MASTER 
 NEGATIVE 
 
 NO. 94-82096 
 
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 
 
 The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) 
 governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted 
 materials including foreign works under certain conditions. In addition, 
 the United States extends protection to foreign works by means of 
 various international conventions, bilateral agreements, and 
 proclamations. 
 
 Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are 
 authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these 
 specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be 
 "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. 
 If a user makes a request for, or ater uses, a photocopy or reproduction 
 for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copynght 
 infringement. 
 
 The Columbia University Libraries reserve the right to refuse to accept a 
 copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve 
 violation of the copyright law. 
 
Author: 
 
 National conference on 
 public information 
 
 Title: 
 
 Publicity methods for 
 engineers 
 
 Place: 
 
 Chicago 
 
 Date: 
 
 [1922] 
 
^H'S2o9(,~z. 
 
 MASTER NEGATIVE * 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 PRESERVATION DIVISION 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET 
 
 ORIGINAL MATERIAL AS FILMED • EXISTING BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD 
 
 li t 1 1 
 
 253.6 
 !I21 
 
 National conference on public information, ist, Chicago, 
 1921. 
 
 Publicity nietliods for engineers; the proceedings of 
 the first National conference on public information held 
 under the auspices of the American association of engi- 
 neers. Edited and amended for more easy reading. [1st 
 c.d.i Chicago, American association of engineers fl922] 
 
 xviii p., 1 l, 186 (i. e. 188) p. incl. illus., plates, diagrs. pi. 19"". 
 
 1. Advertising — Engineering. 2j_,£ngineers. i^American association 
 of engineers, ir. Title. -'^ 
 
 23-4793 
 Library of Congress ^,1^ TA157.N3 
 
 CopyZ C ) 
 
 Copyright A 698364 [4i 
 
 RESTRICTIONS ON USE: 
 
 TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA 
 
 FILM SIZE 
 
 : u^ ^^ 
 
 REDUCTION RATIO: 
 
 . f2 
 
 X 
 
 IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA ( IIAj IB IIB 
 
 DATE FILMED 
 
 TRACKING # : 
 
 MiH OINI 
 
 INITIALS: 
 
 FILMED BY PRESERVATION RESOURCES. BETHLEHEM, PA. 
 
> 
 
 .^/ 
 
 
 ^-W 
 ^J^^ 
 
 ^^^y^ 
 
 a^ 
 
 ^y. 
 
 
 ^. 
 
 1^: 
 
 
 CaJ 
 
 -P^ 
 
 cn 
 
 cn 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 -J 
 
 
 > 
 
 Q) 
 
 DO 
 
 ABC 
 bcdef, 
 
 0) O 
 
 o m 
 
 'S-o 
 
 Q-Z! 
 
 ^m 
 
 CD O 
 
 
 do'X 
 
 3x 
 
 
 IJKLM 
 nopqrs 
 
 IKLM 
 
 ijkIm 
 2345 
 
 
 cr>=3 2 
 
 <^ 
 
 ^o o 
 
 go 
 
 M CO 
 
 IPQRS 
 pqrstu 
 890 
 
 CO t::: 
 is ^ 
 
 < —1 
 
 ^$ 
 
 ^ c 
 
 CT>X 
 
 X < 
 
 OOM 
 
 
 O 
 
 X 
 
 
 rsi 
 
 A*?' 
 
 ,^**>^ 
 
 .'v-^ 
 
 
 
 'V^ 
 
 ^^, 
 
 ^. 
 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 cn 
 
 O 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 ^^ 
 
 V 
 
 *<' 
 
 .<>' 
 
 
 ^a 
 
 ^P 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^o 
 
 ^fp 
 
 ^Sr 
 
 *,y^^ ^ 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 c.< 
 
 V 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 t.0 
 
 t3 
 
 & 
 
 fp 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ro 
 
 O 
 
 
 NJ 
 
 bo 
 
 a 
 
 00 
 
 b 
 
 E:^!^: 
 
 1.0 mm 
 
 1.5 mm 
 
 2.0 mm 
 
 ABCDEFGHUKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 
 abcdefghi|klmnopqrstuvv»iy7l234 567890 
 
 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPORSTUVWXYZ 
 at)cdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy2l234567890 
 
 ABCDEFGHUKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 
 
 abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 
 
 1234567890 
 
 
 '- '^^. 
 
 '^ 
 
 y>. 
 
 ^^^v 
 
 '/►..A. 
 
 ■A 
 
 
 m 
 
 O 
 
 "o 2 "o 
 
 o ^ • 
 
 > C CO 
 
 I ^ _1 
 
 "0) 5 
 
 m 
 
 i! 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 ABCDEFGHUKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 
 _ _ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 
 
 2.5 mm 1234567890 
 
 I 
 
 \. 
 
 L^ 
 
 & 
 
 
 Igb 
 
 cr 
 o >, 
 
 1^ 
 
 ■§.0 
 I? 
 
 ^^ 
 
 <o 
 
 50 
 
 >< JO 
 
 f^ cn 
 to? 
 
 ^-< 
 
 OOM 
 O 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^o 
 
 fp 
 
 1— • 
 
 hj 
 
 Ol 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 
 OQ 
 
 OOISI 
 
 8 
 
 
 ^^^ 
 
Columbia ?Bnibers;ttp 
 
 in tfie dtp of ^eto gorfe 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 School of Business 
 
 This book is due two weeks from the last date 
 stamped below, and if not returned or renewed at or 
 before that time a fine of five cents a day will be incurred. 
 
 May 
 
 5 
 
 1917 
 
Drazvn by F. W. Taylor DELAWARE RIVER BRIDGE PIER 
 
 PoHcies+Personnel=Piiblicity 
 
 Waldo 
 
 •1 
 
 
 PUBLICITY METHODS 
 FOR ENGINEERS 
 
PUBLICITY METHODS 
 FOR ENGINEERS 
 
 The PROCEEDINGS of the FIRST 
 NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON 
 PUBLIC INFORMATION held under 
 the auspices of the AMERICAN ASSO- 
 CIATION OF ENGINEERS. Edited 
 and amended for more easy reading. 
 
 I 
 
 The objects of the Association shall 
 be to promote the social and economic 
 welfare of the engineer and to stimu- 
 late and encourage public service in 
 the engineering profession. 
 
 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS 
 
 63 EAST ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO 
 
 i 
 
Tf^yt^y^' 
 
 ^h- 3377f 
 
 Copyright, 1922, by 
 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS 
 
 First Edition 
 
 HAMMOND PnC** 
 
 W. •. CON KIT COMPANf 
 
 OHIOAOO 
 
 n 
 
 •0 
 
 ft.'j 
 
 
 -1 
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The purpose of this book is to make plain the 
 principles of presenting to the public information 
 about engineers, and to show by cases how this is 
 being accomplished. The book is based upon pa- 
 pers read at the First National Engineering Con- 
 ference on PubHc Information held by the Ameri- 
 can Association of Engineers in Chicago in 192 1. 
 Every man who presented a paper was a recognized 
 authority. 
 
 In these days of general knowledge and quick 
 exchange of information, public opinion influences 
 most undertakings to such an extent that without 
 its support few succeed, while none can withstand 
 its opposition. The best public servants do not 
 allow public opinion to drift in direction or scope; 
 they mold and aggressively direct it like any other 
 energy for the public weal. 
 
 With methods available, each must discover op- 
 portunities. Take, as an example, the engineer in 
 the constantly expanding highway program. He is 
 charged with the responsibiHty as manager of a big 
 public business involving the expenditure of proba- 
 bly one thousand million dollars or more in the next 
 few years. If his employer, the public, is to be fully 
 served it must have a sympathetic understanding of 
 the work. At every opportunity, therefore, the de- 
 tail as well as the ensemble ol the huge organiza- 
 tion should be presented to the public. Every 
 
Preface 
 
 public service presents measurably equal opportu- 
 nities to that in the highway field. It is the duty 
 of the public servant to report to his employer and 
 keep him informed. 
 
 The excellent educational material presented at 
 the Conference has been edited to eliminate dupli- 
 cation and make easy reading in a handbook. This 
 work was under the direction of C. R. Thomas, who 
 is also responsible for the general method of pre- 
 sentation, part of Chapter V, Chapter VI, the Ap- 
 pendices, and illustrating and printing the book. 
 The editing for duplication and detailed arrange- 
 ment is the work of C. S. Darling. Acknowledg- 
 ment is also made to Fire and Water Engineering, 
 Printers Ink Monthly and Railway Age for the use 
 of illustrations on advertising. 
 
 It is a privilege to express here the gratitude of 
 those who use this book to all who have contributed 
 without thought of pay other than that arising 
 from the satisfaction of having rendered a public 
 service. 
 
 C. E. Drayer, D. So. 
 Secretary, American Association of Engineers. 
 
 Chicago, Illinois, 
 February i, 1922. 
 
 The First National Engineering Con- 
 ference on Public Information 
 
 The First National Engineering Conference on 
 Public Information was held under the auspices of 
 the American Association of Engineers in Chicago, 
 Illinois, on February 25, 192 1, at the Congress 
 Hotel. 
 
 Papers and discussion presented at this Con- 
 ference included the following: 
 
 VI 
 
 Some Problems Before the Engineer 
 
 By J. G. D, Mack, 
 State Chief Engineer of Wisconsin 
 
 Graduate, Rose Polytechnic Institute, Mechanical En- 
 gineering, 1887; M. E., Cornell, 1888; General engineer- 
 ing practice, 1888-93; Instructor, College of Engineering, 
 University of Wisconsin, 1893-95; Assistant Professor, 
 Machine Design, 1895-1903 ; Professor, Machine Design, 
 1903-1915; Mechanical Engineer, Railroad Commission 
 of Wisconsin, 1903-1912; made first valuation railroad 
 rolling stock, tools, and equipment in Wisconsin, 1903-04. 
 Later general public utilities valuation; State Chief 
 Engineer, Wisconsin State Department of Engineering 
 in charge of all State engineering and architectural work 
 since 1915; Member and Secretary, Wisconsin Deep 
 Water Ways Commission; Director, National Rivers 
 and Harbors Congress; Member, Minnesota- Wisconsin 
 Boundary Line Commission. Member A. S. M. E. 
 
 VII 
 
^ 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 A National Program of Public Information 
 
 By W. W. DeBerard, 
 Western Editor, Engineering News-Record 
 
 For twelve years western editor, Engineering Record 
 and Engineering News-Record, and in touch with en- 
 gineering development throughout the Middle West 
 Graduate in chemistry, Beloit College, and in sanitary 
 engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
 Engaged on water supply work and sanitary work for 
 ten years prior to entering editorial work, including 
 work in the city of Oakland, California; Philadelphia, 
 Pennsylvania; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Columbus, 
 Ohio; and Denver, Colorado; and on the Metropolitan 
 Sewerage Commission of New York, New York. Mr. 
 DeBerard is a member of several engineering societies. 
 
 The Meaning and Purpose of Publicity 
 
 By Ivy L, Lee, 
 
 Adviser in Public Relations to the Pennsylvania 
 Railroad and Other Interests 
 
 Adviser in public relations. Has been actively en- 
 gaged in public information and relations work since 
 1903, including work for the Anthracite Coal Oper- 
 ators, Pennsylvania Railroad, John D. Rockefeller, Red 
 Cross Council, Interborough Rapid Transit, and as 
 European Manager for Harris Winthrop & Co., bank- 
 ers. Now in organization of Ivy L. Lee & Associates, 
 61 Broadway, New York. Has written much on eco- 
 nomic subjects and was lecturer in the London (Eng- 
 land) School of Economics. 
 
 Making Publicity Out of Policies 
 
 By Richard H, Waldo, 
 
 Publisher of Hearsfs International, New York 
 
 Formerly business manager of Good Housekeeping; 
 
 secretary and associate general manager of the New 
 
 York Tribune. Two years with the A. E. F. as War 
 
 Risk Insurance Officer, London, England. Business 
 
 VIII 
 
 First National Conference 
 
 Manager, Stars and Stripes, Paris. Captain Co. I, iiith 
 Infantry, 28th Division. Secretary, Inter-Allied Games 
 Committee, Paris. Recently adviser on publishing and 
 publicity matters, including the Inter-Racial Council, 
 Associated General Contractors, and Cleveland Indus- 
 trial Association. 
 
 The Public Debt to the Engineer 
 
 By F. M. Feiker, 
 Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce, 
 U, S. Department of Commerce 
 
 Graduated Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1904. 
 Served the General Electric Company as technical 
 journalist and later joined the A. W. Shaw Company 
 in Chicago, where he developed Factory Magazine and 
 later became chairman of the editorial board of all 
 the A. W. Shaw Publications. He joined the McGraw- 
 Hill publications in New York in 1915, as editor of 
 Electrical World and later established Electrical Mer^ 
 chandising. Later he was made chairman of the board 
 of editors of the thirteen publications of the Mc- 
 Graw-Hill Company and then vice-president. He is 
 a member of numerous technical societies. 
 
 Ambassadors to His Majesty the Public — Publicity 
 Organization and Methods 
 
 By C, R. Thomas, 
 In charge of Public Information and Professional 
 Engineer, American Association of Engineers 
 
 Entered engineering promotional work with the U. 
 S. Bureau of Public Roads. Research engineer and 
 teacher of engineering at Pennsylvania State College 
 and North Carolina State College. Associate editor of 
 Engineering and Contracting. Editorial director and 
 first editor of Successful Methods. Later Cleveland 
 advertising manager. Manufacturers' Publicity Bureau. 
 In charge of review and publication of results, U. S. 
 Forest Products Laboratory. Contributor to general 
 magazines. 
 
 IX 
 

 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 The Difference Between Publicity and News 
 
 By Harvey V. Deuell, 
 Day City Editor, The Chicago Tribune 
 
 Born in Brooklyn, New York. Has been engaged in 
 newspaper business for about ten years in Denver and 
 Chicago. At present day city editor of The Chicago 
 Tribune, 
 
 Engineering Information Service in Iowa 
 
 By R. W, Crum, 
 Engineer of Materials and Tests, Iowa State 
 Highway Department 
 
 Graduated in engineering from Iowa State College 
 in 1907 and entered professional civil engineering work 
 with the Pennsylvania Lines in 1907. The following 
 year he became associate professor in charge of the 
 testing laboratories at Iowa State College and con- 
 tinued in this work until 1919, when he was appointed 
 engineer of materials and tests, Iowa Highway Com- 
 mission, in charge of all matters pertaining to the use 
 of materials in work under the jurisdiction of the high- 
 way commission. In 1908-09 he engaged in private 
 practice in general civil engineering. 
 
 Public Information in the Municipal Field 
 
 By S. C, Hadden, 
 Editor and Publisher, Municipal 
 and County Engineering 
 
 For many years he was engaged on the editorial staff 
 of Engineering and Contracting and other papers. 
 Active in engineering organization work. 
 
 The Essentials of Popular Scientific Writing 
 
 By Alexander Black, 
 Editor, King Features Service, 
 New York. 
 
 Author of the novels "The Great Desire," and "The 
 Seventh Angel," and of a new volume of essays, "The 
 
 First National Conference 
 
 Latest Thing, and Other Things"; a newspaper editor 
 for forty years, particularly in the Sunday feature 
 field. Now editor of King Features Service which 
 serves hundreds of newspapers from coast to coast. 
 Born in New York City, which has been the scene 
 of most of his novels and of all his newspaper 
 activities. Known as "the grandfather of the picture 
 play" from the circumstance of his having written, 
 photographed and produced the first drama for the 
 screen in 1894, before the advent of the motion picture. 
 
 Making Easy Reading of Engineering Subjects 
 
 By C. S. Darling, 
 Editor, Rock Products 
 
 B. S. in Civil Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic 
 Institute. With editorial staff of Factory, A. W. 
 Shaw Company, Chicago, since July 9, 191 7, except 
 during the period of the War when he rose from the 
 rank of private to captain in the Corps of Engineers 
 in France. Managing editor of Factory from July, 
 1920, to February, 1922. Editor, Rock Products, 
 
 The Value to a Young Engineer of Technical and 
 Engineering Press Contributions 
 
 „ . , By C, A. Tupper, 
 
 President, International Trade Press, Chicago 
 
 Consulting engineer and publisher of various engi- 
 neering journals. After finishing courses in mining, 
 mechanical, and electrical engineering was engaged in 
 field work and identified with large machinery manu- 
 facturing interests for twenty years, during which he 
 travelled and worked in all parts of the world. In 191 1 
 he was made secretary of the Penton Publishing Com- 
 pany and later became president of the International 
 Trade Press of Chicago. 
 
 XI 
 
Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 What Publicity Does for the Chapter 
 
 By R. C. Bailey, 
 Assistant Secretary, American Association 
 of Engineers 
 
 Mechanical and electrical engineer with over twenty 
 years' experience in steam power plant design and in- 
 dustrial plant work in eastern United States. During 
 the war was Expert Aide in the New York Navy Yard 
 and later was president of the Navy Technical Associa- 
 tion. Joined the staff of the American Association of 
 Engineers in 1919 and became in succession, District 
 Secretary, Assistant Secretary, and Office Manager of 
 the National Office. 
 
 Local Publicity Methods 
 
 By Cedric B. Smith, 
 Advertising Manager, Chicago 
 Bridge and Iron Works 
 
 Born in Monticello, Iowa, employed on engineering 
 work with Oregon Trunk, Great Northern, and Chicago 
 Great Western Railroads. University of Minnesota, 
 B. A., 1914, B. S. in E., 191 5. Various engineering 
 positions, 1915, 1916, 1917 with Commerce Commission 
 and Pennsylvania Lines. First Lieutenant, U. S. Army, 
 1917-1918. Editor, Professional Engineer, and on pro- 
 motional work for American Association of Engineers, 
 I9i9>i920. 
 
 Teaching Engineering Journalism at Iowa State 
 
 College 
 
 By H, E. Pride, 
 Bulletin Editor, Iowa Engineering 
 Experiment Station 
 
 Graduated in engineering at Iowa State College and 
 served as an instructor in Officers' Training Camps, 
 reaching the rank of Captain, Coast Artillery. After 
 a short period as assistant to the president. Lock Joint 
 Pipe Company, he returned to Iowa to assist in estab- 
 lishing instruction in journalism for engineering stu- 
 dents at Iowa State College. 
 
 XII 
 
 First National Conference 
 
 Tjrpical Engineering Publicity 
 
 ^3; C. E. Drayer, 
 Secretary, American Association of Engineers 
 
 Pioneer in engineering organization and engineering 
 publicity. Organized Committee on Cooperation, made 
 up of local, state and national engineering societies. 
 Secretary, Cleveland Engineering Society, and co-editor 
 of "Engineering as a Career." Became secretary of 
 the American Association of Engineers in 1918. 
 Awarded honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Ohio 
 Northern University for public service. Graduated 
 from Western Reserve University and held various 
 engineering positions in railroad service before taking 
 up engineering organization work. 
 
 Educating the Public About Engineering Work 
 
 By F. H. Newell, 
 Consulting Engineer, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Graduate Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1885. 
 Engaged in mining and miscellaneous engineering for 
 several years, and then with the U. S. Geological Sur- 
 vey 1888 until 1907 when he became the first director 
 of the U. S. Reclamation Service and served in that 
 capacity for seven years. Professor of civil engineer- 
 ing. University of Illinois, 1914-19. President, Amer- 
 ican Association of Engineers, 1919-20, during period 
 when the membership increased from 4,000 to 18,000. 
 Member of numerous technical societies, the author oi 
 many books, and has served in advisory capacity for 
 important commissions. 
 
 XIII 
 
>tt> 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I Some Reasons for Publicity i 
 
 Do Something— Then Tell About It. 
 Engineers Have "Done Something." 
 The Difference Between Publicity and No 
 
 Publicity. 
 What Publicity- Will Do for Engineers. 
 How Greater Service Results. 
 Where the Economic Side Enters. 
 Correcting Wrong Impressions. 
 A Counter-Fire of Publicity. 
 Roosevelt's Plan. 
 
 How Press Contributions Help the Young 
 Engineer. 
 
 II The Right Conception of Publicity , . . , 
 Molding Public Opinion. 
 Publicity, Press Agency, Propaganda, and 
 
 Public Information Work. 
 The Place of Public Information Work. 
 Public Service is the Basis of Public Notice. 
 The Engineer's Opportunity for Publicity. 
 Information Must be Valuable and Useful. 
 The Public's Debt to the Engineer. 
 The Difference Between Publicity and News. 
 Pick Real News in Seeking Newpaper Publicity. 
 An Example of News Value. 
 Areas of Interest in Selecting News. 
 The Editor May Know More About His Job 
 Than You Do. 
 
 XV 
 
 17 
 
Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Contents 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 III Ways and Means That Bring Publicity . . 35 
 What the Public Wants. 
 
 Central Publicity Bureaus — National and Local. 
 What One State Organization is Doing. 
 Some Suggestions from Iowa's Experience. 
 Developing Volunteer Service. 
 Many Agencies Are Available./ 
 Do Something—Then Tell About It. 
 Methods in Use. 
 Mapping Out a Campaign. 
 The Personal Appeal. 
 When to Begin. 
 
 Publicity for Ideas, Rather than for Men. 
 Publicity from Government Bureaus. 
 A Clip Sheet for Editors. 
 What a Central Publicity Organization Can Do. 
 
 m I 
 
 f 
 
 IV Getting News in the Newspapers . . 
 The Most Important Publicity Medium. 
 Learn to Write Non-Technically. 
 We All Speak Two Languages. 
 Two Kinds of Newspaper Articles. 
 Learning to Recognize News Value. 
 How to Select News. 
 Write So John Smith Can Understand. 
 Picking the Points of News Value. 
 "Turning the News." 
 How Material Gets in a Newspaper. 
 Areas of News Interest. 
 Remember Your Audience. 
 The Situation, of the Newspaper Reader. 
 To Write Interestingly. 
 Say It; Don't Write It. 
 Writing a Newspaper Article. 
 Steps in Building the Story. 
 A Good Way to Construct the Story. 
 
 XVI 
 
 63 
 
 CHAPTER p^Gs 
 
 How to Write for Magazines. 
 Making Interesting Reading of Engineering 
 Subjects. 
 
 The Publicity Man, and What He Needs to 
 Know 95 
 
 Picking the Publicity Man. 
 
 The Need for Voluntary Effort. 
 
 Some Special Jobs for the Public Information 
 
 Man. 
 Don't Be Too Modest. 
 Contacts with Civic Organizations. 
 Don't Clog the Channels. 
 Newspaper Syndicates. 
 Hints on Organization. 
 Convention Exhibits. 
 Motion Pictures. 
 
 An Educational Motion Picture Syndicate. 
 Stipulation for Free Film Service. 
 Producing Motion Pictures. 
 Suggestions on Exhibiting Motion Pictures. 
 Operating a Speaker's Bureau. 
 Furnishing Speakers to the Public. 
 Handling Announcements. 
 Committee Memberships in Local Organizations. 
 Personal Work of Organizers. 
 Mass Meetings. 
 Receptions to Special Groups. 
 Technical Methods. 
 Service Precedes Publicity. 
 
 The Fundamental Object— To Improve the En- 
 vironment in Which People Live. 
 
 VI Typical Publicity Problems . . 
 Engineers' Week in a Small Town. 
 Promoting a National Highway. 
 
 XVII 
 
 123 
 
Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 chapter i*age 
 
 Planning a Pageant of Progress. 
 Campaign for Rehabilitating a City Water Sys- 
 tem. 
 Promoting a County Bond Issue. 
 Developing a Local Engineering Society. 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 Some Approximate Costs for Estimating . ... 163 
 The costs given here are those existing in Chicago, 
 Illinois, in January, 1922; they are approximate and 
 should only be used for rough estimating. 
 
 1. Addressing and Typewriting Costs. 
 
 2. Folding and Mailing. 
 
 3. Multigraphing. 
 
 4. Mimeographing. 
 
 5. Some Typical Job Printing Costs. 
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 A Brief Outline of a Working Plan for Public In- 
 formation TO Broaden the Field of Engineerii^g 
 Work 167 
 
 Research Information Service 187 
 
 PUBUCITY METHODS 
 FOR ENGINEERS 
 
 XVIII 
 
m 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SOME REASONS FOR PUBLICITY 
 
 Do Something— .Then Tell About It. Where 
 there is public service public notice may be ex- 
 pected to follow. Do something— then tell about 
 it. That is a rule for publicity which applies to 
 engineers and to everyone else. Without first 
 doing something— not necessarily something un- 
 usual or out of the ordinary, but anything which 
 affects the lives of other people and about which 
 they will be interested to hear— there can be no 
 effective spreading of information to the dozens or 
 thousands or millions who form the particular part 
 of the "public" to whom the information may be 
 valuable. A scientist discovers a cure for cancer, 
 the American First Army takes St. Mihiel, a new 
 bridge is planned south of town, and there is 
 publicity, by word of mouth, by newspapers, by 
 magazines, by motion pictures, and by numerous 
 other mediums. The publicity from paid advertis- 
 ing also is preceded by something done— something 
 made or planned for sale, or some achievement 
 whose telling will bring profit, prestige, or other 
 advantage to him who tells it. 
 
 Engineers Have "Done Something." Every 
 day men come in direct contact with engineering 
 achievements. They drink the water that engineers 
 have brought to their doors, they ride in the rail- 
 
HI 
 
 2 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 roads that engineering genius has created, they 
 cross over or beneath rivers on paths which en- 
 gineers have built for them, they exist and grow 
 rich by trade in the metals and materials which 
 engineering labors have wrested from the bowels 
 of the earth. 
 
 There is no lack of the "do something" require- 
 ments of our publicity rule; what remains is to 
 tell about it. 
 
 One reason so few engineers tell about their 
 work in a way that gives the telling a real pub- 
 licity value is that they haven't seen how much 
 good can result to themselves, to the people with 
 whom they are associated, and to everyone in gen- 
 eral, from such publicity. 
 
 The Difference Between Publicity and No Pub- 
 licity. When the Norsemen discovered America, 
 they had no compass. Yet the compass had been 
 discovered by the Chinese thousands of years be- 
 fore. 
 
 When, however, Mme. Curie discovered radi- 
 um, the knowledge of her achievement was spread 
 throughout the world as rapidly as cables and wires 
 could carry it. Mme. Curie's work would have 
 been of no value to the world at large if the 
 knowledge of her discovery had remained with 
 her alone. 
 
 The difference between those earlier times and 
 these is the difference largely of ways and means 
 of publicity. No engineering work need be un- 
 known today. The material is at hand. Sound 
 principles are clear. It is only a matter of going 
 at it. 
 
 Some Reasons for Publicity 3 
 
 Through publicity the engineer can increase his 
 usefulness, just as publicity has increased the use- 
 fulness of radium to the world. 
 
 What Publicity Will Do for Engineers. The 
 objects of the American Association of Engineers 
 are "to promote the social and economic welfare 
 of the engineer and to stimulate and encourage 
 public service in the engineering profession." 
 
 What has publicity to do with the achievement 
 of these objects? 
 
 Publicity gets things done by carrying a truth- 
 ful message to the mass of the people. It lines up 
 public sentiment on the side of the right by show- 
 ing the inwardness of great questions on which, 
 without publicity, the people would not be well 
 informed. It gets people behind constructive busi- 
 ness, philanthropic, and moral movements; it 
 bnngs enlightenment on great public questions, 
 and it is the most dreaded of all forces by the evil 
 doer and the criminal. 
 
 It was not so many years ago that public 
 utility corporations such as railroads, traction lines, 
 gas, electric light, and telephone companies were 
 targets of almost universal condemnation wherever 
 they operated. Today the public has a much 
 better idea of public utility corporations. We do 
 not find them universally condemned. People have 
 a clearer understanding of their problems, and this 
 understanding has been brought about through a 
 changed policy of dealing with the public, the basis 
 of which has been public service adequately re- 
 ported through publicity. 
 
Hi 
 
 4 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 How Greater Service Results. When an engi- 
 neer first hears someone speak of publicity, he 
 often sees no other purpose for having engineering 
 events and new^s of engineers chronicled in the 
 press than the pleasure of getting one's name in 
 the paper. As a matter of fact, the reasons for 
 obtaining publicity are just as definite and sub- 
 stantial as for maintaining an employment service. 
 A simple definition of publicity is this: 
 
 Engineering publicity is anything concerning engi- 
 neers or engineering which is brought to the attention 
 of the public. 
 
 Publicity is actually nothing more nor less than 
 the broader viewr of advertising — we all know the 
 value of advertising. "Eventually — why not now'* 
 spells Gold Medal Flour to nine men out of ten, 
 Grape Nuts means breakfast food to almost every- 
 one. These names and expressions 'have been 
 developed through advertising. If the American 
 Association of Engineers had for sale a breakfast 
 food it would be unable to market its product in 
 sufficient quantities to make the project a paying 
 one without a strong campaign of advertising. 
 The Association does not have a breakfast food 
 for sale, but it has some other things far more im- 
 portant to mankind. 
 
 In the first place, there are services to sell — the 
 services of every individual engineer and of engi- 
 neers in general. Publicity will enhance the value 
 of these services. We expect the profession to ac- 
 complish considerable good in legislative matters 
 and in politics. It is obvious that the better known 
 
 Some Reasons for Publicity 5 
 
 the local engineering organizations are in the eyes 
 of other citizens the more force will the organiza- 
 tions and the individual engineers have in politics. 
 To aid this work, it is necessary to build up a repu- 
 
 Profit and Loss in Street Widening 
 
 Shortening a lot 10 feet 
 reduces vedue as follows: 
 
 Street 6G feet wide 
 
 Widening the street 10 feet 
 on each side : 
 
 Street 06 feet wide 
 
 roi /////////, v///y/////. '////////. 
 
 ZOO" 
 
 Lot 
 
 0.6% 
 
 l')0' 
 Lot 
 17% 
 
 12V 
 Lot 
 3% 
 
 100" 
 
 Lot 
 
 44 X 
 
 I Increase 
 V&lue oT all lots 
 frl)m ^OxtoZOOx 
 
 The average owner can give the land 
 required for street widening and reap 
 10 fold to 100 fold profits on his investment. 
 
 Poster used in a city zoning campaign in Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 tation — a reputation for honesty, high ideals, 
 vision, common sense, patriotism, unselfishness, 
 scientific knowledge, ability to see and interpret 
 properly the events in our communities which 
 affect men in general. This reputation can be estab- 
 lished in the public mind by publicity. 
 
6 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 If someone asks which department store in the 
 United States enjoys the greatest reputation for 
 fair dealing, for a high standard of merchandise, 
 and an almost unquestioned honesty with its cus- 
 tomers, eight out of ten in nearly any gathering of 
 informed men name Wanamaker's of Philadelphia 
 and New York. The reputation of this mercantile 
 institution was built up not alone because it has 
 been conducted with the highest principles of fair 
 dealing between a merchant and his customers, 
 but because these principles of fair dealing have 
 been emphasized in paid advertising and through 
 other publicity. 
 
 If it were not for publicity the ideal of service 
 which John Wanamaker incorporated in his little 
 store on Chestnut Street would be known only to 
 Philadelphians and only a limited number would 
 have been able to take advantage of his service. 
 Through the printed word his reputation has ex- 
 tended over the English speaking world. 
 
 Without publicity the American Association of 
 Engineers will enjoy a limited reputation and can 
 perform a limited service. Through publicity, its 
 underlying motives, its practical vision of the ne- 
 cessity for professional and social progress, its 
 capacity for service to the individual, to the pro- 
 fession, to the country, will be increased many 
 fold. That is the reason for publicity. 
 
 Where the Economic Side Enters. The state- 
 ment was previously made that engineers have to 
 sell their services, and publicity makes evident the 
 value of these services. As the value is increased. 
 
 Some Reasons for Publicity 7 
 
 so will the individual compensation for these ser- 
 vices be augmented. When the public comes to 
 know and estimate engineering accomplishment at 
 its true value to society the economic status of en- 
 gineers will become fixed. Whether or not it will 
 stay fixed or be raised will depend upon how the 
 engineers themselves measure up to their oppor- 
 tunities in the service of the world. The first part 
 of the problem is to inform the public concerning 
 the processes and results of engineering effort so 
 that society may appraise the value of the engi- 
 neer's daily work. The second part of the problem 
 is to show the way to engineers to become of more 
 value to society by applying their valuable train- 
 ing in the manifold problems of civilized Hfe. 
 
 While the value of strictly engineering accom- 
 plishment is probably fixed at some point in the 
 sum total of human effort, there need be no limit 
 to the relative place engineers themselves may at- 
 tain in this sum total. 
 
 If the public be well acquainted with the back- 
 ground of the engineer's work there can be no 
 doubt that he will be appraised at his true worth 
 in whatever sphere of influence his activities may 
 occur. 
 
 Correcting Wrong Impressions. There is often 
 a need in engineering publicity work for more than 
 a mere educational form of publicity. Engineers 
 are frequently attacked when they are in municipal 
 and other public work and these attacks are often 
 partly or wholly unjust. 
 
 Proper publicity can do much to counteract the 
 
i i, 
 
 
 8 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 insidious influence which is so often found in many 
 civic organizations, and in the newspapers, to dis- 
 credit engineers in municipal work. Many who 
 
 "Advertising is the backbone of publicity." The first of a series 
 of educational advertisements inserted in California 
 
 newspapers. 
 
 belong to civic organizations and serve on com- 
 mittees know that insinuations and open charges 
 are indulged in against the engineers engaged in 
 
 Some Reasons for Publicity 9 
 
 public work. Yet it is rare that an engineer en- 
 gaged in public work is not a conscientious worker 
 and doing the best that he can for his community, 
 for his city, the state, or the nation. Unfortu- 
 nately, the opposite impression seems to be abroad 
 in the minds of the public, and one hears frequent 
 reference to inefficiency. -For the benefit of the 
 engineering profession generally, publicity ought 
 to be used to counteract this attempt to discredit 
 engineers. 
 
 No doubt, some attacks made on engineers and 
 the somewhat derogatory remarks about them are, 
 to some extent, justified. The fact is that the en- 
 gineer in public employ, spending public funds, 
 does not always appreciate the fact that it is his 
 duty to his employers, the taxpayers he is working 
 for, to get results. Moreover, if the man you have 
 working for you, no matter how good he may be, 
 does not report in language that you can under- 
 stand, he is apt to be fired pretty soon. 
 
 A Counter-Fire of Publicity. Every man in the 
 public employ, and every young engineer doing 
 public work, should, as an early part of his educa- 
 tion, learn to tell his employer and learn to tell the 
 people who pay the bills, in simple, direct lan- 
 guage they can easily understand, what he is do- 
 mg. As a matter of policy he should avoid reply- 
 mg to attacks, because such replies magnify the 
 attacks ; but rather he should always keep burning 
 a counter-fire on what he has done and is doing 
 and proposes to do, to meet the attack that is 
 bound to come, and will come, unless he does make 
 frequent and clear statements. 
 
 4' 
 
•"HSMHiiMMittriliMi 
 
 lO 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Some Reasons for Publicity 
 
 II 
 
 1 1 
 
 Dr. F. H. Newell, former head of the United 
 States Reclamation Service, said he was nearly always 
 under investigation "for graft, corruption, and all 
 sorts of deviltry, but I always had a man hired by 
 the year to put the contrary story out, to con- 
 tinually present to the press, day after day, ac- 
 curate statements of what had been done, and what 
 we were doing, simply making constructive infor- 
 mational statements in a direct and positive form, 
 and I believe the expense of doing that has been 
 justified." 
 
 Every young engineer should learn the fallacy 
 of the assertion taught in the classes that "your 
 work speaks for itself." Most of our work cannot 
 speak for itself. A sewer underground may be 
 doing magnificent work, may be the result of a 
 life's effort, and yet cannot speak for itself. The 
 men who built it may be accused of grafting on 
 the public, because the public doesn't know what 
 the thing is. 
 
 Perhaps the best illustration that was ever given 
 was by Theodore Roosevelt, when he dedicated the 
 Roosevelt Dam. Many politicians were present 
 and made glowing speeches about the wonderful 
 climate, the great state, and the great country. 
 After Roosevelt had listened, he made a few re- 
 marks of appreciation, then he turned to the little 
 group of engineers who had been in the back- 
 ground, and he said, realizing the general lack of 
 appreciation of those to whom credit belonged; 
 "And as to you, you engineers who did this work, 
 your reward will be an investigation." 
 
 Roosevelt's Plan. In checking adverse opinion, 
 perhaps the best way is to take the aggressive. 
 This was Roosevelt's plan; and Roosevelt was a 
 past master at holding pubhc opinion, primarily 
 because he was sincere, enthusiastic, capable, and 
 had the good of the nation at heart. If things 
 were not going well with Roosevelt, he would gtt 
 out and start something, and direct attention to 
 some new project. 
 
 How Press Contributions Help the Young En- 
 gineer. Contributions to the technical press serve 
 to obtain one type of valuable engineering pub- 
 licity, and the value to the contributor is one of 
 the reasons for publicity which the engineer, and 
 especially the young engineer, will do well not to 
 overlook. 
 
 Aside from his scholastic training and his prac- 
 tical experience in industry or in the field, nothing 
 contributes more to the progress of a young en- 
 gineer than to form the habit of making accept- 
 able contributions to the local or to the technical 
 press. 
 
 In the first place, it clarifies his ideas, leads him 
 to think along logical, connected lines, enlarges his 
 vocabulary, teaches him precision in the use of 
 terms, and frequently forces him to fill in certain 
 gaps in his knowledge or experience before he can 
 give comprehensive treatment to a theme. 
 
 Furthermore, he learns to concentrate on sub- 
 jects which have practical rather than academic 
 value; for the technical journals have little to do 
 with theory, except as it finds practical application 
 
12 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 
 in engineering, chemistry, metallurgy, or indus- 
 trial uses generally, including transportation and 
 providing the means for it, such as highways, 
 bridges, motor vehicles, railways, rolling stock, 
 docks and harbors, ships, and mines. 
 
 In each subject of which he writes he tends, for 
 the time being, to become a specialist, and while 
 he may not be enough of a specialist to offer any 
 startling contribution to the world's knowledge, 
 he will, at any rate, be a better, more practical 
 engineer in that particular line than he was before 
 he prepared the article. 
 
 Such effort, if continuous, soon begins to show 
 in the young engineer's regular work and will at- 
 tract attention from his superiors, even though 
 they may never read the articles themselves. One 
 thing then will lead to another, and the young 
 engineer will find himself the center of an ever- 
 widening circle of influence and value. 
 
 Typical symbolic cartoon illustrating the position of the professional 
 
 engineer in society. 
 
Maximum Newspaper Space 
 
 THIS double spread represents 
 perhaps the largest newspaper 
 article on an engineering subject that 
 has appeared under the auspices of an 
 engineering society. 
 
 «4a»«rt »t th* trvio. 
 iae elM« la*<jije« 
 
 LOBC BMOh (C»llf.) Cbftpt«r 
 
 «f aatlaMra, mM the loo&l 
 l^o(r««tlT« »BtlMM ctak 
 ^•rs «lM» »« r«rt «•« Artbar 
 
 nrlmr m la-taeh 
 a«rtar »t F«rt km 
 
 Arthur. 700-U. 
 »ap*J«ctiU: r«ne«, 
 10«000 7»rd«. 
 
 fnbllo X&rorflwtloa mtmm 
 ti s, A<i«M St. » okitt&es 
 
 Civilian Coast Artillery 
 
 TtecIin,V^l''^f^'-''*"7' illustrates the general news appeal of non- 
 is Dart of th! f "''' '^'^^ f ^" engnieernig organization. The following 
 the^'glfral p"c'r ' ^^^omp^nyrng each 8xio glossy print sent to 
 
 rCaHf<;?niiT^'ha"te?'of tr"Alie?icat'!iss".l:S^ are members of the Ung Beach 
 sive Business Cliih nf T «„^ r u -Association of Engineers and the Proeres- 
 artilleryne" The class f^ ^'^ receiving voluntary training as coast 
 
 the direct supervision of ro? H '' ^''1"'"S ^\''^ '''^^^ ^^'^ i"struction under 
 Mac^rthnr r.v/iU "f <^olontl Henry !•,. Hatch, commanding officer of Fort 
 
 obter'vat'iS;- stSbt^l.^ mSn''th?'nIo»iiiJ"ron ""^ '^ ^'^^ -e^rainTngln "the 
 on the plotting board 7 . . . . W*'"'"^ '^°0'" where the engineer fits well 
 

 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE RIGHT CONCEPTION OF PUBLICITY 
 
 Molding Public Opinion. Before we go ahead 
 to obtain the publicity which the preceding chap- 
 ter has shown to be so valuable, it is best to get 
 clearly in mind just what we mean by the term 
 publicity, or public notice, or public information 
 work. 
 
 All public notice of engineers and engineering, 
 to serve the purposes outlined in the previous 
 chapter, will be directed toward molding public 
 opinion favorable to the engineer. It is the favor- 
 able opinion of the public which all forms of pub- 
 licity seek. 
 
 Publicity, Press Agency, Propaganda, and Pub- 
 lic Information Work. To see to it that the 
 people are fully, intelligently, and honestly in- 
 formed is undoubtedly the chief aim of enlightened 
 publicity. Yet it is often a very difficult goal to 
 attain and its attainment calls for wisdom and 
 skill. 
 
 Publicity, press agency, and propaganda are 
 terms often used interchangeably, but the three 
 activities are very different. 
 
 Propaganda, of course, depends on pubhcity, but 
 it carries also an implication of something being 
 done in an underhanded way, something that in- 
 sidiously plants wrong ideas in the mind and has 
 an ulterior motive. 
 
 17 
 
i8 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Publicity, on the contrary, is a light-of-day 
 proposition. It must have in mind a public ser- 
 vice and be sound ethically, both in its purpose 
 and its operation, for its object is education. 
 
 The average man in this country is interested in 
 what the other average man is doing. This is 
 proved by the fact that if you want to obtain the 
 good things of the world for yourself, the first 
 thing you generally do is to find out what the rest 
 of the people are doing and what they need, and 
 try to supply that need. The idea of filling the 
 need for information is the basis of all public in- 
 formation work; and when frankness, honesty, 
 sincerity, and ability are combined in presenting 
 the problems of any organization, whether it be 
 educational, financial, political, or commercial, to 
 the community and the country at large, the pub- 
 lic will listen and be interested. 
 
 The Place of Public Information Work. Public 
 information v^ork is the larger view of pubHcity; 
 it is an important factor in our life today. In com- 
 mercial organizations in the past it has ordinarily 
 been in the hands of the president, or some high 
 official of the company; but as manufacturing, 
 educational, and financial institutions have become 
 more dependent in their growth and economic 
 welfare on acquainting the public with what they 
 are doing, systematized methods of handling public 
 relations have developed. 
 
 This development has become necessary be- 
 cause of the greatly increased volume of such 
 work, and the utilization of more routine methods 
 
 The Right Conception of Publicity 
 
 19 
 
 of reaching the public. The work is now dele- 
 gated to some assistant; or, in large organizations, 
 to a special department. Public information work 
 is closely allied with business research, advertis- 
 ing, trade extension, and service work. It touches 
 all of them in some manner, depending upon the 
 relative importance of publicity in the life and 
 welfare of the organization. As a matter of fact it 
 includes all of them, the basic thought being to 
 create and maintain good will, and to acquaint 
 people at large with the salient points of the 
 business in such a way that they will be interested, 
 and will support it. Converting good will into 
 money is more the field of advertising and selling. 
 Public information work stands in an ambassado- 
 rial position, rather than a soliciting position. Many 
 of the methods employed in this work have come 
 down to us from the ancients; they are methods 
 which were used by Aristotle and the Caesars. 
 
 Not very long ago a university in the Middle 
 West felt that it needed the support of the whole 
 state in order to increase its usefulness to the state. 
 This university went about telling the state what 
 it was doing, not in a boastful way, but truthfully 
 presenting the problems that came to them, and 
 the efforts they were making to solve these prob- 
 lems, pointing out the work that could be accom- 
 plished with more adequate support. Today this 
 university is known from coast to coast for its pro- 
 gressive work and the close relations existing be- 
 tween the university and the people of the state; 
 and the university is growing to be one of the 
 
20 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 largest in the United States. Through the devel- 
 opment of its relations to the public it became a 
 factor in developing the environment in which the 
 people of the state live. The university became 
 an entrepreneur of public opinion through its am- 
 bassadors to the public. 
 
 Public Service Is the Basis of PubHc Notice. At 
 the time v^^hen Richard H. Waldo was Chairman of 
 the Publicity Committee of the Associated Adver- 
 tising Clubs of the World, there took place, per- 
 haps for the first time, an actual working out of 
 a definite formula for publicity, which was this : 
 
 Policies, plus personnel, will result in full pub- 
 licity; and any time that you want publicity, that 
 is the way to get it. 
 
 Publicity is a root, though a lot of us think it 
 is a fruit. It is not; it is rooted in policies, and if 
 your policies are not right, then the tree will be a 
 barren one. You will have no publicity. You 
 may get some pieces in the newspapers, which 
 many members of the public think are publicity, 
 but you will not get the right kind of public notice 
 of engineering if the public service, which is the 
 basis of all proper public notice, is lacking. 
 
 Where there is public service, public notice may 
 always be expected to follow. You have but to 
 present your story in such a way that the man for 
 whom it is intended will find it interesting. 
 
 One has to do practically what the town fool 
 did at the time he claimed the reward for a lost 
 horse. He got the reward, and they asked him, 
 "How is it that you, the town fool, were able to 
 
 The Right Conception of Publicity 21 
 
 find the horse when no one else in the whole town 
 could do so?" 
 
 He scratched his head and said, "Huh, that was 
 easy. I thought what I would do if I was a horse." 
 
 That is what you have to do in publicity, you 
 have got to have in mind your Mr. Smith or Mr. 
 Jones, who reads the Pittsburgh Dispatch, or the 
 Los Angeles Times. If he likes it and reads it 
 everybody will, and that is the thing above all 
 things that technically trained men must bear in 
 mind. 
 
 The Engineer's Opportunity for Publicity. En- 
 gineers are identified with public service every- 
 where, not merely that percentage of the profes- 
 sion who are actually employed in what is com- 
 monly called "public service," but all who are en- 
 gaged in the construction of sky-scrapers, in plan- 
 ning power, in terminal problems, or in keeping 
 railroads properly maintained. All are in the pub- 
 lic service ; therefore, there is no group of men in 
 the United States who have so magnificent an op- 
 portunity for publicity. From the earliest days 
 of learning their profession to the time they be- 
 come the elder statesmen of that profession, engi- 
 neers are always working along the lines of 
 bettering civilization and hastening its progress. 
 
 There are two broad phases of public relations 
 v^ork; first, to determine just what type of infor- 
 mation is most effective in developing good-will; 
 and second, the mechanics of distributing this in- 
 formation in the broadest possible way, so that it 
 will reach the people who are most interested and 
 
22 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 who will be of most value to the profession after 
 their interest is obtained. This work is really the 
 connecting link between advertising, as it exists 
 now in most organizations, and selling, which has 
 to do with the distribution of a product at a profit. 
 It is a connecting link which has been highly de- 
 veloped by some organizations, and it is susceptible 
 to a tremendous future development. 
 
 Information Must Be Valuable and Useful. The 
 primary requisite of any information given out by 
 an organization is that the information shall be of 
 value in the every-day life of the people who re- 
 ceive it. This is the kind of information that sticks. 
 Sensational information attracts attention; but it 
 frequently has not the lasting qualities which are 
 more desirable. 
 
 C. R. Thomas, Editor of Professional Engineer 
 and formerly in charge of publication of results at 
 the Forest Products Laboratory, said: "I some- 
 times think of the director of publicity as the 
 leader of a big orchestra, the instruments of which 
 are even more varied in their tone and type of appeal 
 than those of the orchestra. In the orchestra some- 
 times we hear the blare of the trumpet, at other 
 times the soft, sustained note of the violin, and 
 again the rattle of the traps and the boom of the 
 drums. In a campaign of publicity the harmoni- 
 ous use of a great many means of publicity is an 
 essential feature. The timing of announcements 
 and inaugurating policies must be carefully studied. 
 For let it be remembered that discords can be pro- 
 duced, if the various agencies of information are 
 not well coordinated." 
 
 i 
 
 d^^ra^ir jgittflu JTrihrne . ^ 
 
 ilSilBlftOOW' PLAN READY 
 
 The Head 
 
 WORKCANBEGM 
 THIS SUMMER, 
 ENdfeSSAY 
 
 AU Sections to Be 
 Reached by Bores. 
 
 PROPOSED SUBWAY SYSTEM 
 
 CiiKlnem working undar Um Araa- 
 Uea or th* city eeundrs looal trma» 
 yerUtlon commlttM hkv* eompla$ad 
 UnUtiT* pitiu for • caaipr*h«iiilv« 
 npM trmnilt (obway for Cbleaco. 
 
 Til* route* «r* to bo aubmUtod ta 
 Ika commlttM not »**k. At at yraa- 
 ant tgrrtd upon, tb* routaa la th* 
 ■ulB rellow thoaa ractrnmandad bjr 
 tha harbor and aubway eomoUartfa 
 of Kit. At that tlma tJta »laji waa 
 kBowB aa th« - Barrtaea plan." backad 
 b7 farmar Mayor Cartar H. Harrlaoe. 
 Attararya for tba commltta* aay 
 that by utln« tha I10.0O4.M* now In 
 tha traction .fund, cenatructloa work 
 on tba tubaa can b* b^nn In tha dowB> 
 town diatrlct wtthla Ibki aumnar, U 
 tba council dealraa, and that tha work 
 can b« cxtrnAd by flnanetnr It 
 threudh th* plan of laaulnf atUlty ccr- 
 tiflcatea ouUlnad by Aid. U. 8. 
 BchwarU. 
 
 BB(fna»ra Approva Roatea. 
 The routa plan, which haa th* ap- 
 Koval of Enctnaera Bton J. Arnold. 
 It. F. Kclhar Jr.. J. H Pryoi. Charla* 
 E. Pox. and Harold Almcrt, may ba 
 ekaiifad aomrwhat bafora It la pre- 
 acnted to tha alderman, aa rtpreaanta- 
 tlv»» of aeveral orcanlxatlona ar* yet 
 to b* heard. 
 
 Tha xubway would be manldpally 
 owocJ and operated, according to prev- 
 ent plana However, the enrlnaar* 
 point out that If work I* bafun In tb* 
 downtown dlilrlct and tba aurface or 
 •levated llnea. faartnc competition, 
 ahould atk to be Included In the trac- 
 tion acheme. It would ba poaalbla to 
 •witoh the plana to render unlAeatlofi 
 of aurface llnea. alevaiada. and aub- 
 waya. 
 
 Aa planned by tb* andnecn. there 
 wouU be ni alncle track milea of tub- 
 way track, and H mIlea of tubea. 
 U U declared UmI I.TM.MC parwm. 
 
 Xmgim*nt bavt fmplttM a pUm lot a eompnhtattvt subway tjttam 
 It tha dtT wbieb will b» avbtaitted to the couaeil aert watL Tha map 
 imUettaa tha propotad rvutes aad the territory to be served. 
 
 live within halt a mile of the pro- 
 poaed route* and that 1.0TS,M«,»«o paa- 
 aaacor* would be carried oa tha aub- 
 way Unmw each year. 
 
 Tea car through rouu irmla* are 
 raeoBunanaed. Thara would ba no 
 "loop" In tha doemtown dlbtriet. 
 Tralaa would be operated from the 
 wcat to tha north and aoutb aide*, via 
 tha loop, and from the north to the 
 eouth aldee and vice varaa. much a* 
 (he preeent Evanatea • Jackaon park 
 *■ L -* tralfta are operated. 
 
 The TeaUtlre Itoataa. 
 
 The route* which have been given 
 the teoMUve O. K. of the eoglnaer* 
 are ei follow*: 
 
 North tido i* aoolh Ma-Bcrnnbtg 
 at Lawrence avenue and Broadway, • 
 two track lubway In Broedway to t^. 
 Ing Park boulevard and Halated atnat- 
 •outh in Halated atreat ta ruUartoa 
 avenue. 
 
 ■•«'""'■• al,Lawre«ee aai LhNaa 
 
 l eeaa aa A Jje^ tf»c» attlgraj 
 
 A well-presented, front page engineering news story. 
 
24 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 The Right Conception of Publicity 
 
 ill 
 
 i' 
 
 James Bryce, the English statesman who has 
 written the best survey of our government, says 
 in his book, The American Commonwealth: "The 
 United States is governed by public opinion." 
 What we are discussing is public opinion and pub- 
 licity in its broadest and not its narrowest sense. 
 We ought not to confuse automobile and movie 
 actor write-ups or press agency with the making 
 of public opinion. 
 
 The Public's Debt to the Engineer. The engi- 
 neer has been the conqueror of nature. He has 
 made possible greater production by labor. He 
 has raised the standard of living and has supplied 
 the new human wants that have come with our 
 advancing material civilization. 
 
 But if this were all, his contribution would be 
 paralleled by the other acts and professions. The 
 public debt to him is greater than these. To the 
 engineer also must be credited a kind of thinking 
 which goes deeper than the material things of life. 
 The true engineer is guided not alone by an ab- 
 stract material philosophy of getting the facts and 
 raising material structures for the benefit of man- 
 kind, but by a sense of service second only to that 
 of the preacher. 
 
 It is when we consider these things that the true 
 significance of the tremendous importance of pub- 
 licity for engineers and engineering becomes 
 evident. 
 
 The true conception of engineering publicity, 
 we have seen, is that of public information work,' 
 or public notice based on public service. Because 
 
 25 
 
 most publicity is ordinarily obtainable through 
 news items in our daily and weekly papers, we 
 ought to continue our definition of publicity to 
 include a definition of news, and we should dis- 
 tinguish between the newspaper man's conception 
 of news and his conception of publicity. 
 
 The Difference Between Publicity and News. 
 News has been defined as anything which interests 
 people. It may be spread only by word of mouth, 
 as in the case of local gossip, or the evening re- 
 counting of the day's happenings around the fam- 
 ily table, or it may be spread throughout the 
 civilized world by means of speakers, motion pic- 
 tures, posters, advertisements, or organized press 
 bureaus, in the case of events of sufficient human 
 or international interest. 
 
 One way to consider news is that it is what ap- 
 peals to the largest group of people. It is the 
 instinct of the newspaper man to find that kind of 
 news. To establish in the public mind the con- 
 sciousness of engineering and its contributions to 
 society is what we should undertake. 
 
 It is difficult to define, in a brief space, the dif- 
 ference between publicity and news. Here is what 
 a newspaper man recently said: "I should say, 
 broadly speaking, that news is anything that has 
 to do with the welfare of the public, whereas pub- 
 licity is something which serves some particular 
 purpose of some private or semi-private char- 
 acter."* 
 
 Cr^TiiEP^^ more complete discussion of what is news, see 
 Collier's Weekly for March 18, 191 1. 
 
The Right Conception of Publicity 
 
 27 
 
 ff 
 
 Pick Real News in Seeking Newspaper Pub- 
 licity. Publicity, as such, often is not acceptable 
 to newspapers, yet publicity and news intermingle 
 to a considerable degree, and it is important in all 
 publicity work attempted with newspapers to study 
 the subject from the standpoint of greatest news 
 value. 
 
 A chapter of the Association holds a meeting 
 and wishes to get some mention in the local 
 papers. To the chapter, whatever mention is made 
 is in the nature of publicity. 
 
 But the newspaper editor^s point of view is dif- 
 ferent. Suppose the account of the meeting which 
 the chapter submits tellls of the routine business, or 
 consists of a technical discussion of some engineer- 
 ing subject. Then the local newspaper editor is 
 likely to look on the notice of the meeting as "pub- 
 licity,'* and if he has plenty of live news to fill his 
 columns the notice will get into his waste basket. 
 
 If the account tells, however, that the chapter 
 decided to recommend to the mayor a certain 
 prominent engineer to be appointed city engineer, 
 or that an expert talked on a proposed new water 
 supply plan for the community, then the account 
 of the meeting becomes news in the eyes of the 
 editor and he is eager to print it because it has a 
 general significance to the public. 
 
 An Example of News Value. Here is an ex- 
 ample cited by H. V. Deuell, day city editor of 
 the Chicago Tribune: "It was suggested that the 
 Association has in mind asking the Governor to 
 appoint a practical engineer and not a politician for 
 
I 
 
 III 
 
 28 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 supervision of road construction. Certainly nothing 
 can have greater public interest than that, and you 
 are entitled to representation in the newspapers. 
 While you talk about it to engineers to enlist the 
 interest of your own members, you have publicity, 
 but if you will actually go out and do something, 
 if you go to the Governor and say, 'Mr. Governor, 
 here is the name of this man who, we assert, is the 
 most competent engineer in the state to supervise 
 this road,* you have actually done something that 
 is of news interest and it will figure in the news- 
 papers. 
 
 "The same way with city planning and the same 
 way with questions which have national applica- 
 tion. I understand, for example, a movement is on 
 foot to make a survey of the power possibilities of 
 the Pacific coast. That is entitled not only to 
 representation in local papers, but to representa- 
 tion in national papers." 
 
 Areas of Interest in Selecting News. Because 
 Iowa is going to move more dirt in the construc- 
 tion of roads through that state in a year than the 
 United States moved in the construction of the 
 Panama Canal, it is absurd to expect that the two 
 facts should command equal publicity. Newspa- 
 pers are always dealing in news with areas of in- 
 terest. For instance, what is of interest to Chicago 
 is not of interest to New York. What is of inter- 
 est to Springfield, Ohio, is not of interest to San 
 Francisco. And so, when planning to get into the 
 newspapers as a national organization, it is neces- 
 sary to operate more or less locally. 
 
 
 fri 
 
 The Right Conception of Publicity 29 
 
 The Editor May Know More About His Job 
 Than You Do. This interesting statement comes 
 from the same newspaper man referred to above. 
 
 New Yotk Tribune. 
 
 The cartoon is perhaps the most emphatic method of 
 
 protraying facts. 
 
 "It is not true that the newspapers fill up space. 
 That is a popular misconception. Every night 
 there comes to us, I suppose, from 400 to 500 dif- 
 ferent items of news which have to be thrown on 
 the floor. Neither is it a fact that we delight in 
 the publication of scandal. 
 
t 
 
 sis 
 
 y 
 
 BRIEF FACTS IN RELATION TO 
 
 Rotary Prosperity Poster Campaign 
 
 To be designated. ROTARY PROSPERITY POSTER CAMPAIGN. 
 100,000 24-sheet poster-boards ^i\\ be uaed. eacb carrying a 30 
 to 25 »^o^d message. 
 
 Nine slogans or messages will be shown. 
 
 The 100.000 poster-boards will be used during the months of 
 
 December. January and February. 
 In December, every poster-board ulU carry a message from the 
 
 President of the United States. This M\\ be the only one 
 
 used in this country during December. 
 A separate message will be used for posting in Canada In 
 
 December. 
 
 In January and February four different messagea will bt shown 
 each month. 
 
 On every poster-board during the ninety-day period, in the lower 
 left-hand comer, the words "Rotary Club Members** appear. 
 
 The campaign will be carried out, almultaneously in the United 
 States and Canada. 
 
 8,d00 cities, towns and Tillages will be covered. Sutlstlct show 
 that more than 50 million people will be reached. 
 
 235.000 posterettes. each I0"x20". carrying appropriate messages 
 suitable for window dlsphiy purposes, will be sent out. 
 
 The cost of the poster space, posting, paper and ink. figured at 
 regular rates, totals $1,500,000. 
 
 The Poster Advertising Association, through its memSera. have 
 patriotically donated the 100,000 boards. 
 
 The lithographers have donated the 335.000 posterette*. 
 
 Paper will be furnished at less than cost. 
 
 Lithographers will print the paper at less than cost. 
 
 Ink manufacturers will supply ink at less than cost. In soma 
 Instances, ink has been donated outright. 
 
 280.000 pounds, or 140 tons of paper will be required. 
 
 5,000 pounds of ink will be needed. 
 
 Because of the patriotic and unselfish co-operation and dona- 
 tions of the Poster Advertising Association, paper manu- 
 facturers, lithographers and Ink manufacturers, the 
 $1,500,000 cost is reduced to $60,000. 
 
 rhe $60,000 is required to cover cost price of paper, ink and 
 printing; shipment of posters and posterettes to the 8.000 
 cities; clerical and stenographic expense, postage and In. 
 cidentals. 
 
 The plaii has the enthusiastic approval and endorsement of 
 the Directors of the Rotary Club of New York, and the 
 unanimous ratification of the members present at the 
 monthly dinner meeting, held October 4th. 
 
 A group of individual Rotarians has underwritten the $60,000. 
 
 The campaign will be carried on through an Executive Com- 
 mittee. Finance Committee and Board of Trustees (see list 
 of Committees and diagram on reverse side of this sheet). 
 
 **No business has a moral or material right to survive that does 
 not intelligently and honestly serve.** 
 
 Yours for Peace. Progress and Prosperity. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 How the Rotary Prosperity Poster Campaign was handled. 
 
I 
 
 li f 
 ii • 
 
 
 if 
 
 ill 
 
 III 
 
 32 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 "It is also a fact that anybody that comes to a 
 newspaper office is never turned away by virtue 
 of the fact that we dislike to publish anything of 
 a non-sensational character. They are turned away, 
 if they are turned away, because what they have 
 to offer is not appropriate for publication. Suppose 
 I should go to you who were going to build a 
 bridge. I have a lead pencil and I say, *Mr. So- 
 and-so, here is a nice lead pencil. You put this in 
 the middle of your bridge to support it and let it 
 stay there, because I assure you that it is going to 
 be of great value to yourself and to the safety of 
 the structure.' You will look at me and probably 
 have me ejected from the place. Yet I have had 
 men come to me with manuscripts of great length 
 and great erudition, unquestionably so, and say, 
 'Here, take this; put this in your newspaper. I 
 assure you this will do your newspaper quite a lot 
 of good.' It is an absurdity. We have to discrim- 
 inate between what the public will read and what 
 the public will not read, and that is a highly spe- 
 cialized business." 
 
 PROFESSIONAL 
 ENGINEER 
 
 Puei Strvic* 
 
 'Mmmmm ft»lmHom» 
 
 Public Utilities for Parsons 
 
 R. a McDoiuwU 
 
 Combining Business and Engineering at Harvard 
 
 H J HiifW 
 
 Engineers in Railroad Operation 
 
 W. t. Towue 
 
 "Business is what you make it," says T. C. RusseO 
 
 J. F O'Bcrry 
 
 The Obligations of An Employer 
 
 FEBRUARY, 1922 
 
 A N Association pub- 
 ■*■ ^ lication and its re- 
 lation to the member- 
 ship served. 
 
il 
 
 ;BI 
 
 NY code otahics must be 
 pr«dicatecl upon the basic 
 phnci^ ot Truth and hoiv 
 ftsty. whatsoever diings are 
 tni«,'»hai50cver things are 
 * honesCare the thin^ br 
 ichich ert^neers mu5C contend. 
 
 an enAJncer nu>> noc '^ btyoni I 
 anddefraua hisbrothcr'bv I 
 ^U anv underhanded act or method. J 
 ^ -+« mav not do or sav aiiythinc^^' 
 ^ vhich \oill injure his brpihers lep- 
 Jb I utation or his busutess fer the pur 
 ^^•25 p05f ofsecurin^his own advaivce- 
 nwnr or profit. This admonition carries 
 vifh it no cWiivitiim to retrain from tell 
 m^ known an3 absolute nutli about an 
 iin^vrtiiv brother, as a-prtXection to others; 
 but the n-ulh so told must be such as can 
 besuhsiantiaied.and he who tells it 
 
 o( Any hind from a third partv with 
 ^\\om he does business fer that an 
 ployer. 
 
 Hn enmncer seeking to build up 
 his oiisiness mav uot resort ro 
 self- laudation in adverusinn. He mav 
 stale briefiy the lines ofworh in which 
 he has had experience, and enumerate' 
 responsible positions -which he has 
 held and c^ive his references. 
 
 must have the couroo^' which will nor 
 slirmkhTom die consequence t^hi5 idling ,>. 
 
 ^ lil *** ^**^"^ ^ '^^ profession should 
 
 al- -JL. be dear to every engineer, ond 
 
 he should wmemberrful his own diar 
 
 acter and conduct relleiT honor, or the 
 
 rcverjc upon the prokes»ion. 
 
 If, then, he so lives that his own 
 honor shall never be smirched 
 WHs o>»'n actor omission, he will 
 thiis maintain riw tumor oftiieoiaian 
 iiation to whidi he belnuu 
 
 |Ij he en^neer oxides his client 
 —A- le^nce demanding his mosr 
 conscientious service Aut conscientious 
 service to die client must never entaiL 
 a surroirder of personal convictions of 
 truth and ric^. 
 
 an em^in<yr who receives tompeiv 
 ♦alion from an empkrver mav not 
 receive ojh. commission or remuneration 
 
 Hn eno^neer who €mplov» odier§ 
 eirhei- in his own service or in 
 that of the client who einplov$ him. 
 should icco^nize in his reUtibaship 
 to them an "oUic^tion of evempbrv 
 cotidua.of helptulmrss and personal in 
 tenest in those with vhoni he is thus 
 brottfliht in contact. and he should dis 
 charq^f such oMic^ahon. uctKillvaiid 
 kind^. 
 
 One of the foundation stones of the American Association 
 
 of Engineers, 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 WAYS AND MEANS THAT BRING 
 
 PUBLICITY 
 
 What the Public Wants. Everywhere we look 
 we see the work of the engineer, yet how many 
 people are conscious of that fact? It is true that 
 engineering works do not always speak for them- 
 selves. Few people ever know about the finest 
 sewer underground or the method of mining that 
 reduces the cost of fuel. This is true of a good 
 deal of v/ork of the engineer — work which can be 
 told about in an interesting and constructive way. 
 
 The public service on which all valuable pub- 
 licity is founded is present everywhere in the work 
 of the engineer; to get the widest kind of public 
 mention, every engineer must be an interpreter of 
 engineering to the public, and he must know how 
 to be such an interpreter. As engineers we must 
 be a force in public opinion. 
 
 Perhaps it is necessary to put a little more em- 
 phasis on the subject of interpretation, both in 
 colleges and in practice. The articles through 
 which publicity is desired are frequently dry read- 
 ing. Most people consider articles by engineers 
 as highly technical essays that cannot be under- 
 stood, and in which they could not be interested if 
 they tried. They therefore do not give articles by 
 engineers the attention that they should. The 
 psychology is wrong to start with. 
 
 35 
 
00mrw0Ai€ Stiffen 
 
 tathm 
 Stcfion 
 
 S^Crton 
 
 
 r'ZT 
 
 " ■ ij ' ft ii 
 
 StCiM 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 k= \^0 
 
 X 
 
 I 
 
 Cmtt 
 
 | ^|g£||Si^ 
 
 aag||S:1 
 
 Adwfiiing and PublicifyStc- 
 vice Bunau 
 
 I a 6iii3 Chmrmom 
 
 CxtcuiiYt Commitiw 
 
 
 Cmnmi 
 
 'ttr 
 
 C^antb'iMA/yjvM 
 
 Hlymmmfuto tnfuttrmf Smftf 
 
 1...... 
 
 ••- * 
 
 
 
 
 '*^-r-^'t">fAftnt>m 
 
 
 wrfT9ft 
 
 H9W^^ Kttitim* 
 
 
 „.rK%:r 
 
 Mmfitint Wntart 
 
 
 *rH»h • CsrH»ititH 
 
 A„tkar$ 
 
 
 
 "The aim of the bureau will be to make electric 
 service a household word, develop a conversational 
 familiarity with its terms, and spread a knowledge of 
 what it is and the part it plays in industrial, commercial 
 and household life throughout our entire country." 
 Electrical Review, October i, 1919. 
 
 Public information organization plan of the National Electric 
 
 Light Association. 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 37 
 
 The style of writing need not be pure descrip- 
 tion. Pure description can no doubt be made very 
 interesting, but one can easily change to narration, 
 telling how an engineering project was actually ac- 
 complished, and gain a great deal in the telling. 
 
 Obtaining publicity, when we think of newspa- 
 per publicity, is a matter of selling the right kind 
 of information to the editor; a matter of convinc- 
 ing him he ought to publish engineering news. It 
 has always been true that, in trying to sell some- 
 thing, the first step is to try and find out what the 
 public wants. What the public wants and what 
 engineers have to give to them is one way to look 
 at the publicity question. 
 
 Central Publicity Bureaus, National and Local. 
 A nation-wide, sustained publicity campaign in- 
 volves the collection, selection, and preparation of 
 engineering information, and its distribution to 
 interested people. Briefly the ordinary means of 
 distribution inside the profession are the technical 
 journals, society proceedings and bulletins, ad- 
 dresses, and discussions. Outside of the profes- 
 sion the greatest medium is the newspaper, but 
 public speaking, school lectures, popular maga- 
 zines, circulars, moving picture films and the more 
 general participation in the deliberations of cham- 
 bers of commerce, school boards, and other civic 
 bodies are fertile fields which must be cultivated. 
 To do the job effectively with the newspapers, 
 contact by the local engineer as publicity agent 
 must be obtained with the local newspaper. To 
 be of most value, and to have his contributions 
 
38 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 » 
 
 
 carry weight, this local publicity agent of the pro- 
 fession should be backed and appointed by a local 
 engineering organization. In too many cases, how- 
 ever, unless prodded continually by a follow-up 
 scheme from a national bureau the appointment of 
 a local engineer will result only in a few desultory 
 notices of meetings. The establishment of a na- 
 tional publicity bureau, with local, state, or city 
 organizations in cooperation, would be a good 
 start. 
 
 What One State Organization Is Doing. For 
 many years public education concerning engineers 
 and engineering has been sadly handicapped by 
 the broadness of the term "engineering" in the 
 public mind. It is extremely difficult to give a man 
 the definite impression we wish, when the term 
 covers in his mind locomotive engineers, brick 
 layers, the boy that holds the rod, and the presi- 
 dent of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 
 
 The first thing needed is a definite legal status 
 and legal standard for professional engineers. A 
 concerted effort to secure the passage of registra- 
 tion laws in those states not now having them 
 would be a logical first step. Such laws are of 
 great value in restricting practice to competent 
 engineers, but from the publicity standpoint the 
 legal standing and definition given the profession 
 are invaluable. It will be found that an intensive 
 local publicity campaign will aid greatly in getting 
 these laws upon the statute books. 
 
 An organization based upon the foregoing prin- 
 ciples has been instituted in Iowa and has shown 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 39 
 
 promise of success. The two main divisions are 
 (i) the preparation of publicity material, and (2) 
 getting it before the public. The distribution or- 
 ganization is planned entirely with reference to 
 the local newspapers. 
 
 Some Suggestions from Iowa's Experience. 
 The following is from the report of the Committee 
 on Publicity of the Iowa Engineering Society, for 
 1919 : 
 
 "The best medium for educating the public as 
 to the real value of engineers and their work lies 
 in the newspapers, and especially those in the 
 smaller cities and towns. Engineering works of 
 extremely large type and nation-wide interest have 
 in the last few years received a vast amount of 
 publicity, but it is the work of the ordinary engineer 
 concerning which the public must be informed, 
 before the economic status of the engineering pro- 
 fession can be materially raised. 
 
 "If a description of engineering work is prop- 
 erly prepared and presented, newspaper space will 
 be found waiting for it, for engineering work gen- 
 erally has news value. The most eflfective method 
 of presentation is through personal contact with 
 the newspaper editor. Material handed in person- 
 ally by an acquaintance in whom the editor has 
 confidence will be printed, where a circular letter 
 would go in the waste basket. 
 
 "The engineer's daily work abounds in good 
 news stories, things in which the people are inter- 
 ested, but which are never published because the 
 engmeer does not recognize their news value or 
 
40 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 is too busy either to write them himself or to give 
 them to someone else to write up. 
 
 "There are two methods of getting these stories 
 into the papers. The engineer must either write 
 the story himself or take the reporter or editor 
 into his confidence and give him the facts. It has 
 frequently happened that disappointment results 
 with this latter method, due to the fact that the 
 reporter's lack of engineering knowledge pre- 
 vented him from bringing out the important 
 points in the news story. 
 
 "Engineers must promote publicity for engineer- 
 ing and not for a particular engineer. Newspa- 
 pers very generally refuse articles the publication 
 of which as news would amount to free advertising 
 for some individual or concern. The particular 
 engineer's name should be mentioned simply as 
 one item or part of the news story, but the under- 
 lying motive must be publicity for engineering and 
 engineering work without reference to any par- 
 ticular engineer." 
 
 Developing Volunteer Service. We have agreed 
 that engineers must have publicity in order that 
 they may occupy a better position to help them- 
 selves and help the other man. The question is, 
 how to get it? It is impossible, because too ex- 
 pensive, to hire many men for that definite pur- 
 pose. The big thing is to develop the unknown 
 men, the exceptional men who can do things. No 
 one man can spend much volunteered time; yet in 
 the aggregate that volunteered work is the most 
 v.^lnBhle thing. To get it, ways must be devised to 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 41 
 
 bring those men out, to give them simple instruc- 
 tions and advice as to how to get into touch with 
 the local editor, and how to recognize and prepare 
 the kind of information that will be taken by him 
 so as to build up, especially in the small town 
 papers, a better knowledge of what the engineer 
 is doing. 
 
 In the cities the problem is perhaps easier, be- 
 cause a more elaborate organization is possible, 
 but the greater strength comes from a widely dif- 
 fused body of men who can bring that material to 
 the attention of the thinking people, to the atten- 
 tion of constructive civic organizations, and to all 
 those people throughout the length and breadth of 
 the land, who can be reached through these agen- 
 cies. 
 
 It is necessary to give a few simple directions to 
 these volunteer committees as to how they shall go 
 to work, how they shall pick out of the member- 
 ship the men who may be able to write, who may 
 be able to get into personal touch with the editors 
 and writers. 
 
 Many Agencies Are Available. The newspapers 
 constitute the easiest way of reaching the public, 
 but there is no limit to the number of agencies 
 that you can employ. The railroads, for example, 
 have utilized the clergymen of the United States 
 to good advantage. They simply gave them facts 
 from the payrolls of the railroads, facts which can- 
 not be disputed, since they come from the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission reports. At one time 
 the railroads were pretty well disliked, but at the 
 
-SSESfS 
 
 II 
 
 PUBLIC INFORMATION MEDIUMS 
 
 A. — Advertising 
 
 1. Newspaper card. 
 
 2. Newspaper display in campaign. 
 
 3. Magazine. 
 
 4. Special announcements. 
 
 B.— Dir«ct-by-Mail 
 
 1. Circulars. 
 
 2. Books. 
 
 3. Chapter bulletin. . . • i ,^ 
 
 4. Special campaign of information and visual re- 
 
 minders. 
 
 C. — Newspapers and Magazines 
 
 1. News items relating to specific happenings or ac- 
 
 complishments. 
 
 2. Photographs with short descriptive captions. 
 
 3. Editorials. 
 
 4. Cartoons of any kind. 
 
 5. Interviews with prominent people. 
 
 6. Sunday feature articles. 
 
 7. Special column comments:^ 
 
 (a) humorous, (b) sporting, (c) women, W 
 society. 
 
 8. Letters to the editor and answers. 
 
 9. Feature stories for magazines. 
 
 10. Technical articles for trade magazines. 
 
 11. House organ articles and comment. 
 
 12. News syndicate stories. 
 
 13. Picture syndicate photographs. 
 
 14. Contest: Limericks, jungles, definitions, letters, 
 
 songs, photographs, posters, essays. ^^ 
 
 15. Slogan campaigns such as "Build Now. 
 
 D.— The Spoken Word 
 
 1 Addresses by prominent men which are reported. 
 
 2. Proclamations by prominent men afterwards 
 
 printed. _ , • j ^ ^u 
 
 3. Short talks at meetings of various kinds at the 
 
 theater, in public schools, and at luncheons or 
 dinners. 
 
 4. Announcements at public gatherings such as auc- 
 
 tions and athletic events. 
 
 5. Pulpit notices and sermons. 
 
 6. Committee membership in scientific and economic 
 
 organizations. 
 
 7. Solicitations of salesmen and organizers. 
 
 1, 
 2. 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 5. 
 6. 
 7. 
 8. 
 
 PUBLIC INFORMATION MEDIUMS— Continued 
 E. — Demonstrations 
 
 Mass meetings of people interested. 
 
 Receptions to special groups. 
 
 Group demonstrations by lodges, clubs, military 
 
 organizations, etc. 
 Elaborate exhibits at conventions. 
 Parades on city streets and at fairs. 
 Stunts, such as sandwich men, band wagons, etc. 
 House to house solicitations with samples. 
 Special days such as "Fire Prevention." 
 
 F. — Visual Reminders 
 
 1. Posters, and cards as (a) billboards, (b) windows, 
 (c) bulletin boards, (d) automobiles and trucks, 
 (e) hotels, (f) railroad stations, (g) street cars. 
 
 iJanners and streamers on streets. 
 
 Electric signs. 
 
 Tags, stickers and rubber stamps for use on let- 
 ters, packages, pay envelopes. 
 
 Handbills. 
 
 Inserts for use in packages of all kinds, books 
 from libraries, mail, newspapers, and pay envel- 
 opes. 
 
 7. Displays in merchants' stores, windows, and on 
 sidewalks. 
 
 8. Exhibits in public schools, and posters and other 
 work by school children. 
 
 Advertisements on theatre programs and score 
 cards. 
 
 Slides and short news films for use in motion pic- 
 ture theatres. ^ 
 
 General interest motion pictures for use in schools 
 and theatres. 
 
 Technical motion pictures for conventions and sell- 
 ing ideas. 
 
 Stereopticons and automatic lanterns in lobbies 
 store windows, public buildings and at night on vacant 
 walls. 
 
 Cards of invitation, advance announcements and 
 programs. 
 
 The Test of Public Information: 
 "Do People Talk About It?" 
 
 2. 
 3. 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 6. 
 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 11. 
 12. 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 i 
 
44 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 end of the campaign just preceding the passage of 
 the Adamson Law, a great compliment was paid 
 to the wisdom of the policy adopted by the rail- 
 roads, when the chairman of one of the big rail- 
 road brotherhoods said that "the railroads have 
 bought up eighty-five per cent of the newspapers 
 of the United States." The railroads had merely 
 given the facts to the public through the pulpit 
 and newspaper, and the effect of this publicity was 
 
 inevitable. 
 
 Do Something— Then Tell About It. A news- 
 paper will print anything that interests the public. 
 The easiest way for an engineer to get publicity is 
 to do something unusual. When half a dozen of 
 the biggest engineers of the United States went to 
 Philadelphia and, simply by their professional en- 
 gineering ability, were able to break up the biggest 
 and most powerful political organization that 
 Philadelphia ever had, they got publicity because 
 they did something. 
 
 When engineers do anything that is worth while 
 for the public the newspapers are only too glad to 
 print it. They are always looking for good mate- 
 rial. If part of a town were low and flooded and the 
 engineer devised a scheme to keep the basements 
 dry, he would get publicity for that, because it 
 interests the people. 
 
 The point to emphasize is this: Whenever en- 
 gineers do something for the public the newspa- 
 pers will be only too glad to print it. The reason 
 engineers don't do more for the public is because 
 the public does not realize at all, or very slightly, 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 45 
 
 how much can be done by them. Moreover, the 
 engineer, to the average man, may be a fellow who 
 carries a transit, or one who holds the throttle on a 
 locomotive. 
 
 reiahonship of 
 
 DE LAXAL 
 
 SELUNG ACTIVITIES 
 
 „0^^ RmliQMfetf 
 
 ikQMlllf 
 
 Sttmd taiQiMirtiMi 
 
 Coopw l iwi Ws, 
 SigM 
 
 CkUlog* tte. 
 
 L4st in Qiuliti 
 
 if personal salesmanship is 
 100 times more clfective than 
 adverti^O'then adverting 
 readies 100 ttanes mfxe people 
 than personal sale»nanship 
 
 A chart used to show graphically the relative effectiveness of 
 personal appeal and the printed word. 
 
 Methods in Use. Methods of disseminating in- 
 formation resemble closely those used in sales 
 work. Two broad, general methods are available : 
 (i) personal appeal; and (2) advertising and pub- 
 licity. The former is direct and restricted in scope; 
 the latter is indirect and broad. The general pur- 
 pose of both is the same : to get available informa- 
 
46 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 tion in actual economic use. Circumstances and 
 the type of information to be distributed largely 
 determine the emphasis that must be given to each 
 method in each specific case. In an organization 
 such as the Red Cross or a large university, data 
 are best disseminated through personal work and 
 the organization of branches, although much 
 direct-by-mail work is used profitably. 
 
 In marketing a product a manufacturer consid- 
 ers: (i) the kind of market desired, its limitations, 
 who uses the product, and how much will be used; 
 (2) what selling methods shall be used; (3) shall 
 the product be sold direct to the user, or through 
 a distributing agent. These same factors must be 
 considered in planning a campaign to obtain the 
 widest possible use of information. It must also 
 be remembered that marketing is largely depen- 
 dent upon the variable human element. 
 
 Mapping Out a Campaign. The general prob- 
 lem of mapping out a campaign of pubHcity for a 
 specific purpose must include a study of when, how, 
 how much, and how long. Various mediums and 
 avenues of publicity are given in the accompany- 
 ing Hst on page 42. Some of these means of pub- 
 licity will not be available in the early stages of 
 the campaign and, except in unusual cases, it will 
 not generally be desirable to use all of them at one 
 time. The cost of such publicity work is small as 
 compared with its effectiveness; and its effective- 
 ness is proved by its widespread use. It is readily 
 seen that it is based largely on ability and ideas, 
 rather than paid space in advertising mediums. It 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 47 
 
 would require more space than is available to dis- 
 cuss the details of how each of these avenues of 
 publicity is used; and the discussion would be of 
 uncertain value. The same set of conditions is 
 never presented twice; and the same methods will 
 not serve many times in succession. 
 
 The study of a field as a preliminary to a pub- 
 licity campaign is primarily a matter of business 
 research. It combines the study of production, 
 selling, advertising, news gathering, promotional 
 work, the possible results that can be accomplished 
 in creating a vogue or good-will along certain 
 lines, the best methods of accomplishing this work, 
 the approximate cost, and the returns to be ex- 
 pected. Such, business research should always be 
 done preliminary to an advertising campaign; and 
 a general publicity campaign can frequently be 
 carried on as a feeler to determine just what type 
 of advertising to use. There are two other im- 
 portant functions of a general publicity campaign : 
 (i) to reach the class of people that does not read 
 advertisements; and (2) to make advertising pull 
 by an indirect appeal-— a flank attack. 
 
 It must be remembered that the backbone of all 
 successful public information work is well-handled 
 advertising space in magazines and newspapers 
 that go to people most interested in the organiza- 
 tion. Advertising space is not dependent on news 
 value or other uncertain conditions of public fancy 
 or contingencies of business; and even though the 
 advertising is not noticed until it is missed— it 
 must be poor advertising indeed for this to be true 
 It is accomplishing a purpose. 
 
 s 
 
 I -I 
 
48 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 i' 
 
 The Personal Appeal. Undoubtedly the strong- 
 est appeal that can possibly be made for an or- 
 ganization of any kind is the direct personal ap- 
 peal. This is the appeal of the solicitor, the orator, 
 the theatre, the man who is a member of an im- 
 portant trade committee, and the head of an 
 organization when he appears before the public or 
 his employees on any occasion. There is also a 
 definite psychology of merely having a man on 
 the ground to shake hands. People like to see the 
 personal representative of an organization; and 
 this representative is most effective when he does 
 not confine himself strictly to business, but shows 
 that he is a human being and has other interests 
 than those by which he earns his daily bread. 
 
 The appeal to the eye is the most effective way 
 to attract attention because the least effort is in- 
 volved on the part of the man to whom the appeal 
 is made. Arthur Brisbane, who is a wizard at 
 using words, says "one picture is worth a million 
 words." There are so many well-developed meth- 
 ods of appealing to the eye that one is frequently 
 at a loss to know just which ones to use. Study 
 the characteristics of all of them, and use all of 
 them as the proper conditions are presented. 
 
 The fundamental principle in preparing matter 
 for printing is to "remember whom you are talk- 
 ing to." If you forget that, what you write will 
 probably have little effect on the man you are writ- 
 ing for; and besides, it may not be published where 
 it will do the most good. Editors study what 
 people want ; public relations men study what edi- 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 49 
 
 tors want. Both are engaged in disseminating in- 
 formation; but the work of the public relations 
 man is always for the good of the organization he 
 represents. 
 
 When to Begin. The proper time to begin a 
 
 ALVORO. BURDICK & HOWSON 
 
 (Succcksow* TO AkvoRo & Swkoich) 
 
 Enoini 
 
 1 
 
 WC SCO TO ANNOUNCE THAT TMK TIRM ALVORO C SUPO>CK WIU. 
 HCRCAPYeR BC known as ALVORO. BUROiCK & H0W80N 
 
 MR LOUIS R MOWSON. WHOSE NAME IS NOW IDENTIFIED WITH 
 TME FIRM. HAS BEEN A MEMBER OF OUR ORGANIZATION FOR THE 
 •►AST FIFTEEM YEARS. AS ASSISTANT. PRINCIPAL ASSISTANT AND PARTNER 
 
 AS IN THE PAST THIS FIRM WILL CONTINUE IN THE PRACTICE OF 
 ENOINEERINO PARTICULARLY RELATKiO TO THE PROBLEMS OF 
 
 WATER WORKS 
 WATER PURIFICATION 
 SEWERAOE 
 SEWAOE DISPOSAL 
 
 FLOOD RELIEF 
 
 ORAINAOE 
 
 ROWER GENERATION 
 
 APPRAISALS 
 
 ro^co«r::ii;,;'r''' "~'"' ''~'' '"■=" -»o-"t,« «.» .^ 
 
 • so OCAKBORN ST 
 CMICAOO. ILL 
 FKBNUAMV tv lect 
 
 UOHN W. ALVORO 
 CMA8 a BURDICK 
 
 A typical announcement of a firm of engineers. 
 
 publicity campaign is the moment it is believed 
 adequate returns can be obtained. This may be a 
 time when business is good and the organization 
 feels that it is wise to prepare for the time when it 
 will have to fight for recognition; or it may be in 
 the midst of a campaign to accomplish some defin- 
 ite result at an early date. Suffice it to say that a 
 campaign should be so timed as to coordinate 
 with the general trend of public opinion. An 
 economy campaign, for example, would be some- 
 
 iH 
 
 r V 
 
50 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 m; 
 
 what out of place at a time when everyone is 
 thinking but little of economy, although economy 
 campaigns are never entirely out of place. It 
 should be remembered that publicity is cumulative 
 in its results, and once started it is difficult to con* 
 trol beyond a certain point. 
 
 Publicity for Ideas, Rather than for Men. Avoid 
 publicity for men in an organization, if possible, 
 although if they are men of note and they have 
 accomplished work of local or national importance, 
 names and personal anecdotes may be used be- 
 cause of their ne^s value. But the ideas should 
 carry the men, rather than the men carry the ideas. 
 Any movement that is based on the personal 
 prowess of certain men is doomed to failure. The 
 paradox exists; but people are so constituted that 
 once a man gets in a high place there are many 
 who seek to pull him down, and eventually he 
 falls. No man ever stayed popular over a great 
 period of time, although no constructive move- 
 ment ever failed over a great period of time. Ideas 
 are greater than men; this should never be for- 
 gotten in pubHc relations work. 
 
 The best methods of beginning publicity work 
 are determined by the specific set of conditions 
 presented. Every organization has certain friends 
 who are interested in its work, and it is well to 
 begin with these. All publicity work is a matter 
 of ideas and ability rather than paid advertising 
 space; although advertising space is the backbone 
 of any well-conducted publicity campaign. It is 
 not a bad idea to tie up the general work of pub- 
 
 Revolving Emblem in Parade of 
 Engineers Dedicating Building 
 
 WHAT : 
 
 WHEN: 
 WHERE 
 WHY: 
 WHO: 
 
 HOW: 
 
 A parade depicting the progress of engineering in 
 the last century 
 
 was held on November 19 
 
 at Kansas State College, Manhattan, Kansas, 
 
 to dedicate a new $125,000 engineering hall. 
 
 The cerem<Miy was in charge of the engineering 
 division of the college and the student chapter of 
 the American Association of Engineers partici- 
 pated 
 
 by entering the float illustrated. An^.^-foot disk- 
 was mounted on a pivot so that it retolved as the 
 truck moved. It was lighted by flood lamps de- 
 signed and constructed by Harry Nelson, E. F. 
 Stalcup. J. A. Kibler, and L. W. Newcomer. 
 
 There were 25 floats in the parade representing 
 all phases of engineering. Another interesting 
 float 
 
 "Summarizing in the first paragraph is a safe rule" for 
 
 news Items. 
 
 i! 
 
 
This picture lacks general interest because it is without 
 
 human figures. 
 
 V ;!!' 
 
 This picture has general interest because human figures 
 
 tell the story. 
 
It 
 
 THE unusual picture always has 
 general interest. Added value is 
 given this picture because it portrays 
 an important news event in Wash- 
 ington, D. C. 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 55 
 
 licity to some current, constructive public move- 
 ment that v^ill benefit a great many people. No 
 reputable organization v^ill attempt to obtain broad 
 publicity except in connection w^ith some construc- 
 tive public movement. 
 
 The final measure of effectiveness is whether 
 the object for v^hich the work was undertaken is 
 accomplished. The indirect benefits are of such 
 nature that frequently final results cannot be ac- 
 curately judged until a period of years has elapsed. 
 It must be remembered that negative results can 
 also be accompHshed; and unless pubHcity work 
 is founded upon the service ideas of improving 
 the welfare of the people, negative results may al- 
 ways be expected. The difference in intent often 
 results in the small difference that frequently dis- 
 tinguishes success from failure. Abraham Lincoln 
 claimed that you could fool some of the people for 
 a while, but you cannot fool all the people all the 
 time. This is a true saying as applied to crowd 
 psychology and holding public opinion. 
 
 Publicity from Government Bureaus. One ef- 
 fective source of engineering publicity which local 
 organizations can cultivate includes the city, 
 county, state, and national engineering bureaus. 
 There is often in these offices an antagonism to 
 newspaper talk and to publicity, but with the right 
 kind of diplomacy the bureau officials can usually 
 be made to see the value of good publicity to them 
 and to their work. The following example may 
 help to show how such publicity is valuable. 
 
NEWS OF ENGINEERING PROGRESS 
 
 AMCmCAN ASSOCIATION OF ENCINCCRS 
 
 • S CAST AOAM» STWtrr CHtCAOO 
 
 C ■ TMOMAt IN C-*— 
 
 c • o«*viB sac****** 
 
 fOR rasLXCAnoB 
 
 mr^h IS. I'ts 
 
 TMTlItt- CauMs of KalekM>b»ek«r th«»tr« fallir* 
 Tht ttehnieU oiiM* of th, f.ilur. of tht Kiilektrbotk.r «••*»"• fV 
 in . report of th. I«w.ti«.tinc Oo-ltt.. of th. *•""«*« ^^^^^V^ 
 
 ill 
 
 BXJTLUETIN 
 
 THB PBI»RATBD AMBRICAN BNGINEBRINO SOCIBTm 
 
 fribrntfy >3. 1923 
 
 3 pacM 
 
 Bocann sBRstm »■ •tt«du« u» umai ■Mtiaa of th. AMTicM J««"*»*" i^ 
 
 Mlninij A II.Ull«r8lc»l^bfflaMi« 1b Bw Tort Cltj. B* wlU »ddr«.. *^,"f[t^T: 
 
 tiTo* of Um local ••etle 
 
 o> iDn,<i«LiTm.iHi«i. \cM.« !fT»ii »iTvi«iioi- I BS umaoa I Bncs j«y»— 
 
 cuTioR. itM lak nun ■ • ■laaSTOK • c 
 
 r£ NOWTIMETO FORAUNION 
 ""^ ~v«— IN OUTDOOR 
 SOCIETIES 
 
 Typical public information bulletins. 
 
 W^ojtf^eEnfineers are 2>0ini 
 
 iEPORTIiaJlIESGIIUSES 
 OFKNICKERBOeOFieE 
 
 D b flM M FimatlM ti BulldlBc 
 
 la WMth 97 PmpI« 
 
 WcnKUkd 
 
 ft tW IUIefctrbock*r UmIm is W«ik- 
 
 kifiW a»4 US Injartd iiTcWm Io 
 • f^rt of Um UvMliflaUu eonaii- 
 to* •! tkt WatklaftM ckapUr of tk* 
 iSf^**? *•»•«*• tlo« a( EhflnMrs. con 
 J(^"t„»' N. D: UltckOI. cktirmta. W 
 
 X i QOL ^ *■ ""•'• "* 
 
 Tk* ftatufM of tktt katldiat wkkk 
 ■•M dMMT* criOtlaB.' uld U* ra- 
 ••rt, "art; 
 
 _1?-. !SP»"* ?* •••» ««" •• • «kta 
 vali lapkfa« •oUdii* t»i man. 
 
 "2. Support or m«lii tniu oa a 
 *•• boariag, combmrd vltk tick of 
 ttttttm* la connmloa b<tir**a Ik* *ad 
 poM aid loirtr rfcord af inin. 
 
 '^ Failurf (e tncbar imtiaa aid 
 Mi>f kaaai* iau walla. 
 
 "4. Scaal fc«(rlnt •( w*ll*. 
 'y. latufficiOBl (•Clio* irMi ti4 
 lUdaQuaU dfun* of trun aicmbart. 
 
 ^ Iiudniualc coluna brarlnt. 
 .'T. Akarnc* of Uura) •uppori ot 
 •«fn»«fi*«* p»B»li of B*iB traa. 
 
 & Abatar* of diabati kradaj »•■ 
 t«a*a olhtr trui***. 
 
 ■». lB«d*9a*tt atraark a« i«of 
 sab. 
 
 ••WkU* tk* eorractlon of aa; an* af 
 tk* liiilu r'*a UB^ar 1. 3 or S niakt 
 warijT h** pairCMMd tk* ItUun pf tk* 
 toot tk* eoMaltt** b*l>eT»t It woold 
 rMMir* Ik* eerrtctlon of all thot* liM- 
 ••«">■ 1 t* » fo ronrtrt ti intn a 
 mt* •tnwtttr*. 1** dMira apocifi 
 catian* *Bd roBitructtoa of tM* fcuiW- 
 Ini jioUtad fUfraBii/ tkf buildlaf law* 
 •ftk* DIatrict of Oefumbta la man; r«- 
 
 n* tk* optntea af tk* eaaailtla* Ul* 
 dlMit*r wa* tk* mult of bad prwrtiM 
 *■ Ik* part of tk* arckltaci aad tk* 
 aaalMctar, 1%* ftmOmMtT afftrod at 
 tk* ««tap«i'« lamiaat akowtd tbat tt* 
 • rHUtart aJlawad tka nmiractor J 
 •*•■•• tka^ «««(ni of tk* roaf fnai.. 
 •ad tkal k* did aat ckcck tk* *uf7 
 "••7 af tk* rnm d**irn but inittad 
 r*ll*i * U* /kfrk of tK« computor In 
 Ifct ame* af lb* kuildlB« iaipactar 
 na cfcatk aa tk* ruboeatrtctAr'* draft*. 
 y ••• r«n»irt<l for dtuili of aon 
 jwirtlaa. Tka Matnrtoi h*a*«a* af 
 
 '««M*Jkl* tm (ka^wlcn. k«t ikai 414 
 
 flh.'^i*'*.'** •"»'««« •( bit r(*paa« 
 bUBjr to tka ovnar. ^^^ , 
 
 .L't"*!^ "*• »"■<>•» af TialtUoat of 
 tb« builduif fodt It J* •Tldeal tbat tk* 
 dMifBinf «•• car*lc<«lr doD* or d** 
 "b*t i* vora*. C^ rioltUon* vera 4*-' 
 i*^**- ^ kaT* u* la*p*ctor ofj 
 buUdiam a*«jm* U* rttpoBaibilll/ far 
 tbc kuftlci*ac^ of tb« dcttU* of tk* do- 
 •l»i> of buildinn would b« tM^oad tb* 
 latnt of tb« ISw. It would HrtaaUf 
 pat tb( work o( d**itBin« builjinn In 
 tk* hand* of tb* ioipaetor ind rjnor* 
 fk» •r<^kltcvt trocB tbat luoctloa almoat 
 altoatthtr 
 
 i)*d atmclurtl «o(ln**r «J>ou)d ki ra- 
 Qulr«d tor lbt-»(ructur*l <l*uili IbtoI*- 
 »0 In lb« (H>a«( ruction of tT*r» pdbtic 
 buildlAi at Importaac*. (od drnwlaga 
 b«*rin( tb* (iindur* of tbt.aBriaaar a* 
 a cu*r«i.tc« of ikc «4*au*«9 of tb* d*- 
 •i«n *nd dcttUt should be fllad w<tb tb« 
 infp*ctar of buiTdlnt*. Wbro ■* arcki 
 t^t irctpti a fe, for gl.oa. ^adft- 
 eatton* tnd auporintaodrnr*, tk* owacr 
 fcai * Mjb^ to ««p«>t a bulldint (oa 
 lorainc to tjl tk* buildloc refaT.tlon* 
 aad Ik* functloB of aa in*p»«loa d«. 
 ^■j."*"' 'kould not ht I* r*>io<* the 
 arcMt*rt fr«>ni tb* r«*ponubiliMca wkicb 
 • rt bi*. Ar the **m* time tb* b**t In. 
 ttraaU of c«o*ci«ntloui contr|ctora, an 
 ffii'r^r*. BrAllocla and owacra. aa wall 
 •• J*»«a ot tb> public would b* aorr- 
 •fl by in tiactiivf aad tboroufb ctaa- 
 InailoB of (racrbl plana hf diairlet of 
 ficiala, foUovtd by ririd fitid lnap*c 
 tlon. and aucb a proc*dur* la aoL la- 
 practical. 
 
 "Mnct tkl* eaUalrspk*. tkar* ka* 
 •MB Duek aftutian adrocaUnr that tb* 
 J'«'?»t b* P»o»id»d wiib a D«w act of 
 bondiat law*, but it la her* emphaitaed 
 that luch lawa will not inaur* ngainat 
 fa.Iur*. Of thia kind if their enlort* 
 5*"'..i* !•* ianirad Vaiuatl* t* • 
 *(apilflo*rtoa af tk* rod* weald b«. 
 tha flrjt Be«d I* fnr fib* oaforcanMnt 
 of tka lawa. I| i* b*ll*T*d tbat If lb* 
 proper' dlitrlct aulberltia* ar* praTid*d 
 by Concrea* with tk* fund* nrc*(*(i^ 
 10 carry out tk* propar eiamlnatUa of 
 plaoa and lB*p*ctlDn of buildina work 
 and art bold atrtctiy aceeaaukla laatka 
 rafgrraatat of rariUtian* ta tW *x 
 iMit iBdtcaicd 4a tk* ptaowlfaM mn 
 
 frank* lb* dannr of tk* rocarmM* of 
 
 :h ■ knrror will b**e b**B tr«atly W 
 
 Tb« een •mployad obould k* 
 
 •ur 
 
 ••n*d , 
 
 aalectad cololy by merit' aad 'ttoTWl. 
 arl** akduld b* *uck ** to iaaar* a 
 flr«t«la**, tackBloaUytralaad paraea- 
 ■♦I." 
 
 "Tb* |***aa la tkl* (allBr*." laid T 
 U Coa4roB. a eonaalttna *T«iB**r af 
 Cklanto. la an addraaa b«fer* tb* W*af 
 am noci«o af BB«ta**rB. oa klarvk U 
 la tkat l>a atnittaral 4*Hfn af kuUd 
 1^ aanat ta •at^uta4 t« 
 
 SUeCESTS STIINDIIRD FOB 
 mOFENHRS 
 
 Nktlteal Offidal Sayi SUt< 
 
 BotrdB SbooU Uaite ca 
 
 RAqnlmonta. 
 
 •71 aaaaa Mrfbrtiy f*aribla Ut tka 
 nnott* *Ut* Ilc*B»ttif baarda la aalu 
 •poD a eoBwos l*»*r aad preeld* for 
 a •taii4ard tkat woul4 b* accapuMa to 
 all for U* radpneai iaUtekaM. •( 
 rMlktratlaa," aaldC. 8. Haaaatniw. 
 "•ft •« *• NaUoaal OoaaHl of flui* 
 Biard of Cafisatrlaf Bualsan. at tkft 
 nral eoaforcDc* af practklaa awteaai? 
 bald oodar tb* aaapicaa af tba Aaart- 
 can Aaaoelatloa of Ba(iaa*i« at tk« 
 Cjjirr. How. Cklcago. raknua tt 
 J«22 •la.ofar, kovarar. aa aarioM 
 ?*»,«* "V 'r*'^*>, 'Of tka Mta- 
 lerlaj prpfaaiee*! awlaeua wtUJtaa 
 QualifieaiioD* tkaa ai«bt ba praacfftc4 
 by tb* council, tboa* board* abouM Uaoa 
 [heir certiricat«a ta caafora wltb tkair 
 lawa witkout tka acal of appivTa] tt 
 lb* reciprocity. 
 
 -Tbe op*i>*tioa af racUtartat haa fw 
 proteaalooal *acrB**r* kaa pr«*«4 a b«^ 
 •lit to Uoa* uifar*d la tk* protMaiaa. 
 •• w*ll a* a prot*c«ioo to tb* poblVe, aai 
 there (*caa but littl* doubt but tkat 
 I eeery aUt* ta Lb* UnJoa will evaetualla 
 •dopt * Uw coe*riat tkl* protaetioa to 
 one fora or aaotbar. 
 
 Boarda of Eariaaoriaf Bxaalaara at iS 
 ■•etiB* is OctobfT wlU u> doubt pra- 
 •^* *oia* kaaia tor radproeity U U- 
 c«>*lB|, .wber«by tb* varlsiu atata 
 board* «iB rcpoa* ceafidaai* la «ack 
 other and laaaa ecrtifleat** apea tba 
 mar* applieaiioa of tkoaa aula*!n 
 roDiing from bth*r *Ut*f «ke**boaf4a 
 h*»a put their approval apoa tk* qaaJI. 
 
 -.. *'*.i"T'»<*f» '^« faclpraclty^ 
 
 aio la aoi gatlUM hr tial»iii« *a4 «c 
 ^rlM«a to taka mfmSSSmtt tm 
 
 ARKANSAS DBMOCIUT» 
 SUNDAY. MARCH 2«.ltSI. 
 
 The Sunday edition of this newspaper contains a department "What 
 the Engineers are Doing." This department is conducted by the local 
 Association chapter. The text matter for this issue was taken from 
 the bulletin illustrated on the opposite page. 
 
I^f tI 
 
 it 
 
 II 
 
 58 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 The Reclamation Service was possibly the first 
 Government bureau that went deliberately into 
 the distribution of information about its work, be- 
 cause Dr. Newell, the former director, felt its life 
 depended upon the taxpayers knowing what was 
 being done. At that time it was the unwritten 
 law that no news should ever be given out from a 
 Government office. It was necessary to wait for 
 the annual publication, which was sometimes four 
 months late going through the pubHc printer's 
 office. 
 
 So, in defiance of all regulations and precedents 
 and rules, this bureau started out with the theory 
 that no newspaper man should ever leave the office 
 without getting some information. 
 
 The plan was started by having on a certain bul- 
 letin board a set of flimsies every morning. A 
 dozen or twenty flimsies were put there, stating in 
 a hundred words anything that would show prog- 
 ress. The newspaper men got into the habit of 
 coming and reading them, and if they were greatly 
 interested they would write out a story on the basis 
 of that little outline. Some made of them a long 
 story for the Sunday magazines, while others 
 would put those items on the wire as press dis- 
 patches. 
 
 The success of many movements — take the for- 
 estry movement for example — has been due to 
 simply showering the country with little, short 
 statements of what was being done, until the 
 people were educated to the fact that there was 
 such a thing as forestry. 
 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 
 
 59 
 
 A Clip Sheet for Editors. It is important to get 
 publicity in the local, small-town newspaper. The 
 Chemical Round Table illustrated on page 56 is a 
 good example of a press bulletin, put out in the 
 
 CHitr OF 
 Pu5uc Information 
 
 SPECIAL. 
 
 Mailing Lists 
 
 DM I 
 
 STATISTICAL 
 RtStARCH 
 
 AL I 
 
 chJ 
 
 n 
 
 |PU6LlCATtON& I I lNPOM^AT\ON | j DtVELOt>WENT | 
 
 REPOKTa 
 
 &OORA 
 
 HOU5& OKAAN 
 ARTICLES FOR 
 PuftUKlATiON 
 
 Photographs 
 M0Tl0^4 PicTuRea 
 Information for 
 
 WRITERS 
 
 News Notes 
 AiMaweiRirjo Unusual 
 Re QUESTS 
 
 Scouting por 
 News locAS 
 Reports of as- 
 sociation AND 
 
 TRADE ACTMTV 
 
 PusLic AooKcsses 
 
 CXHISITS AND 
 I EXHlSiTINS 
 
 Functional organization plan for a unit of the United States 
 
 Government 
 
 right form, printed on one side of the paper, with 
 
 proper leads to the paragraphs, headlines, and news 
 
 matter. All the editor needs to do is to take his 
 
 scissors and cut out what he wants to fill any space 
 
 he may have available at that time. 
 
 At intervals many engineering items are sent 
 
 out in this bulletin with considerable success. But 
 
 i 
 
1 
 
 Hi 
 
 60 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 i 
 
 newspapers are flooded with similar press bulle- 
 tins. They get them from manufacturing concerns 
 and from everywhere. Sometimes editors will 
 look through all they receive, but more often they 
 look only at the ones that happen to be on their 
 desks when they want to fill some space. 
 
 By sending a bulletin, perhaps several items 
 but preferably on a single item, to an engineer or 
 some other friend in a town, and asking him to 
 take it up with the editor personally, the editor 
 will always give more consideration to the item. 
 With that kind of work, personal contact with the 
 editor who selects news items, there is a good deal 
 of advantage. The press bulletin is a fine thing, 
 but it always succeeds better if it is sent to a local 
 engineer to be handed to the editor. If, however, 
 this representative takes a whole string of items 
 and hands them in, they are likely to meet the 
 same fate as if they were mailed. 
 
 What a Central Publicity Organization Can Do. 
 A central clearing house, well established, can col- 
 lect, select, prepare, and disseminate material each 
 week to all of these men, for immediate newspaper 
 use. The material might consist at first of popu- 
 larized stories of local application taken from the 
 technical journals and society pubHcations. A 
 story on the general interstate water resource 
 problem might interest several Western states, 
 whereas an account or editorial opinion on a 
 bridge failure in Ohio might not be of such wide- 
 spread interest. Nevertheless, Detroit papers where 
 a similar bridge is proposed might welcome such 
 
 Ways and Means That Bring Publicity 61 
 
 information. There should also be collected and 
 kept available literature on how other cities or 
 states have handled engineering publicity cam- 
 paigns, for such things as licensing, roads, water 
 purification, and other public improvements. 
 
 With several general articles prepared and on 
 hand each week, it should be a comparatively easy 
 matter for the local agent to select one which 
 would be of local benefit. Eventually a mutual 
 understanding with the editor should lead the lat- 
 ter to rely upon the engineer's judgment in select- 
 ing suitable engineering material for his pages. 
 
 In some states the state society publicity com- 
 mittee might act as a relay station between the cen- 
 tral clearing house and the individuals, sending 
 the syndicated material, when of sufficient state 
 interest, to a large number of its members. 
 
 A manual on engineering publicity should be 
 available, telling the local publicity committee 
 how its work can be done, what is news, how to 
 deal with the local editor, how to write a lead para- 
 graph. Topical outlines could well be included. 
 
 '411 
 
m 
 
 «{ 
 
 K 
 
 lOWEROTAYDAM 
 HIGHEST lYPE OF 
 ENniNGART 
 
 This 1$ Statement of Or, New- 
 ell at Banquet Given in His 
 Honor. 
 
 A «MMMil Ml honer »l Dr. fnd- 
 •rlck HuiiH N.w.ll. ef Utt»nm. 
 h»&. »ri3<l.i<« /« ">• *m«rlcmn 4j- 
 ■r»-l«ll<in ot Ei>lln««r.. w»i i»K**na 
 <I|M at Ruild«r« frill •»« "J* 
 dad b» » Bumbjr of <h» eitT 
 
 Know YOUR Chicago 
 
 The American Aisocialion of Engineert 
 
 Bt U A. Omamd, Matfttr Civic ;>Ml»»(rial Dtvanmtnt, lk« 0»IM«« 
 A—ocUtUK •/ C*miMm. 
 
 ENEINEERS WANI 
 PUBLIC WORKS 
 OEPARTMENT 
 
 •Itaad^- -. _.-« 
 
 ■w%« Muaty offlclili »""',''',■'"' 
 •f tk* •■tlllMrlni prof»Mlon In int 
 eltr. T»m K. Kln». prt»ld«i« o» 
 ■ Ml* •»» «»•«• «'«'' •' "'• *"'"'«'l" 
 lAwMMtloa ot Xntlamn. »»• ««««- 
 
 Dr. I««w»n, who l» Im* o' '"• 
 
 -bir" m«» <» ">• «niwvii>» P'o- 
 ftaalan la thU country. oi»<l« tn» 
 ►nnrlpal nldrMS ot Iho •''•''"'«; 
 dotlllnf upon Ifio human •!«• «l 
 Ik* oMlnetr-i lit* «« proUxlon. 
 an^ omltlinl .Imort •nllrely •»onr- 
 iMni toclMiloal « U\«l •uit»il«l 
 -.hop." M« •»» <h» »"■« '•>'♦' •"■ 
 sli«««r ol lh« United State* rwctama- 
 tloa Mnla* and It* t\m dlrntor. 
 •■« tarn »••» eonnactad with moat 
 
 /CHICAGO U lh« blrihfUe* u4 K*Mat k«*dqutrun ot tt» ••• <»■>»•»••• 
 
 uflDMrlx aoctaiT la lb« OnU*4 Sutdt— th* Aatilwa AtMwtatloa 
 eC EnflOMrt ■■ IJ16 • mbiII croap of Cblcago nao orf«slia< llw tMoc)- _^ 
 UfcM to proiaata Ih* wcUi aod acosoalc watfara ot rrotaMknal aaftsaar* 
 — ctTll. cfetmleal. alactneal. macbtBlcal aii4 alalsc- 
 
 la Cour raati Um aaaoclailoJ baa ««Valopa4 mto a aactoaal ergaalta. 
 Claa •! IMO laomWra. irowinc now at (ba raU of alnuxt l.eO« tacmbara -k.— _ m. 
 
 a ■ooCh. Onlr a law laootba a«o, «• Jaaoarr I. lilt, tba Bambaribin ^^.^can Haaarla'inn of CnfiM — 
 an. tm -T«i Iboaaaad aambar. b, IIIO" I. Ika maabarablp docaa ori -m .'^W.'*;^;:**'^ '^r':::^ 
 tba A. A. B. 
 
 Tidewater Chapter Satui^ 
 
 day Night To Discuu 
 
 Proposal 
 
 and at tba ptataat rata ot grovtb tba offleara atpaet Ibia' airaat natuKiay axnini bacv<~<>a at 
 
 '» oYlvck. Duilnaaa ol «r.«l — — — • 
 
 Bitabar to ba aieaadad. 
 
 Mora tbaa aa'aatrtlTa local cbafitar* aa* claba baaa baaa aatabttikad 
 tbreachout >ba eoantcT. Dlatftct eSlcaa ara aalaUlaaa la Na* Tork. 
 WaablBftoa aad Pttubtirg b aad a t oartb la aboat to opaa la Baa yraa 
 
 ENGINEERS' CLUB 
 SiyDTOBEHOSIILE 
 10 FjEE BRIDGE 
 
 F. H. Gcrhatt Declare* at 
 Heannc on $22,000,000 
 Bond l^ue That RaUnxul* 
 Control Body. 
 
 BOARD NAMED 
 BY ENGINEERS 
 TOAIDFOSe 
 
 AMOclatlon Pledt«« Sup- 
 port to Antl-Letlie Candi- 
 date for Commitwlnner. 
 
 ilNEERSlEAVE 
 CilY EMPLOY FOR 
 BEnER SALARIES 
 
 lai>ra to all l*..linloal aaainaara »»« 
 tha publtc J' larr* will co"w* ur '•• 
 diKuaalon . Tha cOMifaUtaa oa l.««a^ 
 lav> lor rnflnaara haa ba«i a-aay a»- 
 cumulating rvpla* of lawa frwai atlar 
 aiataa anj u baa aaeurad *tac» 
 valuabi* inrormatlan. II la aapartcd 
 ihai thia commlttar will maka Kt- 
 unilnary raport ta tba abapiar at ibH 
 Bratlna 
 
 Ona of tha B^at laiportaai mai 
 lara whick "ill ooma up at ihx »»^- 
 ini tor dlaci^kloa will b» ika 
 -Joaai-ltaavta biM tor <rauin« a 
 Drparunant of rublic Worka foe iha 
 Unitad t»taira artU a-h.«:h util waa 
 liKrodiKrd la iha Untttid tfiata* H«-n* 
 air on J una 2* by Oan.aKK Jane* a< 
 Warhlaaun. a.«l Mr Rravla. •. Sr. 
 braak^^irr bavlMi b»tn_i».»il 
 
 Failurt •( Adadaiftraliea to Ctajt 
 Rcfpwtl far Higkcr Wtfci CasM 
 Ta^akal Expeiti to RaMfii 
 cUref Kiawy. 
 
 TELLS COUNTTt NEEDS iDjpyyjTmjfr tq BE SHORT I 
 
 FOR NEW BONO USUE WORK 
 
 ITED ENCra 
 q UPPEIILS TD 
 IN il[R[ 
 
 SPEAKER ARGUES FOR 
 ' EAST SIDE APPROACH 
 
 Tha Plttaburfb chaptar ^* i*» 
 Amrrwan Ai«)ctatt»n of Enftaaort at 
 a nirmnf laal nlfhi In th» aaaamWy 
 room ot the rulton BuUdini unaoi- 
 mnusly Indorsed the candidacy of 
 rapt Samurl U IToatrr of McKorafiort 
 foi county commiaalonrr on the ami-. 
 U.»l.t Rrpubllcan ticket. Urco«niUn« 
 Capl Fo^ar aa a lojical candldala 
 for tht Important omcr. brcauat of tha 
 inany c«I»n»lv« eniinarrtrf projactt 
 that wilt confront tha county coiaml*- 
 aionrra dutlna the n»«l frw ycara. the 
 
 AMftamcBt ta B« S«cf«(ttil Pro- Say* Atsocialion Sornelhing 
 niiiac J700.0O0 Allatacat fori More Than Labor 
 PajMit •! AdditioMl Eagiatcr*! Un ion Mo ve 
 
 tod Admiaiitratioa E«f iai* t i 
 
 I Vr. r. H. Nrw«n, praaidtM 
 
 t:nnna«ra and tackatcal axp'.rtai oltha 
 
 Dppoaition Voiced to Itenu 
 i for Improrement of River 
 I de* Peres and Elimination 
 . ol Grade Croaainga. 
 
 M tba am pabiir hrartat •« ib- 
 Iha propoal1<on 
 a ttt.M M H pMbiw Improw- 
 « OaaMi tmat ta Ih* propla 
 r*ank H Oarbart. rapraaantlnc I In 
 
 fiaaik Ward liapravaaiaMt Ataeria. 
 UaK. laM nl(ht aiccuaad tbr Ca- 
 tuiaara Club ol bMDC hoatllr ta tha 
 rrsa ■n«r* and »t btlaf cSBtrallad 
 f <W mllraad latrraM*. 
 
 tbia waa raaaatad br / W Waar 
 ■laa. a maisbar of Iha club who aai/. 
 Hit Cttab In Ita bond laur raporl had 
 »ppn ^ d an appropriation ol tl.l&k.> 
 }ee trr brldga afipraach oonatructlun 
 ivrlnclpally bacauao n dl<t nol think 
 idaauata approach axlanalonw couM 
 l»^ atad* for that bum and bbk'kuM^ 
 Iha .raulauooa for tha t*ao of tl>*- 
 
 Nrw<n, praaidtM •« 
 
 An»r<can Aatotiation ^ ^^ 
 
 ha dapartrntai of ikt Praatdaft of tk<|iit«ra, aprakin* to tha tminun a« 
 
 rd ai Public ««rnca atv laauaa ihr.gan' Brmanlino anil RIvaralda ca«m- 
 
 ^— — '^oSTlaat—nrjn al thr CIrnarood Mi»- 
 
 lalon iBfl. appaaird to Ihr "«•" r"^ 
 
 itnt to bccoma aiiociatcd arttb Uia 
 
 Vational bod,, iwt a» a labor ar.ion. 
 
 ich ha characUruad aa aii orear 
 
 latkm trtidinc to atifla 
 
 ftort and ambition, but 
 
 iak< tha r»»pon«ibilit»«» •< • 
 
 ftation upon arhich much af 
 
 {futuro dwlopftianta of tha totmtr 
 
 <lrpvnd. particularly for hifharaira. 
 
 'railroada. wat«T. auppliaa. 
 
 tnflWirfual 
 •• undar- 
 
 tbr 
 
 ^yklrrnt and tha many othar laipatt- 
 lant pabhe In.proramenti of tha ••• 
 
 |»T MIAMI T. M. r. A. iJw«T r*K\i>« oM{ m- tmk 
 
 RVKVT* »;tKM MKIJi IX OI-cntHT— %»HII.»: .\AriO>*l. Ml**. 
 
 f»p;KT KfiWKi.i. WAH n^rrAiNKD i xtii. touav nK»\ iut- 
 
 •,»JI or t'MtKHMITV AUIMJNA \IAI>K li|-|.k:\OID AI»UII»MH. 
 
 tltK.\Ka»:MK]ttH HAVK. MUWKt yti. tWM!' MXDV KOK IIWKr- 
 TH»\ T«» tm. Jllt»>a4. AT O. I>. MtfHAKV HI IIJMM. AT 
 tilXHIK THIH mKMNfi— AI •■ KMIISfc^^KH tJ»- MmTHKT ARK 
 IMiKn to ATTKBD TovitJMr!. KK«»HI.\. 
 
 ,n aaaa ira* that Dr. r M. 
 
 tfvall. rba oaUonbl praaidaar ol 
 'ba Aaiartraa AaaoriaUoa a< Cact- 
 >a*r« waa uaakla i« raar» Mkaiai 
 la ntfta /or tba >l« akftaaara' 
 >« Viaak 
 
 booavraLAba. ta»«i 
 
 pabhc 
 
 kion. "W» balirra in incraaaad fro- 
 
 Iductloa and afficieBcy an* la t«b- 
 
 tinc mora, rathar than »«••••*?• 
 
 |tha lndivlJi»l." ha »ald. "wbila *a 
 
 llahor union »rada» men dowa aat 
 
 hooki taward a raduca d Ww . w 
 
 [thr BvaraBa >tT man prodtictlori. 
 
 I T.a apaakar re»»twcd a*, ""f* 
 
 kha imporUnt wark of Of tn* 
 
 f'l^rieal, mathaniral and iimnar m- 
 
 klaaaulB.'^nrara and calird •"•'"*«^*V|2? 
 
 raclona .j<,w aalarirt paid in thr praffaaaiaa 
 
 ■afoia adlaarataa tba Amarlcaaj'^, airainat aoaia aalanca paid ta 
 
 Aaaociaiioa at Baataaara by a ri«l9|L„,|,||M Ubar. Hr callad tha a»- 
 
 ruta irndarad Macrciarr MrOoaAb Pv^^ j, Kcount for nat aiaklnc 
 
 H tba Miami t. M (X A- Ibaok. P"*^ , " ' 
 
 •mMrcM «| th9 Miiif 
 
 Typical newspaper articles published in 1916 about engineering associa- 
 tion activities. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 GETTING NEWS IN THE NEWSPAPERS 
 
 The Most Important Publicity Mediunia The 
 most and the best pubhcity for engineers, under 
 all ordinary circumstances, will result from news- 
 paper articles and news items. If every engineer 
 spent a year as a newspaper reporter, then put to 
 use his knowledge of how to write in preparing 
 newspaper notices of engineering, publicity for en- 
 ineers would not be lacking. But the average 
 enineer, though he reads his newspaper every day, 
 needs a better conception of how a piece of news 
 needs to be handled in order to make the editor 
 look on it as desirable news. No part of his train- 
 ing gives him this knowledge. His reports may 
 be satisfactory enough as engineering reports, but 
 the same type of writing does not get the news- 
 paper man*s approval 
 
 Learn to Write Non-TechnicaUya A Chicago 
 editor said to a group of engineers who were dis- 
 cussing publicity and newspaper articles : 
 
 "So many of you can't write in non-technical 
 fashion. As soon as the ordinary engineer sits 
 down to address himself to any topic that may 
 be of popular interest, he becomes lost in a maze 
 of technicalities. The engineer wants to draw a 
 shadowgraph, giving all of the points and labeling 
 them. He wants to look through the appearance 
 
 63 
 

 H 
 
 5 ( 
 
 i 
 
 64 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 of the bridge, which is all the public is interested 
 in, and tell how many tons of steel comprise it, 
 what the strength of it is, and its factor of safety, 
 and the public has no desire to familiarize itself 
 with such details." 
 
 We All Speak Two Languages. Perhaps the 
 greatest difficulty is that most men don't realize 
 they speak two languages, their professional lan- 
 guage and ordinary everyday language. They 
 should be able readily to translate their profes- 
 sional terms into the language of the people. Take 
 some fairly complex piece of machinery and de- 
 scribe it as you would to a jury. That is a true 
 test whether you can write clearly and simply, in 
 a way that will be understandable to all. A lawyer 
 once said that he never knew what a simple mat- 
 ter the theory of bridge stresses was until he heard 
 an engineer explain it to a jury in a bridge damage 
 suit case. That it a high tribute to that engineer. 
 There is no single agency at the present time 
 which offers such possibilities in publicity as the 
 daily newspapers. The immense circulation of the 
 larger dailies and the universal use of this form 
 of reading matter by citizens of all classes make 
 the newspaper a medium of unsurpassed value in 
 placing information before the pubHc. 
 
 Two Kinds of Newspaper Articles. Engineering 
 publicity in newspapers is usually confined to news 
 stories or feature articles. The former recount the 
 current events in the engineering world, and the 
 latter concern some special feature prepared in a 
 more formal style for presentation in the feature 
 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 65 
 
 or magazine section of the Sunday paper or a spe- 
 cial page of the daily issue. The latter type of 
 article is more difficult to prepare and have pub- 
 lished because of the greater necessity for having 
 such a feature section contain material which ap- 
 peals to the greatest possible number of readers. 
 The possibilities of this kind of publicity, however, 
 are great. 
 
 Learning to Recognize News Value. In any 
 efforts to obtain publicity through the publication 
 of news, the publicity man must search for those 
 news values of the events of the profession and 
 the Association which will appeal to the greatest 
 number of readers. We must, if we are to deal 
 in human relations, take cognizance of public 
 opinion and be sensitive to popular interest. If 
 the Association is to serve the public well it must 
 keep the public acquainted with its activities in 
 behalf of the public. To acquaint the public the 
 Association must rely largely upon news. The 
 special features of the Association's activities which 
 will appeal to the newspaper's readers must be 
 sought for and displayed as a means of acquaint- 
 ing the people with the efforts that are being made, 
 even though these features may not be the most 
 important from the Association standpoint. In ad- 
 dition to this we must continually bend our efforts 
 to educate newspaper editors to a better appre- 
 ciation of engineering news. 
 
 How to Select News. The elements of news 
 value may be classified as follows: 
 
 I. The unusual, the extraordinary and the cu- 
 
 if 
 
 
li 
 
 ! 
 
 The 
 
 First 
 
 Day 
 
 m 
 
 The 
 
 Second 
 
 Day 
 
 LEGISLATURE HAS 
 . SLEEPING SICKNESS, 
 
 Lk^^ SAYS DR. EVANS 
 
 Engineers Should Have Been 
 
 Licensed Long Ago — Are 
 
 Preparing Bill Now. 
 
 That the doctors of the state will help 
 the engineers to get a bill through the 
 legislature requiring the llocnslng of 
 engineers, just as physicians are licensed. 
 i« indicated by the promise of several 
 prominent doctors to speak at the meet- 
 ing of the local chapter of the American 
 Association of Engineers Monday even- 
 ing. 
 
 Dr. Harlon F:van8. in commenting yes- 
 terday upon the address he expects to 
 deliver, characterized the legislature as 
 suffering from sleeping sickness. "Kn- 
 glneers should have been licensed long 
 ago as a protection to the public.'" he 
 said. Dr. Evans has pledged his support 
 to the movement being Instituted by the 
 engineers. 
 
 Drs. Hbrace Linden and F. R. Hasley 
 will also speak at the meeting, which Is 
 to be held In the chapter rooms In the 
 Elks' building. 
 
 City Engineer H. R. Ladd will speak 
 
 ENGINEERS WILL DISCUSS 
 UCENSING TONIGHT 
 
 
 aw 
 
 'he proposal that engineers be licensed 
 by the state In the same way that doc- 
 tors are licensed will be discussed to- 
 nlghtat the regular meeting of the 
 WKKKKH chapter of the American Asso- 
 ciation of Engineers at the Elks' club. 
 
 The engineers say that the public has 
 no way at present of telling whether an 
 engineer is really competent or not to 
 perform the duties for which he Is en- 
 gaged. A state license law is expected 
 to eliminate quack engineers as quack 
 doctors have been eliminated. 
 
 H. R. Ladd, city engineer, will speak 
 to the engineers on "The Engineer as a 
 Public Official." 
 
 According to an announcement of Sec- 
 
 
 Following up news, (a) 
 
 ENGINEERS TO 
 
 FORM A STATE 
 
 ORGANIZATION 
 
 Eight Chapters to Join in Pass- 
 ing State License Law. 
 
 CfTY ENGINEER DECLARES 
 A . ENGINEERS BEST 
 jJu 17 OF FICIA LS. 
 
 io'^lnM*'.?/i'""",/"u^°"^ "^ «^**^« assembly 
 lo include all . haplers and dubs of tho 
 
 thT^'sr.^l" ''•"^"•■'^^'O" of Engineers in 
 the Mat.' was made at a meeting Ias4 
 M.Kht of the IO.U1 chapter of that boS'^ 
 rhere are oiifht chapters and clubs of 
 the association In the state and assur- 
 ances have b een rece ived that they will 
 t\7Jl'' *''«•■■ chapter In VormTng 
 irat M.^i orgaTrrSSTTTn. This will he th? 
 
 ThP tn?n ^^ ""l «"8:ineer8 In the state. 
 
 The total membership will he over l.oon 
 
 should nofHii"°. K?*°" "^^y engineers 
 snouid not fill eight positions in the eltv 
 adm nistration out of ten.- declared Cv 
 Engineer H R. Ladd. In speaktng oi 
 The Engineer as a Public Official 
 
 for n.h*;?^ "^^'^ r^^^ '^^ ^^^^ timber 
 for public .ommlssloners and similar 
 
 mT57 m"' r^^'^^'- «««ertion Mr Ladd 
 Ho L« ? "^° maintained that the pub- 
 >ic has lost thousands of dollars in 
 money wasted by politicians. 
 
 iJry goods merchants and ward heel- 
 
 r^AYrge'cf^'^'^""^ "^ public offlcuis 
 Mr Ladd i ^"^^'"^^'•'"g works." Bald 
 
 select mln ? ^^ d scerning enough to 
 select men for positions requiring en- 
 gineering training of the man In office 
 
 Slower, '^'re'^^K^'^""?' "^'""^y ^^^n^n^'-- 
 «^?I?^ • '"^"^bers of boards of public 
 works— such positions as these can b* 
 
 "T^Vst\ ""S" ^^'^^ ^^^ eng?n'eerl" **' 
 not be fln.H*'***^*,*"** commissions need 
 "hould hi t 7^^ eng^ineers. but there 
 snouid be a large enough number to 
 insure that the public funds appropriated 
 for engineering works are conserved 
 
 There are few functions of cfvlllxa- 
 
 Following up news, (b) 
 
 
 The 
 Story 
 
 ! 
 
HI" 
 
 11! 
 
 I 
 
 it 
 
 68 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 rious. Something which upsets the humdrum 
 
 routine of life. 
 
 2. Struggles of supremacy, such as business com- 
 petition, contest in sports, political rivalry, strikes, 
 and in general any struggle for victory. 
 
 3. Human interest or emphasis on the personal 
 element of the affairs of life. 
 
 4. Politics. 
 
 5. The home and business. 
 
 6. The appeal of the helpless, such as children 
 
 and animals. 
 
 7. Amusements, sports and pastimes, such as 
 photographing, fishing, hunting, chess, and many 
 avocations. 
 
 The essential of all news is that it must be 
 timely. There is a great tendency on the part of 
 those not thoroughly acquainted with news gather- 
 ing to disregard timeliness — the essential feature. 
 There is no such thing in the journalist's lexicon 
 as "up-to-date"; the expression he uses is "up-to- 
 the-minute." News must be served while hot in 
 order to be most appealing. 
 
 Write Sa John Smith Can Understand. The man 
 writing engineering items for the public to read 
 in the newspapers may well keep in mind the fol- 
 lowing incident which occurred between two ma- 
 gazine contributors: 
 
 One asked the other, "Why is it I can get my 
 articles printed in such and such a magazine, but 
 I can't break into the Saturday Evening Post to save 
 my life?" The other writer said, "I will tell you 
 why. You write for the highbrows, and I write 
 for the general public." 
 
 Varied Typoi* ^ Appoal 
 
 are NeedecL 
 
 [ 
 
 TUE IPCiL 
 
 ] 
 
 :!■ 
 
 THE Gi^IMERAU PUBI^IC 
 
 WOMR 
 
 012 
 HEALTH 
 
 BUSINESS- 
 PROFESSION 
 
 RUTWOnSM 
 
 OR, 
 RCUCION 
 
 l\ 
 
 1 
 
 BECRIAnoir 
 OR 
 
 PLEASURE 
 
 T^HIS chart shows how the ap- 
 •■' peal of an idea may be directed 
 to the part of the general public 
 which is most interested in each par- 
 ticular element. The type of appeal is 
 different for different units of the 
 public, for there are many "publics" 
 and each part of the "general public" 
 has its own peculiarities and must be 
 appealed to accordingly. 
 
i 
 
 I 
 
 ^11 
 
 II 
 
 70 PuBuciTY Methods for Engineers 
 
 tor ..ves .. .„s.„:.r:o ^r. ^J ^i^^: 
 We have an old fellow named Herman Miller' 
 
 dTcf t.?n 1 "^T '^";'- "^ '^^^ -^ --h o n 
 to wr e '''^' '^^^ '^"^'''^*- I want you 
 
 to wnte every article so old Herman Miller can 
 
 else^can. That .s the way to write engineering 
 
 oJ.\^ '"!"■"* °^ newspaper readers in events 
 closely related to their own lives may be turnld to 
 good account by local nnhi.v;. turned to 
 
 the rr,^,u A . publicity committees. When 
 
 Dy a chapter which cannot be made the basis of 
 one or more news stories. 
 
 The local engineering events must be interpreted 
 m stones which will interest the public. We L^ 
 
 accepfs't ' "' '^" """'^ Journalism undl 
 
 sroi-ri-rr^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 look what the engineer thinks is the meat of th» 
 
 "a:ttt;;:rr^r"^-^^^^ 
 
 them as\^err.s^\thttaCtr ^ ''''^- 
 portant engineering featur" "^ '' ""' """ 
 
 Picking the Points of News Val.,* tu- ... 
 illucfrate c "cws value. This wi 1 
 
 ■llustrate. Suppose a chapter has listened to an 
 
 How a local society dinner was made interesting. 
 
 A NEWS picture showing the offi- 
 cial opening of inter-city com- 
 mercial radio communication in New 
 York City by Mayor Hylan and 
 others. Mayor Hylan is shown in 
 the center of the picture with Dr. Lee 
 DeForest on his left. The tall man 
 at the right of the picture is E. W. 
 Sawyer, Member A. A. E., who is 
 interested in the wireless company. 
 
 IM 
 
I: 
 
 Engineers dedicate a new bridge in Charleston, W. Va. 
 
 This is the bridge that was dedicated as a civic institution. 
 
 u 
 
 A window exhibit during Engineers' Week in Missoula, Montana. 
 
 A state fair exhibit made by the Yakima (Washington) Chapter. 
 
a 
 
 in 
 
 o 
 E 
 
 u 
 
 •a 
 
 O 
 4^ 
 
 rt 
 
 v 
 
 < 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 75 
 
 address by an eminent sanitary engineer on the 
 construction plans for a proposed filtration plant. 
 If his address has discussed the construction of 
 the plant in detail and he has actually said very 
 little of the other features of the project, the public 
 will not be particularly interested in an account 
 of his speech. But suppose that in the course of 
 his talk he has made a statement to the effect that 
 through the reduction in the number of cases of 
 typhoid one hundred lives in the city would be 
 saved every year. There is a feature of his talk 
 which the public can take to heart. If a news- 
 paper reporter were present to cover the speech 
 he would no doubt seize upon this statement as 
 the feature of the evening. So in sending a report 
 of the speech to the paper, the publicity man should 
 feature this important part of the speech and hang 
 on it the other facts which will indicate to the 
 public the importance of the engineer's work. 
 
 In reporting engineering occurrences of all kinds 
 a publicity man must seek the features which in- 
 terest the pubhc. It may be difficult to find them. 
 It takes an unusually keen nose for news to be 
 infallible in selecting the pertinent feature of every 
 item. In order to make this selection as success- 
 ful as possible the publicity man must know what 
 are the particular news features in which the public 
 is interested. 
 
 Sometimes there is a little twist that you can 
 give to an otherwise lifeless and unattractive story 
 that will make it eagerly accepted. A story once 
 went out concerning the alcohol industry, and be- 
 
 lli f' 
 
76 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 cause it was called "Drinking the Legs Off of the 
 Kitchen Table," the story was widely used. It 
 was based on a little thing by Mark Twain. He 
 said, "As long as a man can saw off the legs of 
 the kitchen table and extract alcohol from them, 
 we shall never have prohibition in this country." 
 That story got over on account of the twist that 
 
 it was given. 
 
 You can take an idea and put a twist in it in 
 that way, and you will get the attention of a big 
 audience ; not merely an engineering audience, but 
 a much larger audience. 
 
 "Turning the News." Then there is another 
 point, the idea of turning the news. The question 
 of licensing engineers is a more or less abstract 
 subject, remote from people's Hves. They admit 
 it is a good thing, but it is hard to create en- 
 thusiasm on the subject. So in order to command 
 much attention, it will be more or less necessary 
 to wait for the psychological moment. 
 
 But let me assume that some horrible disaster 
 occurs; that a movie theatre should fall down, 
 burying many people underneath it. You would 
 ascertain whether that particular structure was 
 constructed by a Hcensed engineer; if not, then 
 applying the old rule of doing something, you 
 would immediately go to the state or the city 
 building inspector, who has charge of that work 
 and say, "We now demand that you put an ordi- 
 nance on the books saying that only licensed en- 
 gineers may put up moving picture theatres." You 
 would then have dealt with a practical question 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 77 
 
 affecting the newspaper's intercourse with the 
 public, the item of turning the news. 
 
 Remember, the newspapers only say "yester- 
 day," or "to-day," showing the public that it is 
 something fresh that demands attention now. 
 When the movie theatre falls down and you go 
 right away and say, "Now, because this occupies 
 the popular mind, we want this reform effected," 
 you have gotten the center of the stage; it becomes 
 a matter of immediate and pressing importance 
 to the public, and you have satisfied the require- 
 ments of the newspapers. 
 
 How Material Gets into a Newspaper. This brief 
 explanation of the way material gets into news- 
 papers, given by a city editor, will help you see 
 how news items are selected: 
 
 "When you come into a newspaper office to see 
 the city editor, he is, I assure you, glad to receive 
 you, because he is in the position of a merchant 
 who is receiving salesmen from various establish- 
 ments handling various lines which he has to pur- 
 chase. These products are items of news which 
 he can sell in turn to the public. So he is never 
 too busy, although he might seem so, to be in- 
 terested in what you have to say. 
 
 "The city editor employs trained men who rep- 
 resent him — trained reporters. Now, a reporter is 
 a person who has, in the same sense as a city edi- 
 tor, to use judgment as to news. News judgment, 
 is an instinctive comprehension of what the public 
 will read and what they will not read. You may 
 apply this test to your own affairs, and you can 
 
Aotil Iff ABMTloan Engln««rlng Coimoll 
 
 of the 
 P»d«rat«d Amarloan Eagtnearing Sool«tl«s 
 
 Offiot of the Publicity DlrBotor 
 Boon 101, 29 W»Bt 39 Str««t, Bew Torlc City 
 
 SENS SCEEIULES FOB EDITORS , 
 
 Bditora: Srcnts listed on Schedule "A" ere for 
 the information of editors, who, in each cate, 
 should coranonicate with the secretary of the loesl 
 society for coopaxation in covering. The maolunery 
 of the Oouncil'fl national headciaarters, 719 Fif- 
 teenth Street. H. W.. WsskiB«ton D. C. is aroil. 
 able whenever jaractlcable. Storie« l^f^^f^^" ^ 
 Schedule '^" are prepared for publication in com- 
 plete form and will be supplied promptly upon re- 
 Juest made to James -T. Grady. I"^^li°i^y pi^-^^^?'* 
 fioom iS. 29 West 39 Street. Kew York City. Tele- 
 phone, Ion«aore 7100, Brtenslon 63. 
 
 L. W. Wallace 
 
 Sxeontive Seoretary 
 
 April 21 
 
 April Zt 
 
 i^til S6-2e 
 
 Rochester Baglneering Society (Secretary. 
 
 (ULoster P. Hevenor, 52 City Hall) 
 
 ROoiO 
 
 meeting 
 
 SOgineerlng Society of BtdTfalo (Secretary, 
 
 the powsr station, Imowa ar the 2iTer Station, 
 on the aiagara River. 
 
 Society of Industrial Engineers jB^i*^ 
 MUager. .G^ore* C Dent. S27 South la^ 
 
 seisms "B" 
 
 1, fjj^ X,8, to old Seoretary Hocrer in g'itharinf 
 
 dats on progress mde by Industry in smoothing out bialnsss cycle. 
 Cooperation of all lft«her Societies oskod In natlonwito inquiry. 
 £^ P.A.E.S. BBploynsnt Sornce rsports improved con- 
 
 ditions. Radio developnmnt a factor. (About 600 vcrds-Ready. ) 
 8. Boston Society of Civil toginmers elects offi- 
 
 osrs, (Ateat 160 words-Bsady*) 
 
 ^^ Complete zunning story of convention of Sooisty 
 
 Of lD*ii»UX ft«in««ri, Dttrolt. April 86-88. <A*oat 1,600 wrd 
 
 How editors are aided by an engineering organization. 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 79 
 
 arrive at an approximation as to whether or not 
 the public will be interested in what you have to 
 say. 
 
 "A man's interest centers in himself. He is in- 
 terested in anything which concerns himself. Then 
 it radiates from himself to his family, to his job, 
 his means of transportation, to politics, to every- 
 thing that comes into his life. All you have to 
 do, whenever you have a matter which you think 
 is of interest to the papers, is to say to yourself, 
 'suppose I were John Jones on the street corner. 
 I am not an engineer, but an ordinary citizen. Is 
 this matter which I have in mind of interest to 
 me, John Jones?* 
 
 "Suppose you were going to talk about employ- 
 ing a state engineer. There are hundreds of thou- 
 sands of automobiles in the state. We are all, as 
 automobile owners, interested in good roads. There 
 you have an argument to present to any newspaper 
 editor for publishing material about a state engi- 
 neer." 
 
 It is a fact that if the man on the street is in- 
 terested in what you are doing, you may enter a 
 newspaper office and be assured of getting your 
 idea in print. If you can do that, you have solved 
 the difference between publicity and news. 
 
 Areas of News Interest. Publicity which is pub- 
 lished in form of news stories must of necessity 
 be handled principally by local chapters and clubs 
 on account of the fact that local news is in greater 
 demand than national news of equal importance. 
 News has more or less value as it concerns people 
 
8o 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 !i 
 
 ! ! 
 
 li 
 
 or events more or less closely related to the reader. 
 Local news takes precedence over news from else- 
 where of equal or greater importance as measured 
 by the general standards of news value. Stated 
 in the form of a rule, we may say interest in news 
 stories in inversely proportional to the distance 
 between the place of the event described and the 
 place where the news story is published. The con- 
 struction of a comparatively insignificant bridge 
 over the river in our own city has a greater local 
 news value than the construction of an 8oo-foot 
 span a thousand miles away. That is why local 
 chapters and clubs are so important in publicity 
 
 plans. ^ 
 
 Alexander Black, the editor of the King Features 
 
 Service, has given engineers some very pertinent 
 and valuable suggestions in the following para- 
 graphs on how to describe engineering works for 
 newspapers. 
 
 Remember Your Audience. "No suggestion as 
 to the essentials of popular scientific writing, with 
 newspapers in mind, could have any practical 
 value if it did not lay stress on the matter of the 
 audience. Good writing being not merely the ex- 
 pression of ideas but the communication of ideas, 
 the first step toward popular acceptability is a 
 step straight toward the reader. 
 
 "Doing a thing may be a science. Telling about 
 it is an art. So far as the writing is concerned, 
 writing about science must meet the same test as 
 writing about anything else. In any case the com- 
 munication — that is to say the art — must be as 
 clear : 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 8i 
 
 "First, as the subject demands J 
 
 "Second, as the character of the audience 
 demands; 
 
 "Third, as the situation of the audience de- 
 mands. 
 
 "The situation of the audience is often over- 
 looked. It may be taken for granted that every 
 one recognizes the special obligations implied by 
 speaking to a popular audience as compared with 
 speaking to a technical audience. What is not so 
 frequently taken for granted is that an audience 
 may not only be popular, in the sense of being 
 general, but that it may occupy different situations 
 affecting the method of reaching it. 
 
 The Situation of the Newspaper Reader. "When 
 we think of the magazine we think of the library, 
 the evening lamp, and a fully yielded attention. 
 When we think of the newspaper we think of the 
 breakfast table, the street car, the train, and of 
 the evening lamp again, but less of a sitting-down- 
 to-read attitude. A man may regard the daily 
 paper as the more imperative — he must not miss 
 it — but there is always the chance that he will 
 simply *look it over,' so that the newspaper, per- 
 haps wisely, usually feels that it has to exert more 
 effort for attention, especially when the matter is 
 not elemental news. 
 
 "Attention is a first principle in all salesman- 
 ship, whether in ideas or in things. Salesmanship 
 — that is to say, persuasion — must begin with at- 
 tetion, just as it must end with conviction. When 
 attention is less perfect, and where it must be 
 
82 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 J I 
 
 challenged, there is an obvious need for directness, 
 simplicity, brevity. If the subject is not in itself 
 'popular,' it should be by plan and presentation 
 related, if possible, to something in which the 
 average person is interested. The need for this 
 is greater where the reader is less likely to read 
 later, to go back to on a later thought, as in a 
 book that 'stays put', that is there to be taken up 
 again. 
 
 "In other words, the newspaper reader should 
 not be thought of as a kind of reader, but as a 
 reader in a certain situation — as you might think 
 of a listener in an open amphitheatre as compared 
 with a listener in a small hall or parlor. Some 
 of the world's best literature appeared first in news- 
 papers, yet this literature had to justify itself. Be- 
 ing printed is important. Being read is more im- 
 portant. The editor can't afford to print things 
 that are not read — or not read enough. White 
 paper is expensive. Printing things that are not 
 read is like having speakers in an expensive hall 
 without an audience. 
 
 To Write Interestingly. "Many speakers and 
 many writers lose their audiences because they 
 don't begin interestingly and haven't an interest- 
 ing manner. Some writers can send people to sleep 
 even with a thriller in their hands. Others can 
 make alfalfa romantic. It is a matter of tempera- 
 ment. 
 
 "Huxley could write delightfully about science. 
 Any subject has a thrill in it for the right man. 
 
 "One who would communicate engineering, and 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 83 
 
 who is not a professional writer, may choose to 
 accept an old hand's advice not to try to be "lit- 
 erary." Don't write it — say it. The whole trend 
 of good writing is toward colloquial simplicity. 
 As ranting has disappeared from the stage, fine 
 phrases are disappearing from good writing. Some 
 people not only sound written, they sound as if 
 they were singing. In speech they will tell you 
 where they live. In writing they don't live, they 
 reside. They don't begin, they commence. They 
 never 'had a talk,' they 'held a conversation.' In 
 other words, they 'take their pen in hand' and the 
 reader gets the ink on him. The average person 
 doesn't write a personal letter as if he were saying 
 something to a friend. He writes a letter, and it 
 sounds like a letter. Some men make even an 
 intimate after-dinner speech the same way. They 
 don't talk; they speech. 
 
 Say It; Don't Write It. "My experience with 
 writers on science and on practical things indicates 
 not so much that they are too complicated as to 
 their subjects as that they are too compHcated as 
 to their English. Simply imagine yourself saying 
 it to the policeman and you will be able to keep 
 your feet on the earth. If I can read a thing aloud 
 and it doesn't sound written, I know I am on my 
 way. In the average case quick writing will sound 
 more written than writing that has been worked 
 down to clean terms. 
 
 "It isn't a matter of long words or short words. 
 Some long words are very common — commoner 
 than they ought to be. Some beautiful short words 
 
 li 
 
84 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 are quite unfamiliar. In speaking to the big au- 
 dience, words it will accept, used in a way it will 
 accept, are the great consideration. The right 
 word is developed by a feeling for saying it. To 
 get this feeling one must practice saying it. There 
 are many mistaken theories as to what *the public' 
 will not understand. Most of the disappointments 
 come not from failure to understand, but because 
 the public's natural human interests have not been 
 sufficiently considered and successfully reached." 
 
 Writing a Newspaper Article. In order to as- 
 sist engineers in the preparation of publicity arti- 
 cles, the Iowa committee on publicity has pub- 
 lished a manual of instructions from which the 
 following discussion of writing for newspaper use 
 is taken. The discussion was prepared by J. E. 
 Eichinger, Bulletin Editor, Iowa Highway Com- 
 mission. 
 
 "Your publicity committee presents herewith a 
 series of topical outlines for newspaper publicity 
 articles upon engineering projects. These outHnes 
 cover all the more common types of engineering 
 enterprises upon which Iowa engineers are en- 
 gaged and upon which they are from time to time 
 asked to prepare articles for local papers. The 
 object in preparing and presenting these outlines 
 is to make it as easy as possible for the engineer 
 to comply with these requests, and thus to gain 
 the publicity and public credit to which the engi- 
 neer is entitled by reason of the importance of his 
 profession and his work to the community life. 
 
 "It takes no special gift nor special type of mind 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 85 
 
 to write a story about a sewer system that the 
 public will read. A good newspaper story is made 
 good, chiefly, because of the order and sequence 
 in which the important facts of the story are pre- 
 sented. What is ordinarily termed fine language 
 has nothing at all to do with it. Fine language 
 is ordinarily a detriment to a good newspaper 
 story. Of course, facts must be presented in fairly 
 good English, and should be grammatically cor- 
 rect, and the expression of the thought must be 
 fairly clear, but anybody of ordinary intelligence 
 can write good enough English and express 
 thought clearly enough to make a readable story. 
 Steps in Building the Story. "Newspaper writ- 
 ers, by hard knocks and long experience, have 
 learned a few simple rules about presenting the 
 facts of a story in order to arrest and hold atten- 
 tion long enough to get the story home. The first, 
 and by all odds the most important, the one that 
 seems almost absolutely essential to general suc- 
 cess in preparing newspaper publicity, is to throw 
 the most important feature of the story into what 
 is termed a lead sentence or paragraph. Follow- 
 ing this lead thought, and in amplification of it, 
 other general facts are presented briefly and con- 
 cisely, in order of their general interest to the 
 public. Then, if the article is of some length, de- 
 tails are presented upon which the general facts 
 are dependent. When details are finished, there 
 frequently is a summing up or generalization, 
 sometimes somewhat of a repetition of the facts 
 in the first paragraph of the story, to give it a 
 sense of finished and well-rounded whole. 
 
 i !■ 
 
TECHNICAL TREATMENT 
 
 TYPICAL OUTLINE 
 Sewers and Sewage Treatment 
 
 1. General Type — Storm. Sanitary. Combined. Treatment 
 
 plant. 
 
 2. Location — City. Section of outlet or treatment plant. 
 
 3. Cost— Sewers. Treatment plant. How paid. Annual op- 
 
 erating or maintenance. 
 
 4. Need for Improvement— Public health and convenience. 
 
 Storm water removal. Contamination of water supply 
 or natural stream. 
 
 5. Type Chosen and Why— Sewers. Sanitary, storm or 
 
 combined. Clay sewer pipe. Concrete pipe. Poured 
 concrete. Block. Segrmental block. Circular. Egg- 
 shaped. Rectangular. Soil. Construction or operating 
 conditions which determine type chosen. Topography. 
 Foundations. Availability of construction equipment, 
 and materials. Character and velocity of flow. Out- 
 let. Sewage lifts. Inverted syphons. 
 Treatment Plant — Grit chambers. Syphons. Type of 
 tank. Septic. Two-story or activated sludge. Screens. 
 Type of filter beds. Intermittent sand. Sprinkling 
 filters. Contact beds. Sludge beds. Sludge presses. 
 Degree of purification required. Available fall at filter 
 beds. Relative costs and degrees of purification. 
 Sludge digestion chambers. Settling basins beyond 
 sprinkling filters. Sterilizing plant. 
 
 6. Size, Length, and Capacity— Per capita daily flow. Pres- 
 
 ent and provided for. Growth in population provided 
 for. General and in district. Sewers — Mains. Sub- 
 mains. Laterals. Intercepting sewers. Outfalls. Ca- 
 pacity in terms of flow of some well known natural 
 stream depth. 
 
 Treatment Plant — Capacity provided at present. Per 
 cent completed. Dimensions various chambers and 
 beds. Capacity of chambers in terms of hours flow. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 Materials — Source. Cost. Transportation. Sand and 
 gravel, washing, screening and remixing. 
 
 Labor — Local or imported. Number employed. Wages. 
 Why high or low in this particular job. Specially 
 skilled mechanics required. 
 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 
 n. 
 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 1 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 7 
 8. 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 
 11. 
 
 12. 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 IS. 
 
 Method of Construction— Digging trench. Hand work 
 or trenching machine. Excavation at disposal plant site. 
 Mixing and placing concrete. Bracing and sheeting trench. 
 Tunneling. Concrete cradle or other special foundation 
 features. Laying segrmental blocks. Special features in 
 form work for concreting. Making joints. 
 
 Personnel — Engineer. Contractor. Superintendent. In- 
 spector. 
 
 Progress — Authorization of improvement. Completion 
 of plans. Letting contracts, beginning, rate of progress 
 and completion of construction works or parts of sys- 
 tem. 
 
 Financing — Improving certificates. Methods of assess- 
 ing private property. 
 
 Interesting or Unusual Features in Greater Detailt. 
 
 POPULAR TREATMENT 
 
 TYPICAL OUTLINE 
 The Conquest of City Dirt 
 
 Then 
 
 Anecdote of London when there were no sewers. 
 
 compare with local city in early days. 
 How the first sewer pipe was laid — a wealthy man's 
 
 privilege to be clean every day. Troubles in early 
 
 days. 
 Wash day and what it means. How the fashion for 
 
 white underwear has saved the lives of thousands by 
 
 eliminating dirt. No dirt means lots of water, lots of 
 
 water means sewers to carry off the water. 
 How the present improved system was begun in local 
 
 city. 
 Who were the prominent citizens that fought for civic 
 
 improvement? 
 
 5. Plan of the new system. 
 
 6. Allowance for future growth. 
 Anecdote of work while sewer was under construction. 
 Connecting sewers and disgruntled people to the system. 
 How the flow in the sewer varies. 
 When treated how pure is sewage? 
 What becomes of the "smell.** 
 How the treatment plant operates. 
 The men who operate the plant. 
 
 Story of engineers and contractors who built the system. 
 What the mayor and city engineer are trying to do for 
 
 city. 
 
 ! I: 
 
 i 'I' 
 
 I is 
 
88 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 A Good Way to Construct the Story. "Not a 
 very bad plan for the novice in the preparation of 
 newspaper stories is to consider that he is given 
 a telegraphic order to tell the important part of 
 his story in, say, a fifty-word telegram, to his em- 
 ployer or some big newspaper. It will require 
 considerable thought and generalization for the 
 first few stories, to get that fifty-word telegram 
 to tell the story. After a few trials, this comes 
 easily, and the essential facts readily group them- 
 selves to the front. The next step is to consider 
 that you have aroused interest by your first fifty 
 words and that you are permitted an additional 
 fifty words to be tacked on to the first. This will 
 permit the grouping of the secondary facts of a 
 general nature in the second paragraph. Then 
 play that you are given carte blanche order to go 
 ahead and write the full story in detail, without 
 limit of the number of words or space you will fill. 
 
 "The busy reader in the city will grab the paper 
 and read the first fifty words. He gets the gen- 
 eral idea of your story and the gist of what you 
 have to tell him. He may stop right there. If he 
 is interested, he reads another paragraph and gets 
 more information of secondary importance. Then, 
 if still interested, without any break in the logical 
 sequence of the thought, he can delve into the 
 details and get your entire story. This is just what 
 happens in the newspaper man's experience many 
 times every day. It takes no special gift of lan- 
 guage to tell the story, only the knowledge and 
 training as to the manner and sequence of present- 
 
 Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 89 
 
 ing the facts, granting that his language be good 
 and the thought clear. 
 
 "Writing an engineering project news story is 
 no different from any other news story. When 
 the editor has time to sit down and ask questions, 
 the engineer has no difficulty in giving his informa- 
 tion, probably in better language and thought, just 
 as clear as the editor could give. 
 
 "The typical outlines on page 86 are suggested 
 for use as an outline for a story, or to suggest an 
 outline which one can prepare for himself. A 
 sentence or two, as the occasion may require, about 
 each topic of the outline will insure a fairly com- 
 plete and well-arranged newspaper article, giving 
 all the information ordinarily of interest to the 
 general public about such an enterprise. 
 
 "The order can be varied or any portion omitted 
 or enlarged at will to suit the project or the plea- 
 sure of the writer. Use short sentences, cut the 
 adjectives to the limit, use one and two-syllable 
 words and get the important part of the story to 
 the front, so that if the editor chops your copy 
 after the first three or four paragraphs, you will get 
 by with your story in spite of his scissors." 
 
 How to Write for Magazines. The Sunday 
 edition of most modern newspapers is in reality a 
 magazine and the following hints that apply to 
 magazines also apply to Sunday newspapers. 
 
 Magazine publicity is ordinarily more difficult 
 than newspaper publicity. There are two reasons 
 for this: first, because the material suitable for 
 
ffl' 
 
 90 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 I 
 
 publication in magazines is more restricted than in 
 newspapers of general circulation, and second, be- 
 cause the literary standard of magazines is much 
 higher than it is possible to maintain in newspa- 
 per publication, and therefore a greater ability on 
 the part of the writer is required. 
 
 The subject matter in magazines follows the 
 trend of current events. Current events are re- 
 flected most plainly in our daily newspapers. If 
 our daily newspapers contain engineering pub- 
 licity it follows that our magazines will also con- 
 tain material concerning engineers and engineer- 
 ing. 
 
 Making Interesting Reading of Engineer Sub- 
 jects. Articles which are to be successful in re- 
 ceiving the approval of a popular magazine editor 
 must be arranged in an attractive and interesting 
 manner — in other words, they must be well writ- 
 ten. Once the article is in good form, however, 
 the result is not merely an acceptance and pub- 
 lication, but the article attracts thousands of read- 
 ers whose interest in the article itself makes them 
 entirely overlook any possible objection they may 
 have to the publicity feature of the article. 
 
 Take one illustration, as a typical example. 
 Creative Chemistry, a book by Edwin E. Slosson, 
 can teach many lessons about making interesting 
 reading of engineering subjects. It originated in a 
 series of articles prepared for The Independent in 
 1917-18, "for the purpose of interesting the general 
 reader in the recent achievements of industrial 
 chemistry." The original articles, and the book 
 
 SAFETY NEWS SERVICE 
 
 '111 
 
 
 r^^ 
 
 w^ik:% 
 
 ifij, ■ 
 
 
 .^K T V '.-: ^m 
 
 i>m/ w^ 
 
 ^^^^Ht ^^^t0^ „^^^^ 
 
 
 
 i ' 
 
 * 
 
 m 
 
 HAYS ACCEPTS $150,000 MOVIE DIRECTORSHIP 
 
 Official annfHincemcnt has hem made of tKe forthcoming resignation of Po»tma»ter Gene ^ W iU H. Hayi 
 from Harding 'i cabinet to accept a $150,000 witary a> head of the American motion .Il4pc production 
 
 Elinf i catunet to accept a tlbU.UUU wilary 
 induitry Mr. Hayt it «een being "»hot" after the announcement 
 
 Railroading is nonnaUy a safe occupation 
 if men will only let their minds work nor- 
 mally while they are on duty. Heaven 
 protect the man who violates the rules. 
 
 POPULARIZING SAFETY FIRST 
 
 These posters are issued and distributed weekly and contain, 
 in addition to some pertinent messages on safety, a reproduction 
 of some news event. They are patterned after the news-service 
 picture-placards which are now seen regularly in many store 
 windows and which feature the latest news events pictorially. 
 The safety message is printed in large type and in colors. It is 
 short and to the point, as illustrated by that here shown. In this 
 poster, the "news" is in black, and the safety message in bright 
 green. These placards measure about 14 by 18 inches. RailziMy 
 Age, March 11, 1922. 
 
 I 
 
4 
 
 THE Old North Bridge in Mas- 
 sachusetts near which some of the 
 bloodiest fighting of the Battle of 
 Concord took place is an example of 
 local history and engineering struc- 
 tures 
 
 ,^^^ 
 
 ■-^^im- 
 
 
 I :!i i 
 
 t \ Vi. J . ■ 
 
 
 ii-ir -W -M 
 
 M^: 
 
 :.v^:^^: 
 
 
 A FEAT of engineering that has 
 popular appeal because of the 
 unusual curves of the new highway 
 which are easy of comprehension to 
 the average reader. This road over 
 the Snoqualmie Pass also connects 
 Eastern and Western Washington. 
 
Getting News in the Newspapers 
 
 93 
 
 itself, have been read by thousands of people who 
 were interested in the author's presentation of 
 otherwise *'dry" chemical facts, and without ques- 
 tion there has been a tremendous amount of 
 valuable publicity for the chemical profession as 
 a result. The same can be done with engineering 
 subjects. 
 
 Take as example one passage in the first chap- 
 ter of the book. The author is speaking of nitro- 
 gen, in its fixed and free forms. "The air is 
 four-fifths free nitrogen, and if we could absorb it 
 in our lungs as we do the oxygen of the other fifth, 
 a few minutes' breathing would give us a full meal. 
 But we let this free nitrogen all out again through 
 our noses, and then go and pay 35 cents a pound 
 for steak and 60 cents a dozen for eggs in order 
 to get enough combined nitrogen to live on.'* We 
 all learned the essential facts of these passages 
 from our text books, but in different manner! 
 
 Prepare "dry" engineering accomplishments in 
 similar form, and you will not lack a medium for 
 spreading these accomplishments broadcast for 
 popular consumption. Make easy reading out of 
 your engineering subjects; but don't expect wide 
 publicity from engineering reports — the text book 
 type which never get attention beyond the indi- 
 viduals vitally concerned. 
 
STATE OFFERS 
 ' LOW SALARIES 
 
 EQgioeers Not Attracted by 
 Highway Jobs. 
 
 Thirty-five Have Been Taking Night 
 
 Course in Preparation, but Are 
 
 Not Tempted 
 
 Poilowbig tlie discox'ery that enjji- 
 peera in charse of coustruction wouM 
 be paid ooly from |l,:iOO to $2,H)0 p«r 
 year, there was o perceptible ooldno*- 
 ^n the part of Chattunooifa engineers 
 |Mt oight toward KeekioK employment 
 under the stole higliwny commUsiou in 
 builting ths $8,000,000 worth of roadi | 
 wliich are to l»e constructed tlii^ year, j 
 
 The plans of the highway commission 
 were outlined by Prof. Dougherty, prin- 
 dpal of the ciTil eagineermif depart- 
 ment of the UnivorKity of Tennessee, 
 before the eemi-monthly meeting of the 
 Chattanooga chapter of the Americao 
 Association of Euginocr« Prof. Dough- 
 erty stated federal requirements would 
 .be fallow e<l. which means that u supor 
 ViaUf engineer must have bad at least 
 .t*o years', of actual experience in road 
 CODstrtietioto and seTeral years' addi- 
 ^opal esperieace lu other kinds of engl- 
 
 neerinfr 
 
 With the Idea of taking advantage of 
 the year jobs in supervising the big road 
 program, thirty-five engineers have been 
 taking special instruction in nmd en- 
 gineering under Prof. H. B. Smith in 
 the night school, which is Iwing con- 
 ducted by city' authorities. Nearly nU 
 of these men anti<ipated taking the posi- 
 tion*, but the course as outlines U*t 
 jdgbt makes it doubtful (hdtJJimiS 
 
 STATE PAYS ENGINEERS 
 WHAT THEY ARE WORTH 
 
 Oommissloner Moore Talks to 
 Engineer Society — Resolu- 
 tion! on Dietx'f Deatb. 
 
 In speaklnff of tha dlicusslon eon« 
 cemln* low salaries paid highway an. 
 gincers bv the stats that came up at 
 the meeting of »he local engineer 
 Wednesday night Commissioner W. P. 
 Moore of the state highwap department, 
 said thla morning that the anglneera 
 are b«lng paid from flBO and upward » 
 Aonth. Including expenses. "•.<!*• 
 dared that the expensea amount to 
 from 150 to fT5 a month. 
 
 When asked what the maslmum fttr 
 the aalarlea If l4r. Moore said that 
 there is no maximum, but that the an* 
 
 Sneera are paid according to tneir 
 orth. He also pointed out that aTery 
 man who has stood the «*n»»n»Vo'j; 
 is at work and that thla would no* be 
 so If It were not that the proper salary 
 was being received by those qOallflafl 
 to take these state positions. Mr. 
 Moore Is in the city to attend the W» 
 eutomoblla club meeting 
 
 Prof. Dougherty, elvll englne#!ng In* 
 rtnictor of the ^nlverslty of Tennessee 
 spoke to the engineers *t their Wednes. 
 day night meetinr .After hearlnf 
 Prof. Dougherty's talk It was the opln. 
 
 ton of a number of »»),•«"/.' wtn'tliCl 
 few of the experienced ones '»''" »,«»;^J 
 
 their present «"|P'2^'^«"* I* •^"tV aJ 
 low salaries offered ^y . the state, as 
 
 explained by ?•■<>' A*"»JL*««^- t-JJ^! 
 decision was reached by them. taKinf 
 
 .into consWeftMon 1^ ^*^ VB^t^'i PU» 
 ♦h* -required aaamihatione. ^ .iJ ,. 
 r^The <lv!l engineering InstrdWir said 
 jtfiat salaries for the state h]«hway en- 
 jdneerlng work are to be from fl.BOQ 
 to U.IOO per year. The American As» 
 aoclatlon of Engineers recommenflea a 
 scale of salaries for the same positions 
 of from $2,400 to $4,000 pfcr year. 
 
 The engineers pointed out that tne 
 highest position, pr diVef «Qf*'»*J'i 
 salary la only 14.000 a year. This. Uejr 
 state, is very fow for a man who bas 
 the responsibility of spendlntg tl.OOO.- 
 000 for road construction. The Am*"* 
 can Association of Bnglnoera recom- 
 mends $15,000. at »«Jlt. fr'/PC^e^ 
 sponsible poslUon. </WfA Nty*^ 
 
 Opposite treatment of the same news. 
 
 The public is made up of a large number of groups varying in 
 size each of which is interested from a different standpoint, hence 
 party newspapers, business and trade papers, literary magazines and 
 other public information mediums exist. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE PUBLICITY MAN, AND WHAT HE 
 NEEDS TO KNOW 
 
 Picking the Publicity Man. Since publicity 
 must be sincere, honest, fair and careful, not given 
 to over-statement or exaggeration, it follows that 
 the publicity man, too, must be marked by these 
 same attributes. 
 
 If publicity is the art of bringing matters of pub- 
 lic import to the people for their consideration, it 
 follov^s that the first thing necessary is to gather 
 together the information that is to be given out. 
 
 The Association of Railway Executives prob- 
 ably has no more important department than the 
 Bureau of Railway Economics at Washington, an 
 organization which has gathered, and is constantly 
 taking in more information of every conceivable 
 sort about the railroads of this and other countries 
 of the world than probably could be found in any 
 other one place. From this well-spring flows a 
 current of dependable facts. 
 
 With the proper sort of publicity organization 
 started, the questions to ask are, what are the situ- 
 ations affecting the profession which may be im- 
 proved through publicity work; and, second, have 
 the men who are doing publicity work in local 
 chapters a co-ordinated plan of action under cen- 
 tralized direction? 
 
 95 
 
96 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 It is difficult to appreciate the variety of things 
 one has to know in order to accomplish successful 
 public relations work, but a study of the check list 
 of activities on page 42 will give some idea of the 
 scope of the work. It is almost impossible for one 
 man to have a comprehensive knowledge of all the 
 different work that has to be done. A wide experi- 
 ence in many lines of work and a broad sympathy 
 probably constitute the best training for this work. 
 A public relations man must have, in addition, 
 keen judgment, a pleasing personality, a nose for 
 news, the ability to write, and he must know what 
 people want, and what they are interested in. It 
 is work for a man of buoyant, well-poised tempera- 
 ment and a thorough education. He must have the 
 poise of an editor, the vision of a promoter, the 
 aggressiveness of an advertising man, the accu- 
 racy of a scientist engaged in research work, the 
 suavity of a diplomat, and he must be thoroughly 
 imbued with the idea of developing the interests 
 of other people rather than his own. He must be 
 content to be a Boswell to many Johnsons. 
 
 The Need for Voluntary Effort. In approach- 
 ing this subject of public information the first step 
 is to select someone whose business it is to know 
 what the public will read and what the public 
 won't read. This means a great deal of help from 
 local engineers — voluntary help from men who 
 can give each a small amount of time to the work. 
 While voluntary effort must not be too much de- 
 pended upon, its value is beyond computation. 
 There is something that springs from honest and 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 97 
 
 earnest volunteer effort that no amount of money 
 will ever buy. 
 
 Some Special Jobs for the Public Information 
 Man. With the local publicity man selected and 
 on the job, there are several things this man can 
 do in addition to the actual preparation of news 
 articles and items. One is to develop the local in- 
 terest of engineers in the local problems; to em- 
 phasize that the engineer cannot be made publicly 
 known nationally until he makes himself known 
 publicly in a local way. 
 
 When an engineering work is finally dedicated, 
 it too often happens that the higher city officials 
 and prominent citizens do the talking, and the en- 
 gineer stays in the background. One thing the 
 engineer needs is contact with other men — with 
 men in business and in other professions. When 
 an engineer ceases practicing engineering as a 
 trade, and begins to practice it as a profession, he 
 is thrown in with groups of men who are not en- 
 gineers, including lawyers, bankers, and business 
 men. Men who have risen high in the engineering 
 profession are nearly all men who have acquired a 
 broad general education outside of engineering. 
 Tell the story of the engineers who have achieved. 
 
 The question of publicity in the smaller towns 
 is one which needs careful attention. In every state 
 there are many engineers who have to get their 
 support in the smaller towns and communities, and 
 they need help and education along publicity lines. 
 To accomplish consistent and helpful results, some- 
 one should be paid to do the publicity work. There 
 
98 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 are not many who have time to do this work. If 
 someone is on the job all the time sustained pub- 
 licity methods can be used. 
 
 If there is only volunteered efifort, about the best 
 way to work it is through intensive publicity cam- 
 paigns at times concerning particular matters. It 
 is pretty hard to get a man who, in addition to his 
 regular work, will keep things going smoothly 
 from day to day. But quite often one will wake 
 up and spend a few weeks or a month putting 
 across a special campaign of publicity. 
 
 Engineers should seek civic positions, where 
 their particular work would not have any special, 
 distinct engineering problem to solve, or engineer- 
 ing bearing, but would show that the engineer can 
 be a perfectly good citizen in all branches of civic 
 organization. The publicity man can show how 
 these engineers are qualified for civic work. 
 
 The publicity man can often do much to coun- 
 teract the incorrect impression which often prevails 
 that ordinarily in seeking publicity you have to do 
 something a little different, perhaps underhanded, 
 in order to get it over. There is nothing in that. 
 If you do something and know how to tell about 
 it, it will go. Talk about the constructive things 
 that are being done in a way that the public will 
 understand. 
 
 Don't Be Too Modest. Often engineers are 
 over-modest in sending in items about themselves. 
 The publicity man can do much to overcome that 
 tendency. Editors of technical journals have to 
 soHcit items constantly about persons, whereas, as 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 99 
 
 a matter of fact, they ought to come freely from 
 the individuals. The publicity man can stimulate 
 these tremendously, by urging individuals to keep 
 up a flow of that sort of items. The development 
 of the personals in the technical and other jour- 
 nals is a simple way to get publicity along these 
 lines. 
 
 Contacts with Civic Organizations. There are 
 innumerable civic, trade, and social organizations 
 such as chambers of commerce, Rotary and Kiwa- 
 nis Clubs, women's clubs, real estate boards, boy 
 scouts, and so on. These organizations can be in- 
 valuable in providing appointments for speakers 
 on engineering subjects and speakers before en- 
 gineers on business subjects, and in many other 
 ways. 
 
 It will pay to remember that women are becom- 
 ing very much interested in the affairs of the cities, 
 the states, and the country. Before long women 
 will cast the deciding vote in many movements. A 
 number of cases have occurred where women have 
 supported engineers for public positions. They 
 will do it anywhere when the problem is put up to 
 them in the right way. They are seeking the truth, 
 and they will vote for the best candidate they can 
 get. 
 
 Don't Clog the Channels. One warning all pub- 
 licity men should keep in mind — it is possible to 
 overdo their work and lose the confidence of local 
 newspaper editors. Much attempted publicity has 
 been sent out broadcast, item after item, to me- 
 diums to which such broad general material is 
 worthless. 
 
loo Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 There is more publicity sent out that is utterly 
 worthless than the average man has any concep- 
 tion of. It is fatal to the business that attempts it. 
 It clogs the journals which you must eventually 
 
 WASTE IN CITY BUILDING \ 
 
 
 Owing to haphazard city growth 
 hundreds of perfectly good buildings 
 §0 to The dump each year . 
 
 A typical campaign cartoon used in promoting city zoning in 
 
 Atlanta, Georgia. 
 
 use, and organization after organization, as well as 
 private concerns, have defeated their purpose by 
 sending out small, foolish, continual streams of 
 dead stuff that piled up and up until finally, when 
 the big story broke, there was no opportunity to 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 lOI 
 
 get it through. They had cried, "Wolf, Wolf," and 
 there was no wolf, and when the wolf came, no 
 editor could be convinced. 
 
 Beware of that clogging process. Keep in mind 
 the idea that you must go gently and jump at every 
 apparent opportunity to use your publicity chances, 
 but send out the live stuff so that the local editors 
 will know that they are getting stuff that is de- 
 pendable and live, and when the big thing breaks, 
 all the space you want is yours. Pave the way for 
 the big story, by preparing little, live stories for 
 that big thing that is going to come through. 
 
 This suggestion has been made by one Associa- 
 tion chapter, where it has worked well: "Put in 
 your city newspapers, at as frequent intervals as 
 you can, a paid advertisement at the regular rates. 
 It may be only a notice of a meeting, three or four 
 inches of single-column announcement. Do it regu- 
 larly, and you will find that it is only human na- 
 ture that your news items will sometimes find a 
 warmer reception when you take them to the news- 
 paper.** 
 
 Newspaper Syndicates. It is well always to 
 keep in mind that a newspaper syndicate is about 
 the easiest way to reach a great many people. Of 
 course syndicate material has to have a wide ap- 
 peal. If you understand just what people want 
 you frequently can place stories with the newspa- 
 per syndicates. They are glad to get them, if the 
 stories have the proper elements. 
 
 Hints on Organization. There are many details 
 to be learned before a man can be reasonably sure 
 
102 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 of himself in public relations work. Some of these 
 details are briefly discussed in the following para- 
 graphs. The check list of public information me- 
 diums on page 42 indicates the scope of knowledge 
 necessary. 
 
 Parades. A parade is an effective form of dem- 
 onstration, because it reaches people who would 
 not come to a meeting. In engineering publicity 
 work it is usual that an organization will have a 
 float in a parade, rather than organize a parade as 
 a strictly technical activity. 
 
 Many ideas have been successfully used in pre- 
 paring floats by various chapters of the American 
 Association of Engineers. A simple form of dem- 
 onstration in a parade is merely to have a body of 
 men marching. These men may carry streamers 
 or signs. Sometimes a distinguishing mark is 
 adopted like the "silk hat of Tammany" and the 
 "umbrella." Occasionally it is desirable to use uni- 
 forms. Uniforms are effectively used by a social 
 organization and secret organizations. 
 
 Following is a typical parade announcement: 
 
 Chief of Police will be marshal of the parade 
 
 and will be followed by the most remarkable line of 
 floats, horseback riders, automobiles, groups of sing- 
 ers and bands that has ever marched through the 
 streets of the city. Every business house and fra- 
 ternal organization has been invited to cooperate. 
 The parade will begin at 12 o'clock noon, starting 
 at 1 2th Street. It will observe the following line of 
 march: North on Michigan to Jackson Boulevard, 
 west on Jackson to LaSalle Street (complete 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 103 
 
 line of march) 
 
 and marches to State Street, 
 
 where it disbands. 
 
 At grandstand opposite the 
 
 Hotel will be a 
 
 chorus of one thousand, forming an American flag, 
 and three hundred singers, arranged to represent the 
 United States Shield. 
 
 Convention Exhibits. Conventions are the oc- 
 casions for the preparation of exhibits, for at that 
 time prominent men, interested in some particular 
 line of work, are gathered together and they can 
 be reached at one time. Only a few of the basic 
 ideas used at conventions will be given here. 
 
 As a rule, convention exhibits should have unity. 
 The exhibit should be planned to have anyone 
 who attends it leave with some one definite idea. 
 A mere display of many different things of interest 
 or curiosities will not produce the results that 
 skillful methods of handling an exhibit will produce. 
 It is a good idea to have something in the exhibit 
 that moves. This will attract attention. Avoid 
 small pictures. Use plenty of large label cards, 
 with large type for lettering. Avoid lengthy no- 
 tices. Avoid having an overcrowded exhibit. 
 
 Displays in merchants' stores, windows, and on 
 sidewalks are useful means of presenting an idea. 
 Engineers' Week in Missoula, Montana, which is 
 described in detail in Chapter VI gives an idea as 
 to the varied use of displays. Exhibits in pubhc 
 schools, posters and other work by school children, 
 including contests, were used very effectively in the 
 Engineers' Week contest. This is a most effective 
 method of getting a subject talked about and can 
 

 •3 ffd bra •'_ 
 
 il 
 
 I 
 
 s 
 
 4> 
 l-i 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 O. 
 
 c 
 o 
 
 ^-^ 
 
 o 
 
 & 
 
 G 
 
 .2 
 
 'O 
 V 
 
 bo 
 
 c 
 
 •§ 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 2 
 
 c 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 u 
 O 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 105 
 
 be used in engineering publicity work to a much 
 greater extent than it has been used in the past. 
 
 Advertisements on theatre programs and score 
 cards can be used at times but these mediums are 
 generally expensive. 
 
 Motion Pictures. There are two types of mo- 
 
 Cartoon poster advertising a convention that was sent to 
 chapters as a photostat, 14 by 21 inches in size. 
 
 tion pictures that can be used for publicity work. 
 The first consists of slides and short news films 
 for use in motion picture theatres, and the second 
 of general interest motion pictures for use in 
 schools and theatres. 
 
 Motion pictures are handled on what are known 
 as circuits. For example, the Ford Weekly is 
 handled through various district offices and re- 
 leases are obtained from these offices. The Ford 
 
i' 
 
 xo6 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 
 Weekly is perhaps the largest engineering educa- 
 tional motion picture syndicate in the country and 
 their pictures can be used to advantage. 
 
 An Educational Motion Picture Syndicate. A 
 unique organization for educational work, which is 
 endowed and supported by contributing life mem- 
 bers, is the Bureau of Commercial Economics, 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 A requirement of this Bureau is that its pictures 
 must be invariably displayed to audiences admitted 
 free. The service of the Bureau is available to edu- 
 cational institutions, civic organizations, different 
 trade conventions, and welfare organizations, and 
 it is also provided with motor truck equipment for 
 projectors operated from auto trucks, in parks, 
 playgrounds, rural communities, and other public 
 centers. 
 
 The scope of the Bureau is international both in 
 the source and display of its films. 
 
 Stipulation for Film Service. Any organization 
 which desires to use the films of the Bureau may 
 have the privilege under the following stipulations : 
 
 1. Payment of transportation charges from and to the 
 
 distributing center. 
 
 2. The films shall be used on standard motion picture 
 
 projectors, handled by competent operators. 
 
 3. A report of films used and attendance shall be 
 
 mailed after the performance to the distributing 
 center. 
 
 4. Films shall be returned immediately after use. 
 
 5. The exhibitor accepts full responsibility for the 
 
 films while in his possession. 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 107 
 
 No fee whatsoever is charged or accepted for 
 the use of the films of the Bureau. 
 
 No admission fees to the public are permitted to 
 be charged, nor are collections, during or after the 
 exhibition, permissible. 
 
 If films from other sources, such as advertising 
 films, films of advertising associations, or films 
 which have been rejected by the Bureau, except 
 literary and similar films rented from the commer- 
 cial exchanges, are shown in conjunction with the 
 films of the Bureau, the Bureau reserves the right 
 to discontinue the service. 
 
 Owing to the great expense in the production 
 of film, the Bureau must be informed as to the pro- 
 jection apparatus employed, as it is obviously 
 necessary to protect film equipment against injury. 
 
 Producing Motion Pictures. An outline or 
 scenario is first prepared. This gives the story and 
 the ideas that you wish to convey. The outline is, 
 of course, subject to modification in making. 
 Changes are minimized, however, by working up 
 the action before going into the field, so that the 
 picture may be taken according to a well-defined 
 plan. 
 
 The next step is to obtain information as to the 
 best places to procure the pictures that fit into the 
 outline and the time at which they can best be 
 taken. These scenes are then located and the cam- 
 era gets on the job, arranging the scenes. After 
 a study of conditions existing on the ground has 
 been made, the best method of procedure is de- 
 cided upon. The pictures are then taken and the 
 
io8 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 photographer returns to his studio. The film is 
 developed, the titles are prepared, and the prints 
 for exhibition are made. After the exhibition of 
 these prints, unnecessary portions of the film are 
 cut out and the picture is completed for service as 
 a fantom assistant. The negative of the film cor- 
 responds to the negative of an ordinary picture and 
 is stored away. As many prints as desired can be 
 made from this negative. 
 
 Motion picture films are always wound on stand- 
 ard reels, which have a capacity of approximately 
 one thousand feet of film. This film passes through 
 the camera at a speed of about one foot per second, 
 and there are sixteen pictures, three-quarters by 
 one inch each, on a foot of film. In exhibiting the 
 pictures on the screen the film passes through the 
 projecting machine at the same speed — one foot 
 per second. The time required to exhibit a reel is, 
 therefore, about sixteen and one-half minutes. 
 Titles are made in the laboratory by photograph- 
 ing printed cards. The length of film required for 
 each title depends, of course, on the number of 
 words in the title. A common rule with motion- 
 picture producers is to allow one-half foot of film 
 for each word in long titles and three-quarters foot 
 of film for titles of not more than three words. 
 
 Suggestions on Exhibiting Motion Pictures. 
 Portable projectors about the size of an ordinary 
 suitcase, and very simple to operate, may be used 
 to exhibit the films. The points to remember in 
 connection with the use of the projector are : 
 
 Always use a screen unless a white or nearly 
 white wall is available. 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 109 
 
 For a long throw use a long focus lens to pro- 
 cure a picture not over nine feet by twelve feet in 
 size. 
 
 Show pictures at a speed of one foot per second. 
 This is approximately one complete revolution of 
 the hand-crank per second. 
 
 Arrange the picture so that parts of two scenes 
 do not appear at once on the screen. Do this 
 quickly. Slowness provokes comment from the 
 audience. Learn from a private exhibition of the 
 reels what they show before attempting to exhibit 
 them in public. 
 
 Do not try to explain things the pictures show 
 clearly. The pictures are more convincing than 
 words. Study the effective use of films and the 
 proper time to show them. Much depends upon 
 the smoothness with which they are exhibited. 
 
 These are the main points. The rest depends 
 upon the punch that is in the picture and the care 
 with which it has been taken. 
 
 Operating a Speakers* Bureau. In arranging to 
 get speakers to address meetings it is always wise 
 to get the best talent possible, particularly for the 
 main speaker. If the main speaker is technically 
 inclined, the other speakers should be non-tech- 
 nical, to balance the program. Talent may be ob- 
 tained from lyceum bureaus and from the heads 
 of engineering organizations, or selected from 
 among prominent members of the chapter. Ar- 
 range for a suitable short introduction of the prin- 
 cipal speaker, and try to make him comfortable in 
 every way possible. Ask the speaker to have sev- 
 
no 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 eral copies of a short abstract of his remarks pre- 
 pared prior to the deHvery of the address, or get 
 an advance copy of the talk so that the publicity 
 committee will have this material available for 
 the press. 
 
 Where there is much expense attached to ob- 
 taining speakers it is well to prepare a program 
 and advertise with posters placed in store win- 
 dows and by paid space in the newspapers. Tick- 
 ets may be sold and the cost of the speaker de- 
 frayed in this way. Lyceum bureaus have special 
 men who make it a business to arrange for the 
 financing of their speakers. These men can give 
 valuable assistance in outlining the methods to be 
 followed. 
 
 Specialized subjects for speakers should be 
 avoided so that the greatest possible attendance 
 may be assured. Very technical subjects are also 
 to be avoided, unless they are handled in a popular 
 way. 
 
 It is frequently possible to co-operate with local 
 civic organizations in obtaining high-grade speak- 
 ers. A course of talks may be given under the 
 auspices of the combined business organizations 
 in the small towns that will be very valuable both 
 to the engineering profession and to the general 
 public. The engineering publicity committee should 
 always plan to handle the reports of the speakers 
 independently and to see that they are circulated 
 thoroughly among the newspapers and sometimes 
 to the magazines. 
 
 Furnishing Speakers to the Public. The best 
 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 III 
 
 speakers in the chapter should be organized in 
 a speakers' bureau to furnish able men on different 
 occasions to talk before various civic organiza- 
 tions, in the public schools, at boy scout meetings, 
 and in other places where their services are needed 
 and asked for. Let the civic organizations know 
 that the services of these men are available and 
 they will have plenty of opportunities to speak. 
 The publicity committee should be sure that these 
 men have carefully prepared addresses that will be 
 a credit to the profession. They should have ab- 
 stracts prepared of these talks for the use of the 
 press, and should see that they reach the press in 
 due time. 
 
 Handling Announcements. An effective and a 
 very inexpensive method of making announce- 
 ments is through schools, auctions, public events, 
 and societies, especially in small towns. When an 
 event of special interest to the town is to take 
 place a typewritten notice should be sent to those 
 people who preside at the different meetings with 
 the request that they read this notice at the next 
 meeting. 
 
 Committee Memberships in Local Organiza- 
 tions. Men who are qualified along special lines 
 should be urged to join the various civic organiza- 
 tions and to become members of committees. In 
 this way the engineering profession gets a repre- 
 sentation on different civic boards and much con- 
 structive influence can be exerted. Many such op- 
 portunities are presented and they should all be 
 taken advantage of. 
 
bo 
 
 V) 
 
 (J 
 
 c 
 
 c 
 
 
 C 
 O 
 
 4> 
 N 
 
 bo 
 
 G 
 
 V 
 V 
 
 B 
 
 CO 
 
 (O 
 
 C 
 O 
 
 c 
 c 
 
 Wi 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 e 
 
 THE OORLD FRIENDSHIP BURSAU 
 Iteea 1010, 410 S. Mlchlgnn Avenut, Chleaco. Ill- 
 PboM - Vabash S34T 
 
 OrvtUnft: 
 
 |lov*iib«r 19. 1921. 
 
 Th« Vorld Prl»nd«hip Bureau invltaa your co-operation in announcing the 
 inaaraaaent U«et to b« h«ld at th« Coliaeun, November W, 29 and M. in putting up 
 pontara that vill ba sent you. circulating the subscription blanks for reserved 
 ••at tickets, azK) encouraging the group partioipation of your organizations. 
 
 If the quantity of subscriptions from vour group for reserved sett tickets 
 %o De delivered to one address totals not less than tweoty-five dollars, a discount 
 of t»«nty percent eao be made from the re^ilar rates. 
 
 Please aend In reserved seat subsoriptions at as early a date as possible 
 
 Tours in the work for International Good-will and reduction of amaoents. 
 
 RORLO PRIE3IDSHIP BUREhU . 
 
 CEHERAL CaMITTEE FOR OISARUAUENT llEET 
 
 S. J. Duncan-Clark. Chairaaa. 
 tverett B. Lothrop, Treasurer. 
 
 per Mary L. Read, 
 
 Director* 
 
 Sra&CUPTIOHS FOR DISARUAMEHT MEET. THE COIISCUU, MOVEMBER 28, 29. 30. 1921. 
 
 THE WORJ.D FRIENDSHIP BUREAU 
 Rooa 1010, 410 S. Michigan Avenue. Chicafo, 111. 
 Phone nabash 5347 
 
 risas^ •end reserve tickets as checked below: 
 »or iDv. 26, Will Irwin. "The Hext War" - 
 
 ______ sests • 25/ sests • 50/ 
 
 sests • 31.00 
 
 Totals 
 
 e 
 
 Por P4V. 29, Prank C. Bray, "The Washington Conferenoe" - 
 
 . sests • 25/ sests 9 50/ seats • 61 00 
 
 For lov. 30. Syaposita and Convo8ation op International Oood-will - 
 
 .^____ seats 25/ seats 9 50/ scata • 11.00 
 
 Total aaouDt encloaed • ^_ 
 
 IAMB. 
 
 AO0RESS_ 
 
 Phone^ 
 Date 
 
 (ZfMats ore ds^ir^d with as orfanisation (roup) 
 
 Top — ^Letter of announcement calling for attendance 
 at a mass meeting, assisting in giving publicity to the 
 meeting. 
 
 Bottom — Accompanying blank form for reservations. 
 
 Distinguished speakers, a band concert, and com- 
 munity singing are used as a means of increasing at- 
 tendance. 
 
 m 
 
 Direct by mail announcement. 
 
114 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Personal Work of Organizers. The most direct 
 method of accomplishing immediate and lasting re- 
 sults is through a paid organizer. The details of 
 such work are too voluminous to be discussed here, 
 but in the main they are simply the rules of sales- 
 manship. 
 
 Mass Meetings. A mass meeting, to be effective, 
 must be held at a time when the public is ready 
 for action. There must be existing an immense 
 amount of public interest about the object for 
 which the mass meeting is called. The ordinary 
 procedure at a mass meeting is to select a chair- 
 man, have an open discussion and also appoint a 
 committee on resolutions, and have the resolutions 
 reported to the meeting. Mass meetings are al- 
 ways a subject of comment for the newspapers 
 and are most effective methods of arousing public 
 notice on any subject of public interest. 
 
 Receptions to Special Groups. When an engi- 
 neer of note visits town some effort should be 
 made to provide a fitting reception for him. This 
 usually consists of the appointing of a committee, 
 providing hotel accommodations and entertain- 
 ment while the visitor is in the city, and any spe- 
 cial meetings which may be desirable. It should 
 be remembered that most prominent visitors are 
 over-entertained rather than under-entertained. Be 
 sure that breathing spells are allowed your vis- 
 itor and he will leave with a much higher opinion 
 of you. Consider his convenience first. For being 
 entertained is a strenuous business, in many cases, 
 for the one who is entertained. Always ask the 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 "5 
 
 visitor whom he would like to visit before the intro- 
 duction. This is only courtesy. When an impor- 
 tant organization holds a meeting in the city it is 
 frequently possible to give them a reception. In 
 
 GENERAL OFFICE POSITIONS^ 
 
 POSITIQW 
 
 MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT 
 •SHOPS- ■LABORATORIES- 
 
 8 
 Uj 
 
 UJ 
 
 z 
 o 
 
 z 
 O «/> 
 
 UJ < 
 
 O 
 
 
 «•) 
 
 .w. 
 
 O RGANIZATION 
 
 MOORE SHIPBUILDING CO. 
 
 BETHLEHEM SHIPBUILDING CO. 
 
 P.H.REARPOK CO. 
 
 UNION CONSTPUCTION CO 
 
 STATE OFCALIF0RMIA--EN&R.DtPT. 
 
 SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY- 
 
 MONTHLY 
 
 CHAS.C.MOCRESCO. 
 
 BETHLEHEM SHIPBUILDINO CO. 
 
 MOORE SHIPBUILDING CO 
 
 UNION CONSTRUCTION CO. 
 
 OOW PUMPS DIESEL ENGINE CO, 
 
 BYRON JACKSON PUMP WORKS 
 
 STATE OF CALIF0RNIA"ENGR.DEPT. 
 
 CHAS C MOORE SCO. 
 
 SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY- 
 
 BETHLEHEM SHIPBUILDING CO. 
 
 MOORE SHIPBUILDING CO. 
 
 OOW PUMPS DIESEL ENGINE CO. 
 
 B Y RO N JACKSON PUMP WORKS 
 
 UNION CONSTRUCTION CO, 
 
 SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY 
 
 STATE HARBOR COMM.'-CALIFORNIA 
 
 CALIfORNIA HIGHWAY COMM. 
 
 SI«TE PURCHASING PCPT." CALIFORNIA 
 
 SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY- 
 
 US. CIVIL SERVICE 
 
 STATE BOABDOF HEALTH--CALIFORNIA 
 
 DEPT.Of AGRICULTURE--CALIFORNIA 
 SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY 
 
 STATE PURCHASimG DEPT.--CALIFORNI A 
 
 COMPENSATION 
 
 C H A^R T 
 SALARIES F0R°C0M PARABLE POSITIONS 
 
 AS PAID BY QUTSIDfc INDUSTRIES AND 
 • SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMRANY • 
 
 An excellent form of comparative chart. 
 
 this way very often friendships are formed that 
 are of great value in future business connections. 
 Technical Methods. The detailed methods used 
 in SQ^e typical promotional problems are given in 
 Chapter VI. It must be remembered, however, 
 that ingenuity is the chief asset of the publicity 
 man. Methods change continually. Methods good 
 to-day are frequently worthless to-morrow. 
 
in 
 
 1922 Publicity Contest 
 
 r\N SEPTEJMBER 1, the publicity contest for 1922 begins. The 
 ^^ rules for this contest are given on this page. Each year 
 publicity contests have produced better results and have suc- 
 ceeded in arousing the interest of the chapter in advancing the 
 interests of engineers. This year the rules have been simplified 
 and there should be little diflfculty on th part of various chapter 
 publicity committees in submitting publicity. 
 
 Special attention is called to the rule that all publicity must be 
 pasted in strings. Many of the difficulties that have arisen in 
 previous contests will be obviated by strict adherence to this rule. 
 Also, publicity must be certified, in order to be credited. 
 
 Divisions 
 
 Division One — Chapters in cities of 200,000 or over. 
 
 Division Two — Chapters in cities of 50,000 to 200,000 population. 
 
 Division Three — Chapters in cities of loss than 50,000 population. 
 
 Division Four — State Chapters. 
 
 Division Five — Student Chapters. 
 
 Rules 
 
 Paste clippings in string with name of paper and date of issue 
 on reverse side of each clipping and place certification at bottom 
 of each string. Send in publicity strings at the end of each 
 month only. 
 
 Publicity must contain the words "professional engineer" or the 
 words "American Association of Engineers" and be printed as 
 a direct result of the efforts of the chapter or club »ubmitting 
 the publicity. 
 
 Items printed in chapter bulletins will not be considered in the 
 contest. 
 
 Prizes 
 
 At the close of the contest on March 31, 1922, the total number 
 of column inches of publicity of each contestant will be measured 
 and ihc winner determined on the basis of the amount of space 
 obtained by those in each division. Division winners will then 
 compete to determine which of them has the highest quality 
 of publicity. Judges will be appointed by the National Executive 
 Committee. 
 
 A certificate for framing will be presented to each division 
 winner. 
 
 The grand prize will be a decorated banner, showing the name 
 of the winner for the year. Permanent possession of the banner 
 can be earned by winning three years in succession. The banner 
 is now held by Missoula, Montana. 
 
 How an association contest was conducted. 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 117 
 
 Service Precedes Publicity. Once more, let the 
 publicity man remember that publicity is based on 
 public service. The better the public realizes what 
 engineers can do for them, the more the public will 
 do for engineers. There is no limit to what 
 engineers have done, can do, or will do. 
 
 The following story of what one engineer did in 
 politics, with the help of other engineers, illus- 
 trates how true public service brings the only 
 really valuable publicity. A few years ago the 
 better element of Philadelphia — which is in the 
 majority in every city whenever it is unified — 
 ousted a certain political organization and elected 
 an old Quaker as its mayor. He went to Frederick 
 M. Taylor, the great pioneer in scientific manage- 
 ment, and asked him, "Can scientific management 
 be applied to the affairs of municipalities, as you 
 have applied it to manufacturing industries?" 
 
 "In some ways, better; in some ways, not so 
 well," was the reply. 
 
 The Mayor said, "I want you to take the job, 
 then, as Director of Public Works of Philadelphia." 
 Mr. Taylor replied : "I- can't do it. The principal 
 reason is that the doctors have given me just two 
 years to live, but I know a man who will be de- 
 lighted to have the opportunity to show what en- 
 gineers can do in that line." 
 
 One of the first things he did was to call in sev- 
 eral prominent engineers, and they ripped into a 
 new wall, for which the people of Philadelphia 
 were to pay two million dollars. They found rail- 
 road ties, ashes, and everything else, where there 
 
 :i 
 
 ('!; 
 
[Mfim\DcmmM£RicmiMkimHsrEMsiNEm 
 
 5T/iTEMENT0F PUSLIOTY. 
 
 w 
 
 ^hc/m. 
 
 ^r/t O^ \^ta^tf 
 
 
 Wm /falAtikaJ 
 
 
 i^ 
 
 
 
 lifter InfuUm 
 
 T. AJJrm f^j. Mr ft 
 
 MJJna £^*,Meri 
 
 4 e^jii,ftr\hmjl^4 
 
 
 4- 
 
 •cdft £/if/ titer ^\ 
 
 ^ M f 4^ttf4ml-m K,^/. 
 
 
 
 m»m /7rmftT TJitt Zt 
 
 tJoI /yf^Ji /^ .J 
 
 /Iterate f:,, Ts^^e 
 
 «:2i^^^-^ 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 119 
 
 should have been solid concrete. They took the 
 case through the courts. The courts condemned 
 the entire work. The taxpayers of Philadelphia 
 were paid the two million dollars, and they have 
 had a pretty friendly feeling towards engineers 
 since, and have had a good object lesson of what 
 engineers can do. 
 
 No better example of publicity could be given 
 than that which resulted from this case, and the 
 investigation resulted in the purely political em- 
 ployees being dropped, while the men who did the 
 work in that department, the engineers, got the 
 compensation they deserved. 
 
 The Fundamental Object — ^To Improve the En- 
 vironment in Which People Live. To tell an 
 honest story the public relations man must know 
 many of the most intimate business details, and 
 while he may not tell the public all of the details, 
 he must have this background for his work. 
 
 Effective publicity has an intangible quality 
 which is often lacking in advertising, and which 
 carries conviction. Its spirit is conveyed by the 
 use of words just as an atmosphere is created by 
 the playing of a master musician, or by a great 
 writer. The purpose back of the writer, the lec- 
 turer, the service man, the advertisement, the mo- 
 tion picture, or the booklet is expressed in the 
 medium ; so what is attempted to be said, and what 
 is actually said, may create entirely different im- 
 pressions. 
 
 It should be remembered that only part of the 
 people know what the other part is doing, and the 
 
 1 1 
 
 if 
 
 !' 
 
 fl 
 
Ittt 
 
 1 20 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 story is interesting to one which is commonplace 
 to the other. Any organization must consider its 
 own affairs as also the affairs of other people. It 
 is the job of the public relations man to educate 
 people as to what is going on in the field over 
 which he has supervision. He is an ambassador 
 
 Li&RARY & 
 
 5us»C3sReaiAftCH 
 
 Public Information 
 
 OlRCCTOH 
 
 MAfiAZlNC 
 ADVERTIfttKtQ 
 
 AOVCRTtatsId 
 AQtr4CY 
 
 OirecTftrMAtt. 
 
 AOVCRTISiriS 
 
 Copy ideas 
 Copy PRoouc-noN 
 Art wowc 
 SoieouLes 
 
 PntNTMQ 
 
 OFFICE 
 
 FORM UTTtW 
 
 FOLOeR* 
 Booklets 
 
 PRCMlUMa 
 
 CATALOOa 
 
 PRINT1N6 
 
 Pu5Lcmr 
 
 dTeNOGRAPHC 
 
 MmeOAHAPHMG 
 r-^TlGRAPMlMS 
 MAlUNaLlSTS 
 
 CONTRACTS 
 PHOTOGRAPHS 
 
 News5T0Rtes 
 toiTiNGReram 
 
 HOUMORSAM 
 PHOTOGKAPHr 
 
 MOTION hcnjtcs 
 
 eXHl6lTa AND 
 CONVENTIONS 
 bOOKS 
 
 Functional organization of a typical public information 
 
 department. 
 
 Note. — This plan for a public information department is devel- 
 oped for a complete organization acting independently and cover- 
 ing the entire field of sales and institutional advertising, and 
 magazine and newspaper publicity. No provision is made for 
 service work or bookkeeping, and but small provision is made 
 for co-operative work in educational institutions. 
 
 The Publicity Man 
 
 121 
 
 from his organization to the public at large, and 
 the mediums and methods that he uses are those 
 that will best tell the why and wherefore, and will 
 be educational in value. The object is not so much 
 to sell goods or to inculcate ideas as it is to im- 
 prove the environment in which people live; and 
 unless public relations work is based on this broad 
 conception, it will be largely futile. 
 
 i; 
 
 ill 
 
 w 
 
 m 
 
 
 I'} 
 
 4 12 19 
 
Ute^ 
 
 ^^^^EnqnosS 
 
 < CLCVATIOn ( 
 
 '%mwinmtiA'i&'^ 
 
 •WIT" 
 
 bwiMMnit 
 
 SecTiOH 
 
 PLAM OrTMRbKy 
 
 IHHHBB 
 
 An unusual meeting announcement. 
 
 » 
 
 t WiiiM 111 I II n i BBJnB mnif li 1 h 1 nft 1 WiiiHittttaai 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 TYPICAL PUBLICITY PROBLEMS 
 
 Engineers* Week in Missoula 
 Presenting Engineering Activities to a Community 
 
 With a slogan as a keynote, the Missoula Chap- 
 ter of the American Association of Engineers 
 staged an "Engineers* Week/' March 13 to 20, 
 192 1. The object was to bring before the general 
 public the importance of engineering work and 
 engineering principles in the daily life of the com- 
 munity. The measure of success achieved was 
 summed up by the Mayor of Missoula, Montana, 
 and the manager of the Missoula Chamber of Com- 
 merce at the Engineers' luncheon when they both 
 stated that the organization had shown the com- 
 munity that they were interested in and equipped 
 to handle efficiently local problems of an engineer- 
 ing nature. 
 
 Here is the story of the demonstration as told by 
 W. J. Scofield, in Professional Engineer , May, 192 1. 
 
 First, a formal application for membership in 
 the Missoula Chamber of Commerce was made 
 and granted in the name of the chapter secretary, 
 who appointed some member to serve on each 
 Chamber of Commerce committee dealing with 
 problems of an engineering nature. 
 
 This first important step in community co-opera- 
 
 123 
 
124 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 tion immediately emphasized the need of inform- 
 ing the general public of the importance of 
 engineering in the daily life of the community. The 
 president appointed a committee of five to arrange 
 for "Engineers* Week." This committee drafted 
 into service the entire membership. 
 
 The committee offered a $5 prize to the school 
 boy or girl submitting the best slogan to be used 
 during the week. A boy of 14 years won the prize. 
 
 fficient 
 
 ngineering 
 
 nsures 
 
 fFective 
 
 conomy 
 
 Prize-winning slogan in Missoula contest. 
 
 Much interest was created among the school chil- 
 dren of the community, and this interest reached 
 its height on Saturday evening of the week, when 
 over 200 students attended an interesting motion 
 picture show, prefaced by short engineering talks, 
 given in the high school auditorium. 
 
 The committee was swamped with ideas and 
 suggestions for the Week, many of which had to 
 be discarded or abandoned on account of the lack 
 of time or money necessary to make adequate 
 preparation. The Missoula mercantile establish- 
 ments very liberally donated their window space 
 for display purposes and fifteen windows were 
 used as follows: 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 125 
 
 1. Road and bridge display. 
 
 2. Engineers' shoes and clothing. 
 
 3. Electrically operated pumping system. 
 
 4. Hydraulic display. 
 
 5. Map and mapping. 
 
 6. Chemical engineering. 
 
 7. Grade crossing separation. 
 
 8. Engineering tests. 
 
 9. Engineering in China. 
 
 10. Engineers' hats. 
 
 11. Engineers' rations. 
 
 12. Engineering instruments. 
 
 13. International Correspondence School. 
 
 14. Engineering equipment. 
 
 15. Electrical motors. 
 
 The grade crossing display attracted the most 
 attention. Only a few days previous a crossing 
 accident had occurred a few miles east of the city. 
 The remains of the automobile as drawn into the 
 city on a truck were shown in a photograph in the 
 window with a list of the parts salvaged and an 
 estimated cost of the elimination of the crossing. 
 Part of this display is illustrated on page 73. 
 
 A placard, ''Patrick, the Patron Saint of Engi- 
 neers," with a green bow thereon appeared in each 
 window on March 17; and the newspapers printed 
 a short story about the Guard of St. Patrick, an 
 organization of several middle-western engineering 
 schools based on the legend that St. Patrick was 
 an engineer and is therefore the friend of engineers. 
 
 A restaurant featured an Engineers' dinner on 
 their menu cards for Monday of the Week. Moving 
 pictures of engineering projects were featured at 
 the various theatres of the city and served to in- 
 
 ISi 
 
 H\ 
 
126 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 1 1 
 
 fl 
 
 r i 
 
 ^r 
 
 terest large audiences in the importance of en- 
 gineering activities. 
 
 On Wednesday evening the Chamber of Com- 
 merce and Rotary Club v^ere guests of the engi- 
 neers in the Chamber of Commerce club rooms, 
 where both organizations were well represented. 
 Addresses were made by George Weisel, president 
 of the Chamber of Commerce, and John N. Edy, 
 chief engineer of the State Highway Commission, 
 which particularly brought out the fact that a spirit 
 of co-operation is necessary between the engineer 
 and the public before any important community 
 program can be successfully carried out. Motion 
 picture films were also shown of the Washington 
 Water Power Companies hydro-electric develop- 
 ment and of modern concrete road construction. 
 
 The week was full of earnest endeavor; and, if 
 we are to judge by the many compliments be- 
 stowed upon us by Missoula business men, it closed 
 a week of distinct engineering progress in this 
 community. A final Engineers' luncheon was held 
 on Saturday. 
 
 Success was made possible only by the whole- 
 hearted support of the members, the co-operation 
 of Missoula business men and commercial organi- 
 zations, and the generous assistance of the Mis- 
 soula newspapers, which furnished an average of 
 a column a day devoted to engineering articles of 
 more or less local interest. These articles showed 
 the wide diversification and application of engi- 
 neering, besides giving proper space to the meet- 
 ings and activities of the week. Without any re- 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 
 
 127 
 
 duction of his quaHty standard the chairman of the 
 publicity committee and his assistants were able 
 to obtain about 600 column inches of publicity dur- 
 ing this week alone. As one editor said after the 
 week, 'The public was not allowed to lose sight 
 of the significance of engineering." 
 
 Promoting a National Highway 
 
 Following are some of the methods used in pro- 
 moting the Custer Battlefield Highway through 
 South Dakota, methods which are typical of this 
 class of work. 
 
 An association was formed and a committee to 
 carry on the work organized. This committee ob- 
 tained money from cities along the route of the 
 highway and a paid secretary was employed. This 
 secretary continued the work of obtaining money 
 by pledges and in one year held seventy-two meet- 
 ings, raising in pledges over $100,000 and collect- 
 ing in cash about $2,000. As many as six employees 
 were engaged on the promotional work of the or- 
 ganization in the busy season. 
 
 Road Reports. Postal card reports of road con- 
 ditions were issued every Saturday from the main 
 office, giving information obtained from advertis- 
 ers, secretaries, directors, and the state highway 
 department. The highway was divided into sec- 
 tions for easy reference. The total edition was 
 about 170 postal cards a week. 
 
 Direct Advertising. Printed matter was dis- 
 tributed as follows: 9,000 pieces at different au- 
 tomobile shows, 44,000 pieces through the main 
 
 H 
 
 ^i,^ 
 
 ,i,,| 
 
 li 
 
128 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 office, advertisers, commercial clubs, and cham- 
 bers of commerce, and in other ways, making a 
 total distribution of 86,000 pieces of matter. The 
 postage bill for July, a busy month, not including 
 pamphlets and matter sent by express, was $108.26. 
 During the summer, an average of twenty-five let- 
 ters were received and in two days sixty-seven in- 
 quiries came in. Three assistants were employed 
 to handle extra work. 
 
 Automobile Demonstration. There were fifty- 
 three automobiles in a caravan organized by the 
 Boy Scouts which traveled over a route through 
 South Dakota and Northern Wyoming to Yellow- 
 stone Park. The caravan travelled on schedule and 
 was well received throughout the route. 
 
 Magazine Articles. Magazine articles about the 
 highway appeared in the New York Times, New 
 York Evening Post, Chicago Record-Herald, Chicago 
 Examiner, Popular Mechanics, Review of Reviews, 
 and other publications of national circulation. 
 
 Registration Bureau. An information bureau 
 was organized to determine just how many people 
 were travelling over the highway; where they were 
 going; what advertising they saw; why they took 
 the route; how many miles they travelled on the 
 route; their opinion of the towns along the route; 
 the marketing; the camping grounds; and the 
 treatment received. 
 
 Bureaus were opened in towns along the high- 
 way, ten of which were active. There were 3,700 
 cars registered, representing 10,077 people. It is 
 estimated that 5,000 cars travelled the route be- 
 tween May and August, 192 1. 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 
 
 129 
 
 Exhibitions. Exhibits were placed at the auto- 
 mobile shows in five cities along the route and 
 also at the American Highway Convention in Chi- 
 cago, where 2,000 people registered at the booth 
 and 6,000 pieces of literature were distributed. 
 
 Publicity Stunts. White Eagle, the Indian poet, 
 rode Red Bird, the little cow pony from Hardin, 
 Montana, to Omaha. This stunt attracted the at- 
 tention of thousands of people, and much comment 
 in local papers resulted from his trip. 
 
 Motion Pictures. A motion picture reel of the 
 Indian's trip was made and a contract signed with 
 the association whereby a New York syndicate 
 showed the reel in the East. Four extra prints 
 were made and started on a circuit from the main 
 office. It is estimated that over 1,000,000 people 
 saw this picture. 
 
 Bond Issues. Bond issues were stimulated in 
 counties of the states through which the highway 
 passed by personal visits of the secretary to the 
 different towns to stir up interest. 
 
 Bill Boards and Signs. Eight large bill boards 
 were erected calling attention to the features of 
 the route. A typical sign was sixteen feet long, 
 located on a straight piece of road along the rail- 
 road, with the words, "Custer Battlefields High- 
 way for the Two National Parks;" this sign could 
 be seen by tourists both on the highway and on 
 the railroad. These signs were found to be par- 
 ticularly effective. 
 
 Direction signs were erected at all points where 
 they were needed and painted signs placed on tele- 
 
 > i 
 
 ■| M 
 
I30 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 graph poles and direction posts. These painted 
 
 signs were coated with varnish for protection. 
 
 In re-marking signs, in one trip of nine weeks 
 
 sixty-two new posts were erected, seventy reset, 
 
 and 5,000 painted signs on telegraph poles and 
 posts were repainted and varnished. 
 
 Material Benefits. It is estimated by the Auto- 
 mobile Association of America that tourists spend 
 $5 a person each day. The total sum spent by 
 tourists over the highway was estimated at 
 $470,000, allowing a week's time to cover the high- 
 way. Reports from the information bureaus, ho- 
 tels and garages show that there was an average 
 of forty cars a day during the tourists' season. 
 These tourists were what are known as "cash cus- 
 tomers", and merchants and business men found 
 their business very profitable. There is an added 
 advantage, that many tourists buy lands, and 
 homes, and make investment along the route. 
 
 Promoting a Large Pageant 
 
 In planning the Pageant of Progress — a two- 
 weeks' business exposition, held in Chicago in the 
 summer of 192 1 — the following methods were em- 
 ployed : 
 
 Various portions of the city were organized in 
 districts, following geographic lines, and each one 
 of these districts prepared its own community 
 pageant and held entertainments preliminary to 
 the main Pageant of Progress Exposition. The type 
 of entertainment and the method of selection of 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 
 
 131 
 
 the queen of the district varied in the different lo- 
 caHties. Bands, picnics, dances, and parades in- 
 cluding floats, the American Legion, Boy Scouts, 
 and High School Cadets were features of many 
 of these community efforts. 
 
 A leading newspaper held a contest for the se- 
 lection of the queen of the pageant from all the 
 districts. In addition each community selected its 
 own queen, prizes being offered ranging in value 
 from $100 to $500, including diamond rings, art 
 watches, a ticket to Niagara Falls, cash, savings 
 accounts, etc. The method of selection varied 
 from the merchandise-coupon vote system to 
 the photographic contest and personal inspection 
 method, depending largely upon the residential or 
 industrial nature of the district. 
 
 The final selection of the queen was made at the 
 opening of the main Pageant of Progress Exposi- 
 tion. The city was divided into eleven districts, 
 each headed by a district chairman under whose 
 direction new organizations were formed where 
 necessary, new life injected into the weak organi- 
 zations, and several organizations in each section 
 were joined for necessary work. 
 
 The celebrations growing out of the work of 
 these district chairmen included a field day in one 
 district which entailed choral singing, baseball 
 games, field stunts, and other features; in another 
 district a water carnival was staged with motor 
 boat races ; and in another a day on which local in- 
 dustries were featured. A four-mile parade was a 
 feature of another district. 
 
132 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 During the exposition one day was allotted to 
 each district or special group such as fraternal 
 day, commercial group day, Hungarian day, etc. 
 
 Historical and educational phases of the different 
 industries were presented, including the presenta- 
 tion of the history of progress by actual display of 
 the early stage coach, the first engine, and the 
 original , McCormick reaper. The first telephone 
 in the country was shown as the beginning of the 
 vast system now connecting all parts of the country. 
 The woodworker demonstrated his skill in the 
 manufacture of wood decorations. Paper, oriental 
 rugs, shoes, cloth, ice cream, butter and cheese, and 
 many other articles were shown in the process of 
 manufacture. The process of oil-refining was wit- 
 nessed in every stage, and moving pictures illus- 
 trated the steps in the production of a newspaper. 
 
 A unique feature of the exposition program was 
 the race between carrier pigeons, an automobile, 
 an airplane, and a motorcycle. 
 
 Venetian nights with firework displays, singing 
 in barges around the shore, and picturesque pa- 
 geantry were features. 
 
 Campaign for Rehabilitating a City Water System 
 
 In the campaign for the rehabilitation of the 
 water system of Parsons, Kansas, says R. E. 
 McDonnell in Prof essional Engineer, February, 1922, 
 plans, maps, estimates and summaries of the report 
 were prepared on a large scale for use in win- 
 dow displays. About seventy-five stereopticon 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 
 
 133 
 
 slides were made and used at mass meetings 
 and before civic organizations. Municipal band 
 concerts were held outdoors and following the 
 concerts all features of the project were ex- 
 plained — cost estimates, operating expenses, de- 
 preciation allowance, bond sinking fund, revenues 
 and rates, with net income, were shown through 
 graphical diagrams. All engineering features were 
 so clearly explained that a prominent attorney, 
 commenting on the project, said: "The engineer- 
 ing is shorn of its technical features and we are 
 now all engineers and see the soundness of the 
 whole project." 
 
 The Parsons Sun expressed a willingness to pub- 
 lish a series of water works articles, which were 
 prepared by the engineers. These articles were 
 run daily, many of them being illustrated by views 
 showing both the present conditions of the water 
 works system and the proposed improvements. 
 Over fifty of these articles were prepared and 
 used. They were written, not as a technical jour- 
 nal would use them, but as newsy, interesting 
 items. To test their power to interest readers, an 
 interruption was intentionally made, which caused 
 many telephone calls of inquiry and request for the 
 articles to continue. Some knowledge of the fifty 
 articles may be gained by quoting some of the 
 titles : "Why the Women of Parsons Want Pure, 
 Soft Water," "How Good Health Can Be Pur- 
 chased," "What Happens When a Water Famine 
 Occurs," "The Cost of a Typhoid Epidemic." A 
 feature of the improvements was a modern water 
 
134 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 purification system to displace a very inadequte 
 and antiquated system. Comparative figures were 
 given showing the saving in cost of operating a 
 modern plant, thus showing the voters that they 
 were daily losing money by operating an inefficient 
 plant, besides giving the city an unsafe water to 
 drink. Former bad fires were illustrated, with 
 tables of annual fire losses, showing the fire loss 
 per capita far above that of other cities. Insurance 
 rates w€re shown to be exorbitant because of the 
 present inadequate protection. Fire losses due en- 
 tirely to poor pressure were shown to exceed the 
 total bond issue asked. A portion of the improve- 
 ments consisted of replacing a large amount of 
 small steel and wrought iron pipe, also replacing 
 a flow line of spiral riveted steel and vitrified pipe. 
 The leakage figures were given, showing a loss of 
 over half the water pumped. Exhibits of this worn- 
 out pipe were placed at prominent street corners, 
 with placards giving age, when removed, etc. The 
 per capita cost of the Parsons proposed improve- 
 ments was shown to be less than that of about 
 twenty-five cities similarly situated. 
 
 The generation of electricity for operating low 
 service pumps over a ten-mile transmission line to 
 the River Station and also low service pumps at 
 the City Station, lighting the grounds and sta- 
 tions was a part of the improvements strongly op- 
 posed by a private company, wanting to sell elec- 
 tricity to the city. This feature involved a fight 
 for municipal ownership, with all its advantages, 
 to be shown by the engineers. The salesmen with 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 
 
 135 
 
 something to sell in the way of machinery, equip- 
 ment, pipe, oil engines, and steam engines were 
 very active, making it necessary for the engineers 
 to make an unbiased report on each, and thus fore- 
 stalling opposition to the bonds. 
 
 The publicity campaign through the papers and 
 by personal presentation of the plans before civic 
 organizations continued for four weeks, with an 
 intensive speaking campaign for one week, when 
 twenty-one meetings were addressed, in explaining 
 the engineering, economic, and health features of 
 the project. Noon meetings were addressed when 
 factory, shop, and office employees were reached. 
 Slides were distributed daily to all the picture 
 shows, showing some special features of the im- 
 provements. Local speakers were organized and 
 ten-minute talks at all picture shows were made 
 during the closing week. Church announcements 
 were made, calling attention to the necessity of 
 good citizens voting either for or against, but leav- 
 ing them to form their own conclusions. 
 
 The women voters, through the Parsons Fed- 
 erated Women's Clubs, sponsored the final mass 
 meeting, bringing before the women voters the 
 importance of the water supply from the stand- 
 point of health, hygiene, sanitation, beautiful 
 lawns, clean streets, swimming pools, and school 
 and street drinking fountains. 
 
 Various business men co-operated and jointly 
 carried full-page advertisements recalling former 
 water famines, bad fires, and showing what the 
 new improvements could offer in the way of se- 
 curing new industries in Parsons. 
 
136 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Hom€ owners were clearly shown by figures 
 that not a dollar of taxes would be added, but that 
 the revenue would make the plant self-supporting. 
 
 The engineers conducting the campaign had the 
 support and active aid of the Mayor, but no aid nor 
 co-operation from one of the Commissioners, and 
 the active opposition of the other Commissioner, 
 until two days previous to the election, when his 
 conversion occurred and the three united in a 
 printed statement favoring the bonds. Other early 
 opposition gradually melted away as the project be- 
 came understood and those who had opposed came 
 out in print favoring the bond issue. In their ar- 
 ticles and talks the engineers refrained from di- 
 rectly urging the voters to support the bonds, but 
 took the position of a disinterested consulting phy- 
 sician to a sick utility, and presented their prescrip- 
 tion for the patient in the form of plans, estimates 
 and report, and all features of these were clearly 
 explained, leaving the voters to form their own 
 conclusions how they wanted to vote. 
 
 Promoting a County Bond Issue 
 
 How a county highway engineer, W. C. Can- 
 ning, convinced his constituents of the necessity 
 for a $150,000 bond issue for good roads is told by 
 R. C. Yeoman in Professional Engineer, for Feb- 
 ruary, 1 92 1. 
 
 After taking office as county engineer he began 
 a study of a road system for the county with a 
 swing about the county seeking information by 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 
 
 137 
 
 direct observation and consultation with the most 
 interested taxpayers. His sincerity and thorough- 
 ness soon won for him the confidence and esteem 
 of all of those with whom he came in contact, par- 
 ticularly the staff of the local newspaper. He soon 
 learned the prevailing sentiment and made his plans 
 to meet conditions as he found them. 
 
 The primary purpose of his survey and investi- 
 gation was to enable him to design a system of road 
 construction and repair that not only would carry 
 traffic but in addition would give as much comfort 
 and convenience as the community could afford. 
 He made a complete study of the sources of ma- 
 terial, the geographical location of the roads, the 
 alignment and drainage, the traffic needs and the 
 economic and financial relation of the community 
 to these roads. 
 
 He concluded that by publicity he would be able 
 to accomplish his job of convincing the public of 
 the necessity of adopting a sound program. While 
 he was perfecting his plans he wrote items on such 
 economic subjects as the decrease in the value of 
 the dollar, particularly with regard to construction, 
 which were published in the local paper to prepare 
 the public mind for future judgment. 
 
 No inkling of his plans was given out until he had 
 complete information on every detail. Then, in a 
 full page newspaper report he presented a complete 
 map and a discussion of his proposal which included 
 not only statistics of existing conditions and an out- 
 line of needed improvements, but accurate esti- 
 mates of the cost of his plan for remedying the road 
 
 I ! 
 
Poster for a Bond Issue 
 
 I 
 
 O QUIRE UTLEY of Smith Mills asks: If we are 
 using all the present levy in taking care of our 
 present roads, how can we take care of the new ones 
 that we build at the end of the five years? 
 
 A STITCH in time saves nine. For the past eight or 
 ^ ten years, in fact practically ever since our present 
 rock roads have been built, no systematic effort has been 
 made to maintain them. No ditching has been done, no 
 bridges or culverts repaired, and the roads have at no 
 time been resurfaced. The same thing holds good in re- 
 gard to the dirt roads. 
 
 WOODEN bridges have been built and rotted down 
 in two or three years, washouts have been per- 
 mitted to grow larger from year to year, and mud holes 
 have existed from one season's end to the other. Had 
 some of the money which remained in the county treas- 
 ury at the beginning of the term of the present ad- 
 ministration been expended upon resurfacing and ditch- 
 ing the rock roads, building permanent bridges and 
 culverts, and in proper maintenance methods the present 
 large expenditure of the people's funds in resurfacing 
 roads and rebuilding bridges would not now be neces- 
 sary. 
 
 MONEY saved by penny-wise and pound-foolish pol- 
 icies in the past is now costing the people of 
 Henderson County the same sums twice over in repair 
 and reconstruction work that would have been unneces- 
 sary if spent in time. 
 
 THE present policy is to resurface the present rock 
 roads entirely within a period of three years, and 
 building anew in a permanent manner the bridges and 
 culverts throughout the county. If this policy is ad- 
 hered to, within three years the cost of maintaining the 
 present rock roads and the dirt roads throughout the 
 county will be materially decreased, and ample funds 
 will be available to keep all of our roads in a decent 
 condition. For example, the Corydon Road is estimated 
 to cost $625 a mile per annum for the next three years 
 to put it in a satisfactory condition — after that time 
 the cost of maintaining this road will be less than one- 
 half of this sum. 
 
 'T^HERE is where the money will come from to 
 •*• maintain our new roads. 
 
i 
 
 ^1 
 
 I 
 
 140 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 conditions. At this point he enlisted the further 
 help of the county judge and the editor of the local 
 newspaper, who both gave him their ablest sup- 
 port. He followed up his announcement with fur- 
 ther newspaper publicity and poster advertising 
 until his plan was so thoroughly "sold" that the 
 whole was accepted at the polls without the change 
 of a word or a figure. The plan covered a five-year 
 program of new road construction and maintenance, 
 embodying a total expenditure of over $150,000. 
 
 The care with which his campaign was planned 
 is indicated by the change of nomenclature from a 
 road tax to a road levy to gain the psychological 
 advantage of eliminating the word "tax." 
 
 Another feature worthy of mention was "one 
 minute interviews" from interested taxpayers. Hun- 
 dreds were asked, "What do you think of the road 
 levy?" The newspaper was glad to have such com- 
 ment because of its human interest element and the 
 answers were published, to the further benefit of 
 the campaign. This performance may seem small 
 or large, depending upon the experience and loca- 
 tion of the reader. Its execution, however, is by 
 no means unimportant. 
 
 After the general proposal was published, cer- 
 tain questions came up which were answered in a 
 very complete and decisive manner. A sample of 
 the handbills and posters is shown. 
 
 The issue was put up squarely to the voters that 
 it was their adoption of the road levy that would 
 raise the funds to provide a system of adequate 
 highways in the county with their attendant ad- 
 vantages. The people voted yes. 
 
 ^^^_^i^^^^^H 
 
 ^^^_^_^hw.^^i^ 
 
 - — -- • ■ 
 
 Chapter 
 Engineering Publicity 
 
 Typical Examples Selected 
 
 from the 
 
 Cleveland Engineering Society 
 
 t^ 
 
 By 
 
 C. E. Drayer 
 
 (D. p. elevens, Nom de Plume^ 
 
 Secretary, American Association of Engineers, 
 
 formerly Secretary of Cleveland 
 
 Engineering Society 
 
1*1 
 
 ■ 
 
 (iPtiTssiifnT 
 
 aTfEVPlMIS 
 
 SMOKE IS Mll.UOS'i 
 
 ^' SiHLIUlSMICl 
 
 » m* ••M Ml b 
 
 m:iwm' ■«•'-.■^Ai«• 
 
 "•' • (ifiiiiiKtai: 
 
 
 -.-— _-rrrf*"■■ 
 
 llMSEIEHmK 
 UKRilFltlS 
 
 
 IL £S 
 
 rwestah 
 
 XNSIVDYINt 
 SMOtE EVIl 
 
 OMUIESMOtt 
 
 vtUBBOS 
 
 SNcnoua 
 ■nTOBuy 
 
 \ ( o. 
 
 llcoiiM 
 
 10 BRIMS' Me ,j„^^^,. 
 
 «M •«« •*-■•••««, 
 
 Imp! 
 
 »<>«otH>*Hr i|r*^ »•••* 
 
 CIVIC ACTIVITIES 
 Big Stick Shown in Building Code. Swat Building 
 Code. Cleveland had been struRslinK with the revision 
 of the building code. The actual work of revision was done 
 by a joint committee composed of the Chairman of the Build- 
 ing Code Committees of the Cleveland Engineering Society, 
 the Builders Kxchangc. and the Cleveland Chapter of the 
 American Institute of Architects. The code has been care- 
 
 fully studied by the committee and some 460 sections have 
 been revised and 260 new sections added, the City Council 
 turning into law what the committee approved. It was an 
 Herculean task to which these men gave unselfishly of their 
 time without remuneration of any kind. 
 
 Experts Sought to Aid in Testing City Employees. 
 Plan Exam for City Engineering Force. The Civil 
 Service Commission asked the society to assist it by taking 
 charge of the preparation and marking of papers for engi- 
 neering positions. Results to both the society and the Com- 
 mission have been very gratifying. The Commission secured 
 the services of experts at no cost to the city, whereas during 
 the previous year it had paid some $900 for examination of 
 candidates for engineering positions, yet complaints had been 
 made that proper relative weights had not been given to 
 experience and theoretical training. The Secretary of the 
 Commission told us that candidates were satisfied after the 
 engineering society took charge. In this case our Publicity 
 Committee tipped off the reporters and they dug uo their 
 own stories from the Commission. 
 
 Praise Tech Work, But Point Out Faults. Vocational 
 Guide Urged for Pupils. This was our first publicity 
 work, in August of 1912, and is an abstract of the report 
 of the Committee on Technical Education of the Society 
 after it had studied Cleveland's technical schools. 
 
 Civic Clubs Unite to Pick Boys' Jobs. Reports a joint 
 meeting of the Engineering Society, Y. M. C. A., and Cham- 
 ber of Commerce to discuss vocational guidance. 
 
 Want Committee for Crossing Plan. The Bridge and 
 Grade Crossing Committees of the society found little had 
 been done in planning the work of grade elimination in the 
 city in a systematic manner and recommended that future 
 work be anticipated in some general comprehensive scheme. 
 
 Yale Man to Talk Smoke and other clippings are de- 
 voted principally to arousing public sentiment against unnec- 
 essary smoke and to induce as many as possible to attend a 
 popular lecture on "How to Burn Soft Coal Economically and 
 Without Smoke," delivered by Dr. Breckenridge at a joint 
 meeting betvyeen the Chamber of Commerce and the Engi- 
 neering Society. The two clippings on the right are the 
 reports of the meeting, which was attended by 600 engineers, 
 manufacturers and citizens. The editorial in the lower left 
 corner was suggested to one of the papers after the editor's 
 attention had been called to the annual report of the smoke 
 inspector, a member of our society. The report was 
 abstracted and recast in newspaper style in a three-quarter 
 column article. 
 
i 
 
 New GMMMUr Albatross Atreplant Is Last Word in Safety and Spred 
 
 H1|giitl» 
 
 rvrlan6 I 
 
 GETTING STARTED RIGHT 
 
 w 
 
 THIS shows the story of two annual dinners and our 
 first feature article. The pictures ("art," as newspaper 
 men call it) at the center arc of Esselstyn. president of the 
 Detroit Kngineering Society; Bell, president of the Engi- 
 neer's Society of Buffalo; Stucki, president of the Engi- 
 neer's Society of Western Pennsylvania, and the outgoing 
 and incoming presidents of the Cleveland Engineering Society. 
 
 Engineers Vote to Aid Scholars and Engineers May 
 Raise Fund to Aid Students were in the morning papers the 
 
 following day. There were two reasons why space was small 
 in the morning papers. One was the late hour at which the 
 banqueters adjourned, allowing short time to get copy in 
 before the last edition of the papers went to press. The 
 other reason was that Mr. Bryan had inconsiderately — to the 
 society, I mean- -resigned as Secretary of State on the day 
 of the dinner, taking all of the first page and some of the 
 succeeding ones, besides exciting the reporters. The pic- 
 tures of the three men in the lower left center were in the 
 advance notice of our annual dinners. 
 
 New Gammeter Albatross Aeroplane is Last Word in 
 Speed and Safety was our first feature article and appeared 
 in a Sundaj'^ magazine section. In the lower left-hand corner 
 is the advance notice of the meeting, consisting of a picture 
 of the speaker and some lOO words telling about him and 
 what he was to talk about. When we went to the Sunday edi- 
 tor and asked him if he'd like a feature article on flying ma- 
 chines he said, "Yes, only you engineers are too technical." 
 We told him we were interested mainly in knowing whether 
 he was receptive to the idea and that he didn't need to print 
 the article if it didn't suit him. "That's a go," he said. 
 
 The chairman of the Publicity Committee has been seeking 
 the right sort of an assistant for a long time. When he 
 found a young man ready to attempt the preparation of this 
 article under his direction, he felt about the young man as 
 the editor did toward the article — he might come through, but 
 past evidence was to the contrary. The article was blocked 
 out. The writer came back with a sophomoric composition, a 
 good undergraduate essay. We went over it in detail and he 
 rewrote it, improving it considerably and approaching news- 
 paper style. Again it was given back to him to rewrite. He 
 did it all over the third time and never flinched. The editor 
 was highly pleased. After that our Sunday papers were eager 
 for our feature copy and one article was paid for. Pay had 
 been offered previously, but then we told the editor the mate- 
 rial was not for sale. The effect this statement had upon 
 him was worth the sacrifice in money. 
 
WHY NO BOAT CA N\ 
 
 MnSTAND A TOQPfDO A 
 
 Only Protccnoo AfainM Such Duwnn h B«f«ll 
 Tiun.« >nd Liuiiaau b Prcvcatio* of CoHmim 
 or Attick. Enfiaccr Showi. 
 
 \mjnk ^i.»aij'_i , 
 
 The Whyf of of That Extra Hour of Darkness in the Morning 
 
 tiurtri Jrrnm*» ntn Pimtrtm 
 
 FEATURING SIMPLE SUBJECTS 
 
 Why No Boat Can Withstand a Torpedo. This 
 article is devoted to an explanation of the principles of 
 buoyancy governing the design of ships. By picturing the 
 difficulties an urchin meets in trying to keep a floating 
 tomato can upright until he discerns that he must put some 
 stones in the can, very technical terms like center of gravity, 
 center of buoyancy and metacenter can be introduced with- 
 out frightening the popular reader. Even an engineer came 
 to us and told us that he enjoyed the article and learned 
 several things from reading it. 
 
 Touching upon the point of timeliness of news, this article 
 was cast for the presses when the Eastland capsized. One 
 of the editors accused us of being accessories before the fact. 
 In defense we would say had the Eastland turned over a week 
 earlier, the caption would doubtless have been different. In 
 this article, as in the gun pointing one, we furnished the text 
 and diagram ; the paper, the "filling in." It was syndicated 
 by the paper that published it, but no division of receipts was 
 made with the Publicity Committee. We have since done a 
 little syndicating of our own but not for money. 
 
 The Whyfor of That Extra Hour of Darkness in the 
 Morning. For several years a few misguided reformers 
 "in Cleveland crusaded to have the city adopt Eastern instead 
 of Central Standard time. The argument is based on the 
 statement that by Eastern time we would go to work an hour 
 earlier and have an hour more for outdoor recreation in the 
 afternoon. The writer took this method of setting before the 
 public the relation of daylight to darkness throughout the 
 year and endeavored to show that one time is as good as 
 another for the measure of the 24 hours, but that the vital 
 thing is to arrange working hours so as to use daylight most 
 economically. The article was prompted by the feeling that 
 it was a duty to set before the people information which he, 
 as a technical man, possessed in order that judgment might 
 be based on fact. 
 
xSffic Discoveries and Remarkable fad 
 
 HOW SCIENCE HARNESSES SOUND AND MAKES SPEAKER HEARD IN HALL 
 
 ,"s--Tr 
 
 
 
 • *r« I* •■ Ik* «■ 
 
 
 ^^vrurj^^' 
 
 
 How Your Street U. S. Next in Line ^n 
 Should Be Paved Health insurance 
 
 'Don't Make Bookworms ^^1 
 of Children in School" ^nr^ ff 
 
 I'm -mmm^ m ••<»<■ 0.11* cwwt ^. Jj]^^ ?^w*T!?*!ru** '**'.'**■'■♦* *y - 
 
 aV Cji^f^TT P ^h 
 
 HOW CLEVELAND WAS PUT ON MAP OF 
 NICKEL PLATE BY PROPHETIC ENGINEER 
 
 II It Hadn't htm for J. A. Latsha 
 RoilroaJ WaulJ Not Hart Came 
 Thi* Way and iht: Van Swemtifen* 
 CiiuU Not Hint bought it lor Thtir 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 >— Sw. .**» - 'v « ■«■ "1*^ • 
 
 ::«= 
 
 r-JVi 
 
 Wonder-s Being Worketl Right Here in j 
 
 Cleveland on Bi^^ H igh Level Brid ge { 
 
 • «MM« l^r «■» ■ «tt«l» MtaM (MMV *W 4«MMN. 
 
 LOCAL HISTORY INTEREST 
 
 How Cleveland Was Put on Map. Valuation work on 
 the Nickel Plate Railroad in 19 13 brought to light many 
 events of human interest occurring over a generation ago. 
 The purchase of this railroad by Cleveland men about the 
 time this history came to light furnishes a news peg for the 
 story. The article contains quotations of the "now it can be 
 told" kind, settling authentically many points such as why 
 the road passed through a rival city. 
 
 Wonders Being Worked Right Here in Cleveland. 
 When the 591 -foot arch was being built, hundreds of citizens 
 stood on the old viaduct adjacent and watched the workmen 
 spin the steel web. Occasionally a question would be asked 
 by some of these citizens. "How do they know the two sides 
 will come together?" The opportunity for a good engineer- 
 ing story to appear just about the time the two parts joined 
 is obvious. 
 
Iml ENGINEERING AS A LIFE WORK i~of 
 
 world] No. S—hon and Steel Making— By S. T. Wellman , WORK 
 
 [_••■'—• 
 
 ! THE \ ENGINEERING AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 [ world] -^— M». 4'Ekctrical'-By W. H. Ahbott* 
 
 OF 
 WORK 
 
 
 mA. WW. ijiw 
 
 ••■Mf »•• > ■<■■■■ M 
 
 
 
 The Work of the Engineer— What a^Man Must be and Do if He Succeeds 
 
 •rf t<k« n-mmm0^ M ^«i Mirf ««M( 
 
 '.rx 
 
 fi ^ mm •« mmmMMn ami ^— rf i n 
 
 e i.aiu^ 1 ,i »fc — fci , 
 
 ENGINEERING AS A LIFE WORK 
 
 pp ARLY in our publicity work there was published in one 
 *-^ of the Iccal papers a letter from a young man to the 
 editor asking what the opportunities are in civil and mechan- 
 ical engineering. The editor printed below the letter a 
 request that engineers of each of these branches answer the 
 question. Of course, we are amused that anyone should 
 expect the editor of a daily paper to answer the question, but 
 the asking indicates at once the opportunity to perform public 
 service through the medium of the daily papers. 
 
 Here was an opportunity for the Publicity Committee. It 
 accordingly asked the president of the society to prepare an 
 article in answer to the question to be offered to the editor 
 of one of our papers. The editor liked the idea so well 
 that he called for more and the scries grew until there were 
 fourteen articles. These articles with a few on the branches 
 not treated in the Cleveland series appeared in book form 
 with the title, "Engineering as a Career.'' 
 
 
 I>t>«c B\ ihc I nit M«>rt»«i4» 
 
 
 .•tm-^m. 
 
 '"rrg 
 
 le-f^ bT *•* »~« " 
 
 ..4 -• »* ' ,. 
 
 VW 
 
 J-Jfeif r' ■- -^^^ 
 
 
 '3 
 
 .^ 
 
 LOCAL HAPPENINGS 
 
 Local Men Will be Prominent in A. R. E. A. Meeting 
 and most of the other clippings in the upper left quarter of 
 the illustration appeared in the section of our papers devoted 
 to railroads. The longest article is signed by the railroad 
 editor, and the text is verbatim as we prepared it. 
 
 Railroad Engineers Conclude Convention was a 
 telegraphic report sent from Chicago, press rates collect, to 
 the Cleveland papers after one of the railroad editors had 
 suggested that we report the convention in this manner. 
 
May Be Chief Engineer of Alaska Railroads. When 
 Hunter McDonald, then president of the A. S. C. E., was 
 being mentioned as possible head of the construction forces 
 for the Government's Alaskan railroad, an excellent "news 
 peg" was at hand on which to hang quite a story about the 
 A. R. E. A. and A. S. C. E. 
 
 Favors Unit Plan of Concrete Work. Here again are 
 shown advance notices appearing on Monday preceding the 
 meeting and a write-up of the lecture appearing on the Sun- 
 day following. The section of the Sunday paper in which 
 this story appeared went to press on Friday night. In this 
 instance copy was handled by the real estate editor who was 
 also movie editor, ahhough the duties of either job would 
 keep one man comfortably busy. Copy presenting recent 
 development in building construction eased the labors of the 
 real estate editor and was given a hearty welcome by him. 
 
 Weather Prophet's Secrets Disclosed. Weather Mixer 
 Joins Engineers. Shortly after the new weather fore- 
 caster took up his work in Cleveland, he became a member 
 of the Engineering Society. It was quite proper that both 
 the man and his lecture on the "U. S. Weather Bureau and 
 Its Work" should be given some publicity, introducing him 
 to the community. Cleveland is in a district subject to so 
 many and sudden changes of weather that the lot of the 
 weather man is a precarious one and at best many of our 
 worthy citizens would greet him with a hatchet. 
 
 The two clippings to the upper left in this group are the 
 advance notices. When we came to write the one which is 
 straight reading matter, we got down our cyclopedia and 
 discovered some interesting things, one of which was that 
 a Clevclander while in Congress had a hand in the forma- 
 tion of the Weather Bureau. This, and several other inter- 
 esting points, were ancient history, unless there could be 
 found a "news peg" to hang them on, that is, to justify 
 them. The new weather man and his lecture was the peg. 
 
 Burrowinsl Under the Lake 
 
 SECTION OF yVA TCR TUNNEL 
 
 ta^aBftiSOr ** H^*- ■ft*' toil ft i^ km taU mmt* tm br imC. wmm h k4*>ii 
 
 t HM TW noffl ■*■ 
 
 
 _a^h.aaH_rfa. - ■ - *• *•* •« »*M t*fc fc— H — •( »■ •>«*• •» «■■■■■ 
 
 *" W^> kM koM alMad w ivt )wl SHl vto* Kki " « T*** " f " ■«■' ^ ■*— * -^ ^g*-* «— 
 
 r«— » -» «wE ik» * t»^— ' tkt ««M. ^^ "w^ rl^r^ «>™^ V* i " 
 
 DEPARTMENT FEATURE ARTICLES 
 
 How Science Harnesses Sound. So many great audi- 
 toriums have been acoustic failures that it is popularly sup- 
 posed audibility is beyond the ken of science. When Dr. 
 Dayton C. Miller, a recognized authority on sound, after 
 Cleveland had voted $2,500,000 for a municipal auditorium, 
 told us that the behavior of sound could be knowm accurately 
 in any building as soon as the plans were drawm and before 
 a building stone was laid, it became our public duty to voice 
 the demand that an acoustic expert be consulted in the design 
 of this great auditorium. 
 
 How Your Street Should Be Paved. This article had 
 as its primary purpose to tell the voting public the advantage 
 to the city from the passage of a three million dollar bond 
 issue to be voted on at a forthcoming election. It carried. 
 
 Burrowing Under the Lake. There is a world of 
 romance, adventure, and danger in digging a 7- foot brick 
 tunnel extending 7,500 feet under the lake through clay con- 
 taining gas pockets in order to bring potable water to a 
 thirsty city. No soldier of fortune on the frontier of civili- 
 zation must be more alert than the driver of the two-foot 
 gauge locomotive propelled by 1,200 pounds air pressure in 
 its massively-plated tank. Shirking responsibility would 
 insure his attendance at his own funeral. The appeal of such 
 a story is universal. 
 
How GUMED.S PrCKOUT liffilD 
 TABGET.S TliOITGH I'AD /MSY 
 
 Cleveland Enjrmefr Explains Ho« 0| 
 ernt<;rs«f (iiant Wea' ons Must Fiiur 
 
 ('•aivruily in S nJinijr Sh:>i]< t' R ;:tit 
 
 w 
 
 Vwwd Katw ki4(Mi 
 
 
 
 
 ^Ww -r? Mw* . r.«w» Imm^t9 so »w--' 
 
 1^3" 
 
 .. i.ji- 
 
 FEATURING A TECHNICAL SUBJECT 
 
 A NY plan for publicity by engineers must be based on a 
 'L\ systematic scheme to educate the public, and from the 
 standpoint of the engineer, the public includes the men who 
 make the newspapers. 
 
 SiwiNG aDaildoad fbonBueial 
 
 Engineers Soke Difficult Problem When 
 They Hall Earth Slide by Blowmg 
 Up Stratum Whicfi Insists on Slipping 
 
 SOLVING UNUSUAL PROBLEMS 
 
 THE ability to meet new conditions with new methods is 
 an ordinary attribute of the engineer. This article 
 describes how a railroad engineer stopped an earth slide by 
 blowing up the stone under sliding earth. 
 
( 
 
 / 
 
 Sftfii 
 
 I 
 
 ■i 
 
 w 
 
 
 The Pro«s 
 
 I wo GERMA. 
 \RE REPORT i 
 
 V«.< S»x U 
 
 GENERAL NEWS ARTICLES 
 
 Cleveland Engineers for Peace. The Good Will num- 
 ber of the Journal of the Society is an argument for univer- 
 sal peace, but makes no reference to the great cataclysm 
 in Europe. It is based on the idea that modern war is a 
 mathematically scientific game, played with deadly machines 
 evolved by the engineer. With the same scientific princi- 
 ples in mind, if the efforts spent in war were turned to the 
 work of peace- in peaceful rivalry instead of destruction— 
 a tremendous advance in human welfare would be the result. 
 The Publicity Committee sent copies of the Good Will 
 Journal over the country, wrote reviews of it for periodi- 
 cals and distributed several hundred copies to citizens of 
 Cleveland, and placed them in downtown offices of physicians 
 and dentists, libraries and the like, where they would be read 
 by many people. The review was published verbatim as the 
 committee prepared it. 
 
 Engineers are the Men Who Make Dreams Real. 
 
 This article was suggested by the publicity committee to one 
 of the sub-editors who was charged with writing an inter- 
 esting story for each Sunday. Naturally, the most difficult 
 part of his task was to find a subject and material. We 
 arranged for an interview with an engineer who could talk 
 in an interesting manner to a reporter. The definition of 
 • engineer" the newspaper evolved is rather apt. "An engineer 
 IS a man who somehow, some way, tames the forces of na- 
 ture, helped by science, and makes them do man's bidding." 
 Electrified Railroads Bound to Come in Time. At a 
 time when the electrification of railroads entering Cleveland 
 was being agitated, the engineering society invited N. M. 
 Storer, of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, to lecture on the subject. The meeting was held at 
 Case School and was attended by several of the city officials. 
 The clippings are the advance notice and abstract of the 
 lecture appearing on the Sunday following. 
 
 Engineers See Wonders of the Press Plant. On Tues- 
 day evening, our regular meeting night, we had three news- 
 paper men tell us about the making of a newspaper. One 
 spoke from the standpoint of the editor, a second about the 
 business and advertising end, and a third, a member of our 
 society, gave the principal address which was devoted to the 
 power presses and other machinery of a newspaper plant. 
 On the following Saturday afternoon we visited the three 
 plants in the city, each within a few minutes' walk of the 
 others. The Press took our pictures just after we had 
 started through the building and in forty-two minutes had 
 the paper printed ready to hand to us as we left. 
 
 U. S. Engineer Speaks Friday. Of the two talks men- 
 tioned m this notice, the eflForts of the Publicity Commit- 
 . tee were directed to making the one at Epworth Memorial 
 Church on Sunday night a success. We had notices posted 
 on the bulletin boards of various civic organizations and had 
 announcements made where practicable. We were gratified 
 to see an attendance of several hundred on an especially in- 
 clement Sunday night. 
 
 Engineers to See Pittsburgh Plants. A very pleasant 
 and profitable custom of visiting back and forth has grown 
 up between the engineering societies of Pittsburgh, BuflFalo, 
 Detroit, and Cleveland. I am inclined to place greater value 
 on the social and good fellowship part of these programs 
 than on the professional benefit gained from visiting plants 
 m other cities, large as that may be. Trips by boat are 
 effective in getting members acquainted with each other, out 
 of which grows a common interest. 
 
 5 
 
Will Show Lightning's Fury was part of an advance 
 notice of a popular lecture in East Technical High School 
 by E. F. Creighton, consulting engineer of the General 
 Electric Company. When we gave a duplicate of this pic- 
 ture to one of the papers, the city editor said it wouldn't 
 justify reproduction. He said it was too black. When we 
 showed the picture to the competing paper, we mentioned 
 diplomatically that the editor of the other paper was afraid 
 there wasn't enough contrast. The editor being addressed 
 said, "Let us try it." The graphic quality of the notice 
 without the picture needs no comment. 
 
 Yale Summons Local Engineer is a notice that one of 
 our distinguished members was to give his lecture on "En- 
 gineering of Men" at Yale. Below that is an item informing 
 the public that former Senator Burton has given his library 
 of river and harbor literature to the local society. Next is 
 an item telling of an event in our chess club when seventeen 
 of its members were pitted at one time against a well known 
 champion. 
 
 Cable Long Used Bears 300 Tons is an account sent 
 to us by one of our advertisers in the Journal. It is a legit- 
 imate news item and good publicity for our advertisers and 
 properly falls in the scope of our Publicity Commitee's work. 
 
 Bridge Foundations a Mighty Problem properly may 
 be classified as service to the community. The building of 
 the foundations of a great high-level bridge, the main artery 
 between two parts of the city, gave rise to a lively con- 
 troversy as to their safety. The public had a right to know 
 the truth. The county bridge engineer was asked to read a 
 paper before the society describing the foundations ; his paper 
 was abstracted with technicalities omitted or so worded as 
 to be understood by the reader of average education, and 
 pubHshed in one of the papers on the Sunday following the 
 meeting. 
 
 Producer Gas to Eliminate Smoke and Save Fuel. 
 Here are shown an advance notice of the meeting and an ab- 
 stract of Dr. Fernald's paper as it appeared on the Sunday 
 following the meeting. Dr. Fernald was pilot of the Cleve- 
 land Engineering Society when its course was changed from 
 a jack-in-the-box mutual admiration society to a wide-awake 
 civic and professional organization. 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 159 
 
 Developing a Local Engineering Society 
 The editors at the head of the several newspaper 
 departments, real estate, railroad, finance, marine, 
 Sunday, each have different needs which vary some- 
 what with each paper, said C. E. Drayer, formerly 
 secretary of the Cleveland Engineering Society, in 
 a talk before the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia. 
 For instance, the real estate editor on one paper 
 was also movie editor, and the railroad editor of 
 another wrote Sunday copy on minor theatricals. 
 Gradually the special needs of the several depart- 
 ments may be learned and material supplied accord- 
 ingly. To illustrate, the railroad editor has Sunday 
 oflf, yet Monday column must be filled. That is, on 
 Saturday he must do two days' work for Sunday 
 and Monday. News that can be held for Monday 
 will be invariably welcomed by him. 
 
 When we started publicity work, we interviewed 
 the managing editor of one of the papers who was 
 an acquaintance. By going to the editor and talk- 
 ing over the idea of a story, we not only obtained 
 the benefit of his council but we learned that when 
 he had approved the central idea and helped in its 
 development, copy of that story was in a way to 
 succeed even against scarehead competition. When 
 one article is handed in it is well to have the idea 
 of another or two to submit for opinion and thus 
 avoid the noticed efifort to see a busy editor, or 
 the chagrin of an unsuccessful call. 
 
 Study the style of the papers. To get the style, 
 let the writer clip a few articles that seem especially 
 good and have them before him while he prepares 
 
 
I' ' ' 
 
 i6o 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 his copy until the style comes. Get a good first 
 sentence of "lead" to attract attention and guide 
 the reader into the story. Particularly in advance 
 notices, aim to answer the questions, what, when, 
 where, in the first sentence. Writing of head lines 
 may best be left to the practiced newspaper man. 
 
 It would be much better to have nothing in the 
 paper because of inability to prepare copy suitably 
 than to have it refused. Lots of material is offered 
 to the papers in form unsuitable for publication and, 
 unless it possesses unusual news value, it goes into 
 the waste basket. All copy should be typewritten 
 and clear, for time is a vital element in getting out 
 a paper. 
 
 To summarize, the successful preparation and 
 placing of copy depends upon three things: (i) 
 news merit, (2) acquaintance with the editorial 
 staff, (3) an understanding of the problems of news- 
 paper making. 
 
 Now to find the man with a "nose for news." 
 The ability to pen expressions that fit the average 
 mind will come with practice and a study of 
 psychology, just as the ability to design comes with 
 practice and a knowledge of the laws of mechanics. 
 Of course, aptitude varies in one as in the other, but 
 what is essential is an abundance of faith in the 
 cause. 
 
 There are certain definite perquisites of publicity 
 which accrue to those undertaking the work. Of 
 these perhaps the most valuable to the individual is 
 the opportunity to become acquainted with the 
 leaders in the profession and to become a dynamic 
 
 Typical Publicity Problems 
 
 161 
 
 force among one's associates and in the community. 
 The call of your society is for those able to do use- 
 ful work for it. 
 
 Another advantage to those who tell about what 
 others are doing is found in the broadening of the 
 knowledge of him who tells the story, for to write 
 about a technical subject so that it interests the 
 least educated as well as the most educated in the 
 community, requires that there be no haziness in 
 the mind of the writer. To the man who is looking 
 forward and not back, who has the spirit of service 
 to those in the profession and to the entire com- 
 munity, here is an opportunity of wonderful possi- 
 bilities. Examples of such work in the Cleveland 
 Engineering Society are illustrated on other pages. 
 
 There are several ways that may be used by en- 
 gineers to educate the public besides the public 
 press where an unsympathetic editor may inhibit 
 our efforts. 
 
 We planned in Cleveland to enlist a few of our 
 younger engineers to give illustrated lectures on 
 engineering subjects before small gatherings in 
 churches, schools, libraries and the like. It is hoped 
 that a sympathetic understanding of engineering 
 knowledge and skill can be brought about more 
 quickly by a personal contact of this sort. In addi- 
 tion, the speakers will gradually acquire by practice 
 that facility of expressing on their feet which is 
 necessary in order that we may argue on equal 
 footing before legislative bodies or large gather- 
 ings of citizens subjects in dispute. 
 
I 
 
 if 
 
 $^ 
 
 ILLUSTRATED LECTURE 
 
 (§nr Nnrtl^^rn 
 
 N^igljfanrB 
 
 ff 
 
 BY 
 
 
 CAPT. J. MILTON STATE 
 
 
 UNDER AUSPICES OF PONTIAC CHAPTER 
 
 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF 
 
 ENGINEERS 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM 
 
 APRIL 14. 1922 
 
 8>00 P. M. 
 
 =^^^=4i 
 
 Front cover of a four-page folder used to advertise a chapter 
 
 lecture. 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 SOME APPROXIMATE ESTIMATING COSTS 
 
 The costs given below are those existing in Chicago, 
 Illinois, in January, 1922; they are approximate and 
 should only be used for rough estimating. 
 
 Addressing and Typewriting Costs 
 
 Per Per 
 
 100 1000 
 
 ♦Envelopes addressed, pen $ .75 $5.00 
 
 Additional lines, pen 25 i.oo 
 
 ♦Envelopes addressed, typewriter... i.oo 7.00 
 
 Additional lines, typewriter 25 1.50 
 
 Filling in — i line, name only 75 5.00 
 
 2 Lines, name, town and state i.oo 7.00 
 
 Additional lines ,. 25 1.50 
 
 Addressograph addressing 40 3.00 
 
 Signatures signed with pen 45 3.00 
 
 Signatures printed (500, $1.50) 2.50 
 
 Folding and Mailing 
 
 Per Per 
 
 ICX) 1000 
 
 Fold, enclose and seal circulars...? .40 $2.50 
 
 Fold, enclose, seal "filled in" letter .50 3.00 
 
 Folding letters, per fold 10 .50 
 
 Machine folding (Min. $1.00) .75 
 
 Stamping and mailing 15 1.00 
 
 * Price includes prefix, name, town, state, and street or rural 
 address where given from legible lists without selection. Ad- 
 ditional charge where more than usual writing is required and 
 for unusually large or heavy envelopes and printed matter. 
 
 163 
 
z64 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 I 
 
 •SO 
 .75 
 
 Enclosures jq 
 
 Typewriter ribbon to match 
 
 Multigraphing 
 
 (Imitation Typewriting) 
 Copies 25 Lines 30 Lines 
 
 250 $350 $4.00 
 
 500 4.00 4.50 
 
 750 4.50 5.00 
 
 l»ooo 5.00 5.50 
 
 Additional copies at $2.50 per 1000. 
 
 Add IOC per line for composition in excess of 40 
 lines. 
 
 40 Lines 
 $500 
 
 5-50 
 6.00 
 
 6.50 
 
 Mimeographing 
 
 (Improved Dermatype Process) 
 
 Copies 25 Lines 40 Lines 
 
 100 $1.25 $1.50 
 
 250 1.50 1.75 
 
 500 1.75 2.00 
 
 1,000 2.50 2.85 
 
 Additional copies at $1.50 per 1000. 
 
 60 Lines 
 
 $1.75 
 2.00 
 
 2.3s 
 
 325 
 
 Price List for Printing 
 
 The Printers Exchange believes in standard price 
 lists, and recommends to every printer that he buy and 
 study the one most used in his locality. But many 
 of the smaller shops do not feel that they can afford 
 to pay for regular expert service. 
 
 ^, „ ,, 100 250 500 1,000 2,000 5,000 10.000 
 
 N. H., Memos, 
 
 Stat'ts$2per n 
 
 M . $3.25 $4.00 $5.00 $7.00 $10.75 $21.00 $36.00 
 
 Letter Heads, 
 
 $2.50 per M.. 4.00 5.00 6.50 9.50 15.00 31.00 54.25 
 Envelopes, $2.50 , 1 
 
 per M 2.00 2.75 4.25 7.00 12.00 26.25 48.75 
 
 Approximate Costs for Estimating 
 
 i6s 
 
 Business Cards, 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 • 
 
 ■ 
 
 Tickets, $2 
 
 
 
 
 
 •• 
 
 
 
 per M 
 
 2.25 
 
 3.00 
 
 4.25 
 
 6.75 
 
 11.00 
 
 23.75 
 
 42.75 
 
 Window Cards, 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Hangers, etc., 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 $2.50 per C. 
 
 10.25 
 
 15.00 
 
 29.25 
 
 52.00 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 Hand Bills, 6x9, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 print paper . 
 
 3.00 
 
 3.50 
 
 4.25 
 
 5.50 
 
 8.25 
 
 14.00 
 
 20.75 
 
 Sale Bills, 11x16, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 print paper . 
 
 4.75 
 
 5.50 
 
 6.75 
 
 9.00 
 
 13.25 
 
 25.75 
 
 43.25 
 
 Folders, 4 pg.. 
 
 
 
 
 
 » 
 
 
 
 No. 1 
 
 12.15 
 
 13.25 
 
 15.25 
 
 18.75 
 
 23.75 
 
 38.50 
 
 61.75 
 
 Folders, 4 pg., 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 2 
 
 20.40 
 
 22.00 
 
 24.75 
 
 28.75 
 
 36.00 
 
 56.50 
 
 87.75 
 
 All the above are priced for the usual amount of 
 work. When copy is unusually easy or compli- 
 cated, additions or reductions should take into account 
 composition only. 
 
 Note Heads, Memos, Statements, may all be 
 figured practically the same, only taking into account 
 the difference in the cost of stock. 
 Envelopes, all sizes up to No. 10 may be figured alike, 
 
 taking into account difference in cost of stock. 
 Cards and Tickets, up to size 36, and including call- 
 ing cards, may be figured the same, considering 
 cost of stock. 
 Window Cards, Hangers, are based on the cost 
 price of $2.50 per hundred (about the cost of 6-ply 
 quarter sheets.) For 25 of them charge $5.70; 
 for 50, $7.20. 
 Folders, No. i, refers to size suitable to use in 6^ 
 envelopes, and No. 2 is size for No. 10 Envelopes. 
 
 Estimating 
 
 The above list of prices may be used for almost any 
 kind of work coming into the average printshop by 
 applying the following suggestions in estimating 
 variations : 
 
i66 
 
 ii 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Stock. Do not figure cost of stock at the supply 
 house. Add the cost for freight and drayage. When 
 you estimate all the items in making a price, allow 
 20 per cent for handling, spoilage, etc., but do not 
 add this to the cost price in using above table, as 
 it is considered in the table. It is a good plan to add 
 freight and drayage when you mark stock, so that 
 "cost" includes them, as it should. 
 
 In estimating prices per hour, figure hand composi- 
 tion at $3.00 per hour; machine composition, $4.00 per 
 hour; platen press, up to 10x15, $2.50 per hour; I2x 
 18 and larger, $3.00 per hour; cylinder press, $4.50 
 per hour. These are selling prices, not cost. Of 
 course these figures are based upon efficient work. If 
 you have cheap blundering help, your customer should 
 not pay these prices. On the other hand, absolutely 
 perfect work without delays or accidents is unattain- 
 able, and you cannot figure upon the expectation that 
 every job will be completed in the minimum time, 
 without mistakes. These prices are based upon fairly 
 competent and careful workmanship, with about the 
 usual loss of time and material from unavoidable ac- 
 cidents, mistakes, and delays. 
 
 THE PRINTERS EXCHANGE, 
 
 Ottawa. Kansas. 
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 A Brief Outline of a Working 
 
 Plan for 
 
 Public Information 
 
 to Broaden the Field of Engineering Work 
 
 together with 
 
 Suggestions and a One- Year Working Plan 
 
 for 
 
 PUBLIC INFORMATION WORK 
 
 by the 
 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS 
 
 A Report to the 
 ADVISORY BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER 
 
 Prepared by 
 
 CHARLES R. THOMAS 
 
 in charge of Public Information 
 
 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS 
 
 63 East Adams Street, Chicago 
 
 November, 1921 
 
168 
 
 If 
 
 II 
 
 if 
 
 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Summary of Plans 
 
 1. A Bureau of Public Information is to be es- 
 tablished by the Association and the chapters 
 asked to participate in a systematic program of 
 public information for the advancement of the en- 
 gineering profession. 
 
 2. A limited number of subjects for concerted 
 publicity are to be selected. Members of the As- 
 sociation will participate by delivering addresses, 
 preparing articles, and similar wrork. 
 
 3. The cost of initiating this plan is estimated at 
 $7,500 for the first year. 
 
 Working Plan for Publicity 
 
 The purpose of this report is to: 
 
 1. Present a clear analysis of the purpose and 
 aims of engineering publicity and to show the re- 
 lation of such publicity to the main objects of the 
 American Association of Engineers. 
 
 2. To provide suggestions which can be used as 
 a guide by the Association in outlining a publicity 
 program and to discuss methods by which in- 
 creased and better publicity leading to the advance- 
 ment of the profession may be obtained, and also 
 suggestions as to how undesirable publicity or 
 publicity that savors of notoriety may be avoided. 
 
 3. To present a general working plan for a pub- 
 licity campaign to extend over a period of one year 
 to the end 
 
 (a) That the field for engineering work may be 
 broadened; 
 
 A Working Plan 
 
 169 
 
 (b) That the public may be supplied with accurate 
 information at all times about the ideals and 
 principles of the engineering profession; 
 
 (c) To bring about the constructive development of 
 the Association by extending the knowledge of 
 the principles of the Association into new com- 
 munities; and to correct wrong impressions 
 about the Association. 
 
 Broadening the Field of Engineering Work 
 
 Statement of Problems 
 
 The conditions that have existed for the past ten 
 years demonstrate the need for broad general pub- 
 licity work on the part of engineers. The follow- 
 ing truths are self-evident: 
 
 First. There are more engineers in the United 
 States than there is engineering work in the sense 
 that engineering work is commonly accepted. There- 
 fore engineers are frequently unemployed. The solu- 
 tion is to so broaden the field of professional engi- 
 neers that their training will be available in many 
 other kinds of work. 
 
 Second. Engineers as a profession have been more 
 interested in the technical side of their profession 
 than they have in the human side or in their rela- 
 tions to other men, commonly known as the busi- 
 ness side of the profession. Professional work is 
 no mystery and it is probable that engineers will not 
 change much. But it behooves the profession as a 
 whole to broaden its confines and to extend the field 
 of operation for the members who follow it for a 
 livelihood. 
 
 Third. As a result of the conditions above stated 
 engineers have been exploited. That is to say they 
 
111 1 
 
 f.ii: 
 
 170 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 have worked for less pay than they should work for 
 considering the value of the work that they do. This 
 condition is of course temporary. Twenty years ago 
 the engineering profession was one of the best paid 
 professions, but since then the number of engineers 
 has increased out of proportion to the scope of cngi- 
 neering activities. The real answer is : either decrease 
 the number of engineers or increase their field of 
 operation. The latter course is preferable. The late 
 war gave a great impetus to broadening the field for 
 engineers. We must continue this movement and 
 perfect it. This is one of the big objects of Pro- 
 fessional Engineer and it is working to that end con- 
 tinuously. 
 
 Fourth. There is a lack of systematized and co- 
 ordinated effort in informing the public about engi- 
 neers. This lack of co-ordination the Association has 
 attempted to correct. Every man in the American As- 
 sociation of Engineers should be a publicity man for 
 engineering as a profession. There is, however, a lack 
 of co-ordination of the work of the Association with 
 that of the older and wealthier organizations. We 
 should strive to correct this defect and interest them 
 in the work we are doing. 
 
 The purpose of a publicity plan for the Associa- 
 tion must be first, to improve the social and eco- 
 nomic welfare of engineers; second, to stabilize the 
 ethical standards of professional engineers and to 
 increase the usefulness of the engineer to the pub- 
 lic. These are the basic objects of the Association. 
 To accomplish these ends it is necessary to consider 
 the welfare and the accomplishments of engineers 
 as a product which must be sold to the greatest 
 possible number of people, the idea being not to 
 derive any direct profit but rather to acquaint the 
 
 A Working Plan 
 
 171 
 
 public as a whole with the work of engineers. 
 There are 110,000,000 people in the United States 
 and 200,000 of them are engineers. Our object is 
 to make every one of the 110,000,000 familiar 
 with the constructive work that engineers are do- 
 ing or are capable of doing. The accomplishment 
 of this purpose is not a matter of mystery; there 
 is no mystery about modern methods of publicity 
 and advertising. Such work has been accomplished 
 for organizations similar to the American Associa- 
 tion of Engineers, including the Red Cross, The 
 American Legion, the Rotary International, and 
 many other large organizations of the country. 
 
 The Ultimate Objective 
 
 The ultimate objective of publicity work for the 
 Association is an ideal — the development of engi- 
 neers to the point of highest public usefulness. We 
 can never become perfect, but we have a long 
 way to go before we begin to reach the limits of 
 practical publicity approaching this ideal, which is 
 summed up so concisely in the objects of the As- 
 sociation as stated in its Constitution. It is read- 
 ily seen, therefore, that it is not the work of one 
 year or ten years. Any publicity campaign must 
 contemplate a graduated process of public educa- 
 tion, and we should select immediately those things 
 which are most pregnant and develop others as 
 we get results from those first selected. The task 
 is not a small one but the object is worthy of our 
 highest efforts. 
 
I 
 
 172 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 How Public Information May Be Developed 
 
 Publicity Defined 
 
 Engineering publicity is considered in two broad 
 divisions : Publicity or public education about engi- 
 neering work in general, and publicity or public 
 education about the work and aims of the Amer- 
 ican Association of Engineers. 
 
 Publicity about engineering work includes the 
 presentation through newspapers, magazines, pub- 
 lic addresses, motion pictures, signboards, etc., of 
 information concerning the work of all engineers, 
 using the language of that portion of the public 
 which is addressed. The object of such publicity 
 is to broaden the field of engineering service. 
 
 Publicity about the American Association of 
 Engineers includes the supplying of information 
 through dignified and acceptable channels of pub- 
 licity about the work and aims of the Association 
 to the end that the influence of the organization 
 may be increased and that good will may be created 
 toward the Association in the minds of all engi- 
 neers and the public in general. 
 
 These two broad classifications of publicity work 
 are recognized in the rules for the publicity con- 
 test for 1922, as stated in the September, 1921, issue 
 of Professional Engineer as follows: 
 
 "Publicity must contain the words 'professional 
 engineer' or the words 'American Association of 
 Engineers* " 
 
 ! 
 
 
 A Working Plan 
 
 173 
 
 It is believed that all Association publicity should 
 be subject to the broad test of improving the so- 
 cial and economic welfare of engineers and improv- 
 ing the status of the engineers from an ethical 
 standpoint, for thereby the public is benefited — 
 does the proposed publicity make the engineering 
 profession more worth while to the public. 
 
 It is believed that a general plan of multiplying 
 news sources should be followed with the greatest 
 possible freedom from censorship. Sincerity of 
 purpose will rise above the small errors of judg- 
 ment that might be eliminated through censorship. 
 
 As a by-product of this broad plan for helping 
 engineers we shall be able to benefit the Associa- 
 tion. The growth of the Association in the past 
 six years has been rapid and many engineers have 
 wondered and inquired what the Association was 
 and what it was seeking to do. They have asked 
 questions about the Association. Is it seeking to 
 dominate the engineering profession? Is it trying 
 to displace the older technical societies? Is it 
 composed principally of young and untried engi- 
 neers who are seeking to form a union to get their 
 pay raised? Is there any reason for the existence 
 of such an organization in view of the number of 
 engineering societies already in existence? What 
 are the relations of the Association to the Engi- 
 neering Council? Where are its members located, 
 and what have they done? In short, what are the 
 motives behind the formation of the American As- 
 sociation of Engineers and what reason has it for 
 existence — what has it accomplished? 
 

 174 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 The answer to all of these questions may be 
 clear in the minds of members of the Association, 
 although I doubt it very much. It is almost certain 
 that 99 per cent of the 110,000,000 people in 
 the United States could not answer one of the 
 questions. It is readily seen that there is an enor- 
 mous field for educational work, and since the As- 
 sociation is new to nearly everyone in the country 
 it is easy to make it of interest to them through 
 publicity, because what is new is essentially the 
 
 basis of news. 
 
 But any publicity and benefit to the Association 
 as an organization of forward-looking professional 
 men must be subordinated to a larger plan of help- 
 ing all engineers. 
 
 Publicity Must Be Continuous 
 Publicity to be effective must be continuous. 
 The conviction that results from continued pub- 
 licity is based upon repetition. The value of 
 cumulative effect of continued publicity has been 
 firmly established through the experiences of many 
 colleges, associations, and business institutions. 
 Looking at publicity from a business standpoint 
 it is necessary to lay out a program which will, 
 extend over a period of at least two years ; a period 
 of one year is a minimum. 
 
 The Market 
 As before stated, the market for the work of 
 engineers includes the population of the country— 
 
 A Working Plan 
 
 175 
 
 and more than that the whole world. To this 
 market the work of engineers must be sold as a 
 commodity and a favorable mental attitude toward 
 engineers created. 
 
 Competition 
 
 It must be remembered that engineering is not 
 the only profession interested in obtaining the sup- 
 port of the public, and it must also be remembered 
 that within the engineering profession there are 
 numerous organizations each seeking to advance 
 the interests of its members. It should be the 
 object of the American Association of Engineers 
 to co-operate with all other engineering organiza- 
 tions to the fullest extent where the interest of all 
 engineers is concerned. The keynote of a general 
 campaign should be for the benefit of the whole 
 engineering profession, of which the American As- 
 sociation of Engineers is a typical cross-section. 
 The Association stands as a great democracy of 
 engineers of which any man honorably engaged in 
 professional engineering work can become a mem- 
 ber, and in fact should be a supporter whether he 
 is a member of the Association or not. All that 
 is necessary is to show any public-spirited engineer 
 that an organization of this type exists and he will 
 undoubtedly give it his support. This is the basis 
 of the growth of the Association in the past and it 
 must continue to be the basis for its development 
 in the future. 
 
 Plan of Publicity Must Be Comprehensive 
 Any plan of publicity must be complete. It must 
 
II 
 
 M 
 O 
 
 ;z: 
 
 o 
 
 »-« 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 C/3 
 C/) 
 
 < 
 
 u 
 
 (d 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 < 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 -< 
 
 z 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 (J 
 
 u 
 O 
 
 v« 
 
 tA 
 
 — d 
 
 ij 
 
 -f-TA 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 $2 
 
 
 M 
 
 '^ 
 
 
 M y 
 
 M f 
 
 
 
 W 
 &2 
 
 
 J5 
 
 £ 
 
 
 <D 
 
 ^£j: 
 
 
 
 ■o^I^II 
 
 |fM 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 z 
 
 2 
 
 
 tn 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^MMi 
 
 1 
 
 "~^~ 
 
 — I 
 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 <0 
 
 
 N 
 
 
 00 
 
 ^0 
 
 tfZ 
 Zlij 
 
 0£ 
 
 
 
 
 — . 
 
 ^J^ 
 
 ^-^"^^ 
 
 . 
 
 / 
 
 
 kl »- «J 
 
 ' 1 ^ 
 
 y 
 
 \ 
 
 (^ 
 
 « 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 .-^ 
 
 
 
 -^ 
 
 .^^^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 csi 
 
 
 lO 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 < 
 
 
 > 
 
 < 
 
 I- 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 < 
 
 z 
 < 
 
 
 . 00 
 
 a 
 ••^ • 
 
 •§££§ 
 K o a 
 
 £3o.Sc.2 
 
 V V «> •! 
 
 • *M ^ 4> 
 
 A Working Plan 
 
 1^ 
 
 «*4 
 
 2-0 
 
 ^ ^ ^^ ••• 
 
 u 
 
 ^C CO 
 to "O 
 
 •^ ^ S :^ ri 
 
 
 en 
 
 NO 
 
 6 
 V 
 
 Co C «> C 
 
 177 
 
 include all the commonly accepted means of pub- 
 licity that are used by common-sense men in such 
 work. Such a plan must contemplate using the 
 three broad types of appeal : 
 
 1. The appeal to the eye. 
 
 2. The appeal to the ear. 
 
 3. The appeal of the printed word. 
 
 The first is an appeal by illustrations and pic- 
 tures. The second is an appeal by the spoken word. 
 The third is through the printed word. 
 
 The breadth of appeal possible is shown on page 
 42. The varied types of appeal are given on page 69. 
 
 Newspaper and Magazine Publicity 
 
 In any campaign of publicity through the use of 
 the printed word the newspapers represent the first 
 wave of offense, for newspapers carry the tidings 
 of the day and stories of all kinds can appear in 
 these mediums. The second wave of ofifense in the 
 plan of public education are the popular magazines. 
 These are the machine guns which spray concen- 
 trated ideas upon the public in such a way that 
 they are continually hearing about engineers. The 
 third wave of offense, or the artillery, are our tech- 
 nical magazines which back up with irrefutable 
 facts the statements that are made through the 
 other two mediums. Technical magazines stim- 
 ulate engineers; newspapers and general maga- 
 zines educate the public. 
 
 For these reasons anything and everything can 
 go in the newspapers which are used to create 
 
Functional PldLn 
 Public Inforwcutior? Bureaia. 
 
 NAnONM^BQADD^DIRECTORr 
 
 NATIONAL 
 HEADQUARTERS 
 
 5PCCIAI. 
 50URC]^S 
 
 ASSOCIATION 
 ACTIVITIES' 
 
 COOPEKATION 
 
 wrrHTEomic- 
 
 AL SOCIETIES 
 
 J PROFESSIONAI^ 
 ENGINEER 
 
 PUBLIC INFORMATIOV BUREAU 
 
 ADVER- 
 TISING 
 
 DIRCCT 
 BY MAIL 
 
 PRESS- 
 
 ADORljSrSlS 
 EYHtttTS 
 
 A proposed functional organization for public information work by 
 the American Association of Engineers. 
 
 A Working Plan 
 
 179 
 
 interest. They go to all classes of people. Every- 
 body reads newspapers. It is believed that engin- 
 eers more than any other class of professional men 
 have neglected the use of newspapers and in doing 
 this they have overlooked probably the most im- 
 portant phase of publicity. But newspaper infor- 
 mation must be timely and must be of general in- 
 terest, and therefore it cannot be technical. The 
 ordinary engineer, some say, cannot think other- 
 wise. It is believed he can. It is largely a matter 
 of education within the profession. But it must 
 be emphasized again that engineering work must 
 not be portrayed as a most pleasant sort of work 
 but rather that the possibilities of engineering are 
 not being fully utilized in other lines of work. 
 This must be the basis of effective publicity. En- 
 gineering skill is a product that must be sold to 
 a great many people who at present do not utilize 
 it because they do not know how to utilize it. That 
 is the big object back of any publicity campaign. 
 We should not seek publicity for engineers as a 
 profession hut rather the utilization of engineers in ad' 
 vancing the interest of other people. This constitutes 
 a rather radical change from present methods but 
 it will be a most profitable innovation. 
 
 Idea Campaigns 
 
 On the broad general principle that anything 
 that helps the building up of the country helps 
 engineers, provided it is along the lines of work 
 which engineers can handle profitably, support 
 
i8o Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 should be given to non-professional campaigns, 
 such as the "Build Now," "Save the Surface," 
 "Fire Protection," "Pave the Streets," and "Own 
 Your Own Home" campaigns. The engineer is the 
 logical man to inaugurate such work because it af- 
 fects his livelihood; and he is also one who is 
 trained to see what people need along these lines. 
 The recent work of the Missoula Chapter of the 
 Association, which won the publicity prize for 1921, 
 is characteristic of this type of work. This Chapter 
 held an Engineers' Week which was very suc- 
 cessful. The Engineers' Week idea is probably a 
 little too direct; I think it better to emphasize a 
 more general idea and in that work to direct atten- 
 tion to the value of engineers along lines in which 
 they are not now engaged. 
 
 National Advertising 
 
 Advertising campaigns such as have been inau- 
 gurated by the Association of Railway Executives, 
 the American Association of Engineers, the Red 
 Cross, and the Young Men's Christian Association 
 are valuable and effective, but they are very ex- 
 pensive. Some paid advertising, however, is es- 
 sential to fill in between human-interest appeals 
 in the editorial columns of various publications. 
 The weakness of publicity work, which depends 
 on the printed word and the whims of editors, is 
 that there are periods in which continuity of ap- 
 peal is lost. These periods should be filled in by 
 the use of paid advertising. 
 
 A Working Plan 
 Use of Emblem 
 
 181 
 
 A suitable emblem is essential to any well-or- 
 ganized plan of publicity. In this we have the 
 Monad which has already been extensively used 
 by the Association. As a first step the use of the 
 Monad should be encouraged and brought into 
 vogue in as many ways as possible. I believe that 
 a large part of the lasting publicity that has been 
 obtained by the Association in the past has been 
 due to the very effective use of the Monad but 
 much more can be accomplished. Emblems 
 become indelibly stamped on the minds where 
 words are often forgotten. 
 
 A slogan is also suggested for use by the As- 
 sociation. 
 
 Outdoor Displays 
 
 By no means can the imagination be stimulated 
 so successfully as by the use of the painted sign, 
 printed poster, or picture panel. The use of such 
 displays would be a radical departure in informa- 
 tion work of engineers or any profession, but I 
 feel sure that they can be used successfully. We 
 have a very good example of this work in the ef- 
 fective Red Cross display work. A plan of out- 
 door displays might be tried out in a selected ter- 
 ritory or on space selected along railways that will 
 reinforce the message that is being delivered 
 through other public information mediums. 
 
 The use of outdoor displays by Rotary Clubs is 
 illustrated on page 30. 
 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 I 1: 
 
 182 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 Direct Advertising 
 
 Th€ work in direct advertising consists of the 
 preparation and distribution of printed literature 
 of various kinds to the publicity departments of 
 railroads, public utilities, nev^s agencies, large ad- 
 vertising agencies, and large organizations which 
 are interested in the development of a field for pro- 
 fessional engineers. 
 
 Pictures 
 
 A tremendous audience can be reached through 
 the utilization of photographs and motion pictures. 
 Such pictures should truthfully portray the work 
 of engineers and give due credit where credit is 
 due. This means co-operation with photographers 
 and motion picture producers in a constructive way 
 and also a certain amount of censorship. The 
 Public Information Bureau should have available 
 a duplicate photograph file and a number of mo- 
 tion picture films which could be used to educate 
 the general public and correct mistaken impres- 
 sions as to the type of work engineers do. The 
 information bureau might also became a producer 
 of certain motion pictures and furnish films to 
 educational institutions and vocational schools. 
 Such pictures should not show engineers as people 
 who are most fortunate individuals but rather the 
 various kinds of work done by engineers and what 
 can be accomplished by engineers. 
 
 Members should contribute interesting photo- 
 graphs of engineering work to help build this file. 
 
 A Working Plan 
 Bulletins and Books 
 
 183 
 
 Bulletins and books of general value to the pro- 
 fession should be published and sold at cost. A 
 promotional association must of necessity have 
 many publications. 
 
 The forthcoming report of the First Engineer- 
 ing Conference on Public Information to be called 
 "Publicity Methods for Engineers'* will be the first 
 book offered. 
 
 Organization of Public Information Bureau 
 
 The organization for public information is shown 
 in the accompanying chart on page 178. 
 
 One Year Working Plan 
 
 The elements of the plan are: 
 
 1. Establishing an Engineering Public Information 
 
 Bureau in Chicago. 
 
 2. The selection of not to exceed six national pub- 
 
 licity activities to be promoted by concerted ac- 
 tion of all the chapters. 
 
 3. Assignment of a particular time for the promo- 
 
 tion of each publicity project, as for example, 
 selection of one month a year for promotion of 
 one activity, to be followed by another month 
 ^';^; for the promotion of another activity. 
 
 4a. The division of each publicity project into com- 
 ponent parts, selection of subjects, and assign- 
 ment of men in the different parts of the coun- 
 try to prepare short articles on the subjects. 
 
 4b. The collection of certain publicity material at one 
 central point as at National Headquarters for 
 editing and for placing in various publicity 
 channels. 
 
 i 
 
 lUL 
 
184 Publicity Methods for Engineers 
 
 5a. Preparation of short articles by prominent mem- 
 bers for use as publicity material and distribut- 
 ing this material to the various chapters. 
 
 5b. Placing of these publicity articles by the various 
 chapters in commonly accepted mediums and 
 tying up local activities with broad policies out- 
 lined. 
 
 6. Co-ordination of publicity activities with those of 
 
 other organizations interested in the welfare 
 of engineers. 
 
 7. Follow-up of publicity by chapter action on legis- 
 
 lative matters and on local affairs in the com- 
 munity. 
 
 8. Division of the cost of national publicity between 
 
 the various chapters and units of the organiza- 
 tion. 
 
 Public Information Projects 
 
 The following publicity projects are submitted 
 as being of broad public interest and adaptable to 
 almost all communities: 
 
 1. The development of construction activities. 
 
 2. Municipal engineers as business men and the pro- 
 
 tection of public health. 
 
 3. Licensing of engineers as a protection to the 
 
 public. 
 
 4. Making one dollar do the work of two by the 
 
 elimination of waste through engineering skill. 
 
 5. A survey of community needs in the way of 
 
 public improvements in many different com- 
 munities. 
 
 6. The engineering features of transportation. 
 
 7. Expert service in government administration. 
 
 Each of these subjects can be treated in an in- 
 finite number of ways and presented to the public 
 
 A Working Plan 
 
 185 
 
 in such form that interest in the work of the engi- 
 neers will be created. 
 
 It is believed that more lasting and therefore bet- 
 ter results will be obtained in improving the status 
 of engineers by taking a positive constructive 
 viewpoint as outlined above rather than by em- 
 phasizing the inadequacy of engineering pay and 
 lack of appreciation by the public of the work of 
 engineers. 
 
 Just What Do the Chapters Get 
 
 The advantages of this plan to the chapters and 
 members of the Association may be briefly sum- 
 marized as follows: 
 
 1. Broadening the field of activity of all engineers. 
 
 2. Increased prestige of engineering profession. 
 
 3. Co-ordinating local with national public informa- 
 
 tion. 
 
 4. Aid from the central Public Information Bureau 
 
 at National Headquarters approximately as 
 follows : 
 
 (a) Printed matter for local distribution and mem- 
 
 bership work— free to a limited extent ; large 
 quantities at cost. 
 
 (b) Placing of articles for members in proper 
 
 magazines at cost. 
 
 (c) Motion pictures and slide service. 
 
 (d) Posters at cost. 
 
 (e) Advertising service and advice for chapter. 
 
 (f) Monthly Service Letter for cHp sheet. 
 
 (g) Lecture Bureau service. 
 
 Until the Bureau begins to function actively it 
 is difficult to predict what other lines of service 
 
 will develop. 
 
 1 
 
i86 Publicity Methods tor Engineers 
 
 Results to Be Expected 
 The principal result to be expected from or- 
 ganized public information work is the advance- 
 ment of the engineering profession and the con- 
 sequent betterment of the welfare of the individual 
 engineer. A growth in strength and prestige of 
 the Association will be a by-product. 
 
 Research Information Service 
 
 HTHE ultimate plan of the Research Information Service 
 
 -^ of the National Research Council, should include the 
 
 establishment of a great general clearing house, with 
 
 branches in all of the advanced nations of the world as a 
 
 means of protection against loss of valuable information. 
 
 Few needs are now clearer or more urgent than efficient 
 informational mechanisms or keys to knowledge. 
 
 Why should we not handle the packing, storage, ship- 
 ping, and distribution of knowledge as efficiently as we 
 manage commercial production. 
 
 Largely because knowledge is discontinuous and rela- 
 tively unavailable, history repeats itself endlessly and trag- 
 ically. Ignorance, it would appear, is responsible for nwre 
 catastrophies and racial set-backs than are carelessness, 
 selfishness, and maliciousness combined. 
 
 The solemn duty rests upon us to devise adequate Ways 
 and means of carrying forward always, with continuously 
 increasing accessibility, the sum of useful knowledge and 
 experience. 
 
 The program of the Research Information Service is: 
 To develop initially a general, public use of such a 
 service. 
 
 To develop complete machinery for gathering, classify- 
 ing, locating when needed, and disseminating trustworthy 
 information. 
 
 To utilize every available agency of communication to 
 meet the needs of indiznduals or organizations in need of 
 information. 
 
 Charles L. Reese, 
 Chemical Director, E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company. 
 
 Extract of a talk 
 
 before the American Chemical Society. 
 
7J 
 
 ^ * 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the 
 expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as 
 provided by the library rules or by special arrangement with 
 the Librarian in charge. 
 
 
 
 
 
 OATS BORROWCO 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 
 
 JUNZ V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C28( 10-S3)I00M 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 XDa53.5 
 
 H^i 
 
 i^i.^ 
 
 National conference on public 
 inforrnation# 1st, Chicago, 1921. 
 
 NEH 
 
 MH 
 
 ^^m$ 
 
 ^mmmS.^!ir LIBRARIES 
 
 0041410823 
 
 MAVIS I93f 
 
END OF 
 TITLE