The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1918-05-02
MEN, WOMEN
AND THINGS

I 10 you spell 1t catalogues, or cdtai0SS
There may be a question as to the waJ
the word should be spelled, but there !:
no gainsaying the fact that lot OF
mighty interesting ones find their way
into the mails, and many valuable one
lis carelessly tossed into the waste bas-
ket
i / take up the matter of mail order
houses merely to bring out the fact that
they are built around catalogues. | am
iaware Of the battle royal which has been
waged against the mail order houses by
the local merchants, and am heartily
in favor of the trade at home" slogan;
lyet it is one of the maryels of the COM
mercial world how mammoth businesses
have been built up by men who rely on
Uncle Sam and printers to gain them
customers,
To me one of the most interesting
things in Chicago is the great mail order
houses, and | will never forget a. trip L
took through them with a view / got
from one Of the towers-a picture 50
gorgeous that it still fingers in my
minds eye. And, by the way, the first
ride ever got in an automobile was in
the one operated by them Just to give to
their visitors chance to see how it felt
to ride in a horseless carriage.
| But let's get back to catalogues. 1
dare say few people realize what it means
| for one of the great establishments to get
member once seeing some figures on the
| amount of paper required and the cost.
| but it was SO fabulous / fear to put 1T
| down in black and white, for | wish to
retain my reputation as a preacher.
know one thing that they have been
shipped by the carload here from Chjca-
go by freight, and then mailed out from
the Birmingham postoffice, in order 10
save the cost of mailing them by parcel
post from the Windy City. / have seen
with my own eyes dray loads of them be-
ing hauled from the freight yards to the
rear of the postofice.
But not all the big catalogues are used
by mail order houses. Did you ever see
a Simmons Hardware catalogue? II is
about the size of hand bag. A Moore
For long while Birminghamers who
wanted anything really big in the way of
a catalogue lad to go out of town for
lit, but now there are concerns here ready
to tackle them of any size. ! have seen
quite a few in the making as they passed
, through certain of our printing Offices
I have not looked carefully into what
the new postal regulations will do to the
big mail order houses when the zone sys-
tenn is adopted, but from the protests
which have gone up from the national
weeklies and monthlies [ suspect that 1T
has got the catalogue users up in the air.
Catalogues, booklets and brochures are
iclassed as direct Advertising" I am
not here going deep into the controversy
which has ragged for years as to the hest
form of advertising, for naturally think
that daily newspaper is the ideal way
to reach the public, but millions of dol
lars are spent each year by the business
men of America in getting their wares
on managers desks or into the homes of
the. people &s s& al. NJ $50
I have sometimes wished that I might
be able to figure up just how much has
been expended by those who have sent
me during the year catalogues, booklets,
brochures, and other mail matter. 1 have
gotten catalogues which were the tri-
i'm, nh of The nrinter's ort pa,,ar ,x,no
press work, cover and drawings being
equal to the editions de luxe in the
book world.
Just at present, however, there is an
other side to the catalogue business
which may give it an impetus. The draft
ing of men from the sales department of
every business has worked havoc in
many organizations. Many men who
were out on the road have been called
upon to lay down their grips and take
up arms. The war has cut many arteries
,of business, and way has to be found
to heal the hurt, or enterprises will
weaken and die.
l do not blame the catalogue men FOR
saying that they have a remedy. It's a
legitimate claim. They are crying out
to those who are shy of men: Walk into
our offices and we will show you a way
to reach your trade" And SO we are
hearing great deal about printed sales
manship. They boldly claim that direct
advertising is not SO much form of
publicity as it is silent salesman.
Now, hear the conclusion of the whole
matter ! have had much experience in
the advertising game, and therefore I
claim to speak with authority. Tire best
way to Use catalogues is to back UP their
use with newspaper advertising.
p. s.: This has not been censored by
the advertising department
eAssakaIt H48asx1L
-------------'s'----