was not practicable to do this, so it remains for the member companies to select the method which seems best suited for their needs and follow it with such variations as local conditions make necessary.

Two Distinct Plans

It will be seen that there are two distinct ideas in these suggestions. One plan puts the initiative up to the central station, requiring the lighting company to effect an organization of electrical interests for the sake of underwriting the page. The other plan requires that the local newspaper undertake the work with no more than the moral support of the lighting company. In this second plan it might even be necessary for the lighting company to suggest that the newspapers start the canvass.

Page Supported by Electrical Interests

For the electrical page supported by an organization of electrical interests, the following comments by Mr. Ralph Neumuller, of The United Electric Light and Power Company, New York, are of in

terest:

"Unfortunately, most attempts toward the development of an electrical page have been spasmodic and few, if any, have been systematically and consistently conducted. There can be no doubt that unless a cooperative electrical page has behind it the good-will and energetic support of the electrical interests themselves, that it defeats its own purpose.

"How best to encourage cooperative pages is a problem that has been and can be argued pro and con with reasonable merit; yet it seems that success depends upon the amount of support, encouragement, interest and desire that is evidenced by those who hope to benefit from its use. Unless the initiative behind the movement is wholehearted, it had better be left alone.

"While it has been the general practice to place the burden of securing advertisements and of building the cooperative page upon the newspapers themselves, it would seem that this work can be accomplished with better results if undertaken by a committee representing the central station, manufacturer and retailer. The time spent by a newspaper solicitor in canvassing the requisite amount of electrical advertising to fill up a newspaper page can be, and usually is, more profitably employed by him in soliciting such advertisers as naturally require and use dominating space. The past inertia on the part of the newspapers generally to go after our collective business can be traced to this line of least resistance.

"If electrical interests benefit from newspaper advertising, and if that benefit is enhanced by combining the different advertisements into a solid page, then certainly the industry should not await the initiative of the newspapers to do it. I believe that the electrical live wires are sufficiently organized in every community to band together, definitely plan a series of electrical pages covering a certain period of time, proportion the space and subscribe in advance for the costs involved if they honestly believe in the resulting benefit and value of their purpose. This seems to me to be the only way in which cooperative electrical pages may hope for that much desired 'advertising continuity'." This belief is further supported by the report of Mr. John V. Strange, of the Pacific Power and Light Company, who says:

"Very little cooperative advertising has been carried on in this city. An attempt was made during the recent Christmas season to conduct an electrical page in the local newspapers, and it was carried out in a limited way. I do not believe the plan was proposed in

sufficient time to allow the careful preparation that is necessary to make a movement of this kind thoroughly successful. The results obtained were not a disappointment in any way, but the movement was not participated in by all branches of the industry as it should have been. It is my opinion that these campaigns must be persistent if they are to be successful, and this can be accomplished only through the carrying out of a pre-determined plan which has been fully financed in advance."

Since this first effort the Northwest Electrical Service League has been organized and as Mr. Strange says:

"A directing head of the organization will be selected within the next few days, and field representatives will be secured immediately thereafter and the work of coordinating all branches of the electrical industry throughout the states of Oregon and Washington will then be firmly established. Cooperative publicity of all kinds will be directed by this organization and, as a matter of fact, it is expected that the publicity end of the work will be most prominent.

"The Northwest Electric Service League will have paid employes whose duty it will be to secure the cooperation of all newsapers in the states of Oregon and Washington in this matter of working up electric cooperative pages.'

Maintain Individuality of Copy

If this is done, the subscribers should be careful to maintain the individuality of their displays, for, as is pointed out by Mr. O. R. Underhill, of the Worcester Electric Light Company,

"there is danger in too much combination on the part of electrical merchandisers. It is an excellent idea to group the ads of one class by themselves. This is a great convenience because many readers do not care to take the trouble to search the newspapers. But if there is any suggestion of combining for a price it would prove a grievous mistake. Also, for two or more dealers to affix their signatures to the same ad would be unwise.

"It has been suggested that each dealer should specialize in some one article and make it known that his salesroom is headquarters for such. Could this ever be possible?

"The strongest way to get our story across to the prospect is to tie in with the national advertisers through the intelligent use of the local newspapers. Each dealer should be encouraged to do it the way best suited to his conditions."

Put It Up to the Newspaper

In support of the theory that better results will be obtained if the newspaper assumes the burden of soliciting the electric interests, the following is offered:

"In following this course it is suggested that the advertising manager of the Central Station call upon the Advertising Department of at least one newspaper in his city and point out the possibilities of such a page to the newspaper that is willing to make the effort. Of course, the advertising manager must be thoroughly enthused with the idea-so much so in fact that he will impart some of his enthusiasm to the newspaper man. It is quite likely that the newspaper man will respond with the suggestion that the Central Station start the ball rolling by signing the first contract. It is not necessary for the Central Station to do this, and by some it is felt that it is more desirable to have the Central Station remain in the background until the page is fully developed. In fact, as pointed out in last year's report, a newspaper built up a whole electrical supplement alone, and the lighting company's contract

was among the last to be signed. Of course, the lighting company's contract would be a tremendous aid to the newspaper solicitor in getting the other electrical interests to come in. It is this very fact which in some cases will make it better for the Central Station to

hold back its contract until the page is fully developed." Against this is the report of Mr. E. A. Batwell, of Seattle, who says: "The local newspapers themselves have tried to put on electrical pages, but their efforts have not been very successful."

Back Up the National Advertising The importance of associating local advertising with that of national character is also pointed out by Mr. H. A. Lewis, of Electrical Merchandising:

"Manufacturers are asked to give one-twelfth of their space for good-will advertising, and the N.E.L.A. is planning to do some direct national advertising on its own account. The success of this national work will depend on the amount of local advertising carried on by every central station in the country. There is not a single central station in the country but has some form of newspaper contract. In many cases this space is merely filled with boiler plate.

"The newspaper interests of America, Mr. Lewis further states, must be sold the idea of the importance of Electrical Advertising.

"The magazine Electrical Merchandising solicited 250 newspapers throughout the country, and found first that the local knowledge regarding the possibilities of electrical advertising was very limited and that the central stations or the trade had failed to point out to the newspapers the possibilities of this class of business.

"Second, it was found that the business departments of newspapers were very much interested in the possibilities of working out an organized campaign with the electrical trade, but the newspapers looked to the electrical industry for information and guidance."

In Conclusion

While the Newspaper Advertising Campaigns Division has no intention of presuming to outline an advertising policy for any company, it nevertheless feels justified in offering certain reminders of what might prove useful advertising topics, and for those companies which do not maintain a large advertising staff to point out sources of suitable copy.

The National good-will advertising which is now being published in the Saturday Evening Post by the

Association will, in a great many cases, be suitable for local use. Such an advertisement, surrounded by straight selling copy of the electrical retailers of a city, would make a very effective page. Such advertising would convey an important message to readers and at the same time would not put the central station in the position of conpeting with the other electrical advertisers.

For those companies which feel that straight merchandising advertising is more suitable, the Division would recommend the copy service facilities of the

Society for Electrical Development and of the Mcorganizations get out a copy service which includes Junken Advertising Agency, of Chicago. Both these seasonable newspaper matter, follow-up letters, display cards, etc.

The Society for Electrical Development sends out weekly to approximately 600 daily newspapers two services. One of them is for the use of the editor, in which particular stress is laid upon the importance and value of the public utility in the community it serves; these suggestions are made for the editor to run either flat as supplied to him or to use as themes for editorials of his own writing.

The other service consists of timely news items of human interest to use on the electrical pages, or as fillers for the Sunday Magazine section, or the regular run of the newspaper in case the paper is not carrying an electrical page.

Letters from journals receiving this service, and frequent requests from other journals, to be placed upon the mailing list to receive it, as well as its widespread use, indicates the appreciation by the newspapers of the value of electrical news and the importance of the electrical industry.

The Division also recommends to those members who are contemplating an electrical page a study of the book by Mr. Frank B. Rae, Jr., of Cleveland. Mr. Rae has prepared an exhaustive treatise on this subject, and it should be in the hands of everyone contemplating electrical pages.

Attention is also called to the advertising exhibit which has been arranged and which is on display in one of the rooms of the convention hotel. This exhibit includes a number of electrical pages.

THE CHAIRMAN: The next report is that of the News Syndicate and Magazine Writers' Division, Mr. Frank B. Rae, Jr., chairman.

FRANK B. RAE, JR.: The Committee of which I have the honor to be chairman did little this year. The very small degree of success that attended our work will be revealed by the report.

We have drawn plans in which the Society for Electrical Development has now promised to cooperate, and I believe that in cooperation with that organization we will be able to put across a consid

erable number of electrical pages and, incidentally, to induce a number of newspaper syndicates to produce electrical page material.

Just how big this publicity problem is will be revealed when I tell you that if we are able to have an electrical page in every one of the first hundred cities of the United States, omitting the six largest, we would have a weekly circulation of 4,742,000 readers, and in the course of the year would print 369,899,000 columns of matter on the subject of electrical applications and appliances.

MR. GIBBS: We would like now to hear from Mr. Ralph Neumuller, chairman of the Committee on Exhibits, and I should like to inform you or suggest to you that the exhibit is a very much worth while one for you to see.

RALPH NEUMULLER: Upon the suggestion of Chairman Gibbs, we arranged an advertising exhibit which you will find on the east wing of the mezzanine floor. The exhibits are equally divided between manufacturers and central stations. I feel that the exhibit is worth while seeing, and I suggest that you all see it. It will be there during the entire period

of the Convention.

I want to take this opportunity, Mr. Chairman, of expressing my thanks to the Commonwealth Edison Company and to Mr. Dana Howard for their helpfulness, and particularly to Mr. E. W. Swift, who prepared in advance much of the ma terial that is displayed.

MR. GIBBS: Your chairman has never given up hoping that some day there will be a general advertising council in the electrical industry to which representatives may be appointed by all the various. associations, which will meet regularly to discuss advertising problems, make suggestions to the different associations, and suggestions to the advertisers and other agencies. I believe the day is not far distant when our best efforts will be coordinated to that extent.

There is work to be done in publicity in connection with accident prevention. There is work to be done in connection with the courtesy and goodwill campaigns; work to be done in connection with. that which is being done by the Manufacturers' Advertising Committee under Mr. Thomson; and work can be done in connection with the development of the employes' savings idea. All of these must eventually be coordinated and intensified.

Many of the branches of our Association activity are missing excellent opportunities for publicity in connection with their lines of work, and it is my

FD PEMBLETON PL THOMSON JM WAKEMAN

suggestion that in the coming year an effort be made to bring out the work of these other sections and committees with the help of the Advertising and Publicity Service Bureau for a coordinated effort.

For example, take the Wiring Committee: Have a subcommittee appointed from that general national committee of three or four or five men who are members of the Wiring Committee because of their definite interest in the problems of the Wiring Committee; that committee to think in terms of publicity for their own committee, and the chairman of that subcommittee to be a member of the Advertis

ing and Publicity Service Bureau.

In that connection I will appoint a committee consisting of Mr. J. C. McQuiston, Mr. Frank J. Allen and Mr. P. L. Thomson, to prepare a resolution to be submitted later to the Executive Committee of the Commercial Section for its consideration along the line of that idea.

I want to thank you all for being present here at this meeting for consideration of the reports of the Advertising and Publicity Service Bureau.

THE CHAIRMAN: Just a word on the subject of advertising before we go to the next part of the program: This report of the Advertising and Publicity Service Bureau is tremendously significant to me of the advance in the attitude of the central station executives in regard to the subject of advertising.

I recall one large central station-in fact, one of the largest in this country-where, less than twenty years ago, the general manager, a very able man of the old type of manager, an able manager and able executive, was approached by the then secretary of the company, who is now president of one of our large companies, with the suggestion that they do some advertising, and the general manager of that large company said: "What do we want to do any advertising for? If the people want current, they have got to come to us, haven't they?"

That was fairly representative of the managerial