THE REGIONS TOP GERMAN NEWSPAPER HITS A MILESTONE
Ad Club Honors Westliche Post – 75th Anniversary Celebrated
Rife with comedy and replete with historical reference, the revelry which marked the celebration of Deutscher Tag by the Advertising Club last Tuesday did not drown certain significant sayings from the speakers’ table.
Among those who rose to honor the 75th anniversary of the Westliche Post was Honorable Richard Bartholdt, who has been spokesman for the Congress delegation to twelve Interparliamentary Conferences in Europe. Mr. Bartholdt, previous to introducing the speaker of the day, told of an incident when he was a candidate for the House of Representatives from St. Louis.
Deutscher Band
He listened to an opponent curry the favor of voters of German descent by frequent reference to sauerkraut, pretzels and lager. Bartholdt bided his time, then demanded the floor. He told of his deep admiration for Schiller, Kant, Wagner, Mozart and others of illustrious name. “I think every one of the fellows who heard me voted for me,” Bartholdt said. Probably they did; he was in the House for 22 years.
The crowd last Tuesday found Schwartz’ German Band a great treat. With many things offered in the name of music in this day, it’s a relief to hear numbers admittedly trying to be funny, and succeeding in that.
Valuable Information
But give the crowd credit for thrilling also to the address of A.F. Gerecke, general manager of the Westliche Post. He spoke on “Both Sides of the Desk.”
Executives on the publishers’ side, he said, sometimes turn down a chance to get valuable information from the other side. Circulation alone is not the key to whether a publication is liked, read, needed and wanted. A buyer, confronted with the mass, may miss the situation of local importance which contact with a salesman can give.
American Through and Through
In promotion calculated to appeal to readers of the German language paper, Mr. Gerecke said it has been found characteristic that they are seeking the American point of view, that they want to be, and to be known as, Americans.
(Originally published in the St. Louis Advertising Club Weekly 3/14/1932).