Heavily Loaded Trucks and Wagons Slow Up Electric Cars SAMPLES OF GOOD WILL POSTERS DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT INDUSTRY BY SECTION. MORE POSTERS OF THIS GENERAL NATURE WILL BE DISTRIBUTED DURING THE COMING YEAR, fication that the industry is getting back on its feet to be printed. The press also has been very helpful in making clear the fact that the electric railways still have a long hard pull ahead of them and should not suffer drastic fare cuts now. The policy of your Committee has been to give the press any information asked for and this plan is proving wise. Only one or two incidents in which the facts about the general electric railway situation were misstated by a national medium have occurred during the last year and the writers of these very gladly corrected the statements when their attention was called to them. Of course, this does not mean that every local misstatement has been corrected at the instance of your Committee. It would be impossible for us to attempt such a task. The Bulletin "Truth" The bulletin, "Truth," was established during April of the present year and has appeared monthly since. It goes to publicity men of all electric railway companies and manufacturers of electric railway supplies, as well as to the publicity men and executives of affiliated industries. The material from "Truth" has been reprinted very generously and letters on file in Association headquarters show that it is greatly appreciated by publicity men particularly. There are about 35 or 40 company publications in the industry which use liberally from "Truth's" material. Several companies also are using excerpts from 'Truth" in their display advertisements. State Committees There are at the present time about 25 State Committees on Public Utility Information operating in some 30 states. Your Committee co-operates very closely with these Committees. They are helpful in disseminating information about the industry both through their regular weekly publications, which are sent directly to the press, and through their special newspaper releases. Several of these Committees also have speakers who constantly are filling engagements, and the Advertising Section keeps them informed regarding changes in the electric railway situation so that they will have possession of the latest facts. Your Committee desires to indorse strongly the work of these State Committees. It believes that they should be supported generously by the electric railway companies. Most of them now are, but in several cases the Directors report that electric railway companies have failed to pledge their support on the theory that the Committee's work does not bring results. There is plenty of evidence available to show that this is a mistaken view. Co-operation With Other National Associations Your Committee is constantly in touch with the Publicity Committees of other national public utility associations with the view to avoiding duplication of effort and getting the best results from dis What Happened in Des Moines No. 7 Soon after street cars stopped running and buses attempted to carry the people, taxpayers awoke to the fact that they were furnishing the cow and the bus men were getting the cream. In dollars and cents, here were some of the differences between street cars and buses: STREET CARS Paid the city taxes totaling $167,000 per year. Paved streets, and repaired streets and highway bridges, and did them almost no damage. Invested $7,000,000 in fixed property most of which could not be moved away. Gave employment to 1000 persons. BUSES Paid licence fee of $25 each. Badly damaged pavements and paid nothing for their repair this falling on taxpayers. Invested only the cost of their buses-from $600 up- all of which could "leave the city flat" in half an hour. Gave employment to less than 100 persons. Sentiment aside, it was poor business, everyone realized, Inadequate fares and unrestricted bus competition forced the over 92 (Company signature here) SAMPLE OF SERIES OF DOZEN ADS SETTING FORTH FACTS IN DES MOINES CASE. SIMILAR ADS PREPARED WHENEVER A CASE OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE IS ATTRACTING PUBLIC ATTENTION. semination of material. Regular meetings are held by the publicity representatives of these Associations for the discussion of co-ordination of their work and when matters of special interest arise outside of the time for these regular meetings, they communicate with one another. They particularly co-ordinate their efforts in dealing with the State Committees on Public Utility Information. Three meetings with the Directors of the State Committees or their representatives have been held during the last year. Committee Co-operation Recognizing the mutual interest of the Safety, Merchandising Transportation and Publicity work of the Association, your Committee has arranged during the last year to have the Director of the Advertising Section work closely with these Committees. As a result of this association, he has been able to give advice to companies on safety and merchandising transportation work, and also to aid the Committees in the preparation of various broadsides and other material. He also edited the annual report of the Merchandising Transportation Committee. Speeches at Conventions The services of the Director as a speaker at Conventions, banquets, etc., wherever there is a possibility of disseminating the public relations and advertising message, are available. During the last year he has spoken before the Company Section of the United Electric Railways of Providence, R. I., the School of Journalism, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; the Indiana State Public Utilities Association annual meeting; the Illinois Public Utility Association annual meeting; the Central Electric Railway Association meeting, Indianapolis, and the Wisconsin Public Utilities Association, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Association Advertising 66 The Association has utilized booklets, displayed advertising, form letters and other media prepared by the section to a larger extent than ever before during the last year, and the results have been gratifying. In connection with the membership campaign two booklets, one Going Up," for individual members, and the other, "Why Belong to the American Electric Railway Association" for company members, were distributed throughout the industry and evoked much favorable comment. The recent sales campaign for space at the present Convention was carried on very largely through circular letters and advertisements in Aera Electric Railway Journal and Electric Traction prepared by the Advertising Section. Your Committee also Co-operated with the Boosters Committee, President Todd and others in the preparation of booklets, folders, form letters, etc., which helped advertise the Convention generally. Working Publicity Men's Committee At the request of your Committee, the Executive Committee during the year, authorized the organization of a Working Publicity Men's Committee whose duties should be to offer advice and suggestion to your Committee on Publicity as to methods for improving its work. This Committee was organized as follows: L. K. Starr, George Railway & Power Company; Harlow C. Clark, Public Service Railway Company; W. Dwight Burroughs, United Railways & Electric Company of Baltimore; Luke Grant, Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway Company; H. A. Lemmon, Stone & Webster, Inc.; W. P. Strandborg, Portland Railway, Light & Power Company; E. B. Sanders, Kansas City Railways Company; James E. Carnes, Nashville Railway & Light Company; and E. H. Sharpe, Pacific Electric Railway Company. Although this Committee has been organized only a short time, it has done some splendid work. The outstanding feature of its efforts is a survey of advertising conditions throughout the industry which now is practically completed. Questionnaires were sent out by different section chairmen to all electric railway companies and hundreds of replies have been received. These replies show whether companies are advertising, and if they are, what kind of mediums they are using. The various section members also are co-operating in the distribution of advertising material in their own territories. Two meetings of the Committee have been held during the year, one at Atlantic City during the National Electric Light Association Convention, and the other at Milwaukee during the meeting of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World. RECOMMENDATIONS Your Committee believes that the Advertising Section is performing a useful work and that its activities should not be permitted to diminish, whether it must be financed by the Association or otherwise. Results can best be obtained by seeing that each company's publicity man keeps actively in touch with the Section, uses the material to the fullest extent of his ability and gives the Director and your Committee the benefit of his suggestions. Constructive suggestion is not only gratefully received, but courted. Plans now being worked out in co-operation with the Manufacturers Committee, contemplate a wider use of manufacturers channels during the next year. Many manufacturers now are helping in every possible way to tell our story, but all should be. Electric railway members can aid materially in our work if they will make it a point to determine if the manufacturers with whom they deal are helping, and then work with them. One difficulty which the Section has encountered this year is that of manufacturers saying they did not feel like inaugurating public relations work locally when the electric railway company was doing nothing, or next to nothing. A get-together spirit on the part of |