and more or less intangible but it exists nevertheless. For one thing the very function of the trolley in placing the country resident so closely and conveniently in touch with town or city markets familiarizes him with urban ideals and whets his appetite for conveniences and novelties that would have had no such appeal in the old days of isolation. Similarly force of example and the dictates of fashion get in insidious work upon the rural resident or, if not upon him, at least upon his wife and daughters. Even if the women folk travel but little on the inter-urban the passing and repassing cars constitute, in effect portable show windows that at once demonstrate the new fashions and inspire an ambition to emulate the mode. And just as the inter-urban trolley has placed the ru chances are that he can have the new dictionary or camera, or talking machine or suction cleaner or whatever he is interested in, sent out for inspection and demonstration before the deal is closed. But perhaps this will appear like an appreciation of the inter-urban trolley as an aid to a personal "follow-up" system and if so it is most distinctly putting the cart before the horse inasmuch as the trolley is equally serviceable for Posting Bills (Outdoor Advertising) on the Line of an Interurban Trolley Road. ral resident within reach of town or city stores so proportionately has it rendered the country customer accessible to the city salesman or demonstrator. In handling goods that bring anything above a nominal price it is well worth while to look up a "prospect" who can be reached direct by the trolley when it probably would not justify the greater expenditure of time and money in the event that a railway journey was required. The interurban trolley, too, more than any other one factor, is putting goods within reach of the rural residents on the "free trial" or "demonstration" plan. that advertising which creates and promotes demand. The primary signif icance of the average interurban trolley from the advertising standpoint lies in the service it renders in placing newspapers, magazines and other publications carrying advertising in the hands of rural readers. It has been customary in many quarters to bestow up A few years ago the Electric (Trolley) Mail Car Being Loaded With Mail many small dailies in country customer had for Rural and Suburban Post-Office. to judge of his prospective purchases largely from the pictures and descriptions in the mailorder catalogues. But now, if he is anywhere within striking distance of a trolley line, the towns of 5,000 to 10, 000 population or even less. Similarly by enabling a wider circle of readers to be "reached by supper time" the trolleys have put on a firm basis many of these smaller dailies which had a precarious existence when their scope was restricted to the communities in which they were published. The mere fact that the trolleys thus broaden the appeal of local newspapers and journals designed only for local circulation effectually disproves the theory advanced by some persons that the present era of more reading in the farmhouses benefits nobody but the general advertisers and the mailorder houses. Indeed, it is easy to see how local newspapers, sent broadcast over the country-side by means of the trolleys would afford a really unique means of getting a timely product into the hands of consumers quickly. Take, for example, a new phonograph record,-the "latest song hit"-which it was desired to market extensively while its popularity was at its height. Under such circumstances the magazines, or even the great illustrated weeklies and farm papers might be too slow, but the local dailieswith advertisements directing customers to local dealers, would carry out an ideal system of quick distribution. Not that the magazines do not profit by the inter-urban trolley system, however. The mere presence on many of the inter-urban lines of newsboys selling all the popular periodicals affords a new means of bringing such reading matter to the attention of the rural public and almost every inter-urban railway ticket office now has a periodical stand as an adjunct. The inter-urban cars, alike to the street cars of our cities, open one avenue of advertising that is wholly undeveloped in the steam railway systems. Reference is made, of course, to the car advertising which has come to be regarded as an indispensable adjunct of the surface, subway and elevated cars of our cities. There are a few inter-urban trolley companies which do not admit advertisements to their cars but the number is rapidly dwindling as they see the error of their ways. Any person who has been convinced of the efficacy of street car advertising should require little argument to be converted to advertising in the inter-urban cars. The latter carry, if anything, a more monied class of people than are to be found on many city lines and the fact that the average inter-urban traveler remains on the car two or three times as long as the average passenger on a city street car only multiplies in just that proportion the insistence of the appeal of an advertisement that stares him in the face all the while. One circumstance should, however, be borne in mind by advertisers in inter-urban cars and this is the fact that many of the more prominent systems operate two classes of cars,the locals which stop at frequent intervals through the countryside and the limited cars which run through without stops, or with very few stops, between terminal points. Probably any general advertiser could use both classes of cars with equal success but local advertisers, who are limited in the amounts of their advertising appropriations, often restrct their announcements to the "local" cars which presumably get the bulk of the local traffic. There is a growing beliefg on the part of many shrewd advertising men that billboards, signs and other broadside announcements yield a greater dividend of publicity when placed along the routes of big interurabn systems than when displayed on the lines of steam roads. One plausible argument advanced on behalf of the trolley roads as sites for such display is that the electric cars travel at a lower rate of speed and greater time is thus given the traveler to read any particular sign. Furthermore single passing cars cannot obscure a sign as can a train passing on the parallel track of a steam road and finally there is not, on the inter-urban systems the menace of sidings, with A Demonstrator Addressing a Crowd of Farmers at an long lines of box cars, such as, on the steam roads, sometimes put an advertisement in eclipse for hours or days at a time. Finally it is possible on the inter-urban roads to place out-door displays in closer proximity to the tracks than is practicable on most steam roads, thus allowing for smaller lettering when it seems desirable. A BY OUR STAFF DYSPEPTIC DVERTISING in its history has stood for a whole lot. But at no time has it ever before been so fearfully attacked as in the address of William McComb, recently made before the Adcraft Club in Detroit. According to newspaper accounts, General McComb stationed his guns on a high hill and opened with this demoralizing battery: "It is no far reach to extend pragmatic philosophy so that it reaches to that which is beyond the field of pure metaphysics and psychology and into the everyday affairs of life." The slaughter was terrible. Strong men wept and the weaker fainted. The groans of the injured mingled with the shrieks of those who sought escape. Under a napkin of truce messengers were sent to nearby life-saving stations for restoratives. The line of listeners wavered, slowly regained its formation, and then Commander McComb turned loose his heavy artillery: "Pythagoras's maxim that 'man is the measure of all things' spells our subject tonight'the obviously worth while.' That is, that the effort to be worth while must be measured by man and subject to the conflicting influences that affect men's minds. Being human and with human physical attributes, we are having our mental conclusions shaped and molded unknowingly for us. That which, then, treating man's mind objectively, is obviously worth while must be the act or effort that will be least influenced in the mental operation of the recipients. I think that now we have laid a foundation of philosophy in advertising or in fact any selling." All was lost! Those who had clung to the last thread of hope gave way. The smoke of battle slowly lifted, and, as mute testimony to the awful ravages that had been made, were the scattered victims-those who had once been the pride and glory of their city-the elite of Detroit's Advertising Men. Mr. ARTHUR BOURCHIER One of London's Leading Actor-Managers, whose powerful MR. BOURCHIER recently entrusted the execution of his order for Pyjamas, worn by him in his production of "A Man in the Case," to Messrs. Turnbull & Asser The Pyjamas were made of specially-woven Hand-made Spitalfields Silk, and were greatly admired for their richness of lustre The silk is now stocked in various shades by TURNBULL & ASSER, HOSIERS and SHIRT TAILORS 71 & 72, Jermyn Street, St. James's, London, S. W. at whose store a charming collection of high-grade goods is to be found. Mr. Arthur Bourchier-who is evidently the pink pajama man of the other side-beg pardon again-pyjama man-is evidently some chooser when it comes to pyjamas. He has had turned out for him a pair (or suit, or whatever you call the combination) of "specially woven hand made Spitalfields silk" which were greatly admired for their richness and lustre. The Harpoonist hopes that he is not saying anything to precipitate an international outbreak when he remarks, in a stage aside, that, the saints be praised, we order things differently over here. And when on occasion an actor has to wear "pajams"-he wears them and that's all there is to it. But there's no rushing into the public prints with detailed references to one's intimate garments. No published reports of the admiration which they invite. the Harpoonist may have gotten this thing wrong. If he has, he begs everybody's pardon. But if this store is really cleaning out its human-as well as other-merchandise-and you have objections on this score-you are invited to Tell it to Sweeney. Here's a charming little thing portraying Aunt Pansy with her pipestems and her polka dots encased in a pair of J. & K. Pumps-one of which is four sizes larger than the other. Aunt Pansy's idea of having a royal time seems to be to put her feet on top of a soda water table and yip. Copy like this is a terrific set-back to the good men of the fraternity who insist that advertising is growing better every day, and that more intelligence is being used in the preparation of ads. Aunt Pansy should be retired from public gaze at the earliest opportunity. Another classic comes from St. Louis. And really it's a shame. For the Harpoonist has accompanying reproduction of the top of a double spread of The Sweeney Co., which lately appeared in the Buffalo Courier. Apparently weary of attempting to dispose of ordinary merchandise, The Sweeney Co. has determined-as a last resort-to put its employes upon the block and knock them down to the highest bidder. Just as an example of the sort of commodities offered a row of half-tone portraits is stretched across the top: "The array suggests but few of the specials placed for Monday, April 27th." We are informed that reserved lots are being brought forward, and reinforcements made all along the line. New arrivals, increased facilities are in every section, and the second week will present equally as attractive opportunities for saving as were offered the first week of the sale. Of course being a somewhat hasty reader, friends in St. Louis, and he hates to see anything like this that reflects upon the fair name of the city. Yet somebody spent money-real United States currency-to have this atrocious Symmonds Register Co. advertisement prepared, and to flaunt in the face of a much-abused public the statement that "Any jackass can operate a Symmonds Register." There are many advertisements that are silly and childish. Just foolish ads that don't do any special harm-if you don't call wasting good money harm. But here's an ad that is the simple quintes sence of badness. It's so bad it's downright offensive. And if the Harpoonist were running a publication, no matter if it circulated only among degenerates, the Symmonds Register Co. couldn't pry this copy into the forms with a crowbar! When he came to do this, however, he suddenly found he was absolutely in doubt as to whether the tea advertised was Lipton's or Ridgeway's. Now the question is, was this good advertising? It was clever. But it had the objection common to all ads which are superficially clever. It was too clever. In thinking about the idea, the identity of the product was forgotten. It's hard to tell why the Lowney's ad was remembered as a Lowney ad, while the tea ad was remembered simply as a clever saying. Perhaps the stronger display of the Lowney name-the bright colors in which the card was printed-had the effect of burning the name into the reader's mind. But so far as selling tea is concerned, the other card might as well have been a blank in this particular case. The big thing in an advertisement, as it strikes the Harpoonist, is to make it carry so much of the individuality of the product that it cannot be lost sight of. A catch phrase which doesn't tie up is not a good catch phrase. On the other hand, think of the patness, the rememberableness, of expressions like "See that hump?" as used in the De Long Hook and Eye ads. No chance for any one forgetting the connection there! "You press the but ton, we do the rest," would not be thought of in any other connection but with the Kodak. Too many advertisers are idea mad. They want something startling, different, unique. And when they get it they usually have a poorer piece of copy, from the true salesmanship point of view, than if their advertisement were simply worded with sincere and truthful talk. Back in your great-great-grandfather's day |