The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-11-11
.Ro0TLEGGERS OF THE AD'
VERTIsING BUSINESS

RooTLEGGERS OF THE AD-
FERTIsING BUSINESS
(By Samuel 8, Rice}
The best horse doctor between
Denver and Cincinnati took q
course in news writing in q school
of Journalism rseenisy The doctor
is a sort OF livestock cemaaission-
er, an expert techrsial adviser to
the livestock industEy Of one Of the
/ biggest agricultural Statessin Amer
iea As such he not only has to
! ss.ve iae goods, but he must, let
he sssnewn t1aa:: he is delivering
sae goods othe, wise. there would
Eat be the slightest. chance for him
( IL raise in SALARY from the
I aextssession Of the State legislature.
So he figured that: If he could
learn how 10 Inject news value in-
to:a stareSWiee prescription for 9
hosnessels bucket-fed ealf. and
similar objects, he could quickly
raaks himself solid throughout the
Whole State All the editors would
be SO grateful for the fine, newsy,
helpful araicies ehat taesd doctor sent
out free that they would gladly
give him naalion dollars worth
Of free. advertising Every farmer
would loye him, for .eDec" !" would
charm them with his press-agent
arfffces into reading his expert adj
vice: They would raise more and
better cattle, sheep and swine more
economically and more easily than
ever before:
SO the doctor. who is conseien-
tiops, competent and well-trained
veterinarian and scientist, went
about to become a: scientific press
agent thas he might make his of
nee more useful to his fellow man
ard. incidentally. better his own
condition His purpose was laudI-
abe his ambition jnstifiabfe. It
wzs a great idea-only 1t didn't
YORK Six months after he began
hispssss agents career he came TO
me very much discouraged.
ssesre. he said. you've
besa ans editor and publicity
mans too: maybe you can tell me
Mats wrong I'm sending out q
neKs letter OF three or four brief.
snanpx timely dependable articles
or. items every week to all the pa
perss in the State. yet put Of more
thaT 500 weekly and daily papers
nosnore than twelve or fifteen
ever printed in any one week as
many as one of my stories. Isn't
that stuff worth whiie?"
He thrust a file OF his news let
tiers into my hard.
seIt.s good" said after scan
ming n.t's.but did you ever hear of
osawatomie. Kansas
s.of Kansas. hut not of yosawa-
tonne. What about it,"
This Country Publisher is not
teeble-lninded
.osawatonie is a pleasant little
country town, believe it has some
small railway shops. but its chief
claim to distinction OF recent years
is that the State asylum for the
feeble minded is in osawatomie.
~
osawatomie cured me Of any fool
.sh faith IN news letters. bulletins
ard other free-publicity-seeking
material that is sent through the
mails by the ton every day and
dumped almost by the bushelful in
practically every editorial office in
;hesUnited States-and there are
about $4,000 such offices in this
country. It's the biggest single
piece ofaorganzed waste in this
country today. .
.'Bu, rm9a State officer and"
..sso ae1lss interrupt, doctor; lis
fen. Fou years ago was direct
ing publicity campaign for a
large college II was a rather un-
selfish enterprise. was sending
out excellent news stories. our
propaganda. but as honest. fair,
helpfuis and entertaining stuff as
you might see in days reading.
Result as yours: nobody
wanted it. / asked counsel OF edi-
tors andsss publishers in several