The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-10-02
Frederic | askin's / etfer
ADVERTISING METHODS

nity IN ancient days. He was : -
sonage who made his rounds 3
state accompanied by a musi.sss
and delivered his announce
with nowery eloquence. Th,ossa
the middle ages the office of ~.
crier was likewise held in hi
TEEN, but as commerce exnssssss
the position detericrated until ssss
tualiy havkers and employei 'sz
prenttces took over the enssssZ
part Of hts work. making their f.
nouncements directly to the III g
Press Advertising Nolseless q.
In this connection it is inter..s
ing to ntte that the average cifs
OF medieval times was not the ou; ~
haven romance has painted IL sI M
was quitt as noisy as any MODE
metropolis. Compared to The IS.
cessant, raucous clamor Of n.
street hawkers and apprentice. y, y
those aa days. indeed. the roar Of s.,
10th century street trafiic is nrnI
aDiy MID. Press advertising -
greatly mitigated the noise Of 81
modern cities. Back in the il
century people lived in q perues.
ual babel Of advertising.
The birth Of press advertisin,
dates from 1477 when Willisr
Caxtcn introduced his printin,
press ITO England. He started out
by printing advertising posters and
them on the walls Of tay.
ems, sown halls and churches
where they created a tremendous
sensation. Printed pamphlets and
sheets were the next step until the
Civil var, between Charles | and
Cromwell, when the need for news
concerning the combatants Of both
sides became SO acute that weekly
journ$s came into existence a
mattel OF course. 1t is recorded
that one Nathaniel Butter vas The
first tditor to accept a trade an.
nounement, thereby inventing one
Of thp greatest sources OF revenue
ever Known.
Thu Importance of Mr.. Buffers
Example was not lost upon his COL
leagues, and the acceptance of trade
announcements soon became q gen.
sral practice. Even the early
American journals contained adver-
.isenents' of merchandise, such as
.obasco, boots. horses and slaves.
All q these were of extremely mod
est size, seldom occupying more
han four or five lines OF incon-
'p!clous print At that time, no
'neI dreamed of the possibility Of a
ull.page ad. Indeed, the develop
nent OF advertising on q large scale
Vas Cue less to the ingenuity Of
nel than to accident.
In his book ON Scientific Dis
Charles Frederick Hig-
IAN tells an amusing story of how
publisher OF the New York
ledger, Robert Bonner, happened
o discover the value Of large
spaced ad. Mr.. Bonner, it seema
aDte modest advertisement for
10 New York Herald containing
My eight words-"Read Mrs.
tuthworth's New Story in the
ledger" and marked it for one line.
lis penmanshlp was 50 illegible,
owever, that the Herald mistook
is "one line" for "one page. Neu
norning, therefore, the poor man
vas Mortified to behold an entire
Age OF the Herald devoted TO the
seemingly interminable repetition
i his o-word line.
As he did not have money enough
o pay for So large an advertise
nent, he rushed hastily around to
he Herald office, hoping to have
he mistake corrected. But it was
60 late. Then, suddenly, an ava
anehe of orders began pouring in
.or the Ledger, completely exhaust
ng the first edition SO that another
ladto be printed at top speed. In
stead of being financially embar
raised MIR. Bonner actually made
moray on his full-page ad. Incl
ientlly. he learned the tremen-
ious pulling power Of large-spaced
advertising-a lesson he
never forgot.
After several early experiments
If this kind, advertising not only
began to take on greater size and .
boldn6s, but advertising itself
starta spreading out until finally
it cane to be distributed upon a
scale. At first, national
advertising. was thought to be
practi HI oily through the medium
Of malazines, but 10 the past de- .
cade Ational newspaper advertis-
ing hay come to be recognized as
The mtt economical and efiicacious
advertising method that has ever
been iNented. because 1t can be
specific markets.