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Show Most Men Know Just as Much About Merchandise as Most Children Do About Astronomy By J. K. HAMILTON Former Advertising Manager of Wanamaker's, Philadelphia 315. ( This is so tme thnt it needs no proof to bear it out. The nvcrage shoe lins sixty-two different parts, any of which can be cheapened to make a price, nnd. none of which can be judged except by the highest expert in shocmaking. The average suit of clothes lias a hundred and flf ty-scven parts ; the average pair of trousers has over sixty processes. The average fabric, even when it is absolutely all wool, through and through, can be made in many different grades. Your all silk socks can be made out of pure, earth-grown fiber without your knowing it; and one man is now trying to make them entirely out of cheap glue. Now, the question is, if you arc starting out to buy something some-thing today, where shall you go? The answer is very simple : If you do not know the merchandise, merchan-dise, you must know the merchant. The way to judge the goods is to judge the man. And the best way to judge the man is through the advertising. The man who advertises is the man who signs his name to what he claims. If he signs his name to a bogus check, be goes into jail ; if he signs his name to bogus advertising he goes into bankruptcy. Every advertiser knows this, and so he is careful of what he says. But the men who do not advertise do not have anything to lose. They do not have to be so careful of what they rrv. It is morel v a matter of nersonal intecritr with them. There are many thousands of fine merchants and honest men who do not advertise. That is not the point. The question is how to find them and how to tell them from the rest. When they advertise adver-tise they must be honest if they hope to win. And this is the value of the Advertising Pages in this paper today. These arc the men who have signed their names. These are the men who guarantee what they sell. It has been nearly three-quarters of a century ago since the first great merchant, Alexander T. Stewart, trusted his commercial commer-cial ship on the advertising sea. And singularly enough this great man was flying flags of distress when he advertised. He put out a little dodger through the streets of New York, telling the people frankly that he had bought too much and would sell it cheap. And they come to his store and saved his commercial life. Any man is careless who doesn't turn to the advertising news for whatever he is going to buy, because the best merchants aro always the ones who advertise. They are the men who stand back of what they do and say. They are the guaranty of good faith in the business world. Turn to their advertising pages now and see what they are offering you today. (Copyrighted.) |