T can truthfully be said that many thousands of dollars have been wasted in advertising, simply because the advertiser, or those having in charge the placing of the business, failed to give the medium used the same close study that they gave other details connected with the campaign.

Particularly has this been true of agricultural papers, as in no class of journals is there more discriminating judgment used by the readers thereof.

The successful farmer of today is not merely a soil tiller, but a reading, thinking farmer, and the paper that appeals to him must be one that is practical-that will appeal to his judgment, and which he can farm by.

that is strongest editorially is, nine times out of ten, the most profitable to the advertiser.

There are papers that stand out distinctly in the different fields, and no more successful example of this class of paper can be cited than Wallaces' Farmer, published at Des Moines in the center of the richest agricultural country in the world, and in the richest agricultural State-Iowa.

Of Wallaces' Farmer, Hon. James

Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, says: "Wallaces' Farmer is the best edited agricultural paper in America, if not in the world. It is doing more for the farmers of the middle west than any other paper." Coming from a gentleman whose life study has been the advancement of agriculture, this is, indeed, a tribute, but a deserved one.

The Editor of Wallaces' Farmer, Henry Wallace, is not only a man of great literary talent, but a thoroughly practical man, and one who has spent the best years of his life in farming,

have the means to buy the best for all their needs, and who enjoy the luxuries as well as the necessities of life.

There is no room for argument. Such a paper as this is almost invariably the banner paper of an advertiser's list.

Some papers which base their right to consideration on "big circulation claims" may bring more inquiries (this, however, is not always true), but when it comes down to tracing actual results from the inquiries received, the paper

farm, and putting

the knowledge thus gained before the farmers of the West through writing and public speaking at the Farmers' Institutes in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and other States.

There has not been a time in the past 35 years when Mr. Wallace has not owned and run a farm of his own. At the present time, he and his two sonsH. C. Wallace, Associate Editor, who also does considerable writing for the paper, and John P. Wallace, the Adver

tising Manager, who own and direct the policies of Wallaces' Farmer-own and operate two farms; one of nine hundred acres and one of one hundred and thirty acres; and the readers of the paper have profited much by the many experiments which have been carried on.

It has been just ten years ago this month since the Wallaces took hold of Wallaces' Farmer-then a semi-monthly paper entitled "The Farm & Dairy," published at Ames, Iowa, a small town thirty miles north of Des Moines. It has been a winning combination from the start. In less than a year, the paper outgrew the small town (6,000 subscribers being added the first few months of its publication under the new management), was moved to Des Moines, made a weekly, and ever since its growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. It has waxed stronger and stronger each year and has grown in favor both among the readers and the best class of advertisers.

At the outset, it adopted the policy of "requiring payment in advance for all subscriptions and stopping when the time was out." It has adhered strictly to this rule and is to-day the only Iowa, and one of the few agricultural papers (and, by the way, they are all leaders in their respective fields), to pursue this policy.

Its motto also was and is "Good Farming, Clear Thinking, Right Living," and on this platform it has made its stand and pressed forward. As a result, it to-day stands on the "top rung" of agricultural papers, and with the advertiser who knows anything of agricultural papers, it is one of the first to receive consideration. Indeed, the publishers state-and they are not in the habit of stating anything they cannot provethat Wallaces' Farmer carried more advertising than any other weekly strictly agricultural paper in the United States the past year. Not only that, but the very best class of advertising, no paper discriminating more carefully in the advertising carried.

As a result, Wallaces' Farmer stands to-day a recognized leader among farm papers and a medium through which the best agricultural and also many of the best general advertisers have been quick to take advantage of to reach the best class of farmers in the rich territory through which it circulates-a territory whose wealth lies, not in the city, but on the farm, and which has been blessed with a most bountiful harvest the past year.

A satisfied advertising clientele, a loyal

legion of readers who have the utmost confidence in their chosen agricultural paper, and who number about 40,000, rejoice in the prosperity of Wallaces' Farmer.

During the past eighteen months, it has built, moved into, and solely occupies a four-story fireproof building of its own, a cut of which is presented herewith. It is a model plant.

The building is of stone, brick, steel and cement fireproofing construction, the same as all modern fireproof structures, and is handsomely finished in birch.

The first floor, or basement, is devoted to the press room, of which it is said there is not a better in the State.

The New Home of Wallaces' Farmer.

One double header, sixteen-page Miehle, two eight-page Miehles, Dexter folder, self-feeders and accompanying machinery, comprise the equipment, and fine work is a conspicuous feature of this department, Wallaces' Farmer being one of the most attractive papers published, its superior typographical appearance rendering it conspicuous among agricultural papers.

The other floors are devoted to the offices, editorial and business, typesetting machine room, composing room, mailing room, etc., and the equipment in all departments is the best.

The building is the only fireproof newspaper building in Iowa, and the third fireproof building in Des Moines.

The success of Wallaces' Farmer but goes to show that high ideals and faithful efforts toward their realization in the agricultural paper business, as in any other business, have their reward.

It is a paper the advertiser can spend time with profit in looking over, and one that is worthy of his patronage.

The order was promptly returned by the owner of the publication with the comment, "We do not accept advertisements of cheap watches."

The price asked for the watch was $14.50, for a good Elgin movement in a gold-filled "Boss" case, guaranteed for ten years. When the refusal was reported to the young advertiser he was disappointed, as he said he wished to try out that advertisement in a good publication. The representative asked for the loan of the watch advertised, knowing that the owner of the publication in question would be in Chicago in a few days from the time the conversation took place.

On the day that the publisher arrived the western representative had the ladies' watch on his desk. When the publisher saw it he picked it up, examined it and said: "Why don't you get an advertisement of this kind of a watch?" The representative replied: "I believe I can if you will accept it. The price of this Elgin movement with a gold-filled case guaranteed for ten years is $14.50, and it is a great bargain. Will you accept an advertisement of it?" "Certainly," the publisher said. "The watch is a bargain indeed at that price."

The representative took the order which the publisher had rejected, handed it to him, and said: "This is an order for the advertisement." It was accepted, inserted in the publication, and it paid the advertiser well.

The young advertiser was R. W. Sears, the founder of the great mail order house of Sears, Roebuck & Company, of Chicago. His motto at that time was, "Always give the other fellow the big end of the bargain," and it is his motto today.

Ten years ago the house of Sears, Roebuck & Company was established in Chicago in modest quarters and on a small capital. The principal asset was the great confidence Mr. Sears had in advertising, the determination to treat all customers with fairness, and to "always give the other fellow the big end of the bargain."

The marvelous growth of the business of this house and the carrying out of their present plans, which involve the outlay of over $3,000,000, is certainly the most eloquent argument that can be presented as to the power of advertising to speedily build up an enormous business, provided it is backed up by fair dealing. The business of this house, which during the past year has averaged over two million dollars per month, has been built up almost entirely with the farmers of America. All goods have been sold by the printed catalogs, in response to liberal advertising in farm papers, and other publications of national circulation. Sears, Roebuck & Co. have been by far the largest users of advertising space in farm papers of any advertiser in America.

The following account of the three million dollar plant now in course of construction for the transaction of the business of this house will prove an inspiration to all advertisers. The head of the house, Mr. R. W. Sears, is today as energetic and democratic as he was fifteen years ago, when he was selling watches by mail.

The data for this article was furnished by Mr. L. E. Asher, the able advertising manager of Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Twenty acres of ground in the very heart of one of the very best districts in Chicago were purchased midway between Garfield and Douglas Parks. A tract half a mile long and one block wide, bounded on the east by Kedzie Avenue, on the south by the Chicago Terminal Railroad tracks, on the west by Central Park Avenue and on the north by Harvard Avenue, and facing Spaulding, Homan and St. Louis Avenues.

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