ollow you."

"Well, as the proprietor of a clothes shop his own time is so valuable
that I am very conservative in my estimate when I put the cost of his
soliciting at five cents a head.

"Now, if he were _really_ able and clever he would discover that he can
talk to hundreds of thousands of people at a tenth of a cent per
individual. There is not a newspaper in town the advertising rate of
which is $1.00 per thousand circulation, for a space big enough in which
to _display what he said to you_."

"I never looked at it _that_ way," said the cigar man.

It's only "_the man who hasn't looked at it that way_," who hesitates
for an instant over the advisability and profitableness of newspaper
publicity.

Newspaper advertising is the cheapest channel of communication ever
established by man. A thousand letters with one-cent stamps, will easily
cost fifteen dollars and not one envelope in ten will be opened because
_the very postage_ is an invitation to the wastebasket.

If there were anything _cheaper_ rest assured that the greatest
merchants in America would not spend individual sums ranging up to _half
a million dollars a year and over_, upon this form of attracting
trade.

The Man who Retreats before His Defeat

Advertising _isn't_ magic. There is no element of the black art about
it. In its best and highest form it is _plain_ talk, _sane_
talk--_selling_ talk. Its results are in proportion to the _merit_ of
the subject advertised and the _ability_ with which the advertising is
done.

There are two great obstacles to advertising profit, and both of them
arise from ignorance of the _real_ functions and workings of publicity.

The first is to advertise _promises_ which will not be
_fulfilled_,--because all that advertising can do when it _accomplishes
most_, is to influence the reader to _investigate_ your claims.

_If you promise the earth and deliver the moon, advertising will not pay
you._

If you bring men and women to your store on _pretense_ and fail to _make
good_, advertising will have _harmed_ you, because it has only drawn
attention to the fact that you are to be _avoided_.

It is as _unjust_ to charge advertising with _failure_ under these
conditions, as it would be for your _neighbor_ to rob a bank and make
you responsible for _his_ misdeed. In brief, _advertised_ dishonesty is
_even more profitless_ than _unexploited_ deception.

The other great error in advertising is to expect more _