Reliance on free publicity in a political campaign is singularly futile. Nearly every newspaper is par tisan, and it is read almost entirely by members of the party with which it is affiliated. Those readers do not, ordinarily, need to be convinced of the advisabil ity of voting for the candidate of their party. And yet free publicity for the Republican party will be received only by Republican newspapers, and free publicity for the Democrats can be inserted only in Democratic papers. The Republicans want to con vince Democratic voters, and the Democrats want to convince Republicans. The only way any party or ganization can talk effectively in print to members of the other party is in papers read by those members; and the only way in which they can tell their story in those papers is by purchasing space in the advertising columns.
In planning a political advertising campaign it is customary now to employ trained advertising men, who study the problem just as a manufacturer studies his marketing problem. The normal vote of all parties is ascertained, the conditions affecting the probable vote in each state are charted, a study is made of the special party appeals that ought to be successful in reaching each different class of people, and the appropriation is divided among those me: diums that will best reach the classes aimed at. Each state is given attention in proportion to its normal vote, its electoral vote and the degree of difficulty that is expected in convincing the voters. All pub licity mediums are used.
5. Forestalling objections to increased 1911, the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, operating the "tubes" under the Hudson River, found it neces sary to raise the fare on one of its divisions from five cents to seven cents. The company decided to take the public into its confidence and to convince its patrons that the increase was justified. The presi dent of the company thus expressed its policy: The same old question of policy presented itself : Should we anticipate the public's objection by immediately giving, in line with our practice, a full statement of our reasons for the increase, or should we (following the usual railroad custom) simply file our tariff, and, if a protest was filed, meet it then with a statement of the facts? Without hesitation we de cided to issue immediately a full statement and to publish it (notwithstanding the large cost) as an advertisement in the daily papers of New York City and vicinity.
Our policy has been based on the consistent belief that the public is reasonable—as reasonable as the average individual. This is not the view of most corporation managers. They have acted too much on the hypothesis that the public is un reasonable. It is a mistake. The public is unreasonable only when it is uninformed. It is often vitally affected by corporate action, but rarely does the corporation manager make it acquainted with the facts on which alone rational and intelligent opinion may be founded. He would rather estab
lish his position, or do the thing in hand as long as he be lieves he has the right, without the labor of explanation, even tho it involves the loss of popular approval. Why? Be cause it is less trouble and, anyway, what can the public do about it? He does not realize that in the arbitrary exer cise even of undeniable rights, the consequences of public dis favor and are far-reaching, manifesting themselves at times in unexpected quarters and on unrelated subjects, to the great injury or disadvantage of the corporation.
Even where the corporation has an undisputed right to do a thing—particularly if that thing vitally affects the pub lic—it is far better to accomplish it with than without the favor and approval of the public. There is no corporation, however strong, whose property and assets are not enhanced in value and made more secure by possession of the good will and friendship of the public. This is merely common sense, or "enlightened self-interest," so called. And so we set out to convince the public that the increase of rate was just and reasonable.
Newspaper advertisements were used and pam phlets were distributed in the trains. The company's case was stated frankly and fully. Many commend atory letters were received from patrons and the campaign occasioned much favorable comment. When the increased rates went into effect, there was no decrease in traffic, and very little difficulty of any sort was experienced.
6. Advertising for fair play.—A gas company con trolling a monopoly in a city of 350,000 population entered into an agreement with the city council allow ing the council to fix rates every three years, provided only "that no rate should be so fixed as to fail to afford a fair return on the capital investment of the company." At one of the rate-fixing periods the city couhcil employed an expert to determine what would be a fair rate. He recommended a decrease from eighty five to seventy cents a thousand cubic feet, maintain ing that the gas company's property was worth only $4,318,178, altho the company has been paying taxes on an assessed valuation of $7,078,520 which was fixed by the city. Despite the apparent injustice, the council seemed determined to accept the recom mendation and to establish the lower rate. It would have been impossible for the gas company to get the newspapers to present the company's case editorially, because, as the editor of one of the papers said, "If there is even the slightest suspicion these days that a newspaper is favoring a public service corporation, the cry goes up that it has 'sold out,' and half its use fulness is gone." Accordingly, the company was forced to advertise to carry its case to the people.