The billboard (July-Dec 1895)

i 111 *| I* 8 BILLBOARD ADVERTISING is the Official Organ of the PENNSYLVANIA Bill Posters' Association. Billboard fldverti5ii)4 PUBLISHED MONTHX.V AT 127 East Eighth Street, Cincinnati, O., IT. S. A. EY BIUBOARO ADVERTISING CO, JAMES H. HENNEGAN, Manager. Subscription, Jijoo rer Year, In Advance. ADVERTISING RATES: Advertisements will be published at the uni- form late of twenty-five cents per agate line, except in the classified columns, where special rates prevail. Our terms are cash. BillboardAdvertising- is sold in London at Low's Exchange, gr Charing- Cross, and at American Advertising-Newspaper Agency. Trafalgar Build- ings, Northumberland Ave, W. C. In Paris, at Bretano's, it Avenue del Opera. The Trade sup- fHe&byalltivews Companies, Remittance should be made by cheque, post-office or express money order, or registered letter. The Editor cannot unaertakctOTcturmtnsoliciUd manuscript. Irnentt is-necessary to mire us the instructions and copy for advertisements, great saving in the matter oftelegraph tolls may be had by recourse to tkeDonaldsoK Cipher. Entered^ as Second-Class Sfatter,at the Cincinnati, Ohio, Fast Office, June 29th, 1895. The kind of advertising that pays is persistent and judicious advertising. Take \ your readers into your confidence. Talk to them in your advertisements as you -would to an intimate acquaintance in whom you are greatly interested. Be ex- plicit, terse and brief. Avoid pleonasm, grandiloquence, bombast or redundancy. Use your own every-day vocabulary, and you will get a genuine ring to your an- nouncements that will be convincing. Then drive it home by constant repetition. Here is the grand secret of successful ad- vertising—" keeping at it." It is only in line upon line, precept upon precept, that children are ever taught.. It does not suf- fice that they be told a thing once or twice. It must be repeated and explained many times before the object aimed at is attained. And so it is with the public and the advertiser. He must tell the same story over and over, conch it in new lan- guage and explain it again and again. He is justified in resorting to tautology, for in no other manner can he impress his story upon the public mind. .». '", OF the three arch enemies of the bill poster—the publisher, the prude, and the disciple of aestheticism—the latter is the least tenable in his premises and argu- ments. The sole burden of his plaint is that the billboards are unsightly and in- artistic. Without granting this, even for the sake of argument, we would like to ask these fervid worshippers at the shrine of Art, if they can conceive of anything less artistic than a picture gallery. If the bill boards are to be abolished upon these grounds then in simple justice will not the exhibitions have to go with them, and while we are about it let us include the monotonous rows upon rows of shops and stores which line our thoroughfares. In- deed these latter present infinitely less variety than the bill boards and should be taken up first. A proper regard for these feeling of these sickly sentimentalists would necessitate the doing away with of all trade and commerce. • • • The Bill Poster, our English contem- porary, for August, is fraught with much that is interesting to members of the craft on this side of the water. Among the many articles worthy of perusal, the ac- count of the annual convention of British bill posters, held in July last, will proba- bly be found to be the most interesting. The strong resemblance and marked dis- similarity with which their proceedings compare with those of their American cousins is, to say the least, remarkable. One need not read far before discovering that in one respect at least their assocra- tion diners radically from ours. The fundamental principle underlying their organization secures to each and every member of the craft the right of affiliation and the privileges and rights of member- ship. We discover, too, that in the past they were organized on the basis of the American association, and we also learn that the association was a complete failure. In London there are eight bill posting firms, all competing with one another, yet all members of the association. It will be seen that the English association is in- terested in advancing the interests of the craft at large. The American association cares for no one outside of its own mem- bers. .•* The lines upon which our English fel- low-craftsmen are organized are broader and better than ours. There is food for thought here for those leading members of the association in America, who have its best interests at heart. Selfishness and intolerance are too poor a foundation upon which to rear an edifice or organization which shall be either lasting or imposing. Attempts to crush out opposition by de- barring opponents from membership have invariably been signal failures, and what is more to the point, they will continue to be fully as futile in the future as they have been in the past. Competition is the life of trade, and eventually bill posters will come to appreciate the truth of the old saw, but it will only be when their ranks have been pervaded with the spirit of lib- erality, when their views are broadened and they realize that the surest means of helping the individual is in advancing the interests of the craft at large. Sooner or later this matter is bound to become an issue. Why not take it up at once? We fully realize that at present our attitude will not be popular, but, popu- lar or not, we feel sure, we know, that it will eventually be demonstrated that we are right. • • We venture the prophecy that within twelve months from this writing the ad- vertisers of America will witness the com- plete organization of the International Distributers' Association. We predict that before that time this vigorous young body will have representatives in every county in the United States and every province and parish in Canada. Its growth has been slow up to this time, but it has been sound and healthy. Nothing has been assimilated but what would make strong sturdy fibre, and as a consequence the organization now finds itself in a position to reach out and extend its membership with impunity. It is no easy matter to unite with this association. Applicants are rigorously examineed, and if found wanting in a single requirement are refused membership. If any member proves derelict or dishonest, all the other members are immediately assessed and the funds realized are applied to the re-im- bursement of the'advertiser for the loss sustained and the prosecution of the offending member. Many other features of the constitution are admirable and will quickly win the confidence of advertisers at large. • • Less than one-fourth of the usual num- ber of fairs in the South will be held this season. All the important ones have given way to the Cotton States and International Exposition. This courtesy-to the gentle- men who promoted the big show at At- lanta is peculiar to the South. No such fine feeling prevailed in the north toward the World's Fair. Many managers of fairs in the smaller towns not only refused to pass their dates in favor of the Columbian Exposition, but utilized every means at their command to belittle and discredit the grand undertaking. Although sec- tional affability and complaisance have passed out of existence north of Mason and Dixon's line, it is gratifying to know- that the spark of courtesy still glows warmly in the sunny Southland. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. Grand Rapids, Mich., Sept. 19, 1895. Billboard Advertising : GENTLEMEN—Enclosed find good big fat money order for $10.00 to pay for the papers you sent me, and let me tell you this: every bill poster in the land ought to have you send the paper to the mer- chants in their respective cities: Since you sent the papers to the list I sent you, I have received the following orders through the influence of Billboard Advertising: Star Clothing House, 100 12-sheet stands; Grant Clothing House, 1500 1-sheets; Bodenstine Clothing Co., 500 sheets; Sam Bass, Hatter, 500 sheets; Union Tea Co., 250 sheets; Grant Coal Co., 500 sheets; Valley City Coal Co., 25 stands, 7x4; State Fair, 50 stands, 7x4; and this week will close contract with the Giant Clothing Co. for 500 sheets per month for twelve months. When the merchant starts to do posting, and you give him service he gets stuck on it and will continue to be a good customer for bill posters. Knowing the value of your paper, and the good it is doing throughout the land, I am at all times at your service to help the good work along. Remaining very repectfully yours, Geo. M. Leonard. I am looking for information, viz: I will in a short time erect twenty more large bill boards, and as I want to build them right, I take this method of asking the readers of that bright journal. Bill- board Advertising for advice. I would like to know the regulation height, and what kind of lumber is preferable, how to set the posts, in or above ground, and if the boards are nailed on lengthwise or up and down. All my bill boards have the posts from two to three feet in the ground, and in every case of a removal it is neces- sary to buy new posts on account of the old ones being decayed as far as they were in the ground. And about locations : ¥ Is the center of the city the best and most profitable to the advertiser and bill poster? Faithfully yours, L. E. TlEMANN. THE DONALDSON QUIDE. Bill posters everywhere should send for the prospectus of The Donaldson Guide. It will be to the bill boards what the American Newspaper Directory is to news- paperdom, namely an epitome of all there is to them. THE CHRIST/IAS SPECIAL. The designs for the cover of the Decem- ber number of Billboard Advertising are nearly completed. They will be exe- cuted in ten colors, and will undoubtedly be the handsomest of all the Christmas pa- pers. Profitable Advertising, though always eminently fair,- in discussing the merits of the bill boards, believes in the supremacy of the newspaper, and considers all other forms merely auxiliary. In Paris posters are subject to a govern- ment tax. White posters are reserved for official announcements, but a colored poster on white paper is permitted pro- vided two-thirds of its surface is covered by color of some sort.— Phme, London, Eng. Mural literature has a great advantage, over other propaganda. Like Wisdom, in the Book of Proverbs, the placard cries out aloud in the thoroughfares.— Review of Review*. Carlyle said that during the hot fever of the French revolution the newspapers pre- ferred the circulation which they obtained by means of posters to that obtained by ordinary methods. Will America follow the lead of Eng- land in the elections of 1896. If so, the walls will fairly groan under the burden of political posters. When a town is well billed your adver- tisement is omnipresent. It stands on the street corner; greets you from your neigh- bor's wall; yells at you from every fence, and forces itself upon your attention everywhere you wander. One can obtain more of that advertising value which accrues from repetition, out of posters in a single day, than can be had from a newspaper card in a year. Posters, well posted, keep the public posted regarding you and your wares. If you must use newspaper space buy that of a high-priced afternoon paper. Never, under any circumstances throw your money away on space in cheap-priced magazines. Posters yield double the return at half the cost of newspaper space. BILLBOARD ADVERTISING is the Official Organ of the MINNESOTA Bill Posters' Association. 9 PROCEEDINGS Of the Fifth Annual Convention of State Bill Posters' Association of Minnesota. The fifth annual meeting of the State Hill Posters' Association, of Minnesota, was held in the parlor of the Windsor Hotel, St. Paul, Tuesday, September 10th, 1S95, at 10 o'clock A.M., and was called to order by President L. N. Scott. The following officers were present:— L. N. Scott, President; M. Bresslauer, Vice-President; C. H. Griebel, Jr., Secre- tary and Treas. Reading of the minutes of last meeting dispensed with. Report of Secretary read and approved. The following named bill posters made application and were admitted to mem- bership :• W. R. Smith, Fergus Falls, Minn.; H. W. Ensign, Northfield, M inn.; A. W. Dennis, Grand Forks, N.D. President Scott recommended that every bill poster of the Association should sub- scribe for "Billboard Advertising." , Motion by President Scott: That "Bill- board Advertising," of Cincinnati, O., be appointed the official organ of the P. Walker, of Fargo, X. D., be allowed to include Morehead, Minn. Same fees and dues. Resolution was adopted by this Associa- tion to the effect that any advertiser ap- proaching any member of this Association offering less than schedule price and re- fusing to have his work done, that bill poster shall immediately notify the Presi- dent or Vice-President either by letter or wire. Election of officers for the year, Sept. io,* 1895, to Sept. 10, 1896. resulted as fol- lows : I.. X. Scott, St. Paul, Minn., Presi- dent; M. Bresslauer, Minneapolis, Minn., Vice-President; C. H. Griebel, Jr., Man- kato, Minn., Secretary and Treasurer. Executive Committee : H. W. Ensign, Northfield, Minn.; Henry Ludke.St.Peter, Minn.; F. J. Marsh, Duluth, Minn. Committee on New Membership : C. H. Griebel, Jr., Mankato, Minn.; F^.J.Marsh, Duluth, Minn.; C. P.Walker, Fargo, N.D. Resolved that the minutes of this meet- ing be printed and mailed to each mem- ber. Prices fixed by the Associated Associa- tion to be adopted by this Association, as follows : (3) cents per sheet for the first week, and two (2) cents per sheet for each additional week's showing. For one-sheets, unpro- tected, and scattered as chance may offer, (3) cents per sheet for the entire showing, which shall not be guaranteed for longer than fifteen days. For all towns of 50,000 population and under, on stand work, three (3) cents per sheet for the first week, two (2) cents per sheet for the second week, and one (1) cent per sheet for each additional week. For one-sheets, unprotected, and scattered as chance may offer, three (3) cents per sheet for the entire showing, which shall not be guaranteed for longer than fifteen days. For all circus or other show work of that nature, without regard to population. All work on protected boards, not less than fifteen (15) cents per running foot, or four (4) cents per sheet per week, for one month's showing. All three-sheets, single sheets and scattering work, not listed, at three (3) cents per sheet per week. The above scale of prices is not to pre- vent members from getting higher prices for boards, per foot or per sheet, if in the exigencies of business they may deem it MONTANA BILL POSTERS. The State Association Meets, Elects Officers, and Enjoys a Holiday. The annual meeting of the Montana State Bill Posters' Association, was held in Helena, Mont.. Friday, Sept. 13, 1895, at the Helena Bill Posting Company's office. Great Falls, Anaconda, Bozeman, Liv- ingston, Deer Lodge, Missoula, and Hel- ena were represented. The association was organized two years ago at Anaconda, and holds its' charter from the Associated Bill Posters' Associa- tion of the United States and Canada. The association is now in a flourishing condition, and starts out in its second year more encouraged than ever. The officers for the coming year are: Fred Kerth, of Butte, president; T.'H. Neely, of Great Falls, vice-president; C. A. Harnois, of Helena, secretary. Mr. Harnois was also elected contractor for the state and delegate to the A.B.P.A. meeting, to be held in Cleveland. Billboard Advertising was selected as official organ. No member can receive advertising mat- ter that has been given to the opposition, until the member receives the same amount as the opposition. After the meeting the delegates were entertained by Mr. Harnois at his home, and after a dinner, they visited the Broad- water, without which their visit to Helena would not have been complete. A vote of thanks was tendered Mr. Harnois and his sons for the entertainment provided the visiting delegates. The Largest Permanent Billboard in the World, Owned by Durkee & Callahan, Pittsfield, flass. Minnesota Bill Posters' Association. It is moved that the minutes of this present meeting shall be mailed by secre- tary. Motion by President Scott: Write to secretary of the Associated Association, asking him to quote the prices made at last meeting, Detroit, Mich., and all mem- bers to adopt those prices. Motion by M. Bresslauer : Secretary of Minnesota Bill Posters' Association notify the O. J. Gude Co. that all work for the State of Minnesota must be sent to Asso- ciation members only, and if any work is sent to opposition bill posters all members of this Association will refuse to do the work. Letter to be signed by the presi- dent and secretary. NEW BUSINESS. Moved and seconded that Mrs. V. C. Seward be appointed printer for ensuing year. . Secretary instructed to compile a printed card, giving names of cities, towns, popu- lation, and amount of work' that can be posted in each city or town. Motion bv Mr. Breslnuer: That Mr. C. For all cities of over 100,000 population on all local or commercial work, outside of circus posting. All stand work, con- stituting three sheets or over, and all three-sheets, at the rate of three (3) cents per sheet per week. This class of post- ing to be listed, protected arid renewed, without additional cost, when paper for that purpose is furnished by the adver- tiser. All stand work and three sheets, listed, protected and renewed, list of lo- cations to be furnished in advance, at four (4) cents per sheet per week. When lo- cations of boards are selected previous to consummation of contract, for same class of work as above, five (5) cents per sheet per week. All work to be posted without listing or renewal and known as " uncov- ered display," posting guaranteed not longer than one week, at from (3) to four (4) cents per sheet. Distributing of pam- phlets, circulars, newspapers, cards, and all work of that nature,' at not less than $1.50 per thousand. Distributing samples from house to house, not less than'$3.00 per thousand. For all cities of over 50,000 and under 100,000 population, on stand work, three Advertise yourself on your own boards. THE LARGEST BILLBOARD. The cut presented on this page is from a photograph sent to us by Callahan & Durkee, Pittsfield, Mass. The board is situated opposite the Union Depot on the line of the Boston and Albany R. R. It is 174 feet long, 26 feet high and holds 500 full sheets of paper. The cut we pre- sent showing the Barnum paper is pro- nounced by showmen as being simply im- mense. necessary to advance the same. Voted that E. A. Stahlbrodt, 621 Broad- way, N. Y;, C. Houghtaling, of the Na- tional Advertising Service, N. Y., and O. J. Gude Co., 93 Hudson Street, N. Y., be appointed agents for this Association, for the purpose of soliciting and contracting for work, and to adopt the Associated Association prices. . ; Invitations were extended by L. N. Scott, Manager Metropolitan, St. Paul and Grand, of Minneapolis; Geo. Kings- bury, of St. Paul Grand Opera House and Metropolitan of Minneapolis, and Theo. Hayes, of Bijou, Minneapolis, to the members of this Association to attend any performance during the Fair week. Motion: It is moved that the next annual meeting of the Minnesota State Bill Posters' Association be held at Min- neapolis, on Tuesday of State Fair week, 1S96, at 10 o'clock A. M. sharp. HOW TO KEEP PASTE. In answer to the request of the Mem- phis Bill Posting Co., in regard, to a for- mula to keep paste,would say, for posting purposes I use % lb. blue stone to fifty pounds of flour, and by keeping the sides of the barrel well scraped and the top level I find no trouble to keep paste for a month in the hottest weather. Too much blue stone discolors the paper. Paste that I sell to binderies and box factories I use %-\b. blue stone and j£-lb. alum to fifty pounds of flour. For an experiment I have tried %-fn~ silica acid and j£-lb. alum to fifty pounds of flour, well mixed and heavy. I kept this in a shed for two weeks and found it just as sweet as the day it was made. Paste made this way has the natural color. It is best to dissolve the acids and alum, and mix before adding flour. E. J- KEMPF, Sheboygan, Wis. A number of subscriptions expire with this issue. Subscribers will confer a favor by remitting promptly. Every bill poster should have BILL- BOARD Advertising sent to their local merchants. It don't cost much, and, if it only makes one convert, it will pay you.