Romances of Modern Business

RNOLD BENNETT, the English novelist, came to America not long ago The distinguished author is a keen student of psychology,

to look us over.

and our entire scheme of living fell under his microscopic eye.

After visiting several of the largest American cities, he gave some interesting impressions to a Chicago newspaper interviewer. Flinging open a window commanding a view of a wide stretch of Chicago's business district, he said:

"There is your American romance—there in the large office buildings and marts of trade! Yours is the romance of great achievements in commerce, in industrial leadership. And it is a wonderful romance! The child of the world's nations is leading them!"

The British writer got to the heart of this vital, throbbing country. And if we look at our national commercial life as did this noted visitor, we shall find romance, absorbingly interesting stories, on every page of our magazines, not only in the imaginative writings of noted authors, but in the stories of business successes and of merchants and their wares.

There are many such romances in the history of American industry. Here is one of them:

CHAPTER I

The Story of a Fountain Pen

AT the rear of a news-stand, under the stairway in the old Tribune Building, in lower New York City, a remarkable discovery was made a little less than thirty years ago.

Pausing to make a purchase, the advertising manager of a well-known magazine, by one of those curious turns of chance, first learned of something that was to be of vital interest in the world of invention, and was to lighten the work of thousands in many nations.

Back of the news-stand stood a man with a small tray of goods which he was offering for sale. He was a kindly appearing man, slightly under middle age. His stock of merchandise was limited indeed. It contained only a halfdozen articles. But his goods were his own, of his own thought and invention.

This he told the advertising man; and so much did he interest his listener that, after

the story had been told and the uses of his product demonstrated, there returned to the magazine office a man with a firm conviction that he had made a tremendous discovery.

The man who displayed his pet invention in the old Tribune Building news-stand was Lewis Edson Waterman, and the article he showed was the Waterman Ideal Fountain Pen.

The story of how these pens became so widely known and of how an enormous industry was developed in a few years is a very significant one. Waterman discovered the way to make a fountain pen; but a magazine advertising man discovered Waterman-and therein lies the story.

That was a little more than twenty-nine years ago. The inventor had confidence in his pen, but no money with which to market

The Story of a Fountain Pen

it; nor had he any business affiliations or influential friends. Today, the L. E. Waterman Company estimates that approximately a million and a quarter of their fountain pens are sold annually. Many millions have been sold in practically every nation of the earth.

The inventor had been a schoolmaster in his early manhood; then he became an insurance agent. During these experiences he real ized the difficulties that lay in depending on the old-fashioned pen and ink. "Why," thought he, "can I not make a pen with a receptacle for ink and an easy flow?" He worked on the idea and soon had made the first Waterman fountain pen.

Coming to New York in 1880, he was informed that others had had the same idea, that more than two hundred other fountain pens had been patented. He investigated these and found they all had proved unsatisfactory. Learning their deficiencies, he perfected his

own pen.

Then came the problem of selling his pens, of letting people know about them. How was he to do it? The inventor, knowing nothing of advertising, could think of no other way than going out and personally peddling his product. This he did, beginning in 1883 and continuing through part of the following year.

It was in 1884 that the Waterman fountain pen came to the attention of the magazine advertising manager. "Let me run a quarterpage advertisement of your pen," he suggested to Mr. Waterman. But the inventor had not the money it would cost. Then the advertising man did an interesting thing: so convinced was he of the commercial possibilities of the fountain pen that he loaned Mr. Waterman the price of the quarter-page advertisement.

This first business announcement of the L. E. Waterman Company appeared in a magazine in November, 1884. Prior to that, Mr. Waterman by personal solicitation had sold about three hundred of his pens. Within a few weeks after the advertisement appeared such a large number of orders had been received that Mr. Waterman negotiated a loan of five thousand dollars, with which to contract for additional advertising and have the pens made and delivered.

The business increased in strides so rapid that it soon became necessary to form a stock company and map out a systematic scheme of manufacturing and distributing the pens. An intelligent campaign of advertising was being carried on in a number of national magazines. In 1888, nine thousand pens were sold; seven years later, the number of orders had reached sixty-three thousand; in 1900, the business reached two hundred and twenty-seven thousand sales; in 1903, the orders had passed the half-million mark, and in 1912 nearly a million and a quarter pens were sold.

And what was the secret of this phenomenal

success?

Mr. Frank D. Waterman, president of the L. E. Waterman Company, answering an inquiry as to what advertising had done for their business, with a wave of his hand indicated the entire scope of their industry.

"Anyone can see for himself what magazine advertising has done for the L. E. Waterman Company," he said. "The business speaks for itself. The right kind of advertising is the life of trade. You must have the merchandise, of course, and the merchant must back up what appears in his advertisements; but advertising in the proper mediums is the real force of business. Advertising today is not merely giving publicity to your wares. The merchant today through advertising makes a reputation, and he has to live up to it. Advertising is sure fire, if it be of a sincere, convincing, confidence-gaining quality.

"Years ago, people asked the founder of the Waterman Company why he advertised so much in the magazines, and he replied that he couldn't get along without them. He found they paid, and so have I.”

This story is interesting from more than one point of view. It has been shown that through the force of national magazine advertising a large industry was created. But there is another side that of the significance of this creative power to the public at large.

There is a broad. ethical mission to the development of an industry such as the L. E. Waterman Company. Thousands of people are served, office and written work is facilitated, time is saved and life generally made easier and happier for many the world over. This is the first of a series of articles that is being published to show how magazines are serving the public.

"King out wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night:
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,

King, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind.
For those that here we see no more;
King out the feud of rich and poor.
Ring in redress to all mankind.

"Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With purer manners, sweeter laws.

"Ring in the valiant man and free.

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
King out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be."

"Cancel My Subscription"

HE 'phone-bell rang. "Is this the

T

editor of GooD HOUSEKEEPING?" -"Yes."-"Does GOOD HOUSEKEEPING believe in suffrage?" "Yes.""Cancel my subscription at once." It was a woman's voice.

We felt guilty. We had put into the magazine something that offended a subscriberthe last thing that an editor will willingly do. Then we analyzed our guilt, and found that we were being condemned for telling of the advance toward civic responsibility of a multitude of women, and for believing in those women. We were being asked-with a canceled subscription the punishment for failure to comply-to take sides against, or at least to ignore, a movement that has world-wide interest, a tide of feministic progress that is advancing over every land the sun shines on. Magazines today are between two fires, with three avenues of escape open to them: they can champion the women who are clinging to old customs and opposing any share in public affairs for themselves; they can pretend that there isn't anything to think about these days, and print love stories and how-to-do-things articles; or they can step out in front and lead on, and cheer on, the advocates of a change in the world-old way of doing things, a man way that has, indeed, brought the old world a long way toward righteousness, but has fallen hort of the goal.

Advance By Going Ahead

E look back for parallels to guide us. IVE There are none; we stand today face to face with the most sweeping change of constitutions the world has ever known, a change that everywhere contemplates the admission of woman to a share in government. It is the overturning of an entire social system. So where is the guide? It is in this: the nations of the world have advanced from savagery to civilization by walking in the light that came from in front. Yesterday's candle is burned out, its creeds are dead; today's lamp is dimming, its faith wavering; tomorrow's is the light that gleams, its the promise that leads on. So we turn to it, face ahead. It will grow. Opposition will increase it. It is the new order-one from which we have much to gain, little to lose, less to fear.

Man's World—He Owns It

THE world as it stands today is man's—after God. It has been parceled out by man, who made its laws, established its customs, fought its battles, dug its graves. So it is his; he owns it. He has impressed the fact of his ownership upon womenkind; they are his, too, along with the world. He goes up to his forum and discusses regulations for the common good-from a business point of view. He puts a dollar on the scales and weighs it. It is gold, fine gold, and he passes a law to protect it. Who steals it is punished. So with all his property. This is business; business must be protected. And ideals? Where on the calendar is the discussion of them? And souls? What are the regulations concerning them? And purity and the honor of girls and women? Does any party make these things an issue-these things which the moralists rate so highly? Have we been mistaken? Are codes of ideality too much to hope for in a business age? Should materialism continue to be the order of the day? Are we to give up our search for better things? to draw a heavy line through the question. that begins, "What shall it profit a man. . .?"

That was the message over the 'phone. It was the voice of conservatism, of reaction, of things-as-they-are, of the woman who disbelieves in her sex, who isn't fair enough to hear both sides of a question. We believe in women. We acknowledge with shame the halfsuccess of man-run governments—not failure, (Continued on page 8)

True Style is Only

Cut and Color

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Diamond Dyes

Truth About Dyes for Home Use

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AND 200 MOUNTAIN STREET, MONTREAL, CANADA

The marking indicates technical analysis of household apparatus, foods and toilet accessories only