Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — A NOVEL INVESTMENT. [ARTICLE]

A NOVEL INVESTMENT.

STRANGE COMMERCIAL FAITH. How Bread Cast Upon the Waters of Trade Come* Back After Many Days —Enormous Investments In Modern Business Methods Name?” Trade Marks and Their Defense. If our forefathers could look down on modern business methods they would at the first glance conclude that modern merchants were as mad as March hares. After they had become thoroughly acquainted with the magnificent systems which are used by our great railroad corporations and mammoth trusts, they would conclude that the age was an age of magicians, and not of fools. The machinery of business has kept pace with the improved machinery of our mills. Inleed, the merchant of to-day avails of no dttle machinery in the conduct of his every-day office work. Patented systems of copying, of duplicating, wonderful let.ter files, and hundreds of neat aids to office work have multiplied very fast during the past few years and within the last month. The Graphophone has gone into active use in business offices, so that the merchant can dictate all his correspondence to a machine which records it on a wax-coated cylinder, from which, at a later hour, the typewriter can reproduce it for the mail. The marvelous developments of modern business show more strongly in the matter of advertising than in most other branches. Vast sums of money are apparently thrown away in this direction. When a great commercial house spends two hundred thousand dollars during a single year in newspaper advertising, there is nothing in the inventory at the close of the year which will represent the outlay. The papers have been printed, distributed, read and again reduced to pulp in the paper mill, while the merchant’s good money has been paid to the publishers. Prudent men, even of the present generation, hardly comprehend it. Thousands shake their heads, and invest their own money in- bricks and mortar, feeling assured that they can depend on possessions which they see rather than Invest their money in building up something which to them seems visionary. A true philosopher of the olden time put over his door the legend, “Things invisible deceive not.” The bankers and builders of his day sneered at him as they counted their gold and reared their solid buildings. But he had Scripture for his warrant, and modern advertisers are the direct followers of his philosophy. He labored to show men that gold might be stolen, buildings might burn, substantial possessions turn to dust and disappointment, while skill, education and character, though invisible, could not be stolen nor destroyed. The modern advertiser goes much further, and proves conclusively tiat a mere name may be worth a million if it >» well known and well respected. "What’s in a name?” finds forcible answer in the columns of our dnily papers. The shrewd school boy, who puzzled his companions by flaring them to spell housecleaning in seven letters, and then solved it by spelling Sapolio, must have recognized the intimate connection between these two ideas which has been built up by a vast expenditure of money. The five letters, P-e-a-r-s, though valueless singly, are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars when used in connection with soap. The printed matter, painted signs, and countless devices to make the nnme popular pass away annually, almost as fast as they are paid for; but if properly managed, the trade name accumulates and carries forward the value as a permanent investment. An article of real worth, clearly named and widely made known to the public, is sure of a brilliant success. Sapolio affords abundant evidence of Buis Its great usefulness, its distinct but descriptive name, and its almost universal use has resulted in ns great success to its manufacturers as in assistance to the housekeepers of the world. Such an investment as the trade-name Sapolio needs no fire insurance, and cannot secretly be conveyed to Canada. If tampered with or infringed upon, it must be done openly, and modern law with each succeeding year recognizes more forcibly than before the rights of trade-name owners, and punishes with greater alacrity attempts at infringement. The manufac-. turers of Sapolio have successfully overthrown countless imitations, and we understand that they are now prosecuting dealers who silently pass another article over their counters when the customer has plainly asked for Sapolio. This is a new leparture in law, but is clearly equitable. It promises to add another link to the laws which assist in the defense of trade marks and trade names. An attempt to imitate is always despicable, except when monkeys or stage mimics are thereby enabled to amuse an audience. Yet although the history of trade furnishes no instance of a really successful imitation, still hundreds attempt it every year. In the office of the Sapolio manufacturers there is a Chamber of Horrors where the proprietors keep samples of the many cakes of imitation stuffs which have been vainly put forward only to meet with prompt failure or to drag out a profitless, existence through a few years. The public is too discriminating to buy an inferior article on the assertion that it “is just as good ns Sapolio.” The man who attempts to deceive by imitating the name or appearance of another man’s goods is a self-proclaimed liar, and however general the vice of falsehood may be, it is a fact that even liars have no sympathy for one of their kind. The public asks no better proof of inferiority than that the goods are pushed forward under the cover of a better reputation, and the Chamber of Horrors in the Sapolio building tells in plain terms how the public recognizes and despises such attempts. It is not an empty faith or visionary speculation that leads these well-known manufacturers to expend hundreds of thousands of dollars in constantly reminding the world of Sapolio. Years of intimate acquaintance have taught them that the public knows a good article and is willing to pay for it; that the market for fine goods, whether it be butter or fruits, or laces or diamonds, yes, or good scouring soap, is never glutted. They have become intimate with the people. Sapolio is a household word, always spoken with good will, as if it were a familiar friend. The thousands who pass by The Sun building on their way to and from the Brooklyn Bridge, look up with a smile as they recognize the great sign which now overhangs the ruins of French’s Hotel, and say: “There it is again,” when they recognize the seven letters arranged under the seven days of the week, with the brief statement that “if used every week day it brings rest on Sunday.” The great white wall looks as though it had been cleaned with Sapolio. and a verse underneath gives the comforting assurance that— This world is all a fleeting show, For man’s illusion given; But woman, with Sapolio, Can make that show a heaven. Poets, artists, designers, clever writers, many of whom would not condescend to touch on trade topics in an ordinary way, do not hesitate to set forth the merits of Sapolio. It is a simple solid cake of scouring soap, but the sun never sets upon its sale. From New York to San Francisco it is found in every household, lightening tlie housewife’s care, and, like the great men of the world, wasting itself to make everything around it brighter. In Honolulu, Nagasaki, Shanghai, Bombay, Ce?ion, Calcutta and Alexandria it forms a chain which binds the West of civilization, with its Eastern edge: while over Australasia, the African colonies, nnd the countries of South Africa its sales are ver?- extensive. This slight record of its successes and systems is a good proof of the value of modern advertising, and we have coupled It with some facts relating to the disasters of those who hare not followed the

broad theory of advertising and created a name and reputation for something distinctively their own, because we would not by painting a tempting picture of success lure thoughtless people to make the mistake of supposing that servile imitation would lead them to the same thing. Josh Billings covers the ground, “Never oppose a success. When I see a rattlesnake's head sticking out of a hole, I say that hole belongs to that snake, and I go about my business.”