Billboard

“ Advertising, with its billboard message of rustless screens and co-educational turkish-baths, has done much to further the good cause, and a glance through the files of newspapers of seventy-five years ago, when the big news story of the day was played up in diamond type easily deciphered in a strong light with the naked eye, shows that [pg 125] news printing has not, to use a slang phrase, stood still. ”

“ What if something had happened that the circus could not materialize the promises of the billboards? What, if the hippopotamus, the elephants, the beautiful ladies in spangles and tights, and all the other promises of the billboards should fail?" And somewhere, deep within his being, the boy would feel a thrill of gladness that the little girl was so close beside him. If anything should happen that the promises of the billboards should fail he would need the little girl. ”

“ Even in the business district there are no skyscrapers or elevated railroads to disturb the harmony of the architectural scheme; not even the usual promiscuous, blatant advertising posters are permitted to be displayed until they have been censored by the proper official, and when approved they are affixed to ornamentally tinted and paneled billboards, erected for the purpose. ”

“ Valentine v. Chrestensen, 316 U.S. 52, 54, 62 S.Ct. 920, 921, 86 L.Ed. 1262; Jamison v. State of Texas, 318 U.S. 413, 415-416, 63 S.Ct. 669, 671-672, 87 L.Ed. 869.
The rich can buy advertisements in newspapers, purchase radio or television time, and rent billboard space. ”

“ Billboards were covered with posters and barns, fences and stones along the country roadways were decorated with "Votes for Women." Free literature was distributed and handbills were given out at every opportunity. ”

“ It is possible to discuss at endless length the real value of the "fake" and its place in theatrical advertising. Perhaps no one ever went to a theater merely because one of the performers at that theater was supposed to have bathed in milk or to have stopped a runaway horse. On the other hand, I am sure that no one ever went to a theater because he or she had seen the name of the play acted there posted conspicuously on a bill-board. The mission of the bill-board is to call attention to the fact that there is such-and-such an entertainment and that it may be seen at such-and-such a house. ”

“ The street crier, the newspapers, the show window. The last mode of inducing trade is the modern one, and therefore the best. More goods are sold through window display than through newspaper advertising. It is more direct. The newspaper advertisement says: “We have goods to sell.” The show window says: “Here they are!”
But the judicious use of advertising through newspapers must not be discouraged. Every man, woman and child in town does not pass your windows. Those who do not may read in the newspaper of your attractive display of goods, and so be induced to pass your way. ”

“ A General Election, as may be imagined, throws an enormous quantity of work upon the postal telegraphs and the Central Telegraph Office, the chief transmitting and delivering office in particular. At the beginning of the election campaign the leaders of each party address meetings in various parts of the country, and as each speech for reporting purposes varies from a half to several columns of a newspaper, the reception and distribution to the London and provincial newspapers requires very careful and extensive arrangements. ”

“ No person, group, or organisation may publish or cause or permit to be published in any newspaper, periodical, poster, or handbill, or broadcast or cause or permit to be broadcast over any radio or television station, any advertisement used or appearing to be used to promote one of the candidates in the head of State election unless the advertisement contains a statement setting out the true name of the person, group, or organisation for whom or at whose direction it is published and the address of his or her or their place of residence or business. ”

“ The wonder is that this bill-board, and its fellow enormities in the street car panel and the newspaper columns, do not repel instead of attract. In the case of refined minds certainly repulsion must be felt. ”

“ But the placard, nevertheless, which continues to strike the eye, after the advertisement and the book which is advertised are both forgotten, will always be among us; it took a new lease of life when walls were plastered with posters.
Newspaper advertising, the offspring of heavy stamp duties, a high rate of postage, and the heavy deposits of caution-money required by the government as security for good behavior, is within the reach of all who care to pay for it, and has turned the fourth page of every journal into a harvest field alike for the speculator and the Inland Revenue Department. ”

“ Within the recollections of men who are still young street advertising has considerably changed. Twenty years ago the billsticker was a nuisance of the most intolerable kind, and though we can hardly now consider him a blessing, his habits have changed very much for the better. Never heeding the constant announcement to him to beware, the billsticker cared nothing for the privacy of dead walls, or, for the matter of that, of dwelling-houses and street doors; and though he was hardly ever himself to be seen, his disfigurative work was a prominent feature of the metropolis. ”

“ Our circulation has increased every week, our advertising columns crowd out news every issue, and they stand—as compared with those of other colored journals throughout the country—a weekly tribute to our facilities for reaching the eyes of purchasers.
"The reason for this is simple. The Tribune is a paper of the people and for the people. It is the organ of no clique or class. As its name indicates, its purpose is to lead the masses to appreciate their best interests and to suggest the best means for attaining deserved ends. ”

“ What is the character of the party appeal in the different moral regions of which the city is made up? How much of the interest in politics is practical and how much is mere sport? What part of the cost of elections is advertising? How much of it can be classed as "educational publicity," and how much is pure graft? To what extent, under existing conditions, particularly as we find them in great cities, can elections be practically controlled by purely technical devices, card catalogues, torch-light processions, spell binders—machinery? ”

“ That day we put a bigger advertisement in the [70] Daily Globe, for the coming show was to be our last one in Tutter until we had returned from our out-of-town trip. When the advertising bill had been paid, I sort of balanced my accounts, if that is the way to express it. Here is the way my figures looked on paper:
That afternoon we started the engine and turned on the organ to let the townsfolk know that we were still on the job. ”

“ The bill-boards are usually the most crowded during the summer months, from about April 15th to October 1st, not only because summer is the best time for the posting of national advertisers with few exceptions, but because of the great amount of circus and other show paper. You will frequently be disappointed in securing space during this period unless you contract for it in advance of showing. Thirty days is usually ample notice for all but the very largest cities, where it is well, in case you wish a showing to go up on a fixed date, to give sixty days’ notice. ”

“ A printer is such an avaricious dog; he is, really! The tickets would be equally distributed among those men with the money whom you send about the polling places. A ballot in each instance should be marked with the cross for Tammany Hall before it is given to the recruit. He will then carry it into the booth in his pocket. Having received the regular ticket from the hands of the judges, he can go through the form of retiring, don't y' know; then reappear and give in the ticket which was marked by your man of the machine. ”

“ Pick up an average copy of the Bee- Nugget and what do you find? A 12- or 16-page 6-column paper, in two sections, with the leading news of the state or county attractively displayed on the front page, with the usual run of local news, social and personal items from the county seat, publicity stuff, editorial, country correspondence, boiler plate and advertising. With this important difference, that scarcely an issue goes on the press without at least one good front-page story of prime interest to farmers, often occupying the right-hand column or under a two-column head in the center ”

“ In no department of the newspaper has there been greater advance than in the advertising department. This advance has been sweeping, covering every phase of advertising. What was the matter with advertising in the pioneer days? Well, just about everything. It was worse than the news and didn't compare at all with the editorial. Type faces were good, though the printer often mixed them badly in the same ad. ”

“ Your committee on advertising will have plenty of work to do. It is a good plan to appoint the local newspaper men on this committee. They will keep booming the street fair from the time that the date is fixed upon, and will see that the field is thoroughly and constantly covered, so far as the advertising is concerned. ”

“ If a voter spoils a ballot he should ask for another one. An illiterate person is allowed assistance in marking his ballot.
When the voter comes out of the booth, where he has marked his ballot in secret and folded it so it cannot be read, he gives the ballot to an election official, who announces the name of the voter and the number of his ballot, tears off the stub, and drops the ballot unopened into the box. A person’s vote may be challenged by an inspector or watcher, or at the written request of any voter. ”

“ Posting can be used by the local merchant as the one and only medium, or as a supplement to his newspaper or street-car announcements. Its use has in the past been largely confined to the latter, but this has been chiefly because of the high cost of posters in the small quantities needed for local work. This difficulty is being overcome by the issue of stock posters for every line of business, and it is now possible to get from your local bill-posters either the paper itself or information where you can buy it for nearly every trade and every line of goods which would bear advertising. ”

“ Only those who have worked in the offices of an important newspaper, know that the Power Behind the Throne—which is the Editorial Chair—is rarely the Church, scarcely ever the State, infrequently the Capitalist, and never Labour,—but simply the Advertisement Department. ”

“ Do not place competitive products alongside each other. Give them separate locations, or, in the case of a long board, have them as far apart as possible.
Be liberal with your renewal paper. Aside from the fact that it is your duty to see that each poster is maintained in perfect condition the full contract time, the advertiser, especially the one who checks closely, will appreciate the service.
Instead of being afraid to “give something for nothing,” cover your old, dead paper with the left-over paper of some good, live, liberal bill-board advertiser. ”

“ A circular descriptive of the show cards, posters and stickers may also be obtained through the Bureau of Information, which has arranged to have this advertising display matter prepared for the use of local Committees. It is strongly recommended that these posters and cards be used in order to standardize the various local Demonstrations.
The stickers should be widely distributed among local merchants for use on city mail during the week preceding and the week of the campaign. ”

“ Full publicity as to matters to be voted upon by the people is afforded by the setting out of the complete text of the proposed laws, together with the arguments for and against them, in the ballot pamphlet mailed to each elector preceding the election at which they are submitted, and the only requirement for publication of such law shall be that it be set out at length in ballot pamphlets which the Secretary of State shall cause to be printed. ”

“ The voter receives, further, an official envelope. Every envelope is of the same size, quality and colour, and may not carry any distinguishing mark.
The voter himself places the ballot paper in the envelope. He does this in a booth so arranged that no one can see him and afterwards in the presence of the electoral committee, puts the envelope into the urn. The lists of candidates of which he makes no use he places in a box specially provided for the purpose. ”

“ The official register sets forth the name, address, number, and qualification of every man and woman in the district entitled to vote. When the poll clerk is satisfied with the identity of the applicant, the white ballot paper is stamped with the official mark, back and front, and handed to the elector, and a short horizontal line or tick is drawn against his name on the register to show that he has voted. The ballot papers are made up like cheque-books, each paper having a counterfoil, and are numbered consecutively on the back. ”

“ Capturing the imagination for equal suffrage or for the Woman's Journal is another way of saying "getting so many inches or columns of free advertising in the papers." Each week for some time we have been watching the Journal's columns to see whether, by sending an advance clipping from the week's paper, we could not get a certain amount of free publicity in the daily paper. ”

“ For favors have cards of water-color paper painted around the edges with a festoon of pink ribbon, in which, at intervals, are knotted scrolls and documentary envelopes upon which are printed some of the principles of the Republican party, such as "The Monroe doctrine reaffirmed," "Reduction of war taxes," "Allegiance to the gold standard," etc. At the top of each card write the name of the person whom each guest is to represent.
In the centre of the card will be the menu, which is as follows:
A clear soup, with noodles for letters, fills the requirements of the Post Office. ”