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Show "CZAR AND GRAND DUKE FRONTS, Smmmmmmmtt mi n i i miimkmmMimmim m mmmmmkmimmittitmt mtmmimmfm Seated at table: The Czar (left) and Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaivitch. This photograph, the latest one of the Czar of Russia, shows him in conference with Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander-in-chief of the Russian forces. The next movements cf the Russian army are being planned. Maps of the country are before them, and magnifying- glasses aid in t lie study of the physical condition of tho territory in which the armies are now fighting. The attendants are awaiting orders. CONFESSIONS OF A MAIL ORDER MAN FAIL TO SUBSIDIZE THE COUNTRY EDITOR. In waging a campaign for Increased In-creased mail order business I wanted the country press on my side. I wanted to get more kind words into the colutonB of the small newspapers and country weeklies because I realized real-ized then, as I do now, tho power of the country press and the groat value it possesses to present a claim for preference before the people of the community. I outlined a plan to whip the country coun-try newspapers into line and arrange for them to carry my advertising matter mat-ter as well as to persuade them to give me free reading notices and editorials, ed-itorials, telling what a great help and comfort the mail order houses were to the people of tho country. It was nothing more nor lc-s than bribery I believed that I could get the odltors of tlie country newspapers newspa-pers to be false to trelr home lnt:r-eats lnt:r-eats and foster ours, tor a price. I had the money to pay them and I thought lots of dollars could do the work easily and readily I worked nonths over that campaign. cam-paign. I prepared an electrotyped . advertisement In which I advised the use of the mail order medium and urged the readers of each newspaper to send into the big cities for the cat- I aloguc I prepared sheets of "press notices" and editorials, with elab- I orate and plain Instructionr for their use I was going to convert the people peo-ple of the whole country to mail order bu ing. I expected tj spend thousands of dollars during the course of the next lew years, but it would be worth it, it I obtained the results I was after the people'6 dollars. A strong form letter was prepared I as the first step, this letter to bg sent out to the editors of the country news- papers From advertising agencies end from various other sources I ! compiled a list of something like 19.-000 19.-000 newspapers, all of which were published pub-lished in small towns. I was already fixed with the big dally newspapers. The only touble was I couldn't norue- j how or another fix It with the coun- ' try newepaper The letter read something like this To the Editor-Dear Editor-Dear Sir You are publishing a newspaper newspa-per for business reasons not for your health You find It difficult to obtain adequate uppOTt from the merchants In your town They do not appreciate the value of your newspapor as an advertising medium. Wo know that you are prlntlnp a live I newapapor In your community and that you are entitled to more support than you rs receh ing. lbs prlvlle.jL.es of second class postage for mailing - jr newspaper, require you to accept all legitimate advertising offered at your rates. Enclosed please And a contract for advertising ad-vertising to the amount of dollars. dol-lars. Please sign It and return to us and we will forward electrotypes of Advertisements Adver-tisements to bo run together with Instructor" In-structor" In g1" ng you this business it Is but natural that we rhall expert you to run, each week, tht reading notices and editorials edi-torials sent herewith Very truly yours BLANK ADVERTISING AGENCY Tea, It was n great scheme I expected ex-pected to swamp tb country with sugared editorials and splendid notices no-tices about tbe mail order business. I cheerfully anticipated that I would put the country merchants out of business. busi-ness. I even went bo far as to fig ure out a plan for taking advantage of the conditions of business depres eion that would Inevitably follow such ered the organization of some sort of a land trut to buy up the richest farms and nwt desirable town property prop-erty in the communities where the policy pol-icy would work out the quickest I was becoming a multi-millionaire without with-out delay. But I experienced the moat astonishing aston-ishing disappointment of my life. The plan, so well considered, so carefully plso&ed, se erufiily laid out, was an absolute flialu. Why H was the perversity or the" ndtj)apr edlt6r. . He wou1djiot be bought he would not be bribed, he would not be cajoled or threatened. In reading the preceding letter you have noted the "bunk" and the Jollying, Jolly-ing, followed by the appeal to his business instincts and then the covert threat about the postal laws. Yes, the plan was well laid. But who can delve into the soul of the man who will spend his das and nights in running a country newspaper newspa-per in a community that will not give adequate support' Who can fathom the motives of a man who bustles all the time to boost his home town, but who has difficulty at times in collecting collect-ing the subscriptions to his paper and who falls to obtain more than a grudging grudg-ing pittance in advertising from the merchants In his town'' I could not understand it. I believed be-lieved that every newspaper editor woul be overjoyed to receive real money to the amount of many dollars epch week., merely for printing the advertising copy and. of course, the few paragraphs in the way of read lng a'tices and editorials, which I thought he would Mke to have with jvhlch to fill up his paper. And the answers. Whew! What a storm! On would imagine from the an- sA-i' I received In response to my ourtoous invitation to take money from the mail order houses that the country editors were wealthy and all rode in their own automobiles. Indignation. reproach, invective, wrath, disdain They did not waDt the money. They were poor but proud. They would not be bribed. They would not print the fulsome and false hoosts which I had forwarded with the contract to be signed. They would stand bv their home town. Tbey would be loyal to the community In which they lived. They would preserve their fealty to the local merchants They would stand by their subscribers and would not prostitute the columns of their newspapers news-papers to inveigle the people in their community to send their money to my mall order house. I haven't recovered from my astonishment aston-ishment yet To think that the poorest poor-est paid aJid hardest worked men in every community should decline a good business proposition out of sentiment senti-ment I couldn't understand It. And even yet I insist that was the most chivalrous act, taken with perfect per-fect accord by thousands of men scat-, scat-, tered all over the country that I have j known of Honest and loyal to their , home communities I could not fail to admire their disinterestedness while j deploring that a great scheme had I failed of arcomplishment What was their recompense' Did j the merchants in their home towns spring to the support of those newspa- : per8 as a reward for their declination declina-tion to introduce competition. I don't j know Ask the editor. Of course, this plan failing It was necessary for my success to evolve a new plan I must get into close touch with the people In the country. I had my appropriation of thousands of dollars, dol-lars, and more, so I worked out another an-other plan I'm not going to tell you just what it was, but if you will remember that a few years ago there was a great flock of mail order Journals flying all over the country probably every reader read-er of this article has received many copies, samples and otherwise you I can guess what became of thousands I of doilars Here's something that the business men in every small ctty should give a ' careful thought to Perhaps you j do not know it, and perhaps you never I heard of it I give the tale out of ad miration for a good enemy, a good and a fair fighter There is nothing in the story for me to be proud of, because be-cause I was the loser. But you business men in the small towns were the gainers. It was worth millions of dollars to you. It is worth millions to you everv year What did the newspaper editor get for this service to the business men I of the community? Ask him. If he had rendered a similar service for my mall order house he would hae been handed a pocketful of advertising ad-vertising contracts that would have made his newspjper a very profitable business indeed. It would have been worth it. What did the business men of his home town do for him after he had chased the mail c rder magazine competition com-petition away-1 Ask tho neuspTper editor in your town. |