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Common-Sense

THE ADVERTISER'S COTTON CHANCE IN ENGLAND

BY RICHARD BRACEWELL.

There is a quaint Spanish proverb which reads, "When they give you an heifer, be ready with the rope." Apply this maxim to advertising and you get, "Where trade is booming, be around with your advertisements."

A good advertisement in a good medium will always achieve its specific mission, but in the nature of things it follows that the returns from a prosperous locality will eclipse those from one suffering from trade depression.

The astute advertiser will therefore attend to the flourishing districts first, and will work them systematically and thoroughly.

Just now Lancashire and her cotton mills form England's commercial oasis and bid fair to hold the premier position for months to come.

Never, during the last twenty-five years, have manufacturers traded to such advantage, nor have the workers been so fully employed, and so well recompensed as now.

Expansion is noticeable on every hand; old mills are being renovated or enlarged and new ones are in the course of erection, and everywhere there is hurry and bustle in this busy hive of industry. Manufacturers had orders booked that have seen them well into 1906, with the pleasant prospect of more to follow. Surely, here is the "Advertiser's Cotton Chance."

The primary effect of this unparalleled wave of prosperity is the visibly increased purchasing power of Lancashire's vast army of workers.

And after the enforced economy of the last twenty-five years there will be a sure and certain reaction that will take the practical form of increased indulgence in those creature comforts, long desired but long denied.

Then the cotton weaver and family will spend this well-earned holiday on a more extensive scale than formerly, and it behooves the wideawake advertiser to be on hand to aid in the equipment for, and to facilitate, the annual exodus to seaside or country.

In every sphere of Lancashire life, money is plentiful, hope runs high, desire is potent, and herein lies the advertiser's opportunity.

This is sufficient reason why he should hover continuously around the cotton county and thus receive his share of the golden harvest.

Judicious advertisements that are well written, that are ingenious, bright, crisp and breezy, will win all along the line, and the result will exemplify the old adage, "He is well paid who is well satisfied."

Thus Lancashire is for the present-and probably for many months to come-the advertiser's El Dorado-the advertiser's cotton chance.

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CATCHING THE EYE AN ADVERTISING NECESSITY

BY PAUL R. KENNISH.

The importance of attracting attention by a moving object was forcibly brought to the writer's attention in a business exhibit several years ago. A rival concern had a booth near by, with one of their machines in operation, and the result was the crowd would gather around their exhibit and examine the apparatus to the exclusion of our own display.

In advertising, this is a potent force. A steamship company recently had a very effective advertisement in a street car. The motion of the car was utilized to keep a lot of spangles, which outlined the reading matter, in constant motion.

There is a wide field open to the advertising man who has, a little inventive ability along these lines. As a suggestion, the varied and beautiful effects of the kaleidoscope only need this slight jar to produce them. If this were worked up properly it would be an invaluable means of drawing the attention of the traveling public.

Among the practical "mechanical advertisements" in operation, where motive forces at hand are used without any additional expenditure for power, are wooden hands attached to the existing shafting in the building by means of an eccentric, resulting in the continual motion of the hand to call attention to the sign alongside; a representation of an airship with moving propeller (placed on a roof), etc. Many things of this kind will suggest themselves. In this connection the use of exhaust steam was used recently by a soup-making concern that had an imitation tureen surrounding an exhaust steam pipe on the roof. The result was as though the soup was piping hot, ready to be served, and the general effect was excellent.

With the use of special motive power, of course, a much larger field opens up to the imagination. In this article the use of mechanical devices without resorting to any specially arranged power, has been the subject under consideration—that is, utilizing the powers that be.

"The business world is full of young men content in simply putting in their time somehow and drawing their salaries, making no effort whatever to increase their efficiency and thereby enhance their own as well as their employer's interest.

"To every young man I would say, seek at the start to cultivate the acquaintance of those only whose contact and influence will kindle high purposes, as I regard the building up of a sterling character one of the fundamental principles of true success."-Marshall Field.

MACHINERY

BY EMERSON P. HARRIS

In bringing forth the crude treasures of the earth to the services of man, three words typify three great departments of effort-mining, manufacturing, marketing.

By ax and plow and pick wringing the raw materials from the planet, with every cheapening power and automatic machinery molding these. materials into myriads of usefu! formis, and finally placing the product in the hands of the

consumer.

The magnitude of the problem of distribution which is just dawning upon the minds of manufacturers can scarcely be over estimated. Not until the manufacturer can impress the superior merits of his product upon the greatest possible number of buyers at the lowest cost, and every consumer, on the other hand, discovers the best thing for him by reasonable effort, will the great problem of distribution be solved.

The consumer still spends much time in inquiring what to buy, and more in regretting that he did not buy something else.

For example, no matter what automobile you choose, you will wish you had bought some other. The question of economical and efficient distribution concerns the consumer even more than it does the manufacturer.

Mere physical distribution is relatively a matter of detail. The question is how to make known the merits of the commodity.

All the progress we have made in advertising has only served to show that merchandising is the crudest department of industrial activity. Look in most any direction, and waste and miscarriage are as conspicuous as economy and efficiency.

The work of marketing also falls under the head of three M's-the merchandise, the message. and the medium.

Space forbids dwelling upon the necessity of a thorough familiarity with the products, the claims made by the manufacturers, and how they are substantiated. It goes without saying that the engineer of marketing must first master those points. Nor do I propose to reiterate what has been so often and so ably set forth as to the nature and clothing of the message, the matter whi ssent forth in exploiting the commodity.

Ne ven do I need to stop to say that fine writing and all manner of freak cuts and "tape worm" borders, etc., do not make good copy, but shall confine my attention briefly to the consideration of the medium, which is the modern marketing machine.

It is my privilege to enjoy confidential rela

tions with many of the publishers of the great technical papers, and to know not only their methods and achievements, but their plans and aspirations. If, therefore, I write with enthusiasm of the future as indicated by present attainment, it is because I see more than appears upon the surface.

I do not think that in any other department of publishing the advertising medium has risen to so high a degree of efficiency as it has in the technical field. My reason for believing this I trust will be apparent, as I point out some of what seem to me to be the essential characteristics of the best specialized advertising medium.

The keynote of the ideal technical or trade paper is helpfulness to its readers. And the greatest helpfulness depends upon a knowledge of the wants of the reader and sympathy with him on the part of the editor on the one hand, and, on the reader's part, confidence in the accuracy, reliability and truthfulness of the contents of the

paper.

After judging whether a paper so strikes the reader as to fertilize the advertising soil, and not close the buyer's pocketbook, the next question is who it ought to reach, whether its contents indicate that it should reach the people who are really influential in selecting machinery, equipment and supplies.

Then, if it should reach such a valuable class, does it? For the answer to this question depends upon the publisher more than upon the editor. No matter how good a paper is, it will not tell itself any more than machinery will.

Circulation costs money. It costs much more money in the case of the technical papers than the circulation receipts begin to furnish the incentive for spending. Does the publisher possess the ability and capital and take his paper seriously enough to build the circulation which the field should justify?

The incentive for building circulation is very great if we consider the earning power from advertising or circulation of good quality.

This

Eight New York technical papers have a paid circulation of substantially 100,000, and an advertising patronage of $1,500,000, which means that each yearly paying reader enables the publisher to earn from advertising $15.00. $15.00 plus the subscription price is the basis on which to work for circulation. This means that the mere subscription price as a basis for figuring the incentive for building circulation should cut practically no figure at all.

Of course the advertiser should know not only

Common-Sense

how many people pay for and read a paper, but he should have, as far as practicable, an analysis of the circulation showing the classes of people who read the paper. The publisher should give every possible facility for judging of the quality of the circulation, and should volunteer and furnish, without asking, ample proof of the number of copies paid for.

Great progress has been made in the past ten years in the development of a higher type of technical journal, and it is even now proper to refer to it as the modern selling machine.

It seems to me that there is every reason to commend the tendency toward concentrating advertising in fewer and stronger papers and using those papers intensely. Intensive is better than extensive advertising.

The best paper not only reaches the mind and inspires the confidence of the reader, but the reader acts upon its suggestions and instructions. Such papers form a trunk line to the consumer.

But as good as some of these papers are, it is doubtful whether any of them are as potent as they will be made in the future.

Considering the possible improvements in advertising plans, copy, follow up, influence of medium and increased circulation, the future outlook for the advertising method of marketing is great.

IN YOUR OWN WORLD

BY MORRIS A. SMITH.

It takes individuality to do anything that is worth while. The pattern-made man grows old like a clerk, and during the afternoon of life he doles out his little savings, or becomes a pensioner on the charity of his relatives.

We often wonder if the career of this type of man is a matter of "couldn't-help-it." We might think so and be stirred to pity, but for the fact that other men brush aside the same adverse conditions. They collect their strength, and when ordinary reverses come have momentum enough to carry them through. But let that be as it may, it is every person's right and duty to try faithfully and persistently to escape lifelong mediocrity and a dependent old age. To spend time envying others their greater possessions is time wasted; and time is the one precious thing. We can acquire most anything else in some way, but no man's millions will set the clock back the fraction of a minute.

Let every man make his possessions, whatever they may be, the center of his own particular universe. The most valuable thing to him will be his own special opportunities. Every man, everywhere, has these opportunities. Only a near-sighted dolt, or the mentally sick, fail to see them. These golden, nearby opportunities are so much one's own that they seem to have

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been made especially. Be on the lookout for these opportunities, go after them, and you will be pleading for days seventy-two hours long so that you can find time to improve them all.

Forget "the other fellow" except to draw inspiration from his best efforts and profit from his mistakes. his mistakes. Bear in mind, too, that your success must be based on actual service rendered to some present need or good ideal in the world. You cannot "fake" your way to real and perma

nent success.

Put some heart and soul into your work, and you will find that you are credited with individuality, for the day a man begins to think earnestly about his own particular opportunities, that day Individuality, and Genius, and Nobility and Success attend at his council. Then as you work on earnestly, resolutely, keep close to the truth that "the right measure of a man is the use he makes of his opportunities," be they great or small. On this basis, and sooner than you expect, you will find yourself master of circumstances and conqueror of the world-your world.

You will be a man who made his little all the center of the universe, who had no time for envy, who loved his work as it grew, who worked with his might, who would not pause until he could put into each task his very best, and then turned cheerfully to the next one with a determination to live up to the full stature of his own particular opportunities.

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To this, I will add that the editorials are drawn from actual successes and failures-from contemplation of men and affairs-not from books and the theories of others. Such faults are made matter of comment that in the editor's opinion are of sufficient magnitude to form an obstacle to one's advancement. Virtues that would add to one's successful living are commended. The articles and sketches used are designed to be of practical help to the largest number of our read

ers.

The value of the little magazine lies in the fact that it's all meat-there is no chaff.

Many eyes see more than one pair. You daily note traits, or hear of acts that breed success or failure. Will you co-operate with us, by giving us the benefit of your observations? Write us a letter-short or long, as the subject demands-telling of the things you see, hear or believe, that go to make or mar a man or a Woman. Letters giving points of sufficient value will be published. Address,

Editor COMMON-SENSE. 88 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill.

The True Henry Clay

Joseph M. Rogers has given us in this work, through the J. B. Lippincott Company, an intensely interesting and intimate account of the private and public life of Henry Clay, that great American, who, in the author's words, "is fast becoming a mythical personage. One of the most vigorous, certainly the most emotional, and one of the most influential of statesmen has been lost in a haze of misinformation; befogged in a mist of fable and transformed by a sort of mental strabismus which has affected all his admirers. The Henry Clay of fiction, so artfully constructed like the heroes of ancient mythology, is a distressing figure. Henry Clay was one of the most. lovable men who ever lived, if not in all respects the most admirable. None knew him but to love him, though a majority would never vote for him."

The following from the chapter entitled "The Youngest Senator" reminds one of an interesting historical fact and at the same time shows the author's clear, graphic style: "At twenty-nine Clay had achieved a success far beyond his wildest hopes at the time he entered the state, nine years before. He was married into the richest family of the state, owned a comfortable estate, enjoyed about the best practice at the bar, had served a term in the legislature, and was universally popular. Having achieved so much by an immense amount of energy that had called for less studious industry than one would naturally suppose, he felt it befitting that he should take a short vacation. The opportunity came when General Adair resigned from the United States Senate and the governor appointed Clay in his place for the short session of 1806-07.

"At the time no comment seems to have been made upon the fact that he was not of constitutional age and did not become so until after his fractional term had expired. Afterwards a good deal was made of it and many explanations offered. It is asserted now by one of the family that Clay really was thirty years old, as shown by one of the family Bibles, which contradicts the currently accepted date of his birth. This may, however, be confused with the fact that there was an elder Henry Clay who died when a baby, and for whom the statesman was named. It may be that Clay thought that a man almost thirty was eligible to all intents and purposes, or it may be that neither he nor anyone else thought of it at all. The fact remains that he was the only man who has sat through his term in the Senate without being constitutionally eligible. As nothing was said of the matter at the time, it need not concern us now, except as a curious event.

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"As Clay entered Washington from Alexandria, he had to take a ferry boat, and here was his first practical introduction to the subject of internal improvements which was later to occupy so much of his attention. He was a bridge was contemplated, an pressed his conviction that one it was with joy he learned fro the subject was coming up gress, of which he was a all he did at this brief s ardent speech for the br. plained his whole position ments, showing a liberality some of the older men who tionists of the Jefferson sort. this time as ardent an admi. walked in the Capitol, but 1 Constitution was confined to the De.. from that document, and not for its me ing. It did not worry him a bit that there was. it no expressed power to build bridges or turnpikes. It seemed to him that if a good thing could be accomplished, and there was no actual prohibition, common sense dictated going ahead and doing it. He expressed his views freely and with the exuberant manner common to his address to a jury. The personal impression he made upon the Senators was that of a young and resourceful man with a tendency to harangue his hearers and a lack of appreciation of the Senatorial dignity. A more funereal legislative body never existed than the United States Senate in the early days. For years it had met behind closed doors, and now that its sessions were open, the proceedings were of the most formal and doleful character. There were no efforts at oratory; few speeches of any sort were made, it being the custom for the Senators to briefly express their views and then vote. A Senator of the period complains that Clay was fond of flowery talk and much given to imagery, while his discourse lacked logical sequence. * ** We do know that Clay enjoyed himself hugely that winter in the Senate. He was to be found at all prominent social functions and seemed delighted with his 'vacation,' which also gave him a taste for further experience of the sort. wrote home that his reception had exceeded his expectations."

The book is beautifully illustrated.

He

-The True Henry Clay, by Joseph M. Rogers. J. B. Lippincott Company, Publishers. Price, in cloth, $2.00; in half levant, $5.00.

A small sum of money invested at the right time can give you an independent future.

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