The Billboard 1900-05-01: Vol 12 Iss 7 (1900-05-01)

Value of Distributing. A well-known advertising man gives to ‘The Billboard’ his opinion of wherein lies the value of advertising There is no medium of advertising that is more direct or that brings quicker or greater results for the money invested than dis tributing from house to house, when propet ly done. I mean by properly done that the reading matter should be truthful, well writ ten, deseribing the article as near as it 18 possible to describe it It should then be tastily gotten up, printed on good paper with good ink The distributor should look neat, be polite, going in and out without making noise. He must be honest and intelligent enough to realize that the printing costs money, and that if he wastes one piece he is wasting the advertiser's money. He should know the town, every street in it. He ought to know how many families live in each house, and know a “For Rent” sign when he sees it He should put each piece in doors or fasten it high up in the jam of the door so that children can’t reach it Leave one in a place, and besides placing the matter in each house in town, go in and tell the druggist about it, ask him how his stock it, and give him to understand that he will probably have calls for the goods and that he had better supply himself If all this were done I would call it prop erly done. Of course, there are distributions that need special work and different treat ment, such as samples. A sample of med cine should be handed to some grown person and not left unless some adult member of the family is present A sample of coffee or a washing compound should be delivered to the side door and the lady of the huuse asked for. This kind of distributing costs more than ordinary house to-house distributing, and is worth more It is my belief that before long practically every advertiser in the country will set aside a certain portion of his advertising appro priation for distributing A Protest. Slips containing reading matter similar to the following are being enclosed with the letters of several large patent medicine compabies March 10, 19, the United States Treasury had on hand, as shown by the official state ment, a net cash balance of $01,927,159.2s Government receipts, in excess o ex penses, for seven months prior to March 1 were as follows oa 1888, $4,455. 861.58 September, 1899, $7,754, 772.08; Octobe 1Nte $ oY S61 SZ aiehaaben: 1S $6,175, 724.6 December, 808, $7,615,544.91 January 14m SS SULOoS OO) 6 February on Pte. 89: tota $46,075,535.97. This is an average of $6,582 19.55 per month; or, at the rate of $75.9" ww per year In his letter to Congress, January 10, 1%) the Secretary of the Treasury said The revenues are now largely exceeding disburse ments from month to month, and seem like ly to do so for an indefinite time This co dition would be a menace to the business world if assurances were not given that this surplus would be diverted from the treasury vaults to publi depositories where while secure to the Government, it would remain available to business use The existence of over $300.000.000 cash the treasury means that the Government hot only has the required gold reserve «81 aw.) under the law just passed), but that it also has on hand more than $150,000,000 ad ditional, available for any possible emer geney With this enormous sum on hand, what possible excuse can there be for taxing the people $80,000,000 per annum more that needed to meet all public expenses What possible excuse can there now be for Congress, refusing to repeal the vexatious and unjust stamp taxes which harrass ¢ druggists and the manufacturers of medi cinal preparations, perfumery, et« if the entire tax levied under Schedule I of the war revenue act were repeater the annual reduction of revenue thereby et fected would not equai the surplus for a s gle month Cross-Road Advertisers. To the Editor of “The Billboard In the April number of “The Billboard we see it is proposed to make a spec ial direc tory for cross-road_ bill pasters and distribu # and sucrestions relative to the subject are asked for, We presume we have as large a route and as much and as varied experience as anybody, and “The Hillboard” is entirely welcome to any ideas tors, and opini« which we may have worked out We worked for four years on the route K.. and if we could cover all of Illinois even the United States completely they would keep paper and wagons on all the time There should be as complete an organiza tion as possible, and the work should kept entirely separate from city work, for the two conflict too much to be under one management. There is enough work to pay ene or two solicitors for their entire time hunting work, if we were so organized that any considerable portion could be covered We recently received several letters from THE BILLBOARD GSE and if practicable is contemplating membership in the f Great Am.Eng.& Print.Co. BT Beekman, N.f Great W. Print.Co.,511 Market, St. Louis, Mo Greve Litho. Co., The, Milwaukee, Wis. will do is to blot. Haber, P. B., FondduLac, Wis. contemplate using the to get a good bilot method of advertising, so many blotters with good » should be demanded from » Cold Water Soap Company, recently ‘organized in Chicago, is going te prove a boon to legitimate showmen as Be) as show printers. The main feature of the? organization is a bureau of credits. It wil! be practically impossible for chronic dead; beats to obtain paper on credit, and for tbi¢ reason the fly-by-night shows will be few? and far between. No one will regret thet passing of the fly-by-night. It benefits no i body, but it does mess up the country anc) injure the business of legitimate attractions | © ANTUUNY UO. RUSSELL. Died Sunday, April the Sth, 1900. who should probably amount spent than any other medium of ad All Through Distributing. in Leon County alone, and last fall we enlarged our route to six of the best counties in Ili nois. It costs no more to solicit work for our 19% towns than for one, and very small towns have work enough to keep a small boy busy, while a cross-road town can easily keep sev eral people busy Some of the largest adver tisers have told us that our work is all © A New Wrinkle This means bette: is mutually beneficial company's booklet, purpose of the invention. Poster Printers Advertisements under this heading will b published at the uniform rate of to cents pe line per issue or $1.00 per year | Boston Job Print. Co.,4 Alden, Boston,Mass Brooklyn Daily Eagle Job P. Co., B’yn,N.Y‘ Calhoun Printing =. , Calvert Litho Co., Detroit, Mich. Central City Show Print. Co., Jackson,Mick Central Lith. & Eng. Co., 140 6th Ave., N. pe Correspondent Show Printing Co., Piqua, O Donaidson Lith. Co.. Newport Ky Erie Show Printing Co., Erie, Pa : Hartford, “Conn. Enterprise Show Print, Cleveland, 0. Forbes Lith.Co..181Devonshire, Boston, Mass: Free Press Show Print. Co., Detroit, Mich! Hennegan & Co., 127 E. 8th St., Cin’ti, 0. Home Show Printing Co., Atchise n, Kas. Morgan, W.J.& Co., St.C. and Wod, Cdeve, 0, Morrison Show Print, Detroit, Mich. National P.& Eng.Co.,346-8 Wabash, Chi. nf Pioneer Print.Co..214 Jefferson, s Seattle,Wash, Union and Advertiser Co., Rochester, N.Y; Mr. W. L. Donaldson, of the Great West ern Printing Company, of St. Louis, is bac at his desk after a bad attack of the grip. Mr. Donaldson is enthusiastic over the new Show Printers’ Association, of which he is? Secretary, and he predicts that it will sue ceed and fill a long felt want. The American Show Printers’ Association Death of Anthony O Russell. Anthony O. Russell, president of the United States Printing Company, died at his, home in Norwood, O., on the afternoon of April 8. The immediate cause of death was dropsy, with which he had been afflicte since last November. Mr. Russell was 7 years old, and had for many years beer! identified with the commercial prosperity of}! Cincinnati, and his death is without doubt distinct loss to the whole community. Up to within a week of his death, agains} which he fought with all the strength of hid rugged constitution and indomnitable wil} 4 power, he maintained his interest in outsida things and affairs of the world, and received his friends and acquaintances as usual. He even watched from his window through ; pair of fleld glasses the work on the new factories which the United States Printing Company is putting up in Norwood. For year past Mr. Russell had been unablé to at tend actively to his duties as president of the company, but he had directed its affairs fron his home in Norwood. The funeral, which was held on the after noon of April 11, in the Scottish Rite Cathe dral in this city, was largely attended an¢ very impressive. Thousands of people, among them the employees of the printing company} of which Mr. Russell was the head, thronges the streets in the vicinity of the Cathedral and the great building, which was literall: a garden of flowers, was filled to overflow ing. The services, at the request of the dead, were conducted solely by the member of Lafayette Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma sons. The casket was banked with flower and partly draped with the flag for whiet Mr. Russell had fought so well in the Civi War, and when the ceremony had been com ty ——— 1 . t t , pleted the casket was opened, and the thou t, sands present filed slowly by to take the las look at the face of him they loved and hon iy ored. The burial took place in Spring Grov«, Cemetery, and owing to the unpropitiou weather the service at the grave was shor and simple, one prayer being offered by th: chaplain of the Masonic Lodge. Anthony Octavius Russell was born it Southington, Conn., December 4, 1826. Hi parents moved to Cincinnati in the fall o 1830, when he was only four years old, and was in this city that young Russell first be rn the trade which he was to fol low through life At he age o eleven he was apprenticed to W. H.. Rob inson, which apprenticship he served sever years, finishing his time as a printer in th office of a Cincinnati daily paper. Later h, served as journeyman in Cincinnati, Ney Orleans, Louisville and Memphis. He wa in Memphis at the time Fort Sumpter wa gan to le fired upon, and he immediately returned Cincinnati and enlisted in the Sixth Ohie | Volunteer Infantry, and was soon made Capo tain of Company G. Captain Russell tool, part in many battles with his regiment, ane for his ability and courage was later pro moted to the rank of Major. At the end the war Mr. Russell returned to Cincinnati and in 1867, in connection with Robert Morgan, J. M. Armstrong and John F. Rob inson, organized the firm of Russell, Morga & Co., now the United States Printing Com 1 pany. Success was with them from th start, and Mr. Russell held the office of Pres ident of the company until he died. Watch The Billboard for the doings of the poster printers. ——-— —— << = eee ee wee wwe