The Mankato free press., 1917-11-30

Vice President, Ed Nyquist.
Secretary Treasurer, r. r. Hamilton.
The above with p. M. Ferguson and
c. w. Fisher make up the executive
committee.
Permanent officers were elected and
an organization perfected of the Man.
kato Advertising club at the Hotel
Heinrich last night.
After splendid supper, in the room
where the decorations surround one
with the view Of an arbor laden with
blooming vines, H. M. Thompson,
chairman of the meeting, presented
the speaker of the evening, J. A.
Davidson of the Webb Publishing
company of st. Paul.
Mr.. Davidson opened with the
thought that a man should always
make the utmost out of his job. 9th
erwise he would not be happy. The
man who would not throw the whole
of his heart into his job, simply be-
cause he did not feel that the pay was
what it ought to be could not be
happy in his work, and could not be
getting the most out of it. He declared
that if the advertising clubs and as
sociations had done nothing more
than to give their members the right
conception of their work, that alone
would make the organizations worth
while. The club would be a success il
the members brought into it sin
cere spirit of advertising. Members
would get out Of the club the eQuiva-
lent of what they put into it.
Drew Picture of American Life.
r. The speaker drew a picture of
American life in the early days when
there was comparatively no advertis-
ing, when people lived in simple,
Independent primitive way and fire.
quently did not know those who lived
as much as ten miles away. He spoke
Of the gradual development of in
dustry He spoke Of manufacturers,
who had supplied the people around
them, reaching out into fields farther
off, so they could keep their goods
selling, with the result that advertising
and travelling for sales came into be-
ing. He showed how the development
of advertising and the development of
better conditions of living went hand
in hand. He said many people looked
back on the early days of this coun-
try as the "gnod old times" but those
"good old times" looked better when
seen at a distance, than If they could
be closely viewed. Those were days
when women worked themselves to
death, and the colonial man expected
to need three wives during his cwn
life time.
Advertising Creates Demand
He spoke of advertising as creating
demands for thipss that were not
sought before. This meant progress.
He compared farm life Of the present
day Of modern appliances, electric
lights and other improvement with
the farm life of the old days. when it
was nothing but drudgery. The farm
woman of these days had much more
adequate conception of the beatitudes
of life than the farm woman of the
old days, who slaved her life away.
Speaking of some of the essentials
Cf GOOD advertising, Mr.. Davidson said
the Goods must be such as to minister
to Il Q welfare and comfort of those
who were to buy them. The merchan-
disc must be the real stuff that it was
to be. Another essential
was that it must be priced right. It
must be priced so that it will give a
proper profit not only to the manu-
facturer and wholesaler, but to the
retailer as well, and will give the con-
sumer the worth of his money. Those
who buy the goods must be so treated
that they will want to buy again.
Business Failures Tragedies.
With reference to the desirability
of having the retail merchants thrive,
the speaker dwelt on the thought that
business failures were among the
tragedies of modern life. Big business
interests were making a great effort
to eliminate failures, for the failures
made it all the harder for other busi-
ness interests. The man who failed
as a rule left bad debts. He spoke OF
one firm that made a practice Of an
alyzing any merchants business in all
of its departments, and showing him,
il possible, just where he was making
and running behind. He
spoke of the establishment of short
courses in merchandise at the state
and of the good prospect OF
this branch of study bring greatly en-
larged and extended after the war was
over and the state could spare more
oney. The cost of advertising goods
in this country yearly was about on&
million dollars.
Answering the question of who gets
the $100,000,000 spent on advertising,
he spoke of the printer, the engraver
and other agencies in getting the ad-
vertising done. He declared that in
spite of all the circulars and other ad-
vertising printed matter that went un-
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