New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-09-02

advanced in my article about 1t, since II
neither requested nor had any part IN
the article. This is true. The article
dealing with The Item was uninspired
from any outer source, and The Item
attitude throughout was this:
Our files are open 10 you. Any
question you may put we will answer
frankly. The rest is up to you
That | did not more carefully scruti-
nze the files is the source of my error.
But / have not at any time sought to
judge The Item by Tribune standards,
nor by any standards other than those
expressed in its own code of advertis-
ing rules. 1t has fallen below these,
both in letter and in spirit, as The
TimesPicayune points cut.
But in spite of error, of carelessness,
OF falling below the standards of its
admirable rule, the salient and vital
fact remains that The New Orleans
Item has been for several years and is
to-day easily the cleanest advertising
medium in its own locality, and one OF
the most carefully guarded daily news
papers in the United States.
Washington Star Still Shines
From an indignant lady in Washing
ton, d. c., who, having ideas Of her
own on the meaning OF adverbs, signs
herself. Respectfully. Gertrude Jones"
| have received a letter in which she
inquiries, Have you been bought by
The Star or by the patent medicine
concerns" This because | praised, a
bit over-enthusiastically, The Wash
ington Star and its patent medicine ad-
vertising standards. By a system OF
logic which | confess myself un-
able to follow Miss Jones infers
that by giving The Star a high
degree of credit Though | specif-
cally refrained from giving IT n
clean bill Of health. and stated that it
carried a few dubious medical adver-
tisements) / inferentially indorse all
of the medical preparations represent
ed in its pages. This, of course, is an
error. | do not Endorse" any nos
trums, in or out of The Star. She
fortifes her position by inclosing a
number of clippings from the adver-
Using columns Of The Star, mainly ex-
ternal preparations or laxatives, which
are, relatively speaking, OF minor i'm
portance and which many careful and
high-class publications accept. One
example of major quackery she does
produce, however, which was not run
ming in The Star at the time | went
through its files-a combination ad OF
DR. Picrce's Golden Medical Discovery
and the secret fake Anuric. How the
management of The Star reconciles this
with the papers advertising standards
| fail TO understand. II is blot on
the record. But. even so, the paper
stands head and shoulders above its
competitors in the local field. And
giving it its due discredit for this de-
cded lapse from virtue, in view of its
frank acceptance OF moral responsible
ity for all its advertising, the fact that
It excludes from its columns practi-
cally all Of the nationally advertised
quack preparations with which most
newspapers are filed. and its active
support of sound advertising ethics 10
cally, ] am prepared 10 repeat what
slid about IL in the original article:
"If ! were asked 10 state what, In
my opinion. is the most potent in.
fuence locally for clean advertising
should have to name The Star
Let me not forget the respectful Mis-
.Jones's pointed query. have not beer
bought by The Star. AS for my suspected
purchase by the patent medicine con
Germs" Miss Jones might at least give
the medicine devil his due Of shrewd
ness. The nostrum crowd are not a
present investing in writer's who do no
deliver the goods for them; and
/ fear that ! would prove a most un
} profitable investment IN that respect.
Los Angeles Hunts for Trouble
! II is both surprising and gratifying
TO know that my ail-too-mild but well
meant observations upon the advertis
/ ing morals and practices Of The Los An
geles Times have pierced the rhinocero!
thickness Of that newspapers integu
ment. No public reply has been made e
my analysis of The Illness advertising
! Il is too old a hand to DE drawn int
/ any discussion of its own paid columns
/ But, fortnight after the publication
CT MY article, The Tribune had occa
sion to approach The Los Angeles Time
/ officially on a technical matter of jour
nalism wholly apart from advertising
! The sole reply Of that injured exponen
! of Southwestern journalism was TO re
| fer The Tribune to my foul attack O.
! June 10.
However. The Times did its best Il
get back at The Tribune, after nanne'
! peculiarly characteristic Of its schoo
| Of journalism. The management wrote
! to a prominent New York advertising