Imperial Valley press., 1920-10-05
PICTURES ARE NOT
ALWAYS TRUTHFUL
Some Mail Order Houses Find
Them Very Useful in Their
Z. s~0S' .;S.SsSSas
CAN DOCTOR" PHOTOGRAPH
Concerns Can Give Wrong impress
sions With Illustrations While
Sticking to Truth in
Descriptions. lS,

Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Union }
Figures never lie," it has been
claimed, but this is far from the
truth. The defaulter who has '.doe-
tored" his books in such q way that he
has escaped detection for years, knows
that figures can be made to lie. The
shrewd politician, who knows how to
juggle statistics, knows that they can
be made to tell a story that is far from
the truth.
But there is another medium of ex-
preston which is also supposed to be
a Stickler for truth, but which is a
greater prevaricator than figures.
That Is picture. A picture of any
person or thing, supposedly, is an ex-
act reproduction of the original, but
this is frequently only wild suppo-
sition. The photographer who did not
make his picture tell a little fib now
and then would soon 60 out Of busi-
ness from lack Of patronage.
Pictures Better Than Words.
Pictures have come to occupy a very
Important place in the life of the world
in recent years. 1t has been said that
for newspaper purposes a picture
which tells its story strikingly is worth
more than columns of written words
on the same subject. Newspapers and
magazines have realized the truth of
this fact and as a result pictures are
used profusely in Illustrating the news
and fiction OF the day.
No one has been quicker to realize
the possibilities of the picture when
properly-or it might be said improp-
erly-used, than the mail order man.
He has realized that picture will
do more to sell his kind of merchan-
disc than q column OF words and fig
ureS. One reason for this is that it
is harder to catch q picture in a HE
| than it is printed words and figures.
For instance. If you sell man table
| Oh the strength of printed statement
! that it is 4S inches wide and if when
, the table reaches the customer it is
| only SO inches wide, the customer not
| only has a moral right to kick. but
he has legal right to accuse the SELL
er of obtaining money under false pre-
lenses. However, if the customer
, buys d table which looks in picture
to be As inches wide, but which proves
upon its arrival to be only SO inches
| wide, he has no legal grounds upon
which to base a complaint If the SELL
er he's pot told him in so many words
that the table was 48 inches wide.
Stick to Truth in Figures.
Some INSCRIPTIONS mail order
houses have taken advantage of this
selling power of pictures in very in
genious way. They adhere strictly to
the truth In the actual measurements
given in their catalogues of the arti-
cles which they have to sell. They
may employ descriptions which exag-
gerate :he qualities and appearances
of the articles offered, but when it
comes down to actual measurements
the descriptions given are technically
correct. Then these concerns rely upon
| their pictures to sell the merchandise,
realizicg that q picture will make a
far deeper impression upon the mind
of the prospective buyer than the act
| ual figures given. A picture of wide
| roomy bed will attract the eye and
the reader probably will not stop tc
| measure off the width of the bed as il
| is described in the catalogue to see
whether it is as wide as desired. Fig
ures, in the abstract, mean little to the
average reader and do not convey the
impression that is given in the pic
ture.
! A former manager of mail order
house tells how his concern manipu
lated pictures in this way to suit it
purposes. 1t had pictures of ii
| chairs retouched so that the leg
seemed to be an inch and half in di
ameter, when they were really les
| than an inch. 1t made narrow bed
appear in the picture to be wide ant
| comfortable. Posts of iron beds tha
were really an inch in diameter wer
made to appear as If they were thre
| inches in thickness. These things ar
easy for any competent artist to dc