134 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULiriiAIi SOCIETY 



wiiicli even v.v. optimistic friends ol" tlie Northwest will scarcely dare 

 question. 



TIJE PSYCHOLOGY OF ADVERTISING. 



Advertising is a study in psychology; the advertising expert defines 

 it thus: he says that successful advertising consists of three steps; first, 

 attract the attention; second awaken an interest; third, close the sale. 



Now you good folks have been running this splendid horticultural 

 society for nearly a half century; you have had fruit shows every year 

 at the state fair, held your meetings and been doing yeoman service for 

 the development of the state, but still the world outside knew little about 

 what you were doing. Even in Nebraska your great work has been unap- 

 preciated. Presently along comes a novice who blurts out the statement 

 that "Nebraska raises more apples than the state of Washington," and 

 you get more notoriety in the newspapers than you have received in forty 

 years; why? the first step has been accomplished; the attention of the 

 public is attracted. 



A period of nearly a year elapses and the statement is repeated in 

 slightly different form; this time it is- "xMebraska raises more apples 

 than the whole Pacific Northwest." The newspapers begin to sit up and 

 take notice; critics rebuke the presumptive ignorance of the apple boom- 

 er, but investigation shows that Nebraska has the goods and the public 

 interest is awakened; step the second is accomplished. It is up to the 

 horticulturists of Nebraska to close the deal and complete the cycle of 

 successful advertising. 



Now, I have related this v/ith some hesitancy, having been somewhat 

 intimately connected with the incidents in question; anybody else could 

 have done it just as well; many could have done it better; the only trou- 

 ble was that they lacked nerve su Ancient to breast the tide of public opin- 

 ion which has been setting strongly toward untried ventures in fields afar, 

 and they lacked belief in the future of Nebra?.ka. I have a belief which 

 amounts to a:i obsession; it is this: The man who does not believe in 

 his own country is not likely to make a good citizen of that country. 

 When I cease to have faith unbounded in Nebraska I will leave Ne- 

 braska and seek some country in which I can have faith and for which 

 I can work with, a free mind and conscience. 



It seems to me that we have now reached th^ point in the partial 

 development of the orchard industry in this state whore the market has 

 been established or created for us, very largely by the agency of our 

 friends of the Northwest, who have come in here and by their splendid 

 apples have awakened the public appetite to the point where they are 

 ready to buy fruit, and buy that which we r-re offering at this time in 

 this state, and that will be stimulated by the exhibition across the 

 street, and should be taken advantage of at this time. 



It seems lo me one of the most inconsistent things my friends, in the 

 economy of business in this ccinury, that we keep producing things here, 

 but go over to another country, and bring their stuff over here and we 



