The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-02-14
HITCH-HIKINC DAYS ARE OVER

Thanks to the fact that Key West
and the marvellous highway leading there
to could fairly be called news" the city
has received in magazines and in the daily
and weekly press of the country an i'm
measurable amount of good publicity and
has profited thereby to a degree that few
of US can realiZeJo aIie 10 ap,r"l
- III surfDItlrHaI ,
But that happy peIrii9ed is nearly over.
Whether we like it or NOT, We might i; as
we'll begin, to realize that our Iii tch- hiking
days are about over; that we cani'no longer
expect to thumb our wayealong the road
to prosperity, and that it becomes not only
a matter of self respect, but of necessity
for us to begin to pay our way. Once, a
magazine like '"Collier's" will assign
writer like Nina Wilcox Putnam to use her
talents to give out a gowing story of the
Island City; but not twice. Future pub
licity in the local or national press will de-
pend largely upon the recognition of the
fact that there is such a thing as an adver-
Using department and that if we wish to
prosper by the use of paper and ink, that
we must recognize the stern fact that
these commodities are purchased for cash
and not by wishfuIl, -" -
AS much as ahgonferehant in the city,
Key West is in highly competitive busi-'
ness and unless we wish to drop into thei
same dismal rut as is occupied by the
non-advertising merchant, it is up to us to
see that our climate is not forgotten in the
din occasioned by cities asserting their
claims to the patronage of the tourist, and
which are not expecting to get their pub
'licity for nothing.
1t is discomforting fact, and one
which CRATES upon the sensibilities of the
habitual chiseler, that living on handouts
is seldom a sustained success. The nom
cooperating merchant will grow indig-
nant in vain as he sees the trade of the
community gravitate to the man who adj
vertises in the local paper and who is
known to the membership of the local
Chamber of Commerce as one of their as
sOciateS. sci:
Key West is in the position of the man
who has emerged from a long period of
bitter poverty and who now finds his bust
ness beginning to be profitable, If his
spirit has been utterly broken, he will
probably continue to starve his business
and try to bury his profits and abide in
the condition of miser, no matter how
much of reserve he may accumulate
But if adversely has not dulled the
edge of his courage nor the fire of af-
Fiction, robbed his steel or its temper, he
will, plough his profits back in as good
farmers do, make use of his strengthened
position to command a wider range of
profitable action.
Key West has one tremendous ad-
vantage over every mainland resort in
Florida. Now is the time to stress it. We
have the finest summer climate in Florida
or in many places far to the north of us.
We have nothing to bar our progress
but the lack of understanding of the uses
and the possibilities of advertising on the
part of too many of our people; and this
applies equally as well to the small mer-,
chant who would%cssell goods to his neigh
bors as it does to the City Council, the
County Commission or to the Chamber of
Commerce. Advertising is the compressed
air that starts the Diesel engines of COM
mercial prosperity into action.