Evening Star Newspaper, October 28, 1926, Page 4

PRESIDENT SEES ADVERTISING AS AID TO U. S. PROSPERITY Helps Maintain Wages at High Standard, He Tells Convention Delegates at -Mayflower Hotel Banquet. President Coolidge in his address be- fore the American Assoclation of Ad- vertising Agencies last night said: *#Members of the Assoclation: 'ometimes it seems as though our generation fails to give the proper estimate and importance to the values ©of life. Results appear to be secured 80 easily that we look upon them with indifference. We take too many things as a matter of course, when in fact they have been obtained for us only as the result of ages of effort and sacrifice. We look at our economic cond!tion upon which we are abso- lutely dependent for the comforts and even the necessaries of life, and for- getting that it all rests on industry, thrift and management dismiss it lightly as a matter that does not con- cern us. Occasionally our attention 18 directed to our political institutions, which have been secured for us through the a terested exertion of generations of patriotism, and, going along oblivious te the fact that they are the sole guarantees of our rights to Ufe and liberty, we turn away with the comforting thought that we can Jet some party committe attend to getting out the vote and that proba- bly the Government will run itself all right anyway. Then perhaps we are attracted by the buildings erected for education, or the temples dedi- cated to relizious worship. and with- out stopping to realize that these are the main source of the culture of so- ciety and the moral and spiritual life of the people we pass them by as the concern very largely of schoolmas- ters and clergyimen. We have become 80 accustomed to the character of our whole vast and intrlcate system of existence that we do mot ordinarily 7o its enormous importance. ms to me probable that of -onomic life the element on we are inclined to place too Jow an estimate is advert!sing. When > in contact with our great ing plants, our extensive of transportation, our enor- mous breadth of agriculture, or the imposing structures of commerce and | finance, we are forced to gain a cer- tain impression by their very magnl- tude, even thouzh we do not stop to consider all their implications. By size and nature of their ma. form thev make an appeal to the senses, even though their import does not reach the understanding, we turn through the pages of ind the perfodicals, as we flash of billboards along the railronds and the highways, all of which have become enormous vehicles of the advertising art, I doubt if we realize at all the impressive part that these displays are coming more more to play in modern life. the most casual observation, however, reveals to us tha: advertising has be- come a great busine: It requires for its maintenance investments of great afnounts of capital, the occupation of large areas of floor space, the employ- ment of an enormous number of peo- ple, heavy shipments through the United & es mails, wide service by telephone and telexraph, broad use of the printing and paper trades, and the utmost skill in direction and manage- ment. In its turnover it runs into hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Advertising 1s Educational. “When we stop to conslder the part | which advertising plays in the mod- ern life of production and trade we gee that basically it is that of educh- tion. It informs its readers of the existence and nature of commodities by explaining the advantages to be de- rived from their use and creates for them a wider demand. It makes new thoughts, new desires and new actions. By changing the attitude of mind it| changes the material condition of the | people. Somewhere I have seen | ascribed to Abraham Lincoln the | statement that ‘In this and like com- | munities public sentiment is every- hing. With public sentiment nothing | without it nothng can suc- ceed; consequentiy he who molds pub- lic sentiment goes deeper than he who | enacts statut or pronounces de- | eisions. He kes statutes and de-| cisions possible or impossible to be | executed.” Advertising creates and| changes this foundation of all popular action, public sentiment or public opinion. It is the most potent in- fluence in adopting and changing the | habits and modes of life, affecting | what we eat, what we wear and the work and play of the whole Nation. | Formerly it was an axiom that com- | petition was the life of trade. Under the methods of the present day it would seem to be more appropriate to sa that advertising is the life of all our which catch the ade. 'wo examples of this influence have come to me in a casual way. While I cannot vouch for the details, I lelieve in their outline they are| substantially correct relates to | an Amerlean industry that had rather phenomenal growth and prosperity in the late eightics and early nineties, being the foundation of one or two large fortunes. In its development it had been a most generous adve A thne came when various c engaged in this line of manuf: were merged and consolidated. There being no longer any keen competition, it was felt that it was now no longer necessary to explain to the public the value of this produc periority of one make oV In order to suve the e that had been made for that adve: tising was substantially abandoned. The inevitable result followed, which all well informed trade quarters now know would follow. But the value of advertising was not so well understood or 30 years ago. This concern soon became almost a_complete fail- ure. As 1 recall, it had organized, entailing great I line of trade was later revived unde: the direction and counsel of some of its old mana nd with the proper amount of publicity became a succes ful enterprise. Solved Production Problem. “But let us turn from the unfortu- nate experience cf the I that oc- curred through lack of advertising to an example of gain that was made through the shrewd application of this principle. In a somewhat typical 1n community a concern was in an industrial enterprise. not _required to be Oftentimes they se, were new arrivi had been brought up to be accustomed to the meager scale of living abroad. Their wants were not large, so that under the Am: can rate of wages they found it possible to supply them- pelves and their families without work- ing anywhere near full time. As a result, production was low compared with the number employed and was out of proportion to the overhead ex- pense of coment and capital costs. Some fertile mind conceived the idea of locuting a good milliner In that community. The wares of this shop were generously advertised through window display, newspaper space and circularization. I suppose that every head of a family knows that a new bonnet on the head of one of the women in the neighbor- hood is contagious. The result im |is not an economic {advertising policies of our country, that community almo: at once was better wearing apparel for the women, which necessitated more steady em- ployment for the men. The output of the plant was greatly increased, its cost units were reduced, its profits were enlarged, it could sell its product to its customers at a lower figure, and the whole industry was improved. More wealth was produced. But the reaction went even further. The whole standard of living in that lo- cality was raised. All the people be- came better clothed, better fed and better housed. They had aspirations, and the means to satisfy them, for the finer things of life. All of this came from the judiclous application of the principle of advertising. “The system which brought about ‘hese resuits is well known to the members of this assoclation. You have seen innumerable instances where concerns have failed through ‘tack of advertising and innumerable sthers where they have made a suc- cess through the right kind and imount of publicity. Under its stim- ulation the country has gone from the old hand methods of production which were so slow and laborious with high unit costs and low wages to our present great factory system and its mass production with the astonishing result of low unit costs and high wages. The pre-eminence of America in industry, which has constantiy brought about a reduction of costs, has come very largely through mass production. Mass pro- duction is only possible where there is mass demand. Mass demand has been created almost entirely through the ‘development of advertising. Business Demands Publicity. “In former days goods were ex- pected to sell themselves. Oftentimes they were carried about from door to door. Otherwise, they were dis- played on the shelves and counters of the merchant. The public were supposed to kn#w of these sources of supply and depend on themselves for their knowledge of what was to be sold. Modern business could neither have been created nor can it be maintained on any such system. It constantly requires publicity. It is not enough that goods are made, a demand for them must also be made. It is on this foundation of enlarging production through the de- mands created by ng that very much s of the American industrial system rests, “It will at once occur to those who have given any thought to these sub- jects how important it is to the con- tinuing success of the business which this gathering represents, and to the general welfare of the country, that the conditions under which these re- sults have been secured should be maintained. It is our high rate of wages which brings about the great- est distribution of wealth that the world has evcr seen and provides the enormous capacity for the consump- tion of all kinds of commodities which characterizes our country. With our improved machinery, with the great increase in power that has come from steam and electricity, with the appll- cation of engineering methods to pro- duction, the output of each individual engaged in our industrial and agricul- tural life is steadily increasing. The elimination of waste through stand- ardization has been another most im- portant factor in this direction. It we proceed under our present system, there would appear to be little reason to doubt that we can continue to maintain all of these high standards in wages, in output and in consump- tion indefinitely, and with our home markets as a foundation increase our foreign commerce by a greater ex- change of those commodities in which we are peculiarly favored for the commodities of other nations in which they have a special advantage. But nothing would appear to be plainer than that this all depends upon the maintenance of our American scale of wages, which is the main support of our home market. “It is to be seen that advertising waste. It minis- ters to the true development of trade. Tt is no doubt possible to waste money through wrong methods of advertis- ing, as it can be wasted through wrong methods in any department of industry. But rightfully applied, it is the method by which the desire Is created for better things. When that once exists, new ambition is developed for the creation and use of wealth. The uncivilized make little progress because they have few desires. The inhabitants of our country are stimu- lated to new wants in all directions. In order to satisfy their constantly increasing desires they necessarily ex- pand their productive power. They create more wealth because it is only by that method that they can satisfy | their wants. It is this constantly en- larging circle that represents the in- creasing progress of civilization. Sees Great Responsibility. “A great power has been placed in the hands of those who direct the and power is always coupled with re- onsibilities. No occupation is charged with greater obligations than that which partakes of the nature of education. Those engaged in that ef- fort are changing the trend of human thought. They are molding the hu- man mind. Those who write upon that tablet write for all eternity. There can ba no permanent basis for advertising except a representation of the exact truth. Whenever decep- tion, falsehood and fraud creep in they undermine the whole structure. They damage the whole art. The ef- forts of the Government to secure ~orrect labels, fair trade practices and equal opportunity for all our inhabi- iants is tundamentally an effort to et the truth into business. The Gov- rnment can do much in this direction by setting up correct standards, but 'l its efforts will fail unless it has ‘he loyal support of the business en of the Nation. If our commer- ~ial life is to be clean and wholesome nd permanent in the last resort, it vill be because those who are en- aged in it are determined to make t so. The ultimate reformers of busi- 2ss must be the business men them- es. My conception of what adver- ing agencies want is a business world in which the standards are so high that it will only be necessary for them to tell the truth about it. It will never be possible to create a per- manent desire f hings which do not have a permanent worth. It is my belief that more and more the trade of our country is conforming to these principles “The National Government has a large interest in all these problems, though many of them are confined in their jurisdiction to the States. The general welfare of the country, its progress and prosperity, are very in- timately connected with the com- merce that flows from agriculture 2nd industry. Unless that be in a healthy condition, constantly expanding, se- curing reasonable profits, employment hegins to fail, sooner or later wages begin to fall, markets are oversup- plied, movements of freight decrease, ‘actories are idle, and the results of all these are that want and distress creep into the home. You can easily draw the converse of this picture. It has been the almost universal experi- ence in American life of late. Local conditions here and there have brought contrary results, probably unavoidable for a long time to come, but in the main the country has been and is prosperous. Perhaps the most creditable aspect of our present pros. rity is that wages are high while! ».ofits have been moderate. That ZZ W 0 22 THE EVENING STAR. WASHTINGTON. D. Upper group, left to right: James W. Young of the J. W. Thompson Co., of Chicago, vice president of the American Association of Advertising Agen- ~ies; Roy S. Durstine of Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc., New York, and ident of the association; H. K. McCann of the H. K. cCann Co., New res York, and treasurer of the association, and James O'Shaughnessy of New York, executive secretary of the association, taking a respite from their labors in directing the tenth annual convention of the organization here. Lower group, top to bottom: Louis Honig, president of Honig-Cooper Co., and Albert D. Lasker, chairman of the board, Lord and Thomas and Logan. means that the results of prosperity ire going more and more Into the “omes of the land and less into the enrichment of the few, more and more to the men and women and less and less to the capital which is en- gaged In our economic life. If this were not sc. this country could not support 29,700,000 automobiles, pur- chase so many radios and install so many telephones. From a recent fear f being exploited by large agsrega- ions of weaith, the people of America ire learning to make such great con. erns their most faithful servan ‘This problem is not entirely solved t. Here and there abuses occur, but business is gradually being taught that the only method of permanent success lies in an honest, faithful, conscientious service to the public. Cites U. S. Achievements. “You are famillar with the efforts which the Federal Government has been making to contribute to peace and prosperity during the recent re. construction period. We are steadily reducing our national debt, cutting down the interest charges. We have released hundreds of thousands of people from the unproductive field of Government empioyment to the pro- ductive fleld of business life. The burdens of taxation have been so far removed that they are now for the most part lightly borne and the dis- proportionate charges formerly made to supply the public revenues have been released to flow into the avenues of trade and investment. We have supplied large sums for the rehabili- tation of Europe and the financing of South America to the advantage of our foreign commerce, which now stands at a peaceitime record. Through international covenants lim- iting naval armaments we have re- duced the cost of national defense and made large guarantees to the peace of the world. All of this has been a program of constructive econ- omy, beneficial alike to ourselves and to other people. In making this eco- nomically possible, in spreading its benefits, in carrying its fruits into the homes of the land, advertising has supplied and will continue to supply a very important part. With- out the advantages that accrue from that art these accomplishments would not have been possible. “But Americans are never satisfled with the past or present. They are always impatient of the future. Our history has been that of an increas- ing prosperity. There have always been fluctuations in trade, but with our present system of banking and our enormous capacity for consump- tion such fluctuations will apparent- ly be much less violent and are un- likely to sink to the level of depres- sion. We cannot tell what a par- ticular month or locality may de- velop, but over the broad face of our country seedtime will be followed by the harvest, the productive capacity 77 Xzz7770 N rental: 916 Fifteenth St. > will increase and our people will be- come more prosperous. These results, however, cannot be co.'sidered as guaranteed by our ma- terial resources alone. They will ac- crue to us, not because of our fertile agricultural fields, our deposits of coal, iron and preclous metals, nor even from the present state of our development of trade with its accom- panying supports of manufacturing transportation and finance. We can- not rely on these alone. They could all be turned into instruments of de- struction. Our chief warrant for faith in the future of America lies in the character of the American people. It is our belief in what they are going to do, rather than our knowledge of what they are going to have, that causes us to face the com- ing years with hope and confidence. The future of our country is not to be determined by the material re- sources, but by the spiritual life of the people. So long as our economic activities can be maintained on the standard of competition in service. we are safe. If they degenerate into a mere selfish scramble for rewards, we are lost. Our economic well- being depends on our integrity, our honor, our conscience. It is through these qualities that your professior. makes its especial appeal. Advertis- ing ministers to the spiritual side ot trade. It is a great power that has been intrusted to your Kkeeping which charges you with the high re- sponsibility of inspiring and en- nobling the commercial world. It Is all part of the greater work of the reggnerullon and redemption of man- kind.” FOOT BALL GAMES OFF AFTER LEAGUE DISPUTE Chambersburg, Pa., School Con- tests Dropped When Other Teams Charge Agreement Broken. By the Associated Press. MARTINSBURG, W. Va. October 28.—All four foot ball games of the Chambersburg, Pa., high school in the Cumberland Valley Athletic League, have been ‘cancelled because of the Pennsylvania schools insistence on using a negro player, it became known today with announcement that the game with Winchester, Va., had been called off. Martinsburg, Hagerstown, Md., and Waynesboro, Pa., had previously can- celled games with Chambersburg That school in calling off the Winches- ter game gave as a reason the fear of a demonstration because of pub- licity given the other cancellations The three schools contended a “gen. C.. THURSDAY, tleman’s agreement” provided that no negro player would be used in league games. Chambersburg authorities in- sisted no such agreement existed. OCTOBER 28. 1926. THOMAS WILL FILED. tate Vatued at $100,000, Special Dispatch Wo The Star. i CUMBERLAND, Md., October 28.— i The will of Jamea Walter Thomas, at- historf»n, filed for probate ‘and , dispased of an estate + valued at $100,000. His country seat |at Deep Falls, in St. Marys County, | where he was born, is left to his i nephews, Henry B., Edward M. and | James Walter ThomAs, sons of the | 1ate Dr. Henry B. Tho1as, a brother. | The sum of $1,000 is given Henry B. | Thomas to repair buildings and fenc- jing on the property in St. Mary’s ‘W"«&W“ AN\ VNN The Newest Product of Washington’s Oldest Dairy i i | 2012 Eleventh St. N.W. Miss Edith Thomas Barnes, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mres. P. Clarence Barnes, this city, is bequeathed $2,000. Most of the residue of the estate is left to the widow, Mrs. Sarah D. Thomas, who was the widow of Col. John W. Aviett, editor and publisher of the Cumberland Evening Times, when Mr. Thomas contracted a second marriage. The widow and Henry B. Thomas are named co- executors. ol Giant Eels 75 Feet Long. The skeletons of a dozen gigantic eels, 50 to 75 feet in length, were recently unearthed in an anclent sea bed In Wyoming. The eels, says the Dearborn Independent, - bore re- semblance to the fabled sea serpent. L o ERTIFIED * Milk EX TRAORDINARY standards of Quality Purity and Safety govern the production and distr’bution of this Certified Milk. . .stand- ards that make assuraace doubly sure rsgarding its excellence for the feeding of infants, for *Certified by the Maryland _ State Board of Health. BRUNETTES TO HAVE TURN Anita Loos Says She Will Write Book Making Amends. 7 SAN FRANCISCO, October 28 (#) —Anita Loos 1s afraid she has done brunettes an injustice and sald here today she intended to try to square herself with them By this Miss Loos meant that pos sibly her book, ntlemen Prefer Blondes.” might be taken too literally by the darker members of the fairer sex. Just to prove no harm was in tended, the author and her husband. Robert Emerson, who is here with her, say they plan to write another book with a title something llke this. “Gentlemen Really Do Like Rru nettes.” T @ Saada i AR {3 & R 7 sickroom purposes and the like. It is produced, bottled and sealed on a remarkable farm within 20 minutes of the Treasury! Deliveries will begin November Ist. Phone your order L/ CBPPIEIHHIBLHPLEPOIOPLPPIID SROIIDHIBU BB DIES LSO IPOLIDEBIESDHIDHID phde AIRY Telephone North 5997 (d b 1881 Only $27-90 Rent Instead of 75 a Month A Directory of Useful Articles The Sale Miscellaneous clas- sification of The Star is a di- rectory of useful articles for sale, distributed to 100,000 peo- ple daily. Don't cast aside any house- hold article where it will de- preciate simply because it is of no further use to you. Rather list it in this directory, the Sale Miscellaneous classifi- cation of The Star. 3 cents per word—45 cents minimum charge per insertion. 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