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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. WHY ADVERTISE NOW? We are asked to advise if, under present con ditions, advertising should be curtailed. But each line has its own unique “present conditions.” Such a question involves several forms of advice. These are boom times in some lines. Many factories are overwhelmed with orders. Some face a demand far beyond their capacity. Some cater largely to farmers, and farmers in general seem this year to be getting rather more than their share of prosperity. The farmer with full pockets finds nothing too good for him. He’s a magnificent spender. % These fortunate advertisers who are oversold can very wisely cut down on their advertising. There is no virtue in selling more than one can deliver. There are other lines imported, or requiring imported materials, on which there is stoppage of supplies. There are lines which for these, or other tran sient reasons, sell now at abnormal prices. There are lines sold at fixed prices, on which advancing costs have decimated profits for a time. On all such lines one might advise curtailment in all forms of salesmanship. But “present conditions” in general mean a degree of depression, a shade of uncertainty. And the query is, if in such situations advertising should be curtailed or stopped. By all means, no. Should a runner stop for a rising grade, or a swimming for an adverse tide? THE AUGUSTA HERALU, AUGUSTA, i*a. If they did, where might their rivals in the race be when they started up? Advertising ought to be the cheapest sales manship. Also the most efficient. If it is that, then it is the last force to reduce. If it isn’t, then it needs, in good or bad times, rehabilitation. In national advertising our most prosperous times come during business depression. Then is when men who are on the right lines fight hardest. Then is when waste is eliminated, and the cheap est and best methods are used to the limit. And then is when the weak and inefficient abandon « the field to the stronger. There may be less business to get in dull times, but there are also less men who use the best ways to get it. Some of the greatest har vests ever gathered in advertising have been gar nered in times of depression. We find that good advertising is rarely stop ped by misfortune. It is ten times as often stop ped by overdemand. The chief clients of this house are today pressing advertising harder than ever before. But is this in reality any time to feel blue? Doesn’t it look as though we might be on the verge of unprecedented business prosperity? Home prospects look better than usual. Big crops at high prices bring smiles to the faces of nearly one-half of our people. The railroads got a little encouragement. Our new banking sys tem will ward off some dangers. Then what new boons may come to us—like gifts from the dead-as a result ctlhis pitiful war? From The Chicago Tribune. Reason tells us they must come if we reach out to get them. Life still flows on amid that devasta tion. People must be clothed and fed. And the markets abandoned by the nations which held them should be supplied by us. When millions desert the arts of peace, those who abide, well-equipped and ready, surely ought to prosper. As for war news affecting the value of ads, it certainly doesn’t detract from them. It is giving to advertisers increased circulation with no pres ent advance in cost. The argument that it makes newspapers too interesting is a new one in advertising. The most interesting magazines have always been the best patronized. Why should we ask for dull news papers? In any event, the average woman is not a great reader of war news. Her favorite pages in the newspaper remain about as ever. She is the household buyer. And the majority of advertis ing-even on men’s things-depends on its ap peal to her. i No, these are not times to cease advertising, save under rare conditions. The harder the fight the more one needs his best weapons. The more quitters there are the more there is for the rest of us. And we who keep ready and active and fit — who keep in the thick of things, dull times and good-will hold immeasurable advantage when the tide comes in. LORD & THOMAS, S. E. Corner Wabash and Madison, Chicago. ! Claude C. Hopkins, Vice-President ... * f FIVE