No person can be really successful in business without advertising. By the term advertising is not meant, necessarily, the paying for space in the local papers and in street cars - although those are two of the best publicity mediums - but the keeping of one's business favorably before the public. In the term "favorably" lies the secret of successful advertising. The announcing of your wares to the public is a business matter, and those who try to make a joke of their advertising and a cartoon of their copy by the same token make a joke of their business and a caricature of a business man of themselves. Selling goods is a serious matter and what is required in a plumber's advertisement is a quiet, dignified, appealing statement which awakens a desire to possess the articles offered for sale. That being true, it follows as a natural corollary that a scare advertisement, picturing the danger in the deadly but mythical sewer gas, and the illness and death attendant upon those who have improperly constructed drainage systems, does not only appeal to the public and make them wish to have a complete plumbing installation, but actually frightens those who contemplate such a course, and causes them to pause and consider if the comfort and convenience are worth the danger they run.

In advertising do not pay for valuable space and, because it is filled with something humorous, loathsome or catchy, imagine it is good copy. Advertising is salesmanship, and if you wish to reach and influence your public it will be necessary to talk to them through the medium of your paid space, the same as if you were interviewing them separately in their offices. In advertising you have something to say. Tell it and then stop, so the story you have told can sink and stick in the reader's memory

The best advice about advertising that could be given to the prospective business man is to purchase a good book on the subject, or borrow one from the library, and study its principles thoroughly until perfectly familiar with the requirements of space, copy, display and mediums For the benefit of those who cannot get such a book a few helpful suggestions will here be given.