s.

Something more wonderful than the fabled philosopher's stone came into
being, and the beginnings of _fortunes which would pass the hundred
million mark and place tradesmen's daughters_ upon _Oriental thrones_
grew from this new force. Within fifty years it has become as vital to
industry as _steam_ to _commerce_.

Advertising is _not_ a _luxury_ nor a _debatable policy_. _It has proven
its case._ Its record is traced in the skylines of cities where a
hundred towering buildings stand as a lesson of reproach to the men who
had the _opportunity_ but _not_ the _foresight_, and furnish a constant
inspiration to the _young merchant_ at the _threshold_ of his career.

The Cannon that Modernized Japan

Business is no longer a man to man contact, in which the seller and the
buyer establish a _personal_ bond, any more than battle is a
hand-to-hand grapple wherein bone and muscle and sinew decide the
outcome. _Trade_ as well as _war_ has changed aspect--_both are now
fought at long range_.

Just as a present day army of heroes would have no opportunity to
display the _individual_ valor of its members, just so a merchant who
counts upon his direct acquaintanceship for success, is a relic of the
past--_a business dodo_.

Japan changed her policy of exclusion to foreigners, after a fleet of
warships battered down the Satsuma fortifications. The Samurai, who had
hitherto considered their blades and bows efficient, discovered that
one cannon was mightier than all the swords in creation--_if they could
not get near enough to use them_. Japan profited by the lesson. She did
not wait until _further_ ramparts were pounded to pieces but was
satisfied with her _one_ experience and proceeded to modernize her
methods.

The merchant who doesn't advertise is pretty much in the same position
as that in which Japan stood when her eyes were opened to the fact that
_times had changed_. The long range publicity of a competitor will as
surely destroy his business as the cannon of the foreigners crumbled the
walls of Satsuma. Unless you take the lesson to heart, unless you
_realize_ the importance of advertising, not only as a means of
_extending_ your business but for _defending_ it as well, you must be
prepared to face the consequences of a folly as great as that of a
duelist who expects to survive in a contest in which his _adversary_
bears a _sword twice the length of his own_.

Don't think that it's _too late_ to begin becaus