Billboard advertising (Jan-June 1900)

r THE BILLBOARD Bill Posters DEPARTMENT -* | Salt Lake City Sayings. f To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sir:—Your paper is read quite ex- tensively in Salt Lake City and as a publicity ., . is one of the objects that we are after, a few I , items from this intermountain region may be II , acceptable. Salt Lake City has an altitude i of 4.200 feet, upon the earth's surface about ;as for south as Spain, and owing to the close iproxitnity of the Great Salt Lake the atmo- jl sphere is not dry and hot but moist and . t humid, making it one of the most delightful ; ;climates in the world.—But I am a billposter I land not a real estate agent and will confine ~ i myEelf to billposting interests.—Our city is [quite np-to-date in this regard. The boards :»re well patronised and its> advantages and , benefits are being appreciate) and the c'rcle jt>f advertisers is increasing. We have much * ithe same experience that fall to the lot of Inur more pretentious brethren of the craft {With "opposition" legislation of b s llbca--ds ;and with moralists and other cranks. The , largest and most influential of our local mer- chants patronize the billboards. The Z. C. 3M. I. Institution, doing a business of J4.C00.0C0 :per annum, have just posted 25 28-sheet jhanti written stands to announce a special I sale. Walker Bros, drv goods store, who (have one of the largest stores in Utah, have ?|now noon their board? 2S 20-sheets posters, .printed by "Donaldson." of Cincinnati, and 25 44-sheet bicycle bills. Gardner's Clottilng Co., JMartitt Coat Co.. Seigel Clothing Co.. N«w- iiT'an-Nore Shoe Co.. Nelson-Judson Drug Co., : Ijand the Deseret News Co. use our beards con- is fttnuonsly all the year round. We paint post- : lers and furnish the local theatrical and ccm- v itre-cial community w*th stands, of which we I. a have a good trade. Distributing and racking ( I J are at a Very low ebb, in our city. Tacking f; 4 Is very much restricted by local ord'nancrs, I ] ;< retiring cards, etc., to the outskirts of the * ; J City. Of this we are not sorrv as tacking *» ; has always be?n inimical to bill posting in- ,'**fest. Cheap distributing has been the rule » arhroueh irresponsible parties rush-ng into this £l business. We have been in business s ! n<-e ; £I8S3 and we do not know of anv with whom , j*e have done business during that time that 1 ' ( we cannot refer to for a tcstamonial or en- jdorsement. ,J ROBT. L. ANDERSON. ||j Western Bill Posting Co.. I 3 Salt Lake Oity, Utah. Council Bluffs, la. Concerns. May 28 1900 :To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—I have been very busy all spring, and our little city has never been so com- pletely advertised, and it is spoken: of by agents as being a nightmare of advertising. Improvements are being made in all trarich- es of business, though there is no great hurry and bustle of the "boom" order. The Illinois Central R. R., which entered this city the. past year, has just completed and thrown open • to the public their new depot. A new electric car line, connecting South Omaba. Neb., with: Lake Manama, a suburb summer resort of Council Bluffs, is tn course of construction and will soon be complete}. The lake opens its summer season, June 15. My billboards are filled with the following commercial paper: Walter Baker's Cocca, Hire's Root Beer, Cudahy's Diamond "C" Scap, Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescription, Dr. C. T. SIVALLS. Pierce's Med. Discovery, Lion Coffee, The Great Rock Island Route, H. & II. Quaker Oats, Great F'uff, Golden Leaf, Bull Dur- ham. Old! Virginia Cheroots. Sweet Capcral and Hunting Tobacco, besides otfce.- local work. The Cooper Circus, and Prof. Gent- ry's Dog and Pony Show ure booked for tbe 6th and 7th, and Sth and 9th of June re- spectively. Wishing you all success, I am yours, C. W. NICHOLS: Morris Towne Writes. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" . Dear Sir:—What is the matter with South- ern California? Why nothing. There is Mr. Wilsh're. of Los Angeles, Cal., who gets in an interesting item how aird then. But where is the rest of thett, are they asleep? They su,_*v would have something interesting to tell us through the columns of the "Bill- brard." There is San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Pasadena, towns of good size. Why don't they let us know how they are fre'tiirg along? The regular advertiser misses a erod thing by not advertising mere ex'ens- ively in So. California. We are surely way ahead of most the country and very prosper- ous. I have on my boards at present 4 16, 3 8. 3 6. 5 2 and o 1-sheets; Fontella paper, 1 12, 3 8, and 5 3-sheets; miscellaneous paper from L. A. B. P. Co. Could accom- odate much more. My friend Geo. Peters, of... Santa Ana, has a good town, 6,000 inhabit-" ants, a fine lot of boards in excellent loca- tions. George is an up-to-date billposter. No advertiser should miss these two towns. Wishing the "Billboard" every success, I regain-, yours very truly. Orange, Cal. T. M. TOW'NE. Brownsville (Tex.) Beatings. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Brownsville, May 24, 1900. Dear Sir:—Have posted for Sen Sen. Queen Quality $3 Shoe (local), for Mrs. H. Bollack: Star Tobacco, Continental Tobacco Co.. New York City. Vie have also distribute! 3 800 for Dr. Miles Med. Co., Elkhart, Ind., Mat- amoros. Mex., and Brownsville. Tex.; Lyd'a E. Pinbham. Lynn, Mass., 4,800 Brownsville and Corpus Christi: Peruna Drug -Co., Co- lumbus, O., 4,800 for Brownsville. Tex., be- sides receiving inquiries from Washington In- stitute, of Chicago, Ills. The following ship- ments are on the way: L. .Gerstie & Co., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Boston Med. Insti- tute. Chicago. Ills., and the prospeots are grod for more business. Sorce firms hesitate about sending ship- ments to this town on account of difficulty in transportation, but new. as there will be a constant line of s^obrcn-ers between this city and Galveston, all sHiomentK will have care- ful and promot attention. All our shipments for OoTmisr Christi ve all relit; they all go by Arkansa e # Tpxas route. VALLE & BRO. ADV. CO. Tirrill Hustling. W. C. Tirrill has been a very busy man, since his removal from Lima, getting his new plant into shape and hustling things generally. He writes as follows: To the Editor of "The Billboard:" May 28, 1900. Dear Sir:—We have been very busy the past two weeks building new boards, us'ng matched lumber, with cap top and sides and inch' moulding which we finish with coat of green paint which makes the board very at- tractive, and which are b2ing conrmenled en in this city as being very fine, and a great improvement over the eld ones. We have just eorrpleted a hundred foot board of this deser'pt'on at the junction of the B. & O. and N'ckle Plate R. R., and it is one of the best railroad beards to be found anywhere, and a great place fcr an advertiser to place Ire paper. We expect to place our plant in shape to give the advertirer the v^ry best of service, as wc have always done in. the past. Very trulv yours. W. C. TIRRIL & CO. Fostoria, O. - . Waterbury, Conn., Waifs. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" D-ar Sir:—Sells Bros. Circus had a great business in Waterbury. Business men adver- tised' their goods with cloth signs over the eleohnnts. Childs Cigar is advertised by a man go'ng about. Oirega Oil new use tbe bil'hoarl?. On the bewrds pre Hire's Root Beer. Enaire- Une and the Glisten Polish Co., of Hartford, Conn., run a gas or oil automobile, sellin? evenings. I have refused one job for my county, because banding out advertisements at factory gates Is against the law of any town cr city In Connecticut, which the ad- vertiser desired me to do. Sometimes it goes, but if it doesn't the fine 1s from $1 to $25 and costs. 1 cannot afford to loose that amount and would rather go without the job, for my sake as well as ndveftisers. Respectfully, J. A. NKHF. Joplin, Mo. in Line. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sit—Being a constant reader of "The Billboard." I will say "The Billboard" is a good thing for bill posters and d-strtbutors It contains many valuable tips. 1 am just ready for business and would be glad to get a trial order. 1 propose to do work right, at reasonable rates. I wish you would give me rates for distributing circulars, addressed letters, etc., and for tacking up signs of different sizes. Any help "The Billboard" can give will be greatly appreciated. 1 will write later en and tell you how business Is inc:easing. Yours truly, F. MQOKfS. An Opposition Showing. Oh another page of this issue will be found half-tones of boards owned by C. H. Bene- dict^ of Schenectady, N. Y. The beards are 250 feet long andn.u feet high and are cov- ered with Wallace paper, balled against the Forepaugh-Sells Shows. The photographs of this One stand were taken May 15.. This showing is certainly a fine example of what can be done, notwithstanding gangs and gang rule. "Windy tooth" Carroll, of Albany, made it has business to see that Mr- Benedict did not obtain tbe association fran- chise; and so, disregarding the enmity of the powers that be, Mt. Benedict went ahead, and his will and determination not to let the gangsters down him, has won the day. He has now thirty-four excellent locations, about 2,400 running feet of boards, and is doing a good business. Truly, this is an opposition showing in more ways than one. C. T. Sivalls. Mr. C. T. Sivalls, whose portrait appears in this issue, is probably one of the oldest and best known circus agents now living. He commenced the circus business in 1857, as agent for Van Amburg & Co., and, in, 1ST3, joined the Great Eastern Circus. In 'io, he became general contracting agent for John O'Bryan's Barnum World's Fair. The follow- ing year Mr. Sivalls joined the W. W, Cole Circus Menagerie as general contracting agent and remained with the show ten suc- cessive years 1 , until it was sold at auction in New Orleans,, and Cole became one of the proprietors and general manager of the P. T. Barnum show. Mr. Sivalls joined the Sells Brothers circus in 1887 and remained with them ten years. He contracted the W. W. Cole Show through Australia the winter of 18S0, and contracted the Sells Bros. Show through Australia the winter of 1SS1. The show left San Francisco in October and re- turned to San Francisco in June of 1S92. For the past two years Mr. Sivalls has been en- gaged in the bill posting business in Hous- ton, Tex. Edwin A. Haskell. Edwin A. Haskell, elected president of tbe Rocky Mountain Bill Posters' Association, at Denver, May 12, by a unanimous vote, is a resident of Grand Junction, Col., where he has resided for the past eight years. This association comprises Colorado, Utah, Wy- oming, Arizona and New Mexico, and Mr. Haskell has declared bis intention to en- deavor to build up the country bill posters in his territory. He is- also manager of the Park Opera House, one of the finest theaters on the Western slope. Of Mr. Haskell, the St. Paul (Minn.) Daily Globe, December 11, 1887, says: "Edwin A. Haskell, the character actor of the People's" Theater company, has had an unusually eventful career,' even for a theatrical man. He is by no means a stranger to this city. • * . * He was a resident of Minneapolis and a student of Barnard's Business College. * * * Mr. Haskell started out in the world to seek fame and fortune at the age of thir- teen years, and up to the present time his transitions career has led him from a news butcher on a railway train to the editor of red-hot Dakota frontier papers. * » • He made quite a record as the editor of the Mitchell (Dak.) .Capital, and as a wire puller for Southern Dakota. It Is Eaid that he es- tablished himself in business principally upon check and assurance, and he made it win, too. !• ■ • * He was a success'in st'r- rirrg up sensations, and knew how to cater to the Western mind and trade. As an actor, Haskell's experience has been quite transi- tions." Wanted. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—Vicksburg. Miss., needs a good bill poster badly. The service the present man gives in Vicksburg is not what it ought to be. Of course he puts the paper up as well as he can, but a town the size of Vicks- burg needs more and better boards. The State, county and e'ty license for Vicksburg amount to only $7.50, but the ordnances arc very strict. A good, hustling man, however, has a good opening at. Vicksburg. II. N. HOLSHAUSEIl. Jackson, Miss. Letter from Galveston, Tex. To the Editor of "The Billboard:": Dear Sir—1 do not know of any hows that would be of interest, but will give you a list of work done for the last thirty, days. I have been in. business here for the past live years. 1 started in opposition to the bill poster that was here at that time, and in one year and ten months he tOtto A. Yance) sold out to the Galveston Bill Posting Company, (who are the Cromwell Theatrical Circuit Company), and we have been in opposition for nearly three years, up to last January, when wo came together and made a settlement. They sold out what plant and bill posting stock they toad to me, and I signed a five years' contract to do their theatrical posting for the Grand Opera House here. I have on boards at present 150 3-sheet streamers per month, Fashion Tobacco; two months. General Arthur Cigars, 15 24-sheet stands permontb. for two months; Vitos, 12 28-sheet stands per month for two months: Foutello Cigars. 10 16-sheet stands, 30 8- sheets, 25 :i-sheets and 25 1-sheets, thirty days; Continental Tobacco Co., 20 4S-shccts; Star Tobacco stand, thirty days; Zip paper, 200 sheets, twelve months' contract; Friends' Oats, 10 12-sheets and 30 4-sheets, thirty days; Campbell's Soup, 25 16-sheet stands per month for two months; millinery, local, 150 3-sheets; tailor, -local, .'ISO 3-sheets: men's hats. 100 3-sheets, lbcal; Peters Shoe Co., 200 2-sheets; Chocolate Menier, 5 16-sbeets, 15 8-sbeets, thirty days; 600 one-sheets, picnic, local; 250 sheets, local excursion to New Orleans; Chi- cago & Rock Island, 10 16-sheet stands per month for six months' display; local enter- tainment. 25 3-sheets and 100 half-sheets; Hires" Root"Beer, 25 S-sheets and 75 2-sheets; mail carriers' picnic, 300 sheets; Cbauncey M. Depew Cigars, 20 16-sheet stands. 20 3- sheets and 50 1-sheets, thirty days; Old Sara- toga Whisky, 30 8-sheets. thirty days; local, 25 3-sheets, trunk posters: Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, 35 8-sheets and 125 2-sheets, thirty days; opera house, "Sapho," 12 stands, 30 3- sbeets. Distributing: Boston Medical Institute, Chi- cago, 111., 5,000 books to men only; Dr. Miles Med. Co., 11,500 papers; S. R. Feel & Co.. Cleveland, 3,000 Sexine books and 2,000 Palmo books, to men only; Koenlg Med. Co.. Chi- cago, 7.500 papers; L. Gerstie Co., Chatta- nooga, Tenn., 7,000 books; S. S. S.,- Atlanta, Ga., 7,500 books; Allen S. Olrnstcad, 3,000 sam- ples of Footease; Tarrant & Co., New York. 3,500 books: W. M. Williams. 12,000 samples of Nine o'clock Washing Tea; Green Med. D.Bpensary, Chicago. 3.000 books, to men only: local, 8,500 circulars and six different jobs of tacking. 'When injr subscription runs out, you can keep sending me the paper every week. Yours truly. J. E. HOWARD. Oity Bill Poster. Great fori Bill Posters. Kansas City, Mo., 'June 4.—(Special.)— One Kansas City interest that is already feeling the influence of the {democratic national con- vention is the bill posting business. Tbe de- mand fo rspace on ; local fences is unprece- dented. Said Lon Hudson yesterday: "The Kansas City Bill Posting company has or- dered a lot of new fences built—10,000 feet of lumber. We simply had to do it. There never was anything'like the rush before we are experiencing now. "It's mostly eastern advertisers that want to show here. Just one scap. firm, fcr instance— it's the Cudahy company—has ordered 4,000 sheets displayed. Each sheet is 28 by! 42 inches in size. Then there's one tobacco t house that has engaged eighty stands that are to make a triple show- ing—two twelve-sheei bills and between them a twenty-four, forty-lcight sheets all told. We have had to turn orders down- The demo- cratic convention is* going to be a big thing for us. We have more fences than ever be- fore, but we have not nearly space enough to fill the demand. 'Increase? O, as I said, we shall build all the new fences we can. And we shall double and triple deck some. We have now only one or two two-story boards. These are In the business center. We must have moro for July 4. We say a national convention is hot stuff." EDWIN A. HASKELL, 1 THE BILLBOARD 'Wiii /ffarZte- \\ . w ••« One of Redington's Distributors. According to Mr. Redington's article, pub- lished in "The Billboard," for May 26, same distributors in the big cities "sit Dehmd ti.e tafeguard of a city license, with their feet upon their desks, dictating to their stenogra- pher the earnest soliciting letter telling of their most cxuelUmt service whi'e their doi- Iar-a-day men are out making the K ng Bee fifty cents a day profit each." Then again there arc others "who refuse to take con- tract under any consideration and seme ask higher rales when the traveler wishes to superintend the work being done for his house." Why a local distributor should ask higher rates when the traveler wishes to personally inspect the work being done, I cannot under- stand, as in- my experience I have always been pleased to have any one inspect my work at any and all times. As to refusing to do the work at all, when a travelling distributor wishes to superintend the work, I have no opinion to express, as I have never bad such an experience, having always em- ployed my own inspectors and personally su- perintend all work intrusted to me. But the most amusing part of Mr. Redington's letter is tbe Immense profit he seems to thick fif'y cents per day is oil one "dollar-a-day" man. Wonder what be thinks is a fair profit for an employing distributor to make off each man per day. Ten or twenty cents? Surely he never stopped to consider that such a profit off ten' men's wages would amount to the immense sum of $5.00 per day; out of which must come office and telephone rents, livery, fuel and light bills, car-fare, post- age and advertising, besides one's living ex- penses. And who would deny that ail.of these expenses are absolutely necessary to conduct a first-class and up-to-date distribut- ing service! Of course, a local distributer cannot pay; his employees $125 per month. a3 Mr. Behan proudly states he receives frcm the Dr. Kilmer Co., nor do they ha\'e the op- portunity of traveling "all over Texas and felling three carloads of Kilnre-'s prepara- tions per day." Perhaps it is best not, as they might get to telling the same story, which, by the way, would sound like "thir- ty cents" to me, especially since dollar-a-day hotels poem to be in demand by a certain Kilmer & Co. traveling distributor. Speaking of distributing for Dr. Kilmer & Co. (beg pardon, Mr. Redington, I mean) re- minds me of a distribution I made for him in this city in tbe spring of 1S97, which, ac- cording to Mr. Kedington's statement, was very satisfactory to all concerned. Howeve-, this was before Mr. Redington entcrci the Advertising Directory, Collar-button, etc.. business, as I well remember of his writing ir«? afterward that my* retaining the business of his house In the future greatly depended on whether I bought a collar-button, distrib- utor's directory, or something of that sort. I told him that while I desired to reta'n the work of his firm very much, I did not need either of the articles hewas trying to sell me at that time. So I guess I will never re- ceive any more work from the Dr. Kilmer Co. and which I will miss very much, especially since they cover this city every three to five years. 1 have noticed a number of articles by ..Ir. Redington and his traveling men regard ng the local distributor. In "The Billboard" from time to time, in fact, the employees of Dr. Kilmer & Co. arc fast making the house and name notorious by the amount of "rag chew- ing" done over traveling and local d'strib- utors. For my part I have little to say about the traveling distributor, other than that I have seen some very good ones, but a great many more poor ones than good ones will always bo found. Some weeks ago. Mr. H. E. Behnn. repre- senting the Dr. Kilmer Co., called on me ani Inquired what terms wo could make fcr the distribution of his advertising matter, which would consist of about enough to cove- this city and suburbs, one-half the matter being a sample bottle enclosed In the "Old Oaken Bucket" booklet and the other halt just the booklet nlone. The books could be secured at the door or placed on the knob of about every other house: the pnekage cnnta'niiig the bottle and the book must be put inside the houses not workel with the book nlone. J\)r this service, half of It Inside of the houpo. Mr. Behnn was willing to pay the sum of $2.00 per thousand straight. Just thfnk cf It. J2.00 per thousand for the d'stribut/on of more than Jfi.onn of the packages containing ' the book anil bottle, n price which lite dis- tribution of the book alone was really worth. And then you wonder that the l)r. K'lm«r traveling'., distributors have so ninnv tales of .woo' to tell regarding the local distributors. I asked Mr. Ilchnn what I considered a very low price for the rcrvlce he wanted. *•> " per thousand, but he refused nnd said that I surely could make a good profit at $2.00 per thousand, as most of the bouses were cp-n in warm weather nr.d that I could hnve my men Just throw the package, book nnd fco'tlo. •SF1 ,J hp bouse nnd through an on-ii'ng. ibis all sounded well enough to Mr. Behan. out not to mo. ns I have been "up ngniil't such gnnrcR" bofoio. In fact. It has not been li month since we lost money on Mr. Behnn's r'JcfcriMjrion In Muncie. our local manager, Mr. Fickes, having made the mistake of ac- cepting Mr. Behan's handsome offer of $2.i.*0 per thousand. The weather was bad, help scarce and we came out on the wrong end. When M'r. Behan found that $2.00 was no inducement for this city service, he wanted to use our own wagon and some of our help. This I would not agres to, as we are always in need of our rigs. He thereupon left and later 1 found that he bad employed two young fellows, aand accompanying them in a rig, Was making the distribution himself. I no- ticed the work several times while it was be- ing done and on one occasion called Mr. Behan's attention to the fact that bis dis- tributors were carelessly dropping the pack- ages, containing the bottle and beck, at the foot of the.doors on the steps and porches of the dwellings in the very wealthiest part of the city. Mr. Behan at the time was quietly taking a sun-bath in his rig, standing in a side streat, and knew little or nothing of the work of his employees. When I called his attention to the way the work was being done, he said (hat he was not aware of'same and was standing on tbe cross street, be- cause the-e was a procession on the main street several blocks away. However, I per- sonally noticed that the work did not improve any throughout the entire distribution. Now, of course, I have nothing whatever against Mr. Behan or Mr. Itelington or any one else connected with the Dr. Kilmer Co. and appreciate the fact that these gentlemen have a perfect right to do just as they think best about placing their work. But, I do not think it just the fair-thing for them to try to "get back" at the distributer who is honest enough to refuse to do an impossi- bility to gratify the traveling distributor's wish, fails and naturally does the next best thing, slight the work in seme manner or other. My experience has been that a proper- ly paid distributor seldom gives pocr service, but grinding down their pay tends to weaken the gcod service they might otherwise give. But-then perhaps my experience does not count, as -I have never received "$125 per month fcr traveling all over Texas." GEO. W. VANSYOKLE. Carthage, Mo. Concerns. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—1 see that Street & Smith want 1. A. of D. members to distribute for $1.50 They say that they cannot afford to pay mere, but I. A. of D. men can not afford to dis- tribute fcr less than $2 00 per 1000. Street & fmith are no better than any cthar advertiser. I am a member of the I. A. of D., and all advertisers pay me $2.00, and I will not work fcr Street & Smith, or any other firm, for less than $2.00 per 1000. I can not do honest work for less, and I won't work unless I can make common wages. I. A. of D. members must stick up for their price. We cannot let them "jew" lis down to starvation wages for good, honest work. There are plenty of firms will- ing to nay a good price for honest work. I have never seen any traveling distributor do as geed distributing in this city as I do. They distribute aiound a few streets near to the square, antf call it a thorough distribu- tion. A traveling distributor for Dr. Hand Medicine Cc, of Philadelphia, came to this city about IS months ago, and hirel boys to ' distribute the books. One of the boys h ! d the books. IIS of them I found in a rail- road cut and under a bridge. I have been distributing 2,000 bcoks of Syrup Pepsin Co., Mcnticello, 111., for local druggist. 2.1X10 circulars of L. C. McGuirc, of St. Louis. Mo., for local druggist: 2,000 books for Dr. A. V. Banes. St. Joe. Mo.: 2,500 for Dr. .Miles. Elkhart, Ind.; 2,500 for Dr. Chase Co., Philadelphia. Pa.; 2,000 Foot Ease samples, AlUn.S," Olmsted. Lercy.'N. Y.; 20 0 Rlironai-s. Dodds Co.. Buffalo. X. Y.: 2."0t hecks. Will A. Molten. Cleveland. O.: 2.000 becks, rravidence Institute. Chicago. 111.: 2.000. St. Jacob Institute, Chicago. III.; 2.003, Ohattanccga Medicine Co., Chattanooga, Tenn. 1 expect work scon from Phcnique - Chemical Co.. St. I^ouis. Mo. I have a con- tract to distribute In this county 10.000 becks for St. Jacob Institute. We will have County Fair two miles frcm Carthago, August 7 to 10. W. A. LOWREY. Kalkaska, Mich., Kicks. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—You are probably aware, wo have k ckcrs In every lure cr business. I notice in ycur issue nf May 26 a Setter from Strct & Smith..in< regard to d'strthutircr. etc. There F-hoiild bo no firm, or firms doing business but should knew that if you want good work you have to pay a good, fair price to get it. It is so in every kind or business, and no one should know it better that I, who have lived and been long years building up mv trade and professinn. Therefore, if Street & Smith would Irck at things the ritrht wav an<i admit that lo live and keep up his plant nnd bus'- i<o«s i» •"Ririhutor must ce' a rair'pries ($! per l.oiio is not a bit tco much), t.hsre wou!4 i-rt be ro much talk on the matter. If they were in tbe distributing business you may be sure they would see that it could not be dene for any less than the above fair and proper price. Hefore I close Iwill say that Mr. J..M. Looker, city bill poster of Abilene, Kan, is ail right, and I, fcr one, can kick in the same line with him, for 1 believe exactly as I.e. dees. Wishing everybody, a successful ttascn, I rcamin, Yours truly, FRED. STUART. As to Knockers. Many complaints have of late been comng to "The B:llbcard" in regard to the "knock- ers" who write anonymous letters to adver- tisers in an endeavor to hurt the d stributor and his business. This practice was at first tco trivial a matter; to notice, but the thing Is now becoming so general that distributors are beginning to realize that something must be done to suppress the low, sneaking, under- hand, back-biting "knocker" and his work. "Th'e Billboard."' always ready to champ'on the cause of its readers and their craft, is beginning to realize this, also. It is t ; me that a step be put to this anonymous knocking, and "The Billboard" as-ks any distributor who has suffered in this way, or who has any complaints to make or clues to offer, to let "The Billboard" hear from him. Leonard's Letter. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—I have just completed a distri- bution of 160.C00 pieces- for the Scourene Man- ufacturing Co., of New York City, taking in Eostcn and the ten-mile limit. I may also say tfc«at they are A 1 people to do business with. I distribute also ence a month about 10.000 Butirick Fashion Sheets for a local agrnt, and I have done other work for L. E. P-'nkham. of Lynn, Mass., Dr. Williams' Pink Pills, and Johnson's Inodine Linimsnt. Very truly yours, R. D. LEONARD. Oklahoma Letter. To-the Editor of "The Billboard:'" Dear Sir—Everything is quiet at present, nothing being done by national advertisers in Eastern Oklahoma to amount to much. We have put out some local work, and one man preparing to put out our first issue of the Ad- vertisers' Bulletin, which we will publish monthly. We expect to put out some large contracts for national advertisers Within the next two months. We shall send out an ad- vertising wagon to make a tour or the prin- cipal towns and cities of Oklahoma some time this summer. Verv respectfully, EASTERN' OKLA. ADV. & DIST. CO. Ripley, Okla., May 17, 1900. Omaha Letier. To the Editor of "The Billboard:" Dear Sir—I have had but little time to at- tend to more than ordinary duties since my last letter to "The Billboard," and the more than usual amount of rain during April kept me busy in my country routes. Distributing has been fair, but less than usual for spring, probably owing to its being Presidential year.- Carleton. the I. A. of D. member who was dropped through) non-pay- ment of dues, is blossoming out as a free- for-all distributer, a very free-lance. If drug- gists can be relied upon for the quality of his work. Monroe & Co. attempted an inside service in Omaha. Their man sent for Fisch- er, who called, but finding Fischer could not bear, told him his time was too limited to talk to him. but did make him the gen- erous offer of $2 per thousand fdr strictly in- side work, including tacking signs and ban- ners—a very generous price, considering that a man couldn't put out over 300 or 400 sam- ples in a day in this city. It would take six weeks to cover the city and suburbs of Omaha. Monroe & Co.'s man managed to get some one to do it, and the work was done in such a manner that it called out the fol- lowing in one of our dailies: DANGEROUS SAMPLES. . "Criticism has been made of the method of distribution in this city cr samples of a certain patent medicine which contains a powerful drug. Instructions to the distributer are to hand the sample only to adult per- sons: hut it is asserted that samples have been left on premises, or hung over door- bells where children can readily get them, and thus danger of fatalities is created." Our own observation shows that only front doors were visited, and in hot a single in- stance was the slightest attempt made to comply with Monroe & Co.'s directions, and in every case the samples were left within the reach of little children. That distributer will probably get his pay, but we doubt it. Snoop is having his second distribution made in the usual Snoop style, twisted up, and thrown from the sidewalk, thrown into yards and streets to blow about. _The work was done by little boys, and, as a 'druggist remarked, a clear waste of-advertising matter. J. B. Kay & Co. have had a good distribution; also, Pinkbam and Olmstead. The Fischer Dis- tributing Agency handled the work. Thine. "AJAX." Doings. W. C. Jordan, of Mechanic Falls. Me., has just finished a distribution for Lydia E. Pink- ham. George" KeIlermann~of Edwardsvillerill.T has quit the distributing business for the present. John R. Thompson, of Easton, Md., writes tbat he is now putting out paper for the American Tobacco Co., Old Virginia Cheroots, and is distributing for the Miles Medical Co. J. P. Clark, of Conway, Ark., writes that the Woolson Spice Company, of Toledo, O.. is sampling and tacking in Arkansas, but that traveling distributers are being em- ployer*, and' that the work is very poorly done. The Genesee Pure Food Co., of Leroy, N. Y., recently distributed in Mechanic Falls, Lewiston and Auburn, Me. The work is re- ported as being poorly done, their pamphlets being indiscriminately thrown on the lawns and steps The distributing was probably dene by boys. Ed. Barter, the popular Huntington, Ind.. hllpcster, and manager of the Huntington Opera House, has bought out Ben. Miles* dis- tributing business in that place. He has applied for membership in the I. A. of D. and will, give much of his attention to push- ing his new line of work. "Whifflets," the charming booklet issued a few years ago by A. M. Jenkinson, of the well-known tobacco firm, has been re-issued in a very handsome form, the typography and binding of the new edition being very much a la Roycroft and well up to the Roycroft standard. "Whifflets". mark a new era of taste in advertising. Con. A. Hall, late manager of tbe distribut- ing deparment for Owens & Varney. has en- tered into partnership with Mr. William M. Grim, and under the firm name of Hall & Grim they expect to control the distributing busiiness of San Francisco. If hustling and up-tri-date methods count for anything the new firm will succeed. The Boston Medical Institute, of Chicago, complains about the work of Maurice New- comb, a distributer or Pana. 111., who, on February 24, under contract, claimed that he was a member of tbe I. A. of D., altbough his name does not appear in our May list of members. Newcomb had some of the Insti- tute's books to distribute, which he claimed to have done, '.and sent In- a bill. Not getting the returns the Chicago concern felt justified id expecting, it sent out a tracer after the »• books, and found that they had.not been re- ceived by until a month after he had sent in the bill claiming he had done the work. He , H now claims that he was out of town, and his cl foreman made a mistake, which is a very M weak explanation. ft The Sterling Remedy Co., of Indiana Min- M eral Springs, Ind., is covering the entire country with distributing matter, and always contracts for the best service obtainable. The other read: "To the memory of James Sf Blank, agent of the Life Insurance Com- fl pany, of New York. Motto: 'Security.' " It seems that Blank also had no relatives, and .. the company which he had served for many jj years charged itself with the duty of mark- ing bis grave. The order for the tombstone was given to a local stone cutter, who was furnished with one of the deceased agent's j business cards as a guide to the correct spell-"L ing cf his name. Being a rather thick-head- SL cd individual he didn't stop at the name, 'but "j| copied the entire printed Inscription, and no- i|| body had sufficient authority in the premises vj to order him to do a new job. Thus have we two monuments dedicated to the "'Wisdom" J| and "Ignorance" of poor mortal man. ifl The; Interna Nona I Association of Distributors. The Executive Committee has decided that the place of meeting! for our next Convention be changed to D-troit. Mich., also date toil August 7, S and 9, 1900. '" ! All Advertisers and Advertising Agents are cordially invited tq[ attend. We trust that every member of the Association will make a special | effort to be present. JOS. REID, Pres.. o. P. FAIRCHILD, Treas., Kansas City. Mo. Covington, Ky. j W. H. STJ5INBRENNER, Secy., 519 Main St., Cincinnati, O, jfj \\mm .-■... i ««s* , *i