The billboard (Jan-June 1899)

f. 1 THE BILLBOARD I 1 * I Competition vs. Good Service. My attention was recently called to a sheet- let published in Cleveland. O-, in which con- siderable Epace is devoted to me, and while it may be the intention to give me some free advertising, and "jolly" me along a little, I can not believe that it amounts to anything. or I should have patronized its columns pre- vious to this, as I am always ready and will- ing to buy advertising space in any journal which will possibly benefit my line of■ busi- ness. I believe £ am competent to judge, and will say that there Is but one journal that is published to benefit men who make a busi- ness of distribntinp. and that journal is "The Billboard." The sheetlet mentioned above is gotten out solely for the benefit of its pub- lisher, and In order to further his schemes of obtaining commiEsions and hard earned ' dollars from unsuspecting men throughout the country, selling canvas bags, "lists," etc. Mr. Molton is stirring up considerable no- ; toriety and making quite a display of the poor service rendered by his representative (Tf in. this city, and even goes as far as to insinuate that M cesx-s. Morrow & Co. are not as capable of conducting their business as are Drs. Kennedy & Kergan. Messrs. Mor- row & Co.'s representative was here In per- son, and I feel very confident that they are far more capable of handling their own ad- vertisingmatter than Mr. Molton is. As to Drs. Kennedy and Kergan. I will quote just a line or two of their letter to me. under date of March 18th. They say: "If Molton's i^pre5entative in your city had good common sense he,would obtain treatment from Drs. Kennedy & Kergan, and rid himself of the ailment which prevents him from personally doing or overseeing his work." They also p droit that they have no doubt but that my work would have brought them far better re- EUltS- Such work as was done here for Drs. K. & K. could" have been done for 50 cents per 1.000. and then the distributor would have made money. But we have never been guilty cf such service, and through our refusals Molton's occasional natrons and Drs. K. & K. have suffered at the hands of a man who must employ little beys to do the work in order to save enough for a living himself. This same man, while in my office recently, openly admitted- that he did not know how iroEt of the Kennedy & Kergan work had lK-en done; as he was constantly troubled with the asthma, and was physically unable to be out with the boys much of the time. This statement was made in the presence of lady stenographer and myself. Yet this man is recommended and "endorsed" by Mr. Mol- ten. And Mr. Molton also believes that I am "trying to prevent a conmetitor (?) from liv- ing." because I will persist in reporting bad work when such comes to my notice. It seems from bis statements that Mr. Mol- ten "carried sacks" many years ago. when this country was very sparsely settled, and says he now bases his estimates on his for- mer experience. So far behind the times; wake up Mr. Molton I No wonder'he believes the present modern advertiser should be sat- isfied with Eervice that has long since be- come a thing of the past. No wonder he compelled his men to wear "long linen dust- ers, with ads- on the back," who, by the wpy. must have appeared like so many circus clowns or people out doing the "Rube" act; and with Mr. Molton following up in the rear as the main "Rube" of the push. Or. I wonder if Mr. Molton could have been in- deed: to don one of the silly outfits which he fepd Ws men wear. And Mr. Molton invites r'istributors frcm other cities to spend a week in his city and inspect the above system of retributing. At this. late date who is the _ man (excepting Molton) who would want to go bark; to-tbe days when this country was EDareeljr settled, when men wore clown out- run, and employers paid their "hustling. " faithful distributors" $1.25 per day for $1.20 ■■■ worth of work actually distributed. I will {' pet praiEe my own system; others do that. : In* conriusion, I wi5h to state that I hare no f conr*petitoryf<'nly in -Mr. Molton's imagina- v ffen). PPd still continue to do all the business P in ; marline that comes this way, and at living ■■■■' prices for K guaranteed honest service. So T p-vb for Mr- Molton and his $1.50 service. K Will he "Go further?" GEO. W. VANSYCKLE. Geo* Altman* About eleven years Mr. Frederick Altman. C*ri«iT-bPs_ O:. aereedV to do the distributing frr C.; I- Hood & Co.. of Lowell, Mass. In 1892 the firm name of F. Altman & Son was oFtablifhed^ and bustling for more business began. For four years they did all the dis- : tributing themselves, but in the fall of 1896 belo was required, and has been ever since. Employment is now given to from four to eight men the year around. During 1897 they handled 565,000 pieces. Xn 1S98 they han- dled 925.000 pieces, and since January 1. 1899, ;over 475,000. A portrait of Mr. George Alt- man appears in our columns this issue. Pabst, of Milwaukee. Wis., and Warner's Safe Cure, ot Rochester. N- Y-„ are going to do considerable distributing this season. r<i. <~y/ 'i The badges which are to be worn by the delegates to the 1. A. of D. Convention here next month are very neat and appropriate, and reflect the good taste and judgment of the officials of the association. In the center appears the well-known figure used on the I. A. of D. letter heads, and above in a semi- circle the words International Association of Distributors. The figure and lettering are clear cut and show exceedingly good work- manship, and no doubt the buttons will be kept as a lasting souvenir of the good time which every one who attends the convention is sure to find. Who 'Tis Items. J. B. McCoimon, of Dayton, O., has dis- posed of his barber business and will now give his entire time and attention to dis- tributing. Mr. McConnon says he owes much of his success to being a member of the I. A. D. A very wise inspector some time ago stated to a well known distributor that he could successfully manage and look after thirty distributors single handed and alone. Of course, the distributor referred to laughed at him. Not long since this very wise inspector (distributors should thank their lucky stars that there is only one) had charge of Fix dis- tributors. They were sampling, ringing the bell and handing the samples In. I know of one family that received six samples, one from each distributor that this very wise In- spector had charge of. I wonder what his employer would say if he knew how well this man manages six distributors in the place of thirty. Probably six men is too small a bunch for this very wise inspector to man- age. It Is a very fortunate thing for the local distributor that there is only one man known of in the country who thinks he can manage a crew of thirty. When I was In- terested in the distributing business from four to six men was considered all one man could possibly look after successfully. Of course, there are exceptions to all rules, and it may be possible that the gentleman re- GEO. ALTMAN, Of F. Altman & Son, Distributors, Columbus, Ohio. Mr. S. J. Burgess, the I. A. of D. member at Pontiac, Mich., reports that although his competitors are putting out matter at 50 cents per .thousand less than bis prices, yet he has all the work he can do. Is this not a practical proof of the value of being a mem- ber of that association? Our distributors* directory is growing every day. "If your name and address are- not found in It you had better "get in the game." "We are very pleased to hear that John H. Jones, the I. A .of D- member at Baltimore, is now rapidly recovering after quite a siege at John Hopkins Hospital. He expects to be out again about June I. ■ M. N. Anderson, of Richmond. Va.. says that one sees very little advertising matter distributed there, and he knows of only one firm doing posting and distributing. Rich- mond and the 'suburban 7 towns and villages have a combined population of 123,000., He thinks this field an inviting one, and Is going to enter It as a distributor. We nave recom- mended that he Join the I. A. of D. if pos- sible. : ; .^: / ' How "Is:this for a 'bouquet? G. R. Gar- rett, of Sparta, Wis., says: "The Billboard" is the distributors anchor and I have tied to it- It -will be my paper as long as I am in this line. Tt is all and more than I ever had reason to look for: its information is up to date and can be relied upon, and no one can . be without it and expect to do business. ferred to can manage thirty men. If he can he is entitled to a large salary. Some of the readers of "The Billboard" will recognize the gentleman by the description. "We can not say too much In favor of the association and its advantages. May it live long and prosper. SMITH & LEITH. "Van Wert. O." "I would not exchange my membership in the I. A. D. for many times what it cost me. "J. G. SCHAPFER, Atchison. Kan." The above are abstracts from letters re- ceived from members by the Secretary of the I. A. D. The following from advertisers. Any one wishing to see the originals can do so by calling on the Secretary. "Dear Sir—We would like to secure the names of good, reliable distributors at each county, seat and towns of a population of 500 and over in the States of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky. Would like to have men who. belong to the association and whose services you could guarantee. Yours truly, NEW SPENCER MED. CO.. "Chattanooga, Tenn." "Dear Sir—Yours of March 27 to hand and will say: I shall be pleased to employ your services Just as soon as we get Into Ohio In the meantime, will favor your men all I can, as I find most of them are reliable men i? n /?. u adv ' se _ m e of a good man at Gelena. Vandalia and Kiqmundy, 111. I shall be very much pleased to receive your monthly re- vised list of members. Wishing you success I remain, JOHN J. MAGINNIS " "Mgr. Aurora Med. Co., Aurora, Ind'"' "Dear Sir—Who can you recommend in Erie, Pa.7 Yours . JONES ADV. CO, "Cleveland, 6." Jas. L. Hill, Nashville, Tenn., is reported as being a very busy man. He has on hand at present work from the following Arms- Hamlin Wizard Oil Company, tin signs- Dr Shoop, 25.000 books; Lydla Pinkham Com- pany, 25,000 books: Dr. Chase Company 25. 000 books; Pabst Brewing Company, 25,odo books: Thatcher Medicine Company, 25000 samples; Southern Manufacturing Company 25.000 samples; R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Com- pany, signs. Besides considerable local work and very good prospects for several other large contracts. W. H. Case, Soliciting Secretary of the I A. D., reports that several large firms have promised to use the I. A. D. list wherever possible. He also states that he is working very hard and with good prospects of secur- ing the patronage of several other firms (or the I. A. D. Shoop books are being distributed in the southern part ot Omaha by little boys. This is distributors' weather in every sense of the word, and advertisers will get the best of service, as about one-half of the matter can now be put on the inside ot the house without extra trouble to the distributor. In fact, it is easier to throw the paper into the windows than It is to get it under the door or stick It between the door and doorjamb. Distributors will also gain time and secure paper nicely by opening the screen door and dropping the paper between the screen door and door proper. Without a doubt the many members of the I. A. D. will learn with regret that Mr. Douglas, First Vice President of the associa- tion, has resigned bis office and membership with the above named organization. Mr. Douglas sold out his bill posting and dis- tributing plant at Memphis, then sent In his resignation to the Secretary, who promptly forwarded the same to the President, who. In turn, accepted It with regrets. Mr. Doug- las is still a stanch friend of the association. In sending in his resignation be stated that should he again engage in the distributing - business, one of the first things he would do would be to apply for membership with the "old stand-by." The officers of the I. A. D. and many friends ot Mr. Douglas extend their hearty good wishes for his success in anything he may undertake. This has been the busiest season that the Steinbrenner Distributing Service has ever experienced. They had on hand on May 1st nearly 400,000 pieces for house-to-house dis- tribution. This agency lacks but two or three firms of having full control of all the advertising matter placed with local distrib- utors in the Queen City. Mr. and Mrs. E. G. Fischer, of Omaha, Neb., were well acquainted with Wm. R»- dam. the inventor of "Radam's Microbe Rem- edy." when he ran a floral nursery in Austin. Tex., in the early '80's. Every distributor, whether a member or not. should endeavor to be present at the coming convention of the I. A. D., as every effort will be made to get together all the large advertisers and distributors, and much good will result from the meeting. Adver- tisers will have an opportunity to give their views on distributing. DlstrHrators can MI their littie troubles without reserve. In tbis way there will be a much better understand- ing established between the two classes. G. IS. Fischer, of Omaha, has resigned his position with the O. F. Davis Co.. where he has been for fifteen years, and will in future devote all his time to the management of Fischer's Distributing Agency. Cincinnati is a great amusement city. It has borne this reputation for many years among commercial travelers. They all like to Sunday in Cincinnati. Delegates attend- ing the convention will not lack for amuse- ment- Everything will be done to make their visit one of pleasure as well as profit. . Radam Microbe Co.'s books were put out by an Omaha drug firm. They were twisted up and thrown from the sidewalks. That kind of work will not result in much benefit to the company. The question has often occurred to me. Does it pay advertisers to send advertising matter, outside ot almanacs and wrapping paper, to the druggists? I know the wrap- ping paper Is appreciated, so are the alma- nacs by a good number of druggists: others do not want the almanacs, and will throw mem awayor waste them. Very few druggists ever have advertising matter distributed. They leave It on the counters for people to help themselves. Quite frequently children carry them off by handfuls. As I have occa- sion to call on the drugglBts* quite often I make Inquiries along this line. The other day one or them stated to me that he had received some very neat booklets from two different firms. On one ot the booklets was the line: "No more doctors; doctor your- self." The party referred to stated that he took the two lots of booklets and deetroyd them. I asked him bis reason for doing this and his reply was: "I make more money on compounding physicians' prescriptions than I do on proprietary at tides; therefore. I have to cater to the physician. Doctors do not like patent medicines. If they find out th"t I am advertising patent medicines they will send their prescriptions elsewhere: coi'S-- quently. I wilt be the loser." H<- furth-r stated that he did not understand why man- ufacturers of proprietary articles did not ship all their matter to the distributors, and M them take care of that portion of the busi- ness. Said he always received results when a distribution was made in bis locality, and often had calls for the remedy before the distributor reached his store. THE BILLBOARD Mr. J. N. Jaros, resident partner of Mnr- ianl & Co., Paris and New York, Is nuot<-d as saying: "I have a new booklet which will be the best one I have ever used. Following a custom long maintained. I shall print and distribute several million corles of this book per month, keeping many presses constantly at work. I regard this method of advertising effective, following uo th» newspaper, maga- zine and poster publicity." Try the Following Advertisers. J. F. Smith & Co., 201 39th street. New York City. Dr. Tutt Manufacturing Co., 140 Washing- ton street. New York City. Ponds Extract Co., 76 Fifth avenue. New York City. Jones Advertising Co., 19 Lucerne avenue, Cleveland, O. Geo. D. Feidt & Co., 604 Arch street, Phila- delphia, Pa. The New Era Solvent Co., Newark, N. J. Wlnkelman & Brown Drug Co.. Baltimore, Md. Hobt. N. Harper, 609 Pennsylvania avenue, Washington. D. C. Dayton Medical and Surgical Institute, Dayton, O. Pabst Chemical Co., 176 E. Huron street, Chicago. III. Vi-Tai Chemical Co., 165 Dearborn street. Chicago. 111. Baker-Levy Cbemlcal Co., 209 State street, Chicago, 111. J. H. Zeilen & Co., Philadelphia. Pa. B. J. Kendall & Co.. Bnosburg Falls. Vt. G. Mennen Chemical Co.. Newark. N. J. L. Gerstle ft Co., Chattanooga. Tenn. J. H. Schenck ft Son, Philadelphia, Pa. The Georgia Remedy Co., Covington, Ga. W. W. Dill Co., Norriatown, Pa. Palne's Celery Compound Co. Lydia E. Pinkham, Lynn, Mass. India Washing Compound. Columbus. O. Chattanooga Medical Co..Cnattanooga.Tenn. Cbas. Vogeler ft Co., 300 Lombard street, Ba Itimore. Md. Brown Medical Co.. Erie Office, 21 Park Row: St. Louis, 905 Olive street Klein ft French. Philadelphia. Pa. J. C. Ayers ft Co.. Lowell. Mass. Wizard Oil, 21 LaSalle street, Chicago, 111. Dr. Scboop, Racine. Wis. Wells-Richardson Co., Burlington, Vt, Dow. Jones ft Co., 44 Broad street. New York City. J. N. brant ft Co., Albion. Mich. The J. B. Ford Co.. Wyandotte. Mich. Chas. B. Knox, Johnstown. N. Y. The Novita Co.. Atlanta. Ga. Meade ft Baker, Richmond. Va. Murray ft Lamman. New York City. Warner Sate Co.. Rochester. N. Y. D. Kennedy Co., Dondout, N. Y. California Fig Syrup Co., 123 Liberty street. New York City. - C. I. Hood. Lowell. Mass. B. H. Bacon. Rochester. N. Y. S. B. Goff. Camden. N. J. Dr. Burkhardt. Cincinnati. O. Humphrey's Remedies, New York City. Boston Medical Institute. Williams Bros., manufacturers of Nine O'clock Washing Tea, Indianapolis. Ind. Norman Lechty. Des Moines, Iowa. Dr. Chase. Philadelphia. Pa. Kennedy & Kergan. Detroit. Mich. Dr. Miles. Elkhart. Ind. Dr. Kilmer ft Co., Blnghampton, N. Y. Elastic Starch Co.. New Haven. Conn. Pabst Brewing Co.. Milwaukee. Wis. G. C. Bittner Co.. Toledo. O. Of Interest to Distributors. Cincinnati. O.. May 20. 1S99. Editor "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—I believe if you will publish the correspondence which is herewith enclosed it will bring out the opinions of advertisers and distributors as to whether we or the firm with whom we had the correspondence is correct. We invite the criticism of adver- tisers and distributors. Yours very truly. W. H. STEINBRENNER. Manager Steinbrenner Dist. Service. wr u o. . ,. Chicago, 111., May 12, 1899. w - H. Steinbrenner, Cincinnati, O.: ».™ r .K Slr ~ 1 am 3ust ln receipt of a letter ?in m i„?.? y £. un S man wno "Presents me in Clnclnati. He has sent me the memorandum wh ch you gave him. which shows that it will take 75.000 samples for Cincinnati and Si iSf •L"; In „* book Published by the Felster J^M'shlng Co.. of Philadelphia, they give S e «rj 0ta T. n , umDer of nome » ln Clnclnantl aa «.4S7. It has been my custom to distribute fhi"{. m ,^ r *?' ""P'es equal to two-thirds of the houses in each city. I have made mj es- i im . atlon . ,ron ? the e««mate given In this L^M«« 0 . r . d J. n ? to , tn ! B , «"°>«'e it would take 22.000 samples for Cincinnati. I do not ?,.!?. have ray samples distributed In the business portion of the city. I do not want any of them left In any'store™ boarding- houses or hotels; but I wish them put in the very best resident portions of the city My samples weigh one ounce, and each 5 amp .if }? put ln » n envelope, i had these distributions made In Baltimore. Philadel- phia. St. Louis, and in fact nearly all of the large cities at $1.75 per 1.000and I see nS .reason why you should want more. If you are willing to do this work for $1.78 per 1000 I would be glad to have you furnish me with a statement of Just what section ot the c ty 22.000 samples would cover. Awaiting your early reply. I remain. Yours verv truly, (Signed) „. Cincinnati, O., May 17, 1899. "{• Chicago III.- nf . a I ?o. r r In re J? ly t0 ? our eneemed favor of the 12th. we beg to Inform you that we Sf v * . n . ot . oyer-estlmated the number of sam- Pl „ e .f J hat " *»»" t»*e to cover Cincinnati and the suburbs north of the Ohio River we can now reach all surrounding villages Including everything on the list we handed your representative. ».- R ? 8 *rdI 1 n «LPopulation of Cincinnati given In £? oi,W! h f d by the pe,8ter Publishing Co.. of Philadelphia, we will say: We are well aWa » e i«» na !; '."??. *'ve the number of homes at 33.487 but they did not Include the sub- r^.L a S d . v, "i Be *, that we mention on our route sheet. 22 000 pieces will cover the best residences on Walnut Hills. Mt. Adams. Mt. Auburn Corryvlle. Clifton Heights. Avon- d . B iS..' nd Cummlnsvllle. also the following Part ot the city which contain some of the best residences: West Fourth, part of West Sixth, West Seventh, West Eighth, West Nlntb, West Court. Richmond, York, Dayton, a portion of Findlay and some residences ad- jacent to the above-named localities. Your representative stated that he wanted us to ring the bell and hand the sample to some adult person—no children—and that if we found no one at home, or they did not answer the bell, we were not to leave a sam- ple. By mistake we named $3.00 as our price, when It should have been $5.00 per 1,000. and 33.00 per 1.000 when we work the entire city, including the suburbs. If the distributors in the cities you name gave you this class of service at $1.75 per 1,000, there must be some- thing wrong. Either they •slighted your work Ebamerully or did not put out more than one-fourth of the samples, and have reserved the balance for their own private use. When an advertiser asks a distributor to do work for about one-half what it actually costs him to pay his help on such work, he can not expect anything else but a dishonest deal, if said distributor accepts bis terms. Advertis- ers should know by tbis time, and we believe most of them do, that they must pay a price whereby a distributor can make good, fair wages, and I mean mechanics'.' not laborers' wages, if they want a good, honest service— a guaranteed service. We are not in the distributing business for pleasure or glory. We are in it for just the same reason that you are in the soap busi- ness. We are after the "almighty dollar." The distributor must make enough during the busy season to live at least two months in the summer without doing any business. You may think be could work at something else in the meantime. We beg to differ with you on that point. Advertisers expect him to be ready to work at any and all times; conse- quently, he must give the business his entire time and attention, hence, can not accept em- ployment from any other source. The dis- tributing business is not boys' work, neither can it be conducted by any happy-go-lucky fellow. The advertiser of today wants his work placed properly. He does not want a shiftless man to take charge of it. He wants a conscientious, honest and intelligent per- son, especially ln the large cities. We do not suppose we will get any of your distributing. Our price is too high. We might accept your proposition and waste, de- stroy or keep your samples, and after a rea- sonable length of time present our bill, which you would pay and be none the wiser, think- ing you had struck a bargain: but we are not doing business that way. What we agree to do we will live up to, even If it is a bad contract and we lost money thereon. We are not in the business for a day. We expect to stay in it. We are giving such a service in Cincinnati that it will only be a matter of time until we will do all the distributing that is done here; but we must have our price. On the other hand, if you keep looking for cheap distributors, what will you gain by it? You will never obtain the results you should out of your samples. The distributing will be dear even at $1.00 per 1,000. Why? Be- cause your samples will be wasted. Just stop to figure. How many samples can you put out in the manner your representative stated he wanted the work done? Can you put out over 300 in ten hours? Just consider, you would have to average one sample every two minutes to do this in a day! We will now conclude by saying that we offered to do your work at $3.00 per 1,000 through, a mistake, as stated before. Our price Is $5.00. and. as you have given us the opportunity, we will change it. If you want us to do the work, that is our price. Believe us to be. Yours very respectfully. STEINBRENNER DIST. SERVICE. Chicago, 111.. May 16, 18S9. Steinbrenner Dist. Service, Cincinanti, O.: Dear Sirs—Yours of the 15th at hand and contents carefully noted. I am surprised that you should insinuate that the distributors who. have been doing my work are all dishonest. I have, in almost every case, employed distributors wiio belong to the same association which you belong to. The distributors who have been doing my work have as good a reputation for honesty as you have; therefore. I am surprised that you, as a business man. should insinuate that these people are dishonest, merely be- cause you wish to charge more for your work than they do for the same class of work. In all of the large cities where I have had any distributing done I have had a representative to watch this work closely, and will say that, with one exception, that my work has been done in a most satisfactory way. I am sorry that you can not see your way clear to do this work for me, but I do not think I will have any trouble in having this work done properly at the price I am willing to pay for it. Yours very truly, (Signed) : Cincinnati, O.. May 20, 1S99. - .....Chicago, III.: Dear Sir—Owing to the pressure of business it has been impossible for me to reply earlier to your favor of the 16th. I am at a loss to understand how any dis- tributor could do your work and do it hon- estly at $1.75 per 1,000, unless they lost money . by the transaction. If you have obtained dis- tributions at those figures, and gotten an honest service, you have indeed been fortu- nate. I, however, predict that the distribu- tors who did ycur work and gave an honest service are not willing to accept anymore • at the same price. They may have made a mistake in estimating the number of pieces and amount they would be able to place ac- cording to your instructions; hence, accepted your proposition, or made you the $1.75 rate. Another thing, they must have been distrib- utors df very limited experience, or they would have known better than to take work at those figures. Here is where the old prov- erb, "Experience is the best teacher," comes in, and they will know better the next time. You say that in almost every case you em- ployed distributors who belonged to the same ' association I do. Are you not mistaken? Do you refer to the International Association of Distributors, or some of the would-be "Ad- vertising Bureaus," "Agencies," etc.? There is only one association of distributors, and that is the International. I am very curious to know who these members are. Will you be kind enough to furnish me with their names? Enclosed you will find a list of our members, and I shall be pleased to furnish you with a revised list every month, if you so desire. Kindly look over the list and see how many of our representatives did your distributing. I should feel very sorry indeed if our members are doing work at such fig- ures. They ought to know better. I note that you say that your representa- tive watched the work very closely. I con- gratulate you on securing the good service j-GU did for so little money. You were the gainer and the poor distributor the loser. In my former letter I gave you a fair estimate of what a distributor can do, and do it hon- estly, in a day. The number was 300 samples in ten hours, or an average or one sample every two minutes; and at the price I quoted. $5.00 per 1.000, a man would earn but $1.50 per day, working at the hardest kind of work. Besides, the man who actually does the work would not get all of that, as the Agency that handles the work must have a profit, as they have expenses to pay. and must give their entire time and attention to the service. They must inspect or superin- tend the work. They must also solicit and secure the contracts; hence, are entitled to a fair profit the same as any other legitimate business man. Now, honestly, would you want or ask any one to do your work at a financial loss? Are you not willing to ac- knowledge that if any one is entitled to a fair recompense for his labor, it is the man who is doing his utmost to give the adver- tisers an honest service in house-to-house distributing? Advertisers to a great extent entrust many thousands of dollars annually to the care of the distributing agencies in the various cities of. the United States Therefore, if these men take care ot the ad- vertiser s interest the same as their Own they certainly are entitled to at least fair pay. On the other hand, if an agency proves unworthy of the trust placed in them by the advertiser, it would be better if the matter that is shipped them were thrown in the fur- nace at the laboratory or works, as it would save the price of the printing, freight, cart- age and distributing. Then the advertiser would know that he had nothing to expect from the territory; hence, would use some other method to introduce his goods and keeD them before the public. • i do not want you to ""ink that we feel independent of your patronage; in fact we need every dollar's worth of work we can get to exist. We are looking for new busi- ness, and more of it. We are spending con- siderable money in our correspondence and the printing of our advertising matter. We try to please every patron we get, and have every reason to believe that we are succeed- ing, as we have never lost a customer, but have steadily gained new ones. We want to do your work. We want to give you a good service, but we must be paid a price on which we can make a living profit. If we can not get it from you. and other advertisers do not appreciate our service enough to patronize us. we would "fold our tent." and make our living at something else. \Ve do not want you to feel offended at anything we have said. Our intentions are good; and to show you that we are right, we w i'i p V, b !!S D your letters and our replies in The Billboard." Of course, we will with- hold your name. Our object in publishing same will be to get the general opinion of distributors and advertisers on this matter of price. Thanking you for the attention you have given us, and trusting that some day you will realize that a distributor is entitled to a fair living price for a good, honest service believe us to be. Yours very respectfully, W. H. STEINBRENNER. Manager Steinbrenner's Dist. Service. Joseph S. Aiford, of Atlanfa, Ga., says that a very large amount of matter is being dis- tributed in that city this season. He has just finished distributing 15,000 booklets for W. T. Hanson & Co.. Philadelphia, and 20.- 000 for C. I. Hood & Co.. Lowell. Mass The Glasgow Woolen Mills, which have a branch store in Cincinnati, have been using a novelty in advertising which has attracted considerable notice, and we hope good re- turns. An expert bicycle rider, dressed in a bicycle suit of the black and red plaid which this firm has adopted for their trade mark, rides a bicycle at least ten feet high, performing numerous tricks. To many, the most interesting feat being mounting and dismounting, which he does as easily as if it were of ordinary size. When not in use it stands in front of their store, and attracts equally large crowds. Glimpse of Columbus, O. Fait Grounds. Showing Art Gallery, woman's Building and Part of Main Building.