Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1922-02-02
Some Mail Order Houses Find
Them Very Useful in Their
Business.
CAN DOCTOR" PHOTOGRAPH
Concerns Can Give Wrong impress
sions With Illustrations While
Sticking to Truth in
Descriptions.


tored" his books in such 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 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 a picture. A picture of any
person or thing, supposedly, is an ex-
act reproduction of the original, but
this is frequently only a wild suppo-
sition. The photographer who did not
make his picture tell a little fib now
and then would soon go out of bust
ness from lack Of patronage.
Pictures Better Than Words.
Pictures have come to occupy very
important place in the life of the world
in recent years. 1t has been said that
for newspaper purposes a picture
which tells it's 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 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
ri + ich+ h0
erly-used, than the mail order man.
He has realized that a picture will
do more to sell his kind of merchan-
disc than a column Of words and fig
ures. One reason for this is that it
is harder to catch a picture in a lie
than it is printed words and figures.
For instance, if you sell man table
on the strength of a printed statement
that it is 49 inches wide and if when
the table reaches the customer it is
only 36 inches wide, the customer not
only has a moral right to kick, but
he has a legal right to accuse the sell
er Of obtaining money under false pre-
lenses. However, if the customer
buys a table which looks in picture
to be 4S inches wide, but which proves
upon it's arrival to be only SO inches
wide, he has no legal grounds upon
which to base a complaint if the sell
er has not 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 the 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,
realizing that a 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 to
measure off the width of the bed as 1t
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 its
purposes. 1t had pictures Of its
chairs retouched so that the legs
seemed to be an inch and half in di-
ameter, when they were really less
than an inch. It made narrow beds
appear in the picture to be wide and
comfortable. Posts Of iron beds that
were really an inch in diameter were
= made to appear as if they were three
inches in thickness. These things are
easy for any competent artist to do.
Patrons Had No Recourse.
This concern, however, adhered rig
idly to the truth in the measurements
included in the descriptions. Custom
ers who found, when they received
their goods, that they were not what
they expected, could kick, but it would
do them no good. The mail order
house could show that it had set forth
the measurements truthfully in cata-
logues, and there was no recourse for
the customer.
There is no question but that pic
lures will lie, sometimes without any
manipula ton, and the person who buys
an article of merchandise from pic
ture is taking big chances, even though
the picture is not Intentionally altered
to give a wrong impression. Any anna
teur photographer knows from expert
ence how the camera often will give
a wrong idea Of proportions.
The only safe method is to buy from
the local merchant where one sees the
article itself and not picture OF II.
The article itself cannot lie about les
dimensions. at least.