ADVANTAGES OF TRADE JOURNALS.

Trade journals have become an established institution, and the fact that they have come to stay cannot longer be doubted. Their advantage, to both the buyer as well as the seller, is manifested every day in the change which has been wrought in the present manner of transacting business. A few years ago, before these journals were established, if a party desired to purchase a certain line of goods, the first thing he would do would be to supply himself with the necessary funds, pack up his grip and start out upon a tour of observation and inspection; and after traveling over a large amount of territory and spending considerable money, would finally succeed in finding the goods sought for. The manufacturer who was desirous of introducing to the public any new line of goods, was obliged to resort to the slow, expensive and uncertain method of mailing out printed circulars, at the rate of ten dollars per thousand for postage, besides the expense of printing, folding and directing them; and perhaps eight out of every ten thus sent out, if received at all by the parties to whom directed, would find their way to the waste-paper basket without ever being opened. It being impossible to reach every one by this method, the chances for striking one who might be in want of the article named therein was often not one in five hundred, while perhaps a hundred others might be omitted who might be in want of it.

Advertising in a general way in the papers of the day was not a profitable investment. Those papers having a very large circulation, such as the “Scientific American,” the “Iron Age,” and others which might be named, were valuable papers and probably were the best mediums at that time; but their circulation, although very large, was general, and while the advertiser was charged for the space occupied at a rate based upon a circulation of 40,000 or 50,000 copies, yet in many instances but very few of the trades interested and to whom it was desirable to introduce the goods, were ever reached. For instance, the “Iron Age” circulated principally among hardware and iron dealers, who formed a considerable portion of its circulation, very few of whom had any interest whatever in saw-mill or planing-mill machinery, and so on with all other trades, and as before stated, while they were paying exorbitant rates for advertising based upon the large circulation of those journals, they were really deriving less benefit from it than they would have received from a medium of one-quarter the circulation, but devoted exclusively to this particular trade and circulated exclusively among them.

Every trade is now represented by a journal devoted to that trade exclusively, and a purchaser now, instead of spending large sums of money and much valuable time in roaming over the country in search of any particular line of goods, may sit down quietly in one corner of his office and consult his trade paper, in which he will find the goods of the most prominent and reliable manufacturers carefully described and fully illustrated by fine, artistic cuts, so that all that is required is to write to some of those houses, who will cheerfully answer all inquiries, or in most cases, send their travelling man, who will come prepared to give them all further information that may be required, and their purchases may be made then and there to just as good advantage as if they had spent $100 in travelling expenses, in order to visit the same house in person. If any house is neglected by not being represented in its own trade paper, it is its misfortune in not being represented, and not the fault of the journal.

Another change has been brought about, and one that trade journals have had more or less to do with: There is a different class of travelling men representing these houses at the present time from what there was a few years ago. Since buyers have abandoned the plan of visiting these houses in person prominent manufacturers have found it for their own interest to employ none but sober, competent and reliable men to represent them—men who are well posted in the business and who are competent to give intelligent and reliable information with regard to the goods which they represent, and the result is that the public has more confidence and is more ready to deal with them than formerly, while the “bums” that formerly represented, or misrepresented, these houses have disappeared from the road. Manufacturers find it to their advantage to have their goods thus represented in these journals, for the reason that while the rates are much lower than would be obtained in the former mediums, they are sure every copy that is sent out from the office of publication, whether the circulation be 1,000 or 10,000 per issue, will be sure to fall into the hands of some one who is interested in their particular line of goods.

The public has been benefited by trade journals in another manner which can not be omitted. Almost every journal representing any particular trade has secured the services of experienced and practical writers, who, from long experience in this particular line, have become experts in the business, and from whom much valuable information may be obtained by those who have not had the same experience and advantages. Many young men just starting out in life, either as proprietors or foremen in the various trades, have received many valuable hints from these sources, which have been of much benefit to them, and which might have required years of experience before they could have acquired the same information. And for this and other reasons which have been given, what was said at the commencement of this article may be repeated, viz., that the trade journals have come to stay.

No druggist can afford to do without his drug journal. Through the columns of the Canadian Druggist he may keep himself posted on new remedies, approved appliances, fresh developments in the pharmaceutical and chemical worlds; he can, at a glance, note the fluctuations in prices of goods, and by careful perusal of the advertising columns (not by any means the least important part of the trade journal) will keep track of all specialties offered by our advertisers. Our advice is, Read your trade paper regularly, and support it liberally.