Supervision and Control The first step taken by an association to insure truthful advertising is to insist that all members employ only legitimate methods of publicity. By disqualifying violators of the code of ethics after due warning is given some associations cause membership to be regarded as a mark of trade approval. An illustration of this attitude is found in the methods of the National Association of Piano Merchants of America. The piano trade at one time was rather largely afflicted with a prevalent advertising abuse in the form of special sales, buying clubs, and other extraordinary offers. It is needless to go into the details of these schemes, for they all practically amount to a gross misrepresentation of merchandise. And yet, owing to the equivocal tenor of such advertisements, it was difficult to prove that fraudulent representations had been made. The names of well-known makes of pianos were brought into disrepute through incongruous relationships, and the legitimate dealers and makers suffered from the transgressions of others. It was this condition that led the National Association of Piano Merchants to adopt the following policy: This Association condemns the practice of advertising instruments in regularly carried lines unless the advertiser offers them in good faith and stands ready to sell said instruments at once to any buyer. Methods of Insuring Honesty The way in which the National Association of Piano Merchants of America pursues its work for the so-called uplift plan of truthfulness in advertising is typical of the methods of most associations engaged in similar activities. Reforms in the piano trade are being accomplished: 1. By invoking the aid of the Post-Office Department, the most effective way of exterminating guessing and other forms of contest advertising. 2. By calling upon the state legislature for enactment of a law making it an offense punishable by fine and if necessary imprisonment to issue any forms of misleading advertisements that are hurtful to the morals, health, and pocket-books of the public. 3. By bringing some pressure to bear on manufacturers who are made unintentional parties to fraud through permitting the use of their names and reputations without protest, and by bringing strong pressure to bear on manufacturers who aid and abet these scheme-artists in their practice of humbugging the public. 4. By dropping from membership those concerns that fail to comply with the spirit and letter of the association constitution. A Bureau of Advertising and Publicity Trade associations are more and more learning that in order to handle their activities in connection with advertising they need a well-organized advertising department or bureau, under the direction of a competent and experienced advertising man. Such a bureau can be of use not only to the association as a whole but also to the members individually. Services to the Association Whatever advertising is done must be carefully planned and must be supervised by a manager of considerable experiNo association, any more than an individual manufacturer, should attempt any advertising unless it intends to go. the limit and to have faith in indirect results. Temporary advertising is merely a "flash in the pan"-money thrown away. The benefits of advertising to an individual or to an association are cumulative; being indirect it needs considerable money and faith behind it. But not even a liberal supply of money and faith can produce full results unless such advertising is handled by an expert who knows how and where to place it. With a competent man in charge, a well-organized bureau can be developed which can make a systematic study of publicity problems in their manifold and intricate relations. Services to Individual Members Such a bureau can be of great assistance to the association members individually, besides furnishing sound and constructive advice for the conduct of legitimate and effective advertising. For one thing, by means of a general mailing list worked up by such a bureau, a vast amount of unnecessary duplication of mail matter may be saved. By getting all the members to contribute their mailing lists to this general one duplications can be eliminated and a complete list can be made up for the industry. When members have notices of general interests to be mailed this bureau can handle the matter, and coming from such a source the notices are likely to receive more particular attention. The service activities of such a bureau with regard to the individual members may be stated more specifically as follows: (1) to assist members in the development of their own businesses through the judicious use of modern advertising methods; and (2) to provide practical advertising assistance and service to members in behalf of their customers. In other words the advertising bureau of the association is also the advertising department for any one of the members' companies, to be used whenever needed. This does not mean that a large company which has its own advertising department need give it up and have its advertising done by the association bureau, nor that any member is at all obligated to make use of the bureau in this way, merely that all members and their advertising departments are free at any time to receive the assistance, when they desire it, of the association bureau. CHAPTER IX INDUSTRIAL FUNCTIONS Range The industrial functions of a trade association are of a technical or scientific character. They embrace a study of sources of supply, conservation and classification of raw materials, standardization of manufacturing and operating processes, packing and marketing of product, and shipping. Information Regarding Materials We have already considered the conditions under which materials are bought; let us now consider the materials themselves. Since the value and quality of the finished product are dependent upon the supply of raw material, manufacturers must have some idea of the amount available. Many trade associations supply such information in the form of comparative charts, statistical tables, and reports. The character of this information is of course affected largely by the nature of the trade for which it is procured. In the silk goods industry, by way of illustration, the best measure of available material is found in the records of the imports of raw silk. Recognizing the value of such information, the Silk Association of America maintains a bulletin service consisting of four different periodical publications. These bulletins classify silk imports, show quality, foreign invoice value, duty collected, pound value, average duty per pound, and ad valorem rates. In addition, the regular reports of the association contain estimates of the silk crop for the coming year, together with figures of preceding years and statistical tabulations covering every phase of the industry. Likewise the cotton, leather, textile, paper, rubber, steel, and other trade associations maintain for their members similar information as to sources of supply of their raw materials. Standardization of Raw Materials A number of associations, by co-operating with raw material dealers who themselves have associations, have brought about a standardization of raw materials to facilitate intelligent buying. For instance, in the selling of rags to paper-mills a number of the raw material dealers used to call various kinds of rags by different names, which led to great confusion. The paper manufacturers persuaded the raw material dealers to adopt definite names and gradings for specific qualities or kinds of rags. Nowadays when a paper manufacturer purchases a certain quality of rags by a specific name he knows exactly what he is getting. Standardization and Price Unless the manufacturer, merchant, or retailer understands just what quality of material he is buying the price means little to him. A single grade of raw material or of finished product may be known by a score of quality names, while the wide variation of methods of packing and of widths and lengths makes it practically impossible for the purchaser to compare values on a fair basis. To overcome these irregular and misleading conditions associations are insisting upon greater uniformity in the grading of materials and products. In this connection one example will suffice, that of the inspection department of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, employing over 100 inspectors, who continually inspect all hardwood lumber throughout the country. Other examples of standardization of raw material could be given, but all are similar and all go to establish the general |