The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-08-17
BeIIman and IIEngWOrth

Outstanding among all the factors that enter in
to modern advertising is truth.
Some years ago, the advertiser was inclined to
place faith in the fragrant display of superlatives.
Unfortunately, there who still cling to that
fallacOus conviction. They believe to succeed they
must advertise goods of the highest quality" tire
and in similar ways insult the intelligence of the buy
ing public.
Thoughtful merchants admit without reluctance
that the composite mind of the mass of buyers is
bit more competent than is generally supposed.
Therein lies the reason for the annual waste of mil
lions of dollars in false and therefore Ineffective ad-
vertising prospective customer will stretch his
imagination to conform with the exaggerated claims
of insincere and misleading statements. Truth is
easy to believe. Believing it is natural When the
ability to measure statements with the yardstck of
fact is overtaxed, there is danger of disbelief
The element of truth has suffered during the
formative period of advertising art. But now it is
coming into its Advertisers know that truth is
an inescapabe budgeon when an attempt is made
to perVert it. 1t is business building boomerang
when allegiance IS forever pledged to 1t.
Obviously a definite distinction exists between
various classes Of merchandise. There is such
thing ''the best. AS a rule it costs the most. 1t
ought to. It's worth it. Then there other de-
grees OF excellence, or pOOrness. One man may be
able to afford the best; another may find it necessary
to content himself with the inferior So merchants
must buy their stocks accordingly. They may
scentiousy strive to buy the best in each class But
they are forced to cater to varying demands.
Can it be true then as advertisements some
times declare that only the best is sold at certain
store? Rarely. The dealer may have the best, but
he may have other quality goods, too.
The public has learned to beware of the adver-
Using Spe-bnder. He cOaks his lies in sOft-sOund
ing phrases, perhaps Or he may storm you with the
dazzling sound of pOmpOus and bOmbastc verbiage.
He batters down resistance with onslaught Of
words. He believes that if he told the TRUTH he
would fail His business is founded the principle
that what the public doesn't know won't hurt It, But
it does hurt him, for the public does know.
And so the Bellman & nlingworth store will
make effort to acQuaint the world with the fact
that it's the greatest hardware store in the world 1t
isn't. 1t knows it. And it isn't ashamed to admit it.
It doesn't seek to convince you that dollar
spent there is just the two dollars spent
somewhere else It's stock of goods isn't the biggest;
it may not be the best 1t does, however, seem
buyer. And efforts are made to improve it,
whenever opportunity permits
The who own the store, being men of intel
Hgence, seek to buy merchandise of quality 1t sells
better. 1t sells quicker. And it sells oftener and
stays sold longer So they buy that kind.
Not being wizards, the owners of the establish
ment have to rely upon honesty and truthfulness to
sell their goods They don't think can be in
duced to believe he can buy SIS for ST 29. The
firm has bought from lots of wholesalers, perhaps,
but the wholesalers can't sell saws that way they've
discovered
And without any claims to greatness as bust
institution but with only faith in the pubic's
reasoning, the Bellman & nlingworth's The Win
chester Store has succeeded and is succeeding.
And if it succeeds a bit more than other stores,
it's just because they try bt~harder to make it
And they believe in truth. It's so EASY to be-
ieve in.