Admen

The New York Times called them "Advertising men." The N. Y. Herald-Tribune called them "Ad" men. The N. Y. World called them Admen, thereby coining a new noun to define the "leaders of a profession essential to human existence," who assembled in international convention last week in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia.

From 14 countries they came, strong men and suave men, sputtering men and conservative men, dynamic men and diplomatic men, admen all. President Coolidge sent messages of good cheer. In the message that opened the convention, their president, C. K. Woodbridge (U. S.), spoke of "the radio . . . telephone . . . telegraph . . . airplanes . . . automobiles . . . daily papers . . . national magazines. . . ." With all these media of communication the admen were concerned; many of them were the paid publicity agents of the industries named; through these industries the utterances of their convention were distributed to a listening world:

Classified Advertising. Walter H. Page got his start in life by inserting a classified advertisement; Joseph Pulitzer answered a Help Wanted advertisement in a St. Louis paper.--Frank McCabe, of the New York World.

A New Spirit reigns among us --the spirit of co-operation among men. Advertising has made the nations brothers.--C. K. Wood- bridge.

Envy, Jealousy, Resentment. . . . When you read the comment in foreign journals and consider the contrast between our prosperity and the destitution abroad it takes a very blunt imagination not to be disturbed. . . . Every nation hates us. ... In this bitter feeling there is the making of a conflict that would not only hurl us down from our high place but, in destroying us, destroy civilization. . . .I am no alarmist.--Bruce Barton, President Barton, Durstine, and Osborne Advertising Agency.

Look Out for Credit. . . . When it's cheap, it's dangerous.--E. T. Stotesbury, (Philadelphia member of J. P. Morgan & Co.

South Africa puzzles U. S. business men. I met a fellow who was genuinely surprised to find that I was not colored. Others were dumbfounded to hear that the Boers were quite civilized, that I was a typical Boer. Most people seem to think that lions and tigers are shot as easily in Capetown as cashiers and jewelers in New York.--Eric H. Louw, Commissioner for the Government of the Union of South Africa.

French Newspapers have the keenest desire to be better informed about your country. . . . French industries want American trade. . . . French magazines want American advertising.--Dr. Marcel Knecht, General Secretary Le Matin, Paris.

International Business has reached, for the first time since the war, the level of 1913. ... As a matter of fact, the weakness of the franc and lira is not by any means a symptom of any prevalent European infirmity; it is simply the last vestige of prolonged convalescence. Sterling exchange was well able to stand the strain of the recent general strike and there has been a steady gratifying recovery of Scandinavian, Dutch, Japanese and other important exchanges, despite the loud clamor for "managed currencies" and other fiscal "quackery."--Dr. Julius Klein, Director of the U. S. Bureau of Foreign Commerce.

They dined in jubilant cohorts, went to the theatre, to the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition, to a banquet in Manhattan where they presented a testimonial scroll to North Pole Flyers Byrd and Bennet, saw French Legion of Honor crosses (Chevalier) pinned on the chests of their President, King Woodbridge, and their past President, Lou E. Holland. They changed their name from "Associated Advertising Clubs of the World" to "International Advertising Association," re-elected King Woodbridge president, elected Francis H. Sisson (vice-president of the Guaranty Trust Co.) treasurer, Rowe Stewart (business manager of the Philadelphia Record) secretary. They raised the dues of sustaining members to $2 yearly (from $1.50), declared Denver their 1927 convention city, adjourned to a pastoral week-end at the Westchester-Biltmore Country Club. (John McEntee Bowman, who invited them there, was in London.)