WASTING MILLIONS THE ADVERTISING GAME
BARNES, AUGUSTA
WASTING MILLIONS: THE ADVERTISING GAME Consumers Yearly Foot the Huge Bill Incurred in Costly Fight for Trade By AUGUSTA BARNES ONE of the strongest indictments against the present economic...
...The same thing was true when the five Socialist Assemblymen were expelled by Speaker Sweet and his gang...
...The paper* would be *mall and expenaive, but on the other hand we would pay less for our good* *lncc we would not have to pay for the coat of adverti*inf in addition to the value of the goods...
...Not even the writer of the above letter could by any stretch of hie imsgination reconcile such methods with democracy...
...Let them be Communist, Anarchist...
...A favorite device i* lo get a product so well known as to be practically standardiied and then reduce the bulk or weight of the contents of the carton while gradually adding tu the price There are sUndard products in the market which have thus been made more costly to the consumer within a few year* to the extent of Ifi per cent in price and 12 per cent in bulk, while the price of the raw material has, in the meantime, declined not less than 26 per cent This means that the people who buy these products were gradually forced to pay at least 60 per cent more than a fair market price, and at least 25 per cent more than the same thing could be had in bulk...
...A futile-minded man conceive* some novel form for a common food, for example, and begins to manufacture it There may he no demand for it, and no necessity for it...
...I A rough calculation hat bMa nade which show* thai th* •Um...
...It is also a fact that the Socialist Party expelled some of its members for not agreeing with their views on war, and this is absolutely correct, because they are a political party...
...In lo far ai • aervioe bears no relation to the wants of man, just ao far it It a waste...
...Certain officials have been suspended from holding office in the union for stated periods...
...These millions, or most of them, are paid for fty those who buy the goods...
...It is almost unthinkable and quite unbelievable that any sane man would dream of buying anything on the mere assertation, by some one who wanted to sell it, that it was cheap and good...
...From "Wasting Human Life," by A. M. Simons, we have the following "Knormous sums are spent by competitive firms to persuade the public that there are a number of different individual teas, butlers bacons...
...it is only possible without them...
...Now, as I pointed out before, a union man when he is not satisfied with his leaders can only do one thing...
...Now, the same thing can not be done in a trade union...
...In the business world capitalists think of waste as meaning "ineffi ciency" — the inefficiency against which there has been, for the past ten years such a general hue and cry...
...or one favorite brand of spices instead of another...
...Practically all the finest work done in lithography and photogravure is devoted to advertising purposes...
...elty of value currently arising in the world of production, and yet be of not one-fiftieth of the volume of our curreft- advertising matter or of one-thousandth of its costs...
...And how did you act...
...I dustry with ilt •normout volume I of adTerliaing would release an...
...Reeve...
...There are many ot^r trade* that give a con*idcrable amount of their output to the use of advertiaemaiita...
...Today the same advertising Is done by sealed letters, requiring twice the postage and five time* the cost of mailing...
...that from advertising formed 60 per cent in 1909 snd M.4 per cent in 1899, having increased much faster than that from subscriptions and sales...
...When one is expelled from a political party, he can join another or arrange a new party and bring his ideas before the voters, and if the voters like his or their ideas they vote for them in spite of the psrty machine, whoever they may be...
...The same food is available in a different form and l)«ssibly a better form, and is sold at a more economical price than the new product can be sold...
...Should, however, those whom he elected be ousted from the respective Legislatures, he hss no other choice but the use of force...
...by Lenin...
...Turn to page 13 of the pamphlet "Should Communists Participate in Reactionary Trade Union...
...Now my questions to you are: First, do two wrongs make one right...
...Your fate will be the same as the Sweets, Sigmans and others like them—their leadership taken away from them, condemned by all honest people, and only remembered with hate and disgust I hope that enough courage has remained in you to publish this letter in The New Leader...
...On page ."iO Lenin says that in the unions the Communists must "retort lo tlralegy and adroilnatt, illeial procaedingt, reticence and lubterfufe, to anything in order to panelrala into tha trade uniont, remain in them, snd carry on Communist work inside them, at any ceil...
...Therefore all sincere believers in democracy condemned the action of Sweet, and men like Hughes and Louis Marshall, although Republicans themselves, not only openly condemned the action of the Republican majority, but they offered their service to the expelled Assemblymen...
...Therefore no sensible worker will believe any more your preaching of Socialism, nor support your paper...
...And is not such a plea merely "concealing the truth...
...In that case, how can wa tell where the tpy endt and ibe Communitl begint...
...It is glory and the boast of the akillful aalesman that he can make people ibuy things they do not want...
...It proved to me that you are not better thin the editors of the capitalist papem...
...Socialist or any other party, as long as they were legally elected nobody hat a right to ouil them except the members themselves...
...The Seattle Central Labor Council, one of the most progressive in this country, had to put them out...
...Is this situation peculiar only to the garment unions in New "York...
...I iMiioB of the patent medicine ia...
...In proportion to his ability to make people buy things which they do not desire is his success as a salesman measured...
...Democracy is based upon discussion...
...It was printed by the Workers' party as instructions for its members in trade unions...
...One of the greatest forces for waste in the present competitive system is that by advertising, and closely related to this is the loss which comes from the business of expert salesmanship...
...Hi* character is smirched his motive* questioned, his honest beliefs denounced...
...Professir'Jenks says thst "it i* not too much to say that in many lines it would he possible, if com...
...Competition demands the expenditure of enormous sums in securing a market...
...There i* a great variety of foods treated in this way, and aome of them are priced tremendously above their value, above what they can | still be purchased for in bulk...
...Read the two extracts from Lenin quoted above find then answer this question: Is It not true that the Communist code practiced in the union is the code practiced by lha tpiet of tha capilalltt clatt...
...Yet we do this so constantly that those who have goods to sell find that it pays them to announce, in loudest tonea, their wares all over our newspapers and streets and landscapes...
...Suppose that he answers you not by argument but by the methods to which Communists are pledged...
...While it is true that waste of this kind is a real eronomic waste, yet, if considered in the liirht of the whole industrial sys tern, it is infinitesimally small...
...Efficiency has been enthroned as the Goddeu of Success and the youth of the land have been urged through countless advertisements to woo her aa the road to happiness...
...to furnish a good quality of goods to the cons^;ner^ permit them to pick their brand*, snd chnrge them only one half of the prices puid at present, while still leaving \he manufacturer • profit not less than that now received...
...They supply the answer themselves...
...Louii Eiiner...
...Our answer is, if any organised group In th^ unioB praclicat the cede lo which Conmunilli are pledged, in lima THERE WILL BE NO UNION TO JOIN...
...Comrade Eisner is mistaken in thinking Fhat the Communist members of the affected union in the International have been expelled...
...COMMUNISM AND DEMOCRACY A Letter and A Reply Editor, The New Leader: I have been m reader and a supporter of the New York Call as well as The Leader since I have learned how to read an Engliah newipaper...
...In time of election he can nominate and elect tho.te whom he thinks will represent and serve him best The same thing has been done in the three expelled locals...
...Member of the International Pocketbook Workers' Union...
...Instead of a dozen sale*men with identically the same line of goods calling upon the same cuitomers weekly, one salesman will serve...
...Thi* is according to the democratic principles whieh you claim to believe in...
...All others are scoundrels according to those who practice a ecoundrel't code of conduct I Democracy is impossible wiih Communists...
...The Minnesota Farmer-Labor Federation had to expel them...
...In the printing trade many of the workers are busy printing not books or newspapers, but advertising matter, competitive price lists, wrappers, trade labels, bill heads, account books, poster*, etc., the demand for which come* aa a direct result of tha *tnig(le of various compttitlve seller* to reach the coiuumer...
...Is it not a (coundrel's code...
...Even most superficial examination of this system will reveal an enormoys waste both economic and human...
...They repre.'ent a degenerate offshoot of the Labor movement...
...There is the great volume of correspondence with prospective customers, compiling and mailing of countless circulars, calendars, samples, memorandum books, prizes to induce people to buy...
...They have expelled Max .Kastman from their party because he criticized the Russian Communist leader...
...A union member is in the same position as a citizen in a SUte...
...While In reality efficiency ii only another method of increasing profit under th* capitalist order of thingi, wher* goods are produced for profit and not for use, eflflciency from the •ooial point of view, that ia lowering tha industrial cost without a change of profits, would not be considered by tha captains of industry...
...They write what they are told by their bosses, right or wrong...
...Did you show the courage of a Hughes or a Marshall...
...Sallinf tha Public What H Doam't Want "We see great factories rise and great fortunes built up, as the result of an inexorable policy of pushing upon the public goods thst the public had previously no idea that it needed or wanted...
...According to th^se gentlemen the only people in this world who have an honest motive are Communists...
...It is not sufficient to *ay that it include* free dlicu*aion, free voting and a free choice of offlcialf...
...In comparison with such methods as those, how much helpful information as to the worth or unwortb of good* purchasesble does one get from mailed circulars containing no accurate or reliable information whatever as to the ^oods advocated, from highly colored posters which desecrate our public streets...
...It has been estimated that there are 6,000 sign-boards on the east side of the Pennsylvania tracks between Washington and New York...
...But the expulsions of the three locals of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and the stand you ape taking toward that case convinced me quite different...
...Durinu the war patriotic exertions were made in the interests of "Save-your-paper" campaign and help win the war...
...If the growing belief that a change in the present economic order of things will do away with th» enormous wastes in many lines of activity and will remove the poverty of the workers is a mere dreaa that will lead us into economic fiiU ure, still the undertaking is worth while...
...ProfiU rmt, Sarvica Second The »ol« aim of an economic ayiUm ia to supply the wanti of man...
...One .man with a fair knowledge of the history and aim* of the Labor and Socialist movement can easily handle them in an argument But the memberihip cannot stay the disruption that comes of a group that practice* trickery, low cunning, lying and concealing the truth...
...Stuart Chase, in his pamphlet on "Challenge of Waste," has the following to say in regard to advertising: "The bulk of advertising is composed of what can only be termed loud natal lying as to the relative merit* of competitive products as like as two peas, or, more ainister ¦till, the forcing upon us of things which often hurt not only our pocket books but our bodies and our souls as well...
...He ssys...
...Are Communists pledged to actions in conflict with democracy...
...Nobody knows anything about it...
...Comrade Eisner protests that the action of the International will destroy the union...
...If Wa Had No Salaunen The aim of the advertiser is by no means to increase the total volume of trade, instead it is to divert what volume already exists into his own hands...
...Do not these spies "practice trickery...
...Our critic's argument on the l^aiis of the expuliion^f the Socialist Assemblymen at Albany and on the basis of democracy doe* not, for tha reason* mentioned above, apply...
...Will you have any respect for his plea for democracy...
...Has he not forfeited any right to make such a plea...
...Instead of the great bulk of advertising found in our newspsperi and magazines, in the gaudy di/plajr of posters and electric signs, will b« substituted the condensed and reliable bulletin form of advertiiing...
...If ona poup claimi iti beneflt* hat inilata on repudiating ita practice It ralee itaalf out af eaart aa4 haa aa dlaim upea 4aaaat...
...He is, in fact, trying to restrain the trade of his competitor...
...The Minneapolis central body, another progreseive organization, also had to put them out The miners drove them out at a district convention in Scranton a few years ago...
...WASTING MILLIONS: THE ADVERTISING GAME Consumers Yearly Foot the Huge Bill Incurred in Costly Fight for Trade By AUGUSTA BARNES ONE of the strongest indictments against the present economic flystem of coijipetition is the great amount of waste that occurs...
...Tea bought in the ordinary processes in the London market is put into special packets and labelled with fancy jimes and advertised in terms whi^ suggest that it pos ¦esses indiWual quality like a Bee thoven symphony...
...5*y Priw CoM Ba Cat i« Half Some may argue that if advertii...
...Now, then, turn to Lenin's "I.,ˆft Wing Communism...
...Professor Jenks points out that the purpose of advertising "is not chiefly to persuade customers to buy more soaps Ar spices, but to use Pears' instead of Colgate's...
...Again...
...petitive advertising were rendered unr.ecessary...
...Second, how in the world can you compare a political party to a trade union...
...wai-le in thought of aj refuse odds and ends, the waste of th« rbt bate ran...
...For this failure would be a glorious effort in the interest of one of the most inepiring causes that have ever fired mankind to effort and action...
...None but the people with economical and analytical minds realize the extent of the dominance of advertising in modern life, nor what it means as an element of the much discussed high cost of living...
...Therefore you are against all kind of dictatorships even of the working class...
...Reeve hu suggested that this information b( given to the consumer in the form of "a bulletin such as the telegraphic market reports or the printed consular reports, written upon the same plan and in th.e same impartial spirit as nur book reviews and scientific bulletins...
...Iron, copper, line, enamel, colored ink, paper, string, gum wood—the li(t of article* which are built up into advertisementa to mar landscape* and deipoil scenery...
...In every part of the country, highly skilled and highly paid salesmen from competing firms each week make expensive trips over the same route, stop at the same hotels and show their samples to the same merchants and shopkeepe-s...
...Others will have to do the same thing and do it in order lo tave bolh democracy and lha uniont...
...Only novelties would need to be announced...
...Noabariaee hooka an bthw writUa deeariWat tha phycholo^ mathodf hjr whiah a etevar aalesmai coavlncaa an unaophletieaUd pabH« that he needs aa article and indueea him to buj aomethinf which far toa oftan doas not in aa^r way meet hli need...
...There we read that Communists are pledged, not to democracy, but "lo practice trickery, to employ cunning, and to retort lo Illegal metkodi.'to tomalimet even overlook or conceal the truth...
...The Socialist Fusion Convention in New York had to pitch them out a few weeks ago aft.er they had spent an hour trying to break up the Conference...
...Non-e»ser.tial services will be eliminated and in its place will be substituted service for the production of the e*sentials...
...The mails are ladened with the weight of costly advertising matter, unasked and unused, the great bulk of which is consigned, upon its receipt, to the waste basket, while the small part left accomplishes a result of no value whatever to the community...
...Antwar Were it not that the writer of the above raises a new question in thi* controversy it would be unnecessary to consider this letter...
...Such members should be *ingled out and not be permitted to attend any union mea^ ings, yet to be accorded membership on the basis mentioned *o that they will not be denied employment under union condition...
...CHim AbUaa Whli Elactric Sipu Other expen*ive form* of advertising are to be found in the multiplicity of electric signs, on sidewalk* and housetop, some of them very elaborate and costly...
...The preaent ayttem ia concerned chiefly with supplying « large •mount of profit to certain favored individuals, with the wants of man a minor consideration...
...Large towns aijd cities are literally ablate with these ligns at night Closely allied in its great economic waste to the forms of advertising that have been named is that of the business of salesmanship...
...Now we pay more for our good* that we may pay less for our papers and magazines...
...inc were reduead tha Press could not live, but the Pre** is much too fun of life to be kiNed even by a total lo** of this income...
...Obierve hew the code i* applied in the union...
...Fir*t it i* neces*ary to clear the ground a* to what ia meant by democracy...
...The voters of the five districts could not organize their own Assembly and pass their own laws...
...He is a "grafter," a "Labor fakir," a "crook," a "counter-revoldtionist," a "tool of the bosses...
...eouraae i _ „ _ ship...
...We do not need to be begged to buy shoes when barefooted, nor to seek food when hungry," declares Mr...
...Every member and every official who doat not accept Communiit poUeiat U immallataly attacked...
...Under the head of wastes comes that form of loss that is produced by failure to utilize productive forces, by a diversion of indust^ to luxuries, the waste in agriculture, in manufacturing...
...An Infantile Disorder," and we And the same advice...
...Tha Coat of Advartuiiif The cost of advertising to the consumer has been clearly put by George French in his book, "Advertising—The Social and hxionomic Problem...
...It is lomething more than that...
...The members were dissatisfied with their former leaders, so they elected in an absolute legal way the present executive boards...
...This information may he given to him in a much less expensive and more reliable form...
...The Cen*u* of Manufactures, Bulletin," 1910, say*: "The income of newtpapers and periodical* from subscription, sales, and advertiiing wa* 9337,590,286 in 1909, as compared with |176,7»,610 in 1899, the rate of increase for the decade being 92 per cent of the toUl income from tiieae sources...
...It would hav« to live by (ivinf us good news ia...
...What i« wast* 7 Generally «ppak inf...
...Such practices destroy solidarity and democracy, and without these the union must die...
...A'few years ago this was all done with printed circulars, calling for one cent pottage...
...Their expense* in carfare, hotel bill*, and incidentals amount to millions...
...Countless hours are wanted in the effort to persuade doubting merchant* of the great value of a particular line of goods, of the great profit that will be his if he only purchases this particular brand of good...
...Tha Remedy Of the Socialiita The Socialists' remedy for tMl competitive system where goods are produced for profit rather than use is a system of cooperation whereby the great waste in human skill and ability now existing will be diverted into productive channels...
...These could give to the public the most complete information as to every nov...
...Suppose that you try to convince a Fundamentalist by discussion that he is wrong...
...Either tha Csmmunitl cede mutt be^bandoncd or lha union mutl eventually go to placet...
...That advertising i* neeessary in order that the consumer may he informed as to whst is purchasable is, to some extent, true...
...Tha Conaumar Fit* tha Bill An estimate made by a president of the Incorporate Society of Advertisement Consultanta, Englanij, is to the effect that 100,000,006 sterling are spent annually on advertising in Kngland and reckon a gross total of £560,000,000 per snnum for Kurope and...
...However, it might be necessary for unions that are afflicted with this disease to treat it as the Workmen's Circle has treated it That is, make every known mehiber of the Workers' party a member-at'large and thu* prevent hitn from practicing hi* low •ithic* in any union...
...Not at all...
...Damocracy i* a matter of reciprocity...
...The devotion of energy of brain and hand tq ends which do not supply the wanti of man is the greatest possible wast...
...If he ia not satisfied with the actions of the State or city officials he electa tho.*e he believes will serve best his interests...
...The business of advertising is being regarded to a widely increasing extent as a highly paid profesCoUacae aia tMaf aiUMi** M ia aivartiiiac taa •MB...
...North America...
...however, that at present "there are no fields in which advertising is more frantic . . . than in the staple commodities...
...Did you uphold the principle of Democracy even sgainst members of your own party...
...rgy enough to giva every child ia the country between 7 and 13 years of age six monlht' extra schooling...
...The new food cost just as much in iu raw atate, and there has to be added the cost of the new process of preparation, the fancy package, the selling and advertising, and a profit large enough to yield the promoter a fortune in a relatively short time—if he succeeds in his advertising campaign...
...Simons calls attention to a well-known mail order house in Chicayo which, in a recent year, published two editions of a catalogue, of 7,000,000 copie* each, and declares that "the labor expended in the printing of catalogues is greater than that expended on all books put together...
...If any members of an organization are pledged to other methods than free discussion and a free choice of ofiRcials, then their actions are in conflict with democracy...
...It Is general wherever the Communists have applied their dirty creed in the unions...
...The less they know the more they ''practice trickery," etc...
...You can not join another union, and you can not organize a new union...
...If it were a mere matter of diseus-ion the Communists could be easily disposed of...
...You are defending the action of Sigmsn and Feinberg by saying that the Workors' party is doing the same thing...
...The language is plain and the conduct of Communists is in strict accord with the language...
...Not only is the mass of trade-publication appearing each year almost beyond estimate, but its quality and cost is of the highest...
...Would you accept the friendship of any human being If he in hi* pertonal relations with you practiced thi* code...
...stead of furnishing space for adver« tisinc, and hence it would be on • sounder basi...
...If there were not an advertisment issued, not a soliciting salesman in the land, alt of the current purcha»e and consumption of standard articles would continue...
...You did not You sided with corrupt leaders instead of with the masses of workers...
...Although I did not agree with your policy toward Soviet Ruasia, yet I kept on supporting your paper because I believed that you are a sincere believer of democracy...
...employ cunning," "re*ort lo illegal method*," even "overlook or conceal tbe truth...
Vol. 2 • August 1925 • No. 31
