Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1912 — HONEST ADVERTISING WINS IN LONG RUN [ARTICLE]

HONEST ADVERTISING WINS IN LONG RUN

By WM. C. FREEMAN.

Rev. Dr. Reisner of Grace Methodist Episcopal church, New York, recently sent a letter to a number of business men asking them some questions, based on the alleged statement of Rev. R. J. Campbell of London, that a business man cannot be absolutely honest and succeed. A great many honorable men, so Dr. Reisner says, claim that an absolutely upright Standard of honesty ie Impossible for the man who is determined to succeed In business. The following are the questions that he asked Of the merchants: 1. Is It possible to,succeed In business and be absolutely honest? 2. Why do dishonest men fall to reach fullest success? 3. Why do so many salesmen resort to sharp practices to make sales? 4. Is it ever excusable to misrepresent or exaggerate goods either In quality or popularity of demand? Here are four very* good answers to those questions sent to Dr. Reisner by Mr. Murphy, presidept of the Mark Cross company: 1. Yes —and If done any other way the man does not get the full measure of success. 2. because the most difficult thing In the world is to He dishonestly for any length of time. 3. Sharp practice is their tragedy —that Is why there are so many bad salesmen. 4. There Is no .excuse tor such a blunder. Retribution follows hard on the heels of misrepresentation. Advertising may be fraudulent or It may be profitable, but it cannot be both. There is no fool so great as the fool who thinks he Is fooling everybody. First he labors hard to gain a diahonest reputation, and afterward he labors to updo Jt. Like Frankenstein, who released the genii from the bottle only to find he could not control him. Another paper was read at the Sunday night service, December 3, which made the point that the man who practices dishonestly tn bis business has .to be a great deal smarter man than the man who practices honesty —that he has greater difficulty in attaining partial success than the man who Is inherently honest has in attaining a great success. Is it not true that the businesses that prosper most in our communities are those whose owners are men of character who stand for something in the world ? • 1 - There is no doubt that honesty in business pays best in the long run, and the honest adertiser has a better chance to succeed than the dishonest advertiser.

“Say all you have to say In the fewest possible words, or your reader will be Sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words, or he will certainly misunderstand them.”—Ruskin.