The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1918-03-30
Manufacturer Must Maintain
Quality Of Goods Bearing
His Name. d..
HIS REPUTATION At STAKE
Man Who Buys Standard Brands
From Local Merchants Knows
That He Is Getting Full
Value for His Money.

Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Union. }
Time was when advertising did not
occupy the place in the world of trade
that it does today. 1t has not been
so very many years ago that the PEG.
pie were suspicious of advertising.
They were inclined to believe that the
merchant was trying to "fool" them
with his advertising, that he exag.
gerated the value of the merchandise
he advertised and took that method
of trying to get them to buy goods
that he could not sell by the old estab.
Ished methods Of merchandising.
Those days are gone. The public
beneficiary Of advertising.
Advertising has done more in a de.
cade to establish certain standards il
merchandise than could have been &C.
complished in hundred years by any
other agency. The manufacturer who
few years ago merely made and sold
clothes now makes ard sells the BLANK
brand OF clothes. The man who for.
merly just made hats now makes
Blanks hats. And SO it is with every.
thing that one buys today. The manu-.
facturer, by his advertising, has bull,
up his business around q trade name
and If he Is to continue in business
he must protect that trade name by
maintaining Sr1nl, q hir1A cfo nIs,r ~
quality That people, when they buy his
products will know just what they are
getting. The consumer, when he goes
into a store today, does not buy mer.
chandise blindly, with the HOPE tina,
1t will prove to be worth the money
lie buys standard goods that bear the
trademark of the manufacturer ant
that are backed by the reputation no,
only of the merchant who sells then
but the manufacturer who makes them
This has been brought about by ad
vertising.
No Reputation to Protect.
All this applies to the retail mer.
chants as class but it does not ap
ply to the mail order business. The
man or woman who buys goods from
q catalogue house is not protected b.!
the manufacturer Of the goods for the
reason that most manufacturers wht
sell goods to the mail order houses
do not place their names upon the
goods and therefore have no reputa.
ton to protect.
The great majority of articles ustee
and illustrated in the mail order cata
lOgues are included in what is know
among manufacturers. as stencil
stuff. These articles bear the name OF
the mail order house which sells then
instead of that of the manufactures
who makes them. 1t can readily be
understood that any manufacturing
concern which turns out goods tina,
do not bear its name or trademark is
likely to be very unreliable institu.
ton. 1t is not building up any repu.
tation on the quality Of its goods TO,
its products have nothing to distin.
guish them from the products of any
other concern. With no reputation tt
sustain and no chance of creating o
general demand for its goods the only
concern of a manufacturing institu.
ton of this kind is to make stuff as
cheaply as possible in order to obtain
the largest possible profit on its prod.
ucts.
Same Price World Over.
These facts are chiefly responsible
Tor the generally prevailing idea that
the home merchants do not sell goods
as cheaply as the mail order house
They do sell the same quality Of goods
that the mail order house sells as
cheaply as the mail order house sells
it but they cannot sell the standard
guaranteed products Of responsible
manufacturers at the same price at
which the mail ORDER house. sells its
nameless, unbranded merchandise
Standard goods bearing a registered
trademark sell for the same price the
world over and the manufacturers
guarantee stands back of them when
they are sold In the smallest village
In the country just the same as when
they are sold In the stores Of the larg.
est cities.
This Is what the national advertis.
Ing Of the manufacturers has done
for the consumers Of the country. II
has enabled thera to go into their home
stores and buy merchandise which they
know from past experience or from,
the reputation and guarantee Of the
manufacturer will give them satisfa.c>