ment; facts are better than theories, and we have been at great pains to collect the facts. We have secured an immense amount of data from our members which proves that advertis- ing does reduce selling costs and thus tends to reduce the selling price of advertised goods. Let me quote a few examples.
 "The makers of a famous photo- graphic camera, when they began ad vertising twenty eight years ago, made one camera which took a 21a inch picture and which sold at $25. Today they make far better camera which sells for $1O. Another, which tooka 4x5 picture, sold for $60. To- day they sell far better one for $20. And so on through the line.
 "A prominent hat manufacturer has, by means of advertising, reduced his selling cost seven cents per hat. Result-the buyer gets hat of bet ter quality at no increase in price; this despite increased cost of raw ma terial and workmanship.
 "When the manufacturer of fla nous breakfast food speciality began advertising, his goods sold at 15 cents a package. Today the package is fifty per cent larger and the price has been reduced to 10 cents. Again ad- vertising did it, the same causes pro- ducing the same results.
 "The producer of another we'll known food speciality is selling his goods at 25 per cent less to the wholesale grocery trade than four years ago.
 "Twenty years ago nationally ad- vertised shaving stick was sold in cheap metal leatherette covered box. Today stick containing 20 per cent more soap is sold in a handsome nickel box at the same price.
 "Then take the most conspicuous example of them all-the automobile business; and compare the $5,00O or $1O,O0O cars of ten years ago with the equally good cars of today, sell ing for a fraction of the money.
 And so on through long list In every case, the manufacturer either has been able to lower the price or improve the quality at no increase in price,"
 How has he done it? By means of advertising, which has created demand on a larger scale and thus permitted production and distribution on larger scale.
 Result - improved manufacturing efficiency and reduced selling costs. And all of this in the face of steady increase in the cost of labor and raw materials which, with advertis- ing eliminated might in many cases have doubled the price of the goods.
 "A triumph of economical market ing" is the only possible verdict for advertising in the face of these facts.