Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-04-16
|HONORINC A GREAT
PIONEER ADVERTISER

1t is generally agreed that one of
the foundations of modern business is
advertising. 1880. a year lcng to be
remembered for many things not so
pleasant, was a splendid year to test
out the value of advertising efficien-
cy in modern business.
The American Tobacco Company,
William Wrigley, Jr., Company, and
many others whose names are promin-
emily before the public, came through
1890 with the largest earnings in their
history, and the heads of institutions
like these do not hesitate to credit
advertising with its share Of the glory.
The head Of one Of these large COM
panies said that the great success OBJ
tanned by his company had been made
possible through the recognition of the
value of newspaper advertising.
Most of US, not being fully inform
ed on the subject are apt to consider
advertising a strictly modern weapon
of business advancement. In this con-
nection it is interesting to note that
Cyrus Hall Mccormick, whose inven-
ton Of the reaper one hundred years
ago is being celebrated throughout
the world this year, was a great be-
lever in advertising and a consistent
user of advertising space. His first
advertisement of the reaper appeared
in 1888 in the Lexington Union. From
time to time he continued to publish
notices of his reaper and also of his
patented hillside pillow. By 1845 he was
publishing long advertisements in the
farm papers of Chicago, Detroit, Col
umbus, and northern New York.
These reaper advertisements of long
ago hardly met the advertising stan
dards of today. Yet. in the last analy-
sis, they contain the essential found
in the highest type of modern adver-
tisement, arranged in the quaint style
of the period. There is an illustration
of the reaper drawn by a team of
sleek horses, moving along at an easy
trot; a nan in a high hat is raking
the platform clear. The text of the
advertisement speaks of the good
crops that are coming, Of a labor
shortage, and admonishes the farm
ers to place their orders early, before
the supply is exhausted. Then APP
pears a testimonial, sometimes a
round-robin affair, signed by farmers
throughout Indiana, Illinois and Wis
cousin.
What is there Of basic importance
in the present-day advertisement that
did not appear in McCormick's reap
er advertisements of almost a century
ago? The machine is pictured to you
at its best. The illustration would
have you believe that it is child's play
and pleasant play at that, to operate
the reaper and rake the platform. The
prediction Of good crops to come is a
prediction of prosperity, creating the
same urge that makes US want to buy
radios and automobiles today. The de-
scription of his reaper compels US to
think that it is the last word in effic-
ent design. And the testimonial is a
f%orerunner of the testimonial Of the
society matron who now urges us to
buy this bed or that tooth paste or
perfume.
Mccormick, almost a century ago,
brought the force Of advertising to his
aid in building up the farm equipment
industry. He believed in advertising.
He was a prolific contributor to news
paper and magazines, always writing
and challenging and pointing out why
his reaper was the best and why it
should be used.