THE GATE CITY JOURNAL
Example oí Outdoor Advertising in China
Boosting and Boosters
“There aln t nothin' livin' tn the
woods what can make more fuss than a
blue jav—an' there ain't nothin' that
anybody ever heard tell a blue lay was
good for— 'cept to trim wimmen’s bon
nets, maybe.*'— Preachin' BI1L
of course, one should always
Y ES,
put one's best foot foremost. At
the same time, when one essays a good
long step ahead, one should be rea
sonably sure that one’s hind foot is
not stuck fast in the mud.
But speaking of boosters: There
are several varieties of the genius bot-
airucus.
One of the most common is the kind
that perches on the corral fence uud
flaps Its wings and crows from sunup
The Chinese are emulating the Americans In outdoor advertising, but, as tills photograph from Ichang shows,
till sundown. Nobody knows exactly
their advertisements are not quite such blots on the scenery.
what all the commotion is about; no
body cares, except that It is annoying.
ing employed and trained as rapidly We suspect that somebody has laid an
as possible for the purpose of in egg or something, but we are dead
specting and licensing "new produc sure that the bird making all the noise
Perhaps some neighboring
tion” airplanes at the time they leave didn't
the factory. This, It Is pointed out, rooster may have remarked that their
will aid the Industry by facilitating corral is larger than ours. Indeed, the
the Issuance o f licenses In the first noisy one, himself, doesn’t appear to
Instance, although these planes will know exactly the reason for his ex
still require periodical reinspection by citement He seems to have started
the Held personnel of the department. his mouth to talking and then gone
<fe-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Application for pilot's and me away and left i t
The most detestable of the boosting
Progress for Year Is Out communities will be connected by air clmnlc's licenses showed striking In
routes and that smaller feeder Hues crease during the past fiscal year, due breed are the professionals. They are
standing, Says Report
will serve many outlying cities.
In large measure to the publicity given enthusiasm prostitutes selling them
Radio Communication.
of Chief.
the epochal flights which occurred selves to every stranger who is un
Communication to aircraft In flight during that period. By June 30 last wise enough tn fall for their charms.
Washington.— The
United
States along the transcontinental route will applications were on file for over 5,500
One of these creatures lands in a
“ took to the air” In the fiscal year be available within a short time. pilots and 6.000 mechanics, about three community Just before noon— in time
to get himself invited to the Rotary,
1927-28, a record period of outstand Radio equipment Is under cons)ruc times the number on file on the cor
ing accomplishments in all brandies tion for replnelng obsolete apparatus responding date the previous year. On Klwanls, Wednesday, Thursday, or
o f aviation, the director of the aero now In use. The new apparatus will June 30 over 4.70C applications had Friday club luncheon; and before the
nautics branch of the Department of provide radio-telephone or radio-tele been received for licensing airplanes chamber of commerce banquet that
Commerce, MaJ. Clarence M. Young, graph communication ns may be re as compared with 1,100 at the end of evening he has sold the town to Itself.
declares In Ids annual report to the quired on frequencies between 100 the 1927 fiscal period. Up to June 30 In its delirium the town expresses its
and 500 kilocycles.
secretary of commerce.
last licenses had been Issued for np gratitude to the booster by delivering
Considerable research and testing proxlmately 3,(XX) pilots, 3,000 me itself without reservation Into his
Discussing the production side of
hands.
aeronautics, Major Young declares work was conducted by the bureau of chanlcs and 2,000 airplanes. In ad
When the dust has settled the pro
that aircraft manufactured during the standards for the aeronautics branch ditlon, 4,000 applications for students
during the period under review. These permits have been filed.
fessional Is well on his way to fresh
year amounted to $14,250,000 as com
fields. The citizens sober up to find
pared with $8,870,000 the year before, Investigations embraced radio aids to
In order to pass on the qualifies
while exports of aircraft and parts navigation, lighting of airways, sound tlons of these applicants, the bureau themselves exactly where they were
were valued at nearly $2.000,000 or 85 proofing of airplane cabins, airplane maintains 40 Inspectors In the field.
per cent more than the preceding year. control tests, and tests of commercial
As the work of these Inspectors Is al
The most detestable o f the
Alr-trnnsport, he said, has nttnThed aircraft engines.
most entirely at airports official air
boosting breed are the profes
Approximately 600 airplanes are be planes can be utilized with great sav
a definite place In the economic
sionals.
scheme of transportation, and the ing built 'n American factories each ing of time and a corresponding In
• • •
applications for pilot’s and mechanics month which have to be Inspected as crease o f efficiency.
Unfortunately,
They are enthusiasm prosti
licenses hnve shown striking In to their airworthiness. It Is obvious the report shows, there are but 14
tutes selling themselves to every
that a very efficient organization of planes of modern design available for
creases.
stranger who Is unwise enough
the
Inspection
section
Is
essential
In
their use.
Funds are available for
The official summary of the report,
to fall for their charms.
order
to
carry
out
the
work
Involved.
•
* •
made public November 20, follows In
the purchase of five more but even
T
o
this
end,
factory
Inspectors
are
be-
with this additional number of air
full te x t:
The slogan of the booster:
A phenomenal record of progress In
planes the tptit) will be about one-
“ Put up yodr JAntmee nnd get
all branches o f American uvlation is
third of the number essential to the
a horn,” aptly epitomizes the
TALLEST BUILDING
most efficient performance of Inspec
revealed In the annual report o f MaJ.
down-to-date
philosophy
of
tion duties.
Clarence M. Young. The growth of
boosting.
•
•
•
air commerce and the aircraft Indus
Regulations Enforced.
try o f the United Stales, Major
Referring to the enforcement of
It seems never to have oc
Young believes, Is due In no small
regulations the report shows that dur
curred to these vociferating
measure to the strict enforcement of
pests that the. hammer is main
ing the fiscal year there were 224 vio
ly a tool for building nnd that
federal regulations which has in
lations, resulting In 65 assessments
horns are mostly toys with
spired public confidence In the safety
of the civil penalty, 121 reprimands. 22
which thoughtless nnd Irre
suspensions, two revocations, and five
o f air transport.
sponsible children make a dis
denials of licenses.
The violations
Produce 2,000 Aircraft.
tracting racket.
During 1927 American factories pro
consisted of acrobatics over prohihled
• » •
duced nearly 2,000 aircraft having a
areas, flying low over congested areas,
Suppose we think a few
total value of $14,250,000 ns compared
flying licensed aircraft without a pi
thinks and see If we do not
with 1,200 valued at $8,870,(KKJ during
lot’s license, flying aircraft with no
find that all glittering talk Is
the preceding year. Exports of air
Identification numbers displayed and
not golden; and that, in fnct.
craft and parts during 1927 amounted
flying without navigation lights.
golden talk very seldom glitters
to nearly $2,000,000, an increase of
Among
the Interesting develop
• • *
approximately 85 per cent over 1926.
ments o f the past fiscal year was the
Talk Is disgustingly cheap
During the first half of the current
creation o f an accident hoard within
when there Is nothing to back
year our total sales in foreign markets
the organization to Investigate all
It. I have never heard that a
o f aircraft products were 38 per cent
civil aircraft accidents with the view
barnyard full o f cackles ever
greater than the entire shipments of
to determining and eliminating their
raised the price o f eggs.
last year.
causes. This board Is composed of
• • •
Air-transport has now attained a
two experienced pilots, a flight sur
Most of us who go broke get
definite place In the economic scheme
geon, a lawyer versed In air law and
that way by spending not wise
o f transportation.
The established
an aeronautical engineer. A careful
ly but too well.
airway system Is the backbone of our
analysis o f rccldents Is made and a
commercial r.vlntlon. although opera
percentage valuation assigned to con ......................... ................................
tions over this network form only one-
tributory causes. This method, It Is before, minus the expense of their
tenth o f nil civil flying. These routes
declared, will provide statistics to boosting debauch.
now cover 11,191 miles od which 27,-
show tlK exact causes of accidents
Very different Is the good citizen
817 miles are flown daily. Of these,
and point the way to their elimina who honestly believes thut his home
10,386 miles are under mall contract
tion. It will also provide a valuable town has peculiar advantages, who
and 200 mall planes fly 23,224 miles
Index to those portions o f the air com sincerely loves his neighbors because
daily over these routes. There are
merce regulations regarding both per he thinks they are the finest people in
now 6,880 miles lighted, 1.800 miles
sonnel and material that may he un the world, and who, out of a full heart,
under contract for night 'ylng, and
necessarily severe, or where higher wants others to share the community
6,308 additional miles considered for
safety standards are requisite and blessings which he so enjoys.
lighting during the fiscal year 1929.
more exacting and specific egulatlons
Such a booster Is a delight and a
An artist's drawing of the Chrysler
The cities actually connected hy the building In New York, which when roust be imposed.
Simon pure asset to any com munity-
routes at the close o f the fiscal year completed In 1930 at the cost of ap
providing—oh yes, providing,
our
numbered 88, the trading areas served proximately $14,000,000, will top any
boosting friend does not permit every
M illion s fo r A eron au tics
containing so.ooo.ooo people. H.v the building In the world. It will be 808
Melbourne. — Aeronautical Improve butcher and baker and candlestick
close of the current fiscal year It is feel from the street level to the dome
ments planned by the Australian gov maker to use him nnd his unselfish
believed that almost all of the larger and will have three floors below the ernment this year will cost nearly $1,- enthusiasm to boost their Individual
cities and many of the middle-sized street.
and wholly selfish Interests.
(XX),(XX).
Many a wily old town spider sits
back out of sight and unostentatiously
from 7,020,000,000 to 9,(XXUXX).000. or
urges these community Interest heroes
even ll.(NX),OIX).(XX) If there was the
on, while II never occurs to the loyal
freest possible migration, appropriate
boosters that all they are doing Is to
co-ordination of all human effort and
boost silly flies into the spider's care
complete elimination of the Jeopardy
fully spread net.
of war, Sir George ndds.
Scientist Says If Increase Keepe Up energy necessary for any notable In
The slogan of the booster: "Put up
Very soon the question must be
crease of population or advance In the
There Will Be Shortage of
your hammer nnd get n horn." aptly
faced “ whether it is better that there
standards of living Is near.
epitomizes Ihe down-to-dute philosophy
Food.
should he larger numbers and more
T o show “ how ominous the world’s
modest living, or fewer numbers and of boosting. It seems never to have
future Is.” Sir George points out that
occurred to these vociferating pests
London.— Visions of a time when
lavish living,” he said.
that the hammer is mainly a tool for
there will be so many people that the while from 18(X) to l!X*l the rate of In
In view of the Imminence of a food
earth will not he able to feed or sup crease of the world's population was shortage. Sir George thinks that some building and thut horns are mostly
roughly 0.864 per cent, from 1900 to
toys with which thoughtless and Ir
port them are conjured up h.v Sir
measure of control of births in some
responsible children make a distract
George Handley Knihbs. the Austra 1911 statistics for 26 countries gave a way or other Is inevitable.
rate of Increase over all of 1.160 per
ing racket.
lian statistician.
cent
Suppose we think a few thinks
“ I f the population of the world con
Hawaiian Cocolele, Dad
Taking the present world population
and see If we do not find that all
tinnes to increase at the present rate
o f 1 per cent a year It will within two as 1.950.1 KX1.000, Sir George gives the
of Uke, Reaches U. S. glittering talk Is not golden; and
following figures ns showing the re
that. In fact, golden talk very sel
centuries exceed the maximum which
Seattle. Wash.—A new musical In
sill! of on Increase of « 804 per cent
dom glitter*.
the earth can supitort nr feed.” he de
strument has Invaded the Northwest
Oratory often goes “ blah” for the
Year
Mi Ilion.*
Clares In his hook. “ The Shadow of
Millions Y e a r
market.
It Is the native Hawaiian
1928
.......... 1 950 ¿189 a. ___ 15 800
simple reason that It Is “ blah.” Talk
the World'* Future,” recently pub
cocolele. similar to the like, hut a dif
2008 . .......... S.900 2250 .. .. . 31.200
Is disgustingly cheap when there la
lished.
208» a........ 7.800 2330 .. .
02 400 ferent sounding hoi. The cocolele Is j
Sir George declares that the limits
credited with being the real original nothing to hack IL I have never heard
The fignres for the years 2109. 2250.
of human expansion are much nearer
Hawaiian instrument. It Is strung like j that a barnyard full of cackles ever
and 2330 are. lie declares, not possible
than popular opinion imagines.
a ukulele, nut is made with a polished raised the price o f eggs.
The difllcnlty of food supplies he populations for this earth
coconut shell Instead of yew wood i Between you and me, many a high
Calculations Indicate that the earth
•ays, will soon he of the gravest char
The tone Is deeper and differs In qual I chested rooster who can crow right
lustily at a chamber of commerce ban
might be able to feed a population of
acter. The exhaustion of sources of
It-.
Aviation Makes
Great Strides
SEES EARTH OVERPOPULATED
IN ABOUT TWO CENTURIES
quet. contributes next to nothing
toward the community omelette.
And the only argument ever ad
vanced for all this extravagant and
ridiculous community boosting Is that
there is money in it for everybody.
I agree thut there may be money In
It for some. But I contend If the
money spent annually by the average
boosting community for that type of
boosting which convinces only cred
ulous fools, were spent in substantial
and genuine community Improvements,
the harvest would be abundant for
ail.
True, the harvest might not be In
actual dollars that could be deposited
in a bank. But there are community
interests you know, which, while not
directly bankable, are beyond price.
No, ] am not so impractical as to
ignore the universal need of bankable
dollars. Bankable dollars are a great
comfort— I wish 1 could make myself
more comfortable!
The Teacher says, “The love of
money Is the root of all evil.” It Is
Just as tr^e that a desire for money
may be rooted in a sincere purpose to
accomplish a great good.
But those mistaken saints who hold
that we ought not to think of tuouey,
need not worry. We don’t think about
It, and therein lies two-thirds of our
financial troubles. I f we could only
be persuaded to really think about
money, money would not worry ns
much.
Money is of value not because it la
money, but because it stands for all
that Is dearest and best In life. That
It stands also for ail that is debasing
and damning makes no difference.
And so the great question of the age
Is not what you are, but what Is your
income? The great problem of life
Is not why are we here, but how can
we manage to stay here? The great
fear o f our existence is not fear of
death, but fear of notice from the
bank that we have overdrawn. The
fight to pay our bills, and the dread
of the deadly deficit— these are the
nightmares that keep us awake.
The red-ink tragedy is a very
real tragedy—a tragedy in which
most of us at one time or another
have been forced to play a part.
But chin music alone will never
draw a large flock o f dollars to
your box office.
Too often we study our financial
problems from the one standpoint of
how to get money. A t this date it ap
pears that the shortest way out of our
difficulties is to learn how to spend
the money we do g et I f a restaurant
keeper were to Invest all his capital
tn flowers to decorate his tables, his
bill of fare would not attract a hungry
crowd with cash to spend.
Most of us who go broke get
that way by spending not wisely
but too well.
Certainly, 1 know the old saying:
“ Doing business without advertising
Is like winking at your girt in the
dark. You may know what you are
doing but no one else will.”
But advertising Is not simply mak
ing any old thing sound attractive.
Those leaders who rank high In busi
ness Intelligence discovered long ago
that the advertising which Is 90 per
cent lie Is less than 10 per cent ef
fective.
Tlie salesman who Is long on gab
and short on truth loses more business
than he gains. The selling talk that
Is based on a policy o f hit-and-run
rarely scores a second time on the
same customer. The hook that Is
baited with guff lands only minnows.
The fish are only attracted by more
substantial halt. No hunter ever yet
bagged big game with a blow-gun.
Once, when I was a boy, I worked
In a store. And the boss explained to
me that any fool could sell a customer
something the customer wanted, hut
that It took a salesman to sell n per
son something the person did not
want
I am older now. And my years of
painfully acquired experience, together
with a habit of observation, have
taught me that the one who sells a
person that which the person does not
want Is the real fool.
In my young man days I had a
friend who had a curious complex. He
would rattier acquire a silver dollar
for which he gave nothing, than to
gain a five dollar bill for which he
had rendered live dollars' worth of
service. He seemed to feel that to
give nothing for something was a
mark of superior intelligence. He was
never so happy and proud as when he
had Just, as he said, "gypped” some
body.
Weil, I have watched that man's
progress througli all the best years of
his life and I never knew the time
when he was not dependent. In one
way or another, upon friends or rela
tives. lie is practically a beggar to
day, existing on charity. No one will
trust him for a meal. He is forced to
sponge even his cigarettes.
All of
which would be torture to a self-re
specting person; but, of course, self
respect long ago ceased to count for
anything to this miserable failure.
And this man was the most convinc
ing booster 1 ever heard. T o him
boosting was a fine arL He could,
would, and did boost anything for
anybody, at any time.
O f course It was often best for him
to he somewhere else when the sticks
of his skyrockets began to come down I
All Ills life, you see. this man
hns tried to do business on the
plan of talking people Into giving
something for nothing. In Ihe end
he hus for all Ills efforts— noth
ing.
Some say that a knock Is a boost.
I'erlmps— But I am still of the opinion
that If we could knock some of these
reckless, unprincipled, rhumeless nine
teen twenty- eight variety of boosters
dead, we would all do a better busl
ness.
(g
1128. by lb * D«U Syn dics!«. Inc.)
Drtrçs and
Geography
Loading Lighter« at Zanzibar,
(Prepared by the National Oeosraphlo
Society, W ashington. D. C,)
O BUSINESS reaches out In
to so many remote places of
the world as does that o f the
pharmacist, a fact which It
will be remembered was demonstrat
ed graphically during the World war
when the commerce of the world was
disrupted.
Consider as a typical case, asafoe-
tlda gum. Much o f It comes from
the city o f Herat In Afghanistan.
Numerous citizens o f Herat make
their living by going down yearly
midway between the mountains and
the Persian desert, after the rains
clothe the plains with verdure, there,
with much back-bending, to Incise the
Ferula root
From the Incisions
comes a milky gum, which, dried,
forms the asafoettda of commerce.
Throughout history man has combed
the out-of-the-way places for his
drugs. It was the trade In drugs and
spices which made Venice from the
Thirteenth to the Sixteenth century
the most Important commercially and
the richest city In-Europe, and It was
the loss of this commerce which
caused her rapid decadance and the
passing of her riches and her glory.
The story of Venice Is so essential
ly romantic that to mention commerce
In connection with it seems out of
drawing. Yet It was as merchants
thut the Venetians were famed. The
traffic In spices and aromatic drugs
begnn to assume vast proportions in
the Middle ages, as the people of
Europe became educated to a hunger
for the spicy flavors of the East.
From India and China and Persia
came not only silks and laces, bat,
more Important, spices nnd oils and
drugs, and Venice was quick to real
ize the Importance of having this
commerce pass through her port.
The knowledge of medicines used
by the Moors and Arnbs, which wns
brought back by the Crusaders,
helped to educate the people of many
lands to the uses of balsams and
spices of the orlentnl markets. The
embarkation point for Palestine was
Venice. The Venetian merchant ma
rine profited well by furnishing trans
port service, and during the Fourth
Crusade, finding the Crusaders unable
to pay their passage money, the Ve
netians forthwith enlisted them ns
soldiers In a war against their Chris
tian neighbors, the Dalmatians, and
the Infidels got off scot-free!
Columbus Was Aftsr "Spices."
The monopoly of Venice was re
sented, as Is Inevitable; her prosper
ity was envied. This Is why all the
explorers of that period sought a
short ocean route to India. Colum
bus, It will be remembered, sought the
“ spices of the Indies” rather than a
new land. So from the hour when,
on May 20, 1498, Vasco dn Gama ful
filled the ambition of his Portuguese
sovereign, blazed a new trail in the
uncharted deep nnd sailed Into Call-
cut, after rounding Cape o f Good
Hope, the commercial greatness of the
Italian port was doomed.
When the news reached Venice that
Portuguese earracks laden with spices
had come Into the harbor at Lisbon
without the necessity of touching at
Venice "the whole city was disturbed
and abounded,” says the ancient
chronicler, Priull, In his diary. They
hnd ample cause for worry, for they
faced the Inevitable.
How Venice warred on Portugal;
o f the later wars between Portuguese.
Spanish, Dutch nnd English to assert
supremacy In the spice and drug
trade; of the long voyages, with deci
mation of the crews by pirates, by
mutineers, and by the often fatal and
always horrible scourge of scurvy—
these tnles belong to the heroic age
o f the seas, and have furnished In
spiration to many a poet and novelist.
Well may poets sing o f Drake and
Hawkins, and Greenville, and Oxen-
ham meeting, with their little 200-ton
ships, the great galleys of Spain and
defeating them! But the prizes they
captured were galleon* laden with
cloves, and ginger, and pepper, and
frankincense, and dragon's blood, and
cinnamon, and when these cargoes
were found they asked not for dou
bloons.
Motley, In his “ History o f the
United Netherlands,” emphasizes this
point very well.
"The world had
lived In former ages,” he says, “ very
comfortably without cloves.” But In
N
the beginning o f the Seventeenth cen
tury that odoriferous pistil had been
the cause o f so many pitched battles
and obstinate w ars; o f so much vitu
peration. negotiation, and Intriguing,
that the world’s destiny seemed to
have become almost dependent upon
the growth of a particular gllly-flow-
er. Out o f Its sweetness had grown
such bitterness among nations as not
torrents o f blood could wash away.
Aleppo a Shipping PolnL
When
Venice
was
distributing
drugs and spices to the West, Aleppo,
Syria, was the most important con
centration point fo r the eastern
goods, and It still helps to supply the
druggist’s shelves. Gum tragacanth
—used as a source o f mucilage In
medicine and the arts— Is one of the
principal products sent from Aleppo
today.
Concerning Aleppo there is some
interesting correspondence in the rec
ords o f the old English Muscovy com
pany. Edwards, one of their factors,
writing In 1566, said: “ Therein are
many
Venetians . . . who
buy
gall, tallow, saffron, skins, collon,
wool . . . and also will serve us
of nil kinds of spices, we giving them
sufficient warning to fetch It in the
Indies nnd will deliver It to us In
Shamaky.”
And as there Is nothing new under
the sun, another factor tells about
the light Russian oil which now,
when it Is refined, we prize so highly
as a medicine: “ There Is a great
river," he wrote, “ which falleth Into
the Caspian sea by a town called
Bachu «hereunto which Is a strange
thing to behold. For there Issueth
out o f the ground a large quantity o f
oil, which oil they fetch from the ut
termost bounds of ail Persia, It serv-
eth all the country to burn In their
houses. This oil is black and is called
nyfte.
There la also by the said
town of Bachu unother kind of oil
which is white and very precious; It
Is supposed to be the same that Is
here called petroleum.” Today men
are competing for that oil as In his
day they fought fo r cloves!
Camphor, which Is Important not
only in medicine but in the arts and
manufactures, wns an example of e f
ficient production and control of out
put. After the Japanese-Chlnese war
Japan obtained control o f the For
mosa camphor Industry.
Although
the Formosa forests are practically
Inexhaustible, forestry measures were
instituted for replunting and care o f
trees; 2.000 police were furnished to
protect workers and large refining
plants were built. Workers were paid
a fixed sum. The distribution of the
entire product was let by contract
and the right o f sale awarded an
English firm, the latter contracting to
conduct the sale of camphor in New
York, London, Hamburg and Hong-t
kong, and to accept from Japan a
definite amount of camphor each year.
Today a growing part o f the-camphor
used In tlie West is being made In
western laboratories.
Batavia's Days of Glory.
Batavia, ns of old. Is still a great
export center for the spice and drug
trade, as It was when It was fortified
as the capital o f the "Spice Islands,"
nnd was known as the “Queen o f the
East." In those days, when every sea
voyage was a perilous undertaking,
It was only natural that a warlike
community should assemble In such
a place. And so picturesque soldier*
of fortune and adventurers from all
parts o f the world gathered ahont Its
canals and In Its white walls, besides
Dutch and Japanese, many Germans
Portuguese,
French,
Chinese nnd
Moors: for. of course, hi Ing a Dutch
city, it was intersected hy canals,
and, being a rich community, It wus
fortified.
With Its picturesque and adventur
ous population. Its quaint architectur
al scheme, and Its gleaming snow-
white ramparts outstanding like a
finely chiseled cameo In the glare o f
the tropical sun against the turquoise
ocean, it wns a dream elty o f the de
parted dnys of piracy and buccaneer
ing
A garrison of a thousand men
was there In the Seventeenth century,
nnd an equal number to guard the
Dutch monopoly of the cinnamon
trade In Ceylon. Today the old forti
fications have crumbled; the old
“ city" proper Is no more.