The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-27
BANKS BECOME
 GREAT USERS OF ].
 PUBLICITY SPACE
Millions Now Spent An lf.ially For Newspaper
 Advertising

4.s-. . f.T 5I I 4s .c a
 Advertising improves business, ;edu- t cates the public and gives opportunity for all. That these results are derived from advertising was the theme of an address in Boston the other day bv John w. fPrentiss, president of the Investment Bankers association and member of Hornblower & Weeks of New York, before the Rotary club, says Boston Letter to the New York Journal of Commerce.
 yBusiness men of this country have learned the value of good wilisv said Mir, Prentiss. "They have learned that 1t increases sales that it increases credit; that it cuts down sales over head; that it is distinct asset, and the investment banker, like his broth CTS in commerce, is becoming to realize the, necessity of. advertising.
 Twenty-Five years ago the Advertise ing of our great banking houses and institutions was very dignified and very uIproductive. Today there is spent in banking advertising annually; with the daily newspapers in the city of New York alone, upwards of six million dol lars. I estimate that the members of the Investment Bankers association , and the members of the vafi6as. stock exchanges spend annually in advertise ing q sum in excess of 40 million dol lars. sss1a.s
 T predict that in ten years time the financial advertising in this country will call for bnlget of at least so mil- lion dollars a year, also predict it will be very high grade advertising and that 1t will state with .scrupulous honestly the character of the securities offered: ..
 Twenty or thirty years ago, outside of Boston and New York, there were very few private investment bankers engaged in the merchandising of secur. ities. In those days the Boston and New York Stock exchanges were prac- tically the only exchanges were prac- ticailytthe only exchanges iI1 the coun- try. Today there are listed on the New York stock exchange securities having a value in excess of 5S billion dollars. There are in the vaults of the savings banks, the trust companies, the insur- ance companies more than 70 billion dollars of securities. There are in the country 25 million people. who are stockholders in our corporations or owners of bonds. a
 1neSe are tne people 'Wn01 constitute what is commonly called .WaIl Street and when some denagogue gets us on the platform and says he wants to abolish the stock exchange, he is ap- pfapded by a certain class of people who do not stop to think that they own these securities themselves. ..ssssa E.
 sSometimes people ask what all of these associations in business dos4-what they are good for? feel that the sys- tenn Of association among. different forms of business that has sprung up in this country in the last decade is of tremendous value in many ways. Whether it be a bankers assoefation, a steel association, a woolen or | cotton association, they all perform valuable functions. For example, every member ds the association beconies spkrsonally aSanAinted with his compsti titors i've get together and we talk over our prob lens. We do it h enRn Ineetihg For example they have. madas the employment of labor more e6nstatit and steady they haze improved The ethics of business -they have prevented un- fair prices they have improved the confidence of the people in -tle busi- ness integrity of the nation.s