Another difficulty we have to combat is the fact that our paper is not well known to men; it is not advertised anywhere, it is not displayed anywhere; they rarely see any one reading it; they cannot get it on the newsstands, and, in short, they cannot imagine who reads it. This is hard to combat.
Another reason given by those who refuse to advertise in the Woman's Journal is that the advertiser or the advertising agent does not believe in equal suffrage, or to use his own expression, he is "not a suffragette." He is sure that no one would ever advertise in the paper unless he believed in votes for women, and frankly, he does not want his friends to be given a chance to tease him about "this suffragette business."
Since the Journal is a national paper, it ought, of course, to have national advertising, but national advertisers require at least 50,000 circulation, we are told. If the Journal's circulation were local, it could get plenty, but local advertising, of course, does not properly belong in a national paper, for all except the local circulation is a waste for it.
If the present circulation of the Journal were in one State or in one section of the country, say in the West, the Middle West, or in New York and New England, the paper could get more advertising than it could carry. But its circulation is scattered over the whole country, and while this spoils it for local advertising, its circulation is not yet large enough to enable it to get much national advertising.
To an advertising agent who has seen in a suffrage parade in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or Washington from 10,000 to 50,000 suffragists, it is hard to explain why the national paper going to forty-eight States, has less than 30,000 subscribers. He expects that the organ of the movement has at least 75,000 subscribers. When he learns the truth, it is impossible to talk with him further.
In a nutshell, then, what the advertising department needs is that great body of non-subscribing suffragists to enroll as readers. Think of that 68,000 whose names and addresses we have! If we only had them on our lists, if they stood back of us, advertisers would be glad to consider us.
What, then, can suffragists do for the advertising department? They can do three things.
(1) Increase the number of readers of the paper.
(2) Read the advertisements we print and patronize every advertiser possible, letting him know why they do so: and
(3) Unite to bring pressure to bear on advertisers so they will advertise with us.