MOVING THE GOODS 63

5
..,.,ainly the handful
eve d ...
of townspeople (only 5 percent 1.lVe d 1n
· 1790)
. towns
se
of Jll ore than 250 0 , m and the smaller handful of affl uent
Moving the Goods downers.
la~~rth
vv 1
so feW people,
th . with
, so 1little
. 1commerce beyond village tra d"mg
all tn. light of e .soc1ety
d sbco oma
. roots, it is easy to understa.nd th at'
d ho did pres1 e over uymg and selling - apart from ki d
tbose W . f 'd rna ng an
.
uslllg - operated 1n a ar Wl er and less specialized arena tha
n anyone
oday. They were the all-purpose merchant capitalists hardl d'
does t . . f ' y ls-
tioguishable in their operaoons rom those who for centuries had spread
European commerce and hegemony thro~gh the rest of the world. They
Now I will elaborate on what it meant£or "capitah . . ts" owned ships, bought cargoes on speculation. They were both importers
r~sources, an d energy to the sales effort Th s to shift and exporters. They acted as agents for other merchants. They insured
signal that the agents of this historical c h ange . ose
werequotation
h. . Inattention
arks ' cargoes. They ~ent money to finance local con~truction and manufac-
even
fi mo tl ey cast of characters • whi'ch . I d
Inc u ed c as. tftmg v .
• aned are a turing in the nver and sea ports where they res1ded. They sold both at
· mance,
bb but also
. . general merchants , 1actors
c. aptams
co . .of industry'and retail and at wholesale. And they traded all kinds of products, from hogs
JO ers, speCiahzed and general wh o I esaI'ers rnmission rne rc hants and d whiskey to lace and tea. 2 These were powerful families; they organ-
£ d f ~n d the economic life of the nation. But they were far more than
oun ers o . department
. stores 'I d
, ma. or er sell ' commodity
h . d eale '
tors, a d vertismg agents and man 0 th ers, c ain store rs, ~:rchandisers, and their selling activities were amorphous, variable,
c 1 · ' Y ers. I want t opera
omp exity and cross currents of the turn t d o acknowledge th- and largely impr~vise~.
Furthermore, m sp1te of the broad scope of their operations, these
my purpose here is merely to sketch th t owar mass distribution e
most of the chapter to an analysis thatl:o~o;'plexity, and then de~~: merchants dealt almost entirely with a network of people known to
mg pro.cesses. And I hope that it will hel I or a un~ty among under! - them. Each
the subJect of the next chapter -within a ~ ocate natwnal advertising~ tried, where possible, to have members of his own family act as his agents
ment of transformation.~ uch broader historical move- in London, the West Indies, and other North American colonies. If he
could not consign his goods and arrange for purchase and sale of mer-
chandise through a family member or through a thoroughly reliable
Toward Modern Selling associate, the merchant dependec1 on a ship captain or supercargo ....
The merchant knew the other resident merchants in his town, who col-
In the early years of the Re bl' laborated with him in insuring and owning ships, as he did the
on farms. They grew, proce~s~d ~~ three-quarters of the people worked shipbuilders, rope-makers, and local artisans who supplied his personal as
they ate; built their own ho ' ndd cooked or preserved most of what well as his business needs. Finally, he was acquainted with the planters,
uses an barns· d . the farmers, and country storekeepers, as well as the fishermen, lumber-
an d many of their tools and t . • rna e most of their furniture
· u ensi 1s· spu men, and others from whom he purchased goods and to whom he
0 fth etr dothes and beddin . For ' n, wove, and sewed most or all
sans, many doubling as[; g other needs they counted on local arti-
armers. Most of th · · provided supplies.3
work ers were craftsmen d h e remammg quarter of the
th In~
. n?t produced at home.' an t ey shap e d an d fabricated almost every- In short, at this time selling practices were embedded in a. network of
familiar social ties and were geared to directly perce1ved needs.
It IS t~p?rtant to remember the d
when thinkmg about the a u· . .
.
ommance of home production Merchants who sold things to Americans al~o boug~t ~eir
produce and
d d c VIties of sen· B their small manufactures so that distribuuon was mumately related to
mg. efore 1800 there was a
rep~at,
goo eal of exchange alongsid d'
that happened through the . re Irect production for use but much of production. And, to although merchants played a magisterial
th b
e arter of goods for goods and oo peratio~ of neighbors, through
Intormal coo . ' role in the money economy, that economy d1d not encompass most of
purchases made directly from th g ti ~s for serVIces, and through small
Through the first eighty years of the nineteenth century. thlS syst~m
the productive work of Americans. .
who himself manufactured the gooed nBer or blacksmith or cordwainer
.. f .
Jtles o buytng and selling had l'ttl
s. ut speCI·a~·IZed and separate activ- of moving the goods entirely changed, in part because the popu\auon
1 e place in economic . hfe,
. and they
 64
SELLING CULTURE

multiplied tenfold, and because the n u·

.
Ime, b . a on spre d MOVING GOODS
ut mamly because production . a away fi THE. 65
. . Itse If ch rom ·
summanzed m chapter 4. Suffice to say th b
far advanced, from domestic and artisa tt
tem that turned out producer and cons:~ production to ais•tion "'~
angect . 1ts c0
Y 1880 the~ In .the :t- ·l'ty is to say that industrial capitalism had burgeoned within a
. stabI I
10 tile capitalist framework that could no longer contain its ener-
. . or again, that a severe contrad'1ct1on
rnercan · h ad ansen· between production
Production of some was highly mechan· ed~ g?ods in large actory 8\t.. gte~, distribution. I'll mention a fe~ pa~ticulars of this crisis.
fil Ize . Cigar qua . -,,..
m, paper, soap, canned goods cereals OI.l . ettes, texti·l 11tities anF. t of course, mass production Itself put a strain on the Rube
I ' • , patnt s es fl ·
p e. But even where technology was simpl ' ugar, beer c ' out trs ' apparatus o f d'tstn'b uuon.
ldberg . M anu f:acturers needed to keep the
· 1 . . e,mostpr0 d •tOre '
m arge umts With many workers perfi . sp · . Uction took -'<atn, Go h'nes running in order to turn a profit on fixed capital and the
. ormmg 1 rnac 1 ' k . . '
railroad system made it possible to b . eCia 1Izect task Pace holesaler network couldn t eep up. Second, mdustnal firms grew
d h . . nng raw mat . I s. A h
an s Ip fimshed goods out to all parts of th ena s from a dis Uge w
large rand larger; by the 1880s some had become
. oligopolists in their sec-
worked for wages, and produced very Iittl e country. Most tance and this tendency toward concentration accelerated rapidly through
tors . d . th . b r
Th.e old general merchants were unab~eat home, directly for ~~Ople mergers, reachn~g a cre~c~n ? m e years JUS~ e1ore and after 1900. On
functtOns through even the first stages of th ~o carry on their rnuJ~· the other side, mdustnahzatlon created armtes of workers who had to
co~plex evolution took place in sales, which Is change. An exceedi~P~e
retail and wholesale selling became may be schematized th g y
Shopkeepers bought from wholesale~o;e dan~ ml ore distinct functio~s:
i:
b y most of the things they used, and massed these consumers together
cities. So the larger producers faced their own and other workers as a
otential mass market, across a crowd of middlemen and a vast array of
retail sales (though there are . ' n ~ o esalers dropped s. ;mall stores. The shopkeepers and country merchants were very like
Mea~while, wholesaling becam~~:hexcepuons, .li~e Marshall F~~l~~f their predecessors of the eighteenth century. The middlemen had
altered their tasks, but still carried them out in much the same personal
func~on and the range of oods ha more s~eCiahzed, as to both th~ and improvised ways, and through the same kind of organization- basi-
only m t~xtiles, or cotton, or ~ardware ~~dfuMiddlemen came to deal cally the family firm. Advanced, concentrated production; old-fashioned,
~co nomic transactions they handl d ey reduced the number of diffuse marketing: the imbalance had grown more uneven because man-
Impo~ters, exporters, factors, broker e . The:e. were now specialized ufacturers had less and less need for the services of wholesalers in
eers, Jobbers, warehousers manu£ s, com~russiOn merchants, auction- providing capital. A combination of Civil War profits, the spoils of high-
moved ~ough complex s~ries of ~cturer~ agents, and so on. Goods tech production, the emergence of banks willing to lend to industrialists,
srn;er, With credit flowing along th ~sa~tiOns, from producer to con- and the increased use of the joint stock company gave big manufacturers
h~t. last point deserves some e e m~ m equally complex ways. more autonomy and the potential to take leadership in the economy.
the Civil War, cash was scarce in mphasi~. For most of the time up until
market for industrials and the ~nited States, there was no stock
~uch as a source of ca~ital focommerCial banking had not developed Mass Marketing
.e old all-purpose merchantsr manufacturers. So it was natural that as
auons th . . narrowed th . •
exte '. ey retamed one that had n . . ~ scope of their selling oper- They did assume leadership in time, but they were not the first to under-
so scnhsion of credit. This acu·VI·ty o Intrinsic connection to selling· the
emati II assumed 1· · take the rationalization and control of markets. That effort was launched
ufactu ca y presented here) r . mu tlple forms (like all those first by agents in the other two sectors- by middlemen and retailers.
rers secu d b ' unmng fro b · f
wholesaler ~e Y their inventori m ne advances to man- Here, as at so many points in this study, it seems that the needs of indus-
outright fi s an~ Industrial firms in en} es: to collaborations between trial capital realize themselves through mediation by new kinds of
ormation f argmg th 1
with the Walth 0 companies with ca 'tal e Pants of the latter, to entrepreneurs, who see or stumble upon opportunities where capitalists
Bethlehem rail a~ and Lowell textile p~ ·ugathered by merchants, as have noticed only barriers and frustrations. Such mediations often lead
tral coordinatomi s.4 In effect, merchants I s ~nd the Cambria and the way, and make wealthy capitalists of their inventors, but only when
. rs and fi . contmued
speCialized their sellin n~~~Iers of industrial to act as the cen- they fit in with and help advance the project of industrial capitalists.
The situation_ th" kg ac~VIties to a finene growth, even as they People like John Wanamaker and Montgomery Ward did not act under
d m of lt as 1 ss.
pro ucers reaching out to a arge number of sm the direction of manufacturers, but their success could have happened
through an elabor:at an enormous numb all- to medium-sized only in the space created by large scale capitalist production. I will turn
e network f. er of sm II h
an d more unstable after 1860 o Independent middl a s opkeepers, no:' to the revolution in selling, and mention half a dozen contributors
or so. The broadest emen -grew more t~ It. They emerged in different quarters of the economy and pursued
way to understand that different courses of action, but I will argue that they all contributed to a

'
't
 66
SELLING CUL
TURE
single, underlying process· tu .
I · rnmg sal ·
n the 1850s, some wholesalers b es Into big bu .
all the transactions that took 1 egan to reassembfi~ess. MOVING THE GOODS 67
store. They took on full lines drace between manu; Into one b
their sales counters, they still limited their wares primarily to dry
goods or d:ugs). They took adva!~ods (hardware, fo~cturer an.dllsilless an~;:. The transforma~?n ~f the dry goods "palace" into a kind of uni-
extend their trade through la ge of the railroad e:x:allJ.ple tet&i! go a1 rnarket, with retathng m command, took place between 1860 and
jobbers, taking ownership of~= P:~ of the country. s;::d
tele~~\dty ve~ 189os, with Macy's and Lord & Taylor lea~ing the way.
cash or for very short-term credit fh . s for cash, and usud they be~ to th For instance, when Ro~lan~ M"acy started h1s N~w york store in 1858,
of merchandise, and move it fas~· be~ goal was to move 1ally selling~~ he specialized almost entirely m fancy dry goods : nbbons, lace, artifi-
formance of their various depar~ y be 1870s, they meaarge quantitior . 1 flowers, feathers, and so on, to be used in finishing dresses and
word "department" suggests the elnts y the rate of "stocksured the Pe~s ~:ts. 7 By 1860 he sold furnishings, towe~s, underwear, blankets, curtains,
. · , Ya so beca -tur ,, r. d arasols. Through the 1860s, the hne expanded rapidly to include
za t:I ons, m contrast to all the m'ddl me complex b . n. As th
An · I emen f th Uszne e ~ndbags, tea sets, ~icture frames, dolls,. games, soaps, perfumes, hats,
e~ecut:Ive branch was flanked o o. e first half of th ss organi. lets and other Jewelry, bronze and IVory ornaments, clocks, silver-
fannmg out through th . . n one Side by hund d e centJJ .... brace housewares, utens1.1s, b rus h es, b aby carnages,
.
d emand, and on the othe e Cities and re s of -.. . . ,. books, and candy.
'd sma11 towns to influe salestnen ware, . h 1 d .
And by the 1890s, his very muc en arge store earned glassware, fur-
. r SI e by d nee d
acqmred large amounts of h . epartmentalized b an meter 'ture rugs, gardening sets, sporting goods, guns, bicycles, sewing
country and in Euro e- mere. andise from producer uyers, Who niachines,
' hardware, sh oes, pamungs,
. . b oys , and mens
, clothes, watches,
contracting in adval::e toa~~ who Increasingly influenced sr:ro~d the :oves, photographi~ supplies, and many o~er lines. I.t would probably
large portion of it . y the whole output of a p duction by be easier to list the Items not sold at Macy s. Meanwhile, the store had
£ ' meanwhile settin . manufactur
acturer would work. I th g specifications to wh. h h er, or a become an integrated, multi-unit, modem company, with dozens of
and rationalized the ch ~ o /~ w~rds~ these jobbers not o~~ t e manu- departments working as semi-autonomous operations, reporting to a
through which inform=~ :~bunon, they also constitute~ ::r~~ed hierarchy of managers. It was a gigantic enterprise, employing 3000
back again And I y passed from r ta '1 e Ium people and passing $8 million in annual sales before the end of the
modities, brino-ingofmcoursef they helped lower t~e ~~a~o p:oducer and century. Remember that there were about ten other big department
Mass wh ol o·ar ore o them WI'th· th pnces of com- stores in New York at this time, and a proportionate number in other
m e ran f
1850 es mg emerged as as· . ge o more customers large cities. They quite dominated urban retailing amid the ruins of
An ~ a~d reached the height f ~gn~cant business practice in the many small businesses, and after protracted legal battles.8
gro: i~ri~;ovation began earlieroin I~e ;;~.~pment just after 188o.s They built their unprecedented trade through a variety of practices,
was th d ortance for many decad I sector and continued to many new at the time, all standard now. They bought in large quantities,
moder~ f:;:tm~nt store, though t~: ~~r. wh.oiesai.ing peaked. That more and more often directly from manufacturers; and like the big job-
the 1890 ) S until the 1870s (and th t titutw~ did not assume its bers, they ordered goods made to specification, and even went into
s · ome d e erm came I t 'd
sales to previous} ry goods stores in New Yc n o WI e use only i.n manufacturing themselves, though not in most departments. They
later: AT. Stewar ~nheard-oflevels in the 183ork began ~o expand their admitted all customers, with no obligation to buy. They sold cheap.
Constable's M t s famous Marble Dr G Os, and th~Ir premises a bit Their prices were fixed: no haggling, one price for all. Some, like Macy's,
ture in 1860. ~~~e House in 1857; Lo;d ~ods P.U,ace In 1846; Arnold accepted only cash, but many extended credit widely. They also followed
largest of any ~ elegant, spacious fi Taylor s new marble struc- the lead of Marshall Field, Wanamaker's, and Macy's by guaranteeing
become a new sort m N ,T , IVe-story. b Ul'ld'mgs, among the
ki ew 10rk, gave vis' goods, and offering the customer's money back for any purchase
cheap, had hund~:;:f activity. These re~~:r:~dence ~at selling had returned as unsatisfactory. They advertised lavishly in local newspapers
customers- a far cr fi of employees, and s ought m volume, sold (Macy's ad budget averaged more than 1.5 percent of sales through the
nated retailing sin y~om the one- or two- erved tens of thousands of 1890s). And to the customers drawn by advertisements and low prices,
But in two ways,c~e e earii~st days. person shop that had domi- the big stores offered an experience of luxury and plenty: not only the
short of their modern se ~ounshing businesse . elegant buildings and glittering array of commodities, but services that
adjunct to wholesaling~~t:Iculation. In most of~had, In 1860, still fallen ~ade the humblest shopper feel like Mrs Astor. Marshall Field, for
~ T. Stewart and Marsh~~;.some, that balance c:m: retail sales were an Instance, had writing rooms with desks and paper supplied, a library,
big stores had developed a ~eld, for instance.6 Andntinued for decades- restrooms with maids, a nursery, a medical room, waiting rooms for
epartmentai stru t although some of the men, original art to gaze at, and of course a large restaurant.9 Macy's,
cure, both· .
m thetr buying though less elegant than Marshall Field, did not exaggerate in calling
 6H
SELLING CU
. LTu~E
Itself a "shopping resort "Io A
~s surrounded by a giow ofplethora of chea
of aty shopping affluence ch p as WeJJ MOVING THE GOODS 69
· aracter · as
A mass urban market grew u tzect the e;'<Pellsi\>
after the Civil War It . . prather quickly . Petie ~ f 1 organization of farmers), carried on the cover of his catalog
• . · IS Important In th llc powe~~ l880s. And almo~t from the begin?ing, he offered a money-
Cities boomed the rural popul ti to remember. he Years bet e mtok uarantee. The. busmess succeeded tmmediately: by the early
and remained larger than th a ~n also continued' t owever, th ore <lt!q baC g Ward was puttmg out a 540-page catalog listing 24,000 items,
I. Farm income more than tri~:d ~ until about theoJrow (unti~tl~hile 1890s, lling more than a million dollars' worth of goods annually.
the century. For obvious reasons n etwe~n the Civil w:::eof World lO), and ~e other great mail order house began with no populist mission, and
. T ~most comically contrasting way. Richard Sears cooked up one shady
~arket, which remained de en de o retail palaces could and the eu War
Items not produced by farm~rs fo;~o~ the general, co~erve this Of 1:l'e Ill an after another for selling watches and jewelry, beginning in 1886.
scheme tedly folded up one "busmess . " an d started another, never believ-
more for market and less for use th eir own use (and thntry store fle rep ea .
·n that mail order was more than a pass.mg fad. An.d even when Sears,
the right word, too, especially in ~o~ghout this time). "Dey Produc~ 1
g b ck and Company was clearly a maJOr enterpnse, Sears hyped his
keepers extended credit to £ e outh and the Wt ependeut~. Roe uwildly and erratic · ally, ofiten b nngmg
· · m · fl oods of orders that outran
them virt_ually in bondage. In ~:~~s against the harveste:~ Where star;~ goothdsinventory and the capacity . of staff to respond. This drove Roebuck
as they did the wholesaler's andjo~~· ~tore prices Were big~ often held ~:distraction; he got out in 1895, making way for Aaron Nussbaum and
country merchant himself and er s mark-up as Well ' reflecting . s Rosenwald, who managed to counterbalance Sears's maniacal
added on at each stage of distr~e ~ost of the credit which~ that of the U I lU
Jbrilliance, c ·
and organize the company 10r Its permanent expansion.
more than double manu£ buuon, so that retail p . as generally Yet Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward became very similar oper-
these ?eneral stores includ~~~rer's prices. II And of cou:~~e: Were often ations in spite of these differences in purpose and temperament (as did
genenc goods. Though th nly a drab assortment ofb . he stock in other mail order houses that pursued the two giants at a distance). Like
ter and the locus of nei e country store did often serveasic and .usually Ward, Sears bought in quantity and for cash from manufacturers, usually
feel cheated, and the dt?hborly courtesies, farmers had as a social cen- contracting for their entire output of a particular line and often dictating
Once railroads anX ~d. good reason to the specifications of products. Eventually, Sears went more into direct
the opportunity a t e postal system linked all control of production: by 1906 it owned part or all of sixteen factories.
larl?e market. In ~~s~8f~~ a new kind of selling to r&::~a~t~ th~ cbountry, The company sold at fixed, rock bottom prices, for cash, and with a free
mad; more r . s, a number of entre re ut very return policy for any merchandise that failed to please the customer.
sent the goo~ e~Isel~, they advertised and r p~e~eurs began selling by (Briefly, around 1900, it even sent goods in advance of payment.) It
tern came int s y ra~lway freight or ex ress ecetve orders by mail, but advertised broadly if crudely; from 1898 to 1905 advertising expenses
in this way f;oeff~ct only in 1913). Tfey sol(dthebmodern parcel post sys- ranged between 6 percent and 13 percent of sales. 12 The bulk of this
machmery . ' Th m Jewelry to medicmes. . to a. road
. range of pro ducts money went into the famous catalog, but Sears also used the "mail order
noted i h. ey advertised widel . ~Usical Instruments to farm magazines," and even some prestigious monthlies like Cosmopolitan.
n c apter 2 h Y In national ·
and 1880s wh· , a w ole genre ofma . magazmes; indeed, as The difference in scale between advertising by Sears and Ward on the
w~ich we;e vi~~~ere _little more than v!~~~es prosp~red in the 1870s one hand and major department stores on the other reflects the differ-
Fzreside Visitor. Ch. y gi~en away (People' L. es for mall order ads, and ence between presenting one's entire line of goods to isolated farmers
~rder merch~nts z:ago Fzreside Friend, and :o zterary Companion, Comfort, and attracting city people into a nearby store where they might inspect
Individual operati~ld only one line of goodon). But these earlier mail the goods themselves. Otherwise, the mail order houses created a space
offered farmers an i~s Were small, even tho~' for the most part; their of desire and purchase homologous to that of the department stores.
Aaron Montgom portant alternative to th gh as an ensemble they Thus, the 1895 Sears catalog arranged its wares in departments much
conducting a sal ery Ward first con . e general store. like those of Macy's: crockery, bicycles, guns, revolvers, fishing tackle,
that of the countres operation by mail thceived the idea (in 1872) of sporting goods, baby carriages, furniture, buggies, harnesses, saddlery,
. Ystore It· · at Would
consciOusly on farmers' .. IS Interesting ton parallel and surpass sewing machines, boots, shoes, clothing, pianos, organs, other musical
c~h from the manufact discontent: he made~te t~at his venture built instruments, optical goods, watches, jewelry, diamonds, silverware, and
P~Ices made possible ~rer and sell for cash t~t ~Is project to buy for clocks. 13 One additional department, farm implements, never made an
middlemen and credit. Je ~~~me buying and t~~arm_er .at very low appearance on 14th Street. Missing from the list (unaccountably, to me)
the endorsem ehmmation of ~r~ .dry goods, but by 1900 the Sears catalog had added this line, the
ent of the Grange (the Intt.Ial raison d'etre of department stores. 14 So, by the 1890s, city and
 70
SELLING CU
LTURE
cowury people had comparable ar
able to them And th rays of inex
· e se11 ers were all b. Pensive
both Ward and Sears passed $10m 'lr Ig .businesses· r~olllllloditj MOVING THE GOODS 71
One other form of mass retaili I Ion In annual ~a: e I\.iarshaJ.es a"ai!
store. Structurally; retai'l ch . ng deserves a brief es arol .... d l ~<'ieJ..~, d or continuous process machines and a large input of energy
e
' ains came t llle . '-'J.t 19 '~, h 1·gb-spe . . . . '
an to develop 1~ su?ar .refimng, brewmg,. and ml refining by the
between that of the mail order h o occupy a demUtion: the oo. beg A real explosiOn m h1gh speed productlon occurred in the early
ograPhi cha~ 0
0
1~~ :; flour, cereals, canned goods, ~1m, cigarettes, matches, followed a
Woolworth's began in medi'um . douses and the d
1 -size town l'k epart c sp
aunched its first tea stores in lower Man s I e Utica and r::;ent sto:ce 1. t r by chewing gum and soft dnnks. Leaders found themselves pro-
stores operated in small towns and . h~ttan. For the ...... caster· A ~s.
1
bit ~ ~ more than they could distribute by traditional methods. For
"d , In City · h ··~ostp '''((P ?ucill ce when James Buchanan Duke acquired his first two Bonsack cig-
own town. Otherwise, they resembl d d neig borhood art, chain mstan machines
' ( an d exc lusive
. . h ts to their use), he could
order h.ouses: quantity buying; increasi~ epartznent stor:saway from arette . h
ng
.
pr~cessmg, and packaging; fixed 1 f? control over Ill and lll.a.il . diately make more cigarettes t an all Amencans smoked. He had
unme'ld a sales network an d a d vertlse
· h eaVI·1y to turn his
· product from a
relied heavily on advertising th , ohw pnces; cash busineanufacturinll' to bUllty into a necessity.
. L'k . H enry p . c rowell bmlt . an integrated
h' · • oug not FW nr ss onJ o• I eWise,
Is store wmdows were advertise . . vvoolworth Wh y. Many
n~~eto make oatmeal in 1882, but Americans didn't eat much oatmeal-
nity for customers to feel the enti ~ent enough, along with th o felt that
rn~ifficulty overcome on the sales side by the creation of Quaker Oats.l7
nickel or a dime. Although most c~g_ objects that could be b e opportu. a 2. Some companies, whether their production was enormous or sim-
Woolworth's) sold only a :6 I' c cuns (apart from "variety'?Ughtfora ly large, had problems that general wholesalers couldn't handle. Some
hardware, paint housewareew mes, together they covered stores like p eeded temperature control (meat, bananas, beer) . Some needed elab-
area in which they claimed ~shoes, clo~i~g, drugs, and so ~ost areas- ~rate customer services (sewing machines, reapers, binders, office
course food (Both Se e mass retailing field for th n. The one equipment). These, too, took over the distribution of their own wares.
· ars and som f th emselve
groceries, but never carri eo e department stores . s Was of 3. Most producers of consumer goods who integrated forward to
and passed th h ed the effort very far) Ch . tlied selling wholesaling or retailing made inexpensive things that sold to large num-
e ot er types of . · cun stores e 1
but they had established th mass retailer only in the 1920s qua ed bers of customers. For these firms, the growing cities offered big,
stores, Woolworth 59· and emhselve~ firmly by 1900, when A&Panhddaf2ter, concentrated markets. Mter a certain point, they could reach these mar-
't . • eac attamed a 00 kets more efficiently and cheaply by setting up their own sales
th o recapitulate: after the Civil W; annual sales of $5 million Is
adt made them sole middlemen bar, some wholesalers took an initi~tive departments. Examples: Standard Oil, US Rubber (boots and shoes),
an made th etween manu£ Sherwin-Williams (paint), Cluett, Peabody (collars and cuffs) , Parker
d em mass marketers as . acturers and retailers
. epartment stores, mail order h well. Srmultaneously at the retail end' Pens, and Eaton, Crane, and Pile (stationery) .18
mg over from middlemen re ous~s, and later chain stores began tak~ 4. The move from production into sales facilitated oligopoly in many
~ods, and developing into':ul=~?-g customers with rich displays of sectors. Likewise, where oligopoly came first, through merger, the newly
formed giants soon found that if they did not integrate forward into
co:~~~a t?ird movement, which c~~on dollar ?usinesses. Now I want to sales (as well as backward), their size alone did not protect them from
because~ttio~. It paraUels the other twple.ted this revolution in sales and the choice between suicidal price wars and the strain of buying out com-
I ongin t d . o m a ki d f
Compan·
Ies makmg
a : With manujactur~ 16
...,,,,
n ° structural tidiness, peting companies. But if they did organize their own sales operations,
reason, alread d . consumer products . their size permitted great economies, as well as major ad campaigns:
down the · ksy etaiJed in the last ch went Into sales for one basic examples include the Distillers Corporation, the National Biscuit
ns of th · h' apter the h d .
out the process f err Ighly competitiv · . Y a to, m order to cut Company, and the American Cotton Oil Trust (fertilizer, feed, washing
ber of more s o ~ccumulation. Beneathe t~~VIronme~lt and to smooth powder, lard, soap); while the road to monopoly capital was littered with
distribution pecific causes that led Is generalization lie a num- failed mergers that did not integrate, especially in food, textiles, cloth-
networks h .1 some m f:
tern, and restricted th' ~ I e others continued anu acturers to build ing, leather goods, bicycles, and paper products. 19
eir efforts to rnaki to rely upon the old sys-
ng t1le goods·
1. The pioneers h d 1 : Companies that established nationwide sales networks for one or all of
··
q UCUltities, a earned h
very ra idl . ow to make . these reasons were not, however, the only ones to succeed in capturing big
that had to be keppt y, ~d With heavy. use of fitheir products in large national markets. Many who continued to rely on independent whole-
. runnmg t IXed ·tal
mach me when business is slac o pay for themselves ( capI :'machines salers and jobbers also succeeded, and a partial list of these is instructive:
k) · Such method50 f you can t lay off a Kellogg, Postum, Cream of Wheat, Baker (chocolate), Van Camp,
produ c ti' on, mvolving
·
Calumet, Horlicks, Beech-Nut, Pacific Coast Borax (Twenty Mule Team),
 - Av~J<.:

Park~Davis, I.W. Lyon and Son

Ben), Whitman's (cand ) . (tooth powder) Wi
Gillette, B.V.D.l!o Evid ytl' BzsseU (carpet sw, estern Cl
h en y, these eepers) ock. C MOVING THE GOODS 73
c ance or the whim of the jobb companies Were ' Ingers Io. (~a
memory because thev II'ke er. Their brand na not leavino I, tJ~ ~ oolworth, Procter and Gamble, Se~s, and Macy followed no grand
. '' most ofth · Illes g s l~::~•n W . s They did not foresee even thetr own successes, much less under-
out Into the consumer's mind th e Integrated co are lodged~ est~
desl~their efforts as a reorganization of society. There was a hit-or-miss
than one for manufacturers to :~ugh advertising. Thr~orations, re Ill tbe stan taneity to their schemes, as they followed intuitions and sought
nearly universal than wholesa1in ::rtrol ~ales, and adve; ~~re lllor:chect sp~n their own advancement. When something worked, they did more of
sumer demand for a small h ~ r:gtonal offices 'f, tising was \Va}'s
irrelevant whether the produouse old Item was, in fa~t to guaranteelllore
lt
?n the same time, I have wanted to make a seemingly opposite point:
~at these events do constitu~e one story, that ~f ingenuity, resource.s,
.
L ooking cer or theJ· bb , o rn k . con
back to the 1880s . o er handled d ' ~ e It allh . d organizational energy shifted from production to sales. Now I Will
c. , a ma•or so Istnb . ··•ost an d back a bit farther from the story, and gloss some of its historical
manu1acturers understood this: :~ ap maker showed h~tion.
::;:anings in a way that will, I hope, prepare for my account of advertis-
wclear)
Twe~ty-five years ago the manufact
. and mass culture.
y mgBehind the process that led to planned mass marketing, we can see a
ments of his goods, and arran e urer went to the jobber
two cars at the agreed terms .. ;.:e
tl_J-eb~rms. The jobber said~~~~ted the
told him that he had goods ~f ex JO. er then went to the r~ .end llle
double transformation of Ame~c~n society that took place .with great
eed, by historical standards. W1thin a hundred years the society moved
~hrough three forms of economic organization. At the beginning of the
the .retailer ordered several c cepuonal quality, stated the t tatler and century, general merchants supervised economic life. They, along with
retailer, she asked for an . I ases. When the consumer erms, and the big landowners (especially in the South), made up a rather diffuse

~f~:~-~:~:~r::goosul·s;;,~~: ::,':,:'~;:;,~~~o~~!::;'dTc~h:e ~~~~

th
:::
reversed tod Th · e rneth d
ruling class. One may wonder whether to call this system mercantile
capitalism: merchants did not own the major means of production (land
and tools), and some have argued that the US in 1800 is best understood
he consumer. By advertising he bur at. e manufacturer goes first~
as a "domestic mode of production." I don't think much is at stake here,
e wants a certain brand Th ns It mto the consumer's mind tho
please, he induces her to tr.y hi r~ugh premiums, gifts or bribes if at so long as we remember that the US, with no feudal past, was a remote
outpost of European mercantilism and integrated within that world sys-
ufacturer educates her to asks fo~anFdl. ANttremendous expense the r!~~ tem. Capitalism was marginal to the lives and production of most
Ar row collars t
' e c., as the case b e s aphtha ' I vory, Rub-No-More farmers and artisans, but the capitalism that did exist was mercantile,
?oes to the jobber askin him ;nay e: The demand created, the retaile; and merchants presided over the social surplus.
Jobber goes to the man!-act o furmsh the articles called for. Then the They helped move some of it into mills, factories, railroads, and so
Our com urer.
. pany sells through th . bb
th e d estre sponsored a new class that in turn became dominant, by 1870. Industrial
fo e JO er: and d
r our product through d ' . . we o the rest. We create entrepreneurs freed themselves from dependence on merchants (whole-
a verusmg 21
As producers learn d . salers). They owned most of the productive apparatus in the
saler's fu · . e to engineer sal h manufacturing sector, which was creating more market value than farm-
reduced nthctiofun mto their own organ·es, ~ ey sometimes took the whole- ers, and which was the dynamic force in capital formation and social
at ncti IZatton and h .
rather th . on to one of taki ' w en they d1dn 't, they change. Industrialists brought into being a new counterpart class, a
Meanw~Jselhng. ng orders and delivering the goods, wage-earning proletariat. And their project led to intense crises along
1 e, mass retail
the other side, and . ~rs preempted th . with power and wealth, as noted in the last chapter.
counters and cata} mcreasmgly dictated wh e wholesalmg function from Out of those crises emerged a third form of American capitalism,
large corporations~ ~ new kind of econ~~would be. produced for their dominated by large corporations and their owners. These corporations
t m one way or anoth y had ansen, dominated by no longer limited themselves to manufacturing, but organized the entire
er made sa1es th e1r
· busmess.
. economic process, from farming and the extraction of raw materials all
the way through to retail sales or sales of producer goods. Some origi-
Dime nsions
· of th nated in retailing, a few in extraction, most in manufacturing. But almost
I .. e Change
n wntmg about th all the successful ones shortened the chain between production and
d d' ese events I h
an Isconnectedness ave wanted t final sales, taking internal control of what had been risky and chaotic
, even th · o emphas· .
etr chaotic . IZe their variety market processes. Manufacturers went into distribution and advertising;
quahty. Men like Duke, mass retailers took over the wholesaling function and increasingly
 74
SELLING CU
d' LTURE
trected production of th
catalogs.~ They substitute~ comm?dities that ad
producing the goods and pi~mng and con ornect thei
The movement from pr:~~I:g for the best. trol for the ~!~helves a
MOVING THE GOODS 75

tures of the modern co c. on to sales ties i . systelll.1\q tionally, so that both Ivory Soap and its intrusive symbolism were
historians like Chandler orp~ration: Whether an~ With au the Of ute~ ~e on 23rd Street as well as in Hoxie, Kansas, bringing these dis-
units and complex . r y ~arxists like Bar a Yzect by Ill ~ain t avat a d disparate communities into the same commercial culture.
cessary to monitoi;tearnndai hiera~chies of the: cand Sweezy. ~hllstre:~ tan~an opoly capital united us as consumers. But of course it further
. coordm t orpo · e Ill ··• . .do~ us as producers. A corporate ruling class consolidated itself,
corporations were able to ach. a e productio rations w ally dtVl egh stocks, bonds, banks, political networks, cultural organizations,
eration of their own ca itaiie~e autonomy- contr~ and .saJe:re lle, thro~ ages schools, the social register. Increasingly, it delegated man-
controlled distribution Th partly because th from Inside 1'he
aU, with its destructive. bo;y could. abandon the oldey stabilized gen.
rnarnent ~f its enterprises to hired employees, who, along with the
age~ng force that managed money, the law, education, government
groWlcies and other key mstltutions
. . . of th e new soctety,
. emerge d as an
because they found mo ts of pnce cutting and War of aU ag ~lld
sh are and expand with the w
re steady and 1. mark
re Iabie ways tom . et_ cornerin
a.tnst ~Jentifiable middle class- the "professional-managerial class," as I call
~ ~nShopkeepers and farmers remained, but declined in relative impor-
throat competition. Hence h?,le economy rather th atntain a rnark~'
tt. ce after 1900. The industrial working class swelled with immigrants
the competition through the corespective" behaVI· an through cutt ta~ with country girls and boys who gave up on farm life; and the sales
fix' th . . cost cutting th or of or ·
I~g,. e nsmg rate of profit£ ai ra er than price th Ig~poiists, a~fort created an army of deskilled wage workers harder and harder to
capitalism. or 1. Monopoly cap'tai: ~ tacit Price ~istinguish from their counterparts in factories. How different was the
I f: I Ism Is ke
n act, Baran and Sw mar. ting $8-a-week laborer in Sears's wallpaper factory from the $5-a-week stock
ous product differentia~ezy argue that through market clerk at Sears's warehouse on Fulton Street?
:~le adjunct of producti~:: ~~~tdv;;;_tising, the sales ~;;:~r~h, spun. All these classes - and even farmers- moved farther and farther into
. y of goods desi ned _ng e manufacturer to d' once a the money economy through the last half of the century. Production for
Increasingly invaded ~ to satisfy recognized c Ispose prof- exchange eased out production for use. To look at the transition another
duced accordin to ~ct~ry and shop, dictatin w~nsumer needs - way, before mid century, most people still grew and prepared most of
consultants andg d .cnte~ta laid down by the salg d at was to be pro- their own food, made most of their own clothing, produced their own
" a VIsers m th es epartment d · , lighting and heat, built their houses, made some furniture and tools.
progressed" nearly so f: . e advertising industry 23 Th. han rts

i
mass retailers infl arm 1900. Yet I have ind' . mgs ad not (Even in cities, many had gardens, kept chickens and pigs, made candles
it on directl uenced production around Icated how much the and soap.) The early development of mass marketing fit itself into home
factories woy,I:d often setting the specifi tithat date, sometimes taking production, rather than displacing it. Farm implements sold by mail
of creating ~ee:l'sork. And ~anufacturers ~=d ~~s to which independent were, of course, used to produce food and cotton. One of the earliest
drinks and not preVIously felt c ready begun the process foodstuffs to be branded and sold in the new way was flour, which then
' so on F - J.•0 r gum c.
process one ste fur rom there it did not take ~ tgarett~s, oatmeal, soft became bread and pastries through further home labor. Department
or created andpth ther, first determinin h revolution to carry the stores dealt mainly in dry goods through the 1870s and even later: fac-
few ventu;es su hen making the product~ w at needs could be fostered tories made the textiles, but the purchaser then continued the process of
the foundation ~o as Gillette were sales-dri~ go with the ad campaign. A production at home, to make dresses, hats, cloaks, upholstery, bedding,
sales and productir our present consumer et from the start. What laid
Along with that~n, Well underway nine~~ture was the integration of
drapes. Ditto for the notions that were a staple of five-and-dime stores.
Men's ready-made clothing was uncommon before mid century; ready-
gration of the U I~Hegration, and ins - Ive years ago. made clothes for women came still later. Only toward the end of the
affiliation. Canals m~led States itself a~parabie from it, came the inte- century could one buy a full array of cheap finished products through
p .h one were the ' ra1 inu
roads
'steamship lines
more th
an a loose political the mail and at stores. And needless to say, that manifestation of goods
mneteenth century. ~~:tr~ctur~, graduaU~~e.~elegraph, and the tele- for sale was no more than the other face of a change which by 1900 put
came through the sal t e unification of at down through the most people's labor power to work for wages, in factories and shops,
much the same 1 es effort. Schem . production and d 'I I. c stores and offices.
h . c asses of c aticaily· d at y 11e
ouses dtd on the farm ommodities in th .. epartment stores sold . The displacement of home production amounted also to a redefini-
small towns. Manufactur~:::hchain stores i~ ~~~ ce~ter as mail order tion of gender, especially for women, as the last paragraph suggests.
o Went into sales ad net~hborhoods arid From acting as part of a semi-autonomous productive unit, women grad-
verttsed and distrib- ually gave up parts of their work and skill to industrial capitalists. Many-
 76

farm daughters and immigrants especially- beca

selves. Whether a woman did that or not shille wage \Vor1.,.
MOVING THE GOODS 77
t011e~
economy as a purchaser and manager of commoditi ' e enterect the . . .'-ts'lltQ""·
that women were released from the burden of dollJeetis: l'hts is not
. Around them emerge~ a wider a .nset,that
lesscompanies
plain ~d
. still
(and ts) . plenty ofth at, except for those wollJen s fcwo h r k; ther..osay
•vvo higL
safe,simpl~b~~~~rhaps I can best ~e';::~IZ:e::::o~s':.nth custoksme~~
~··"or~
classes who could afford m:uds and cooks. But the nat 0 t e "'·· ""Was a rehens•. . . and humantz with trademar a
d:~g ";,~~
·
changed, becommg . 1ess umversa,
. 1 1ess ski lied, llJore involved
lire Of tL •test comP famtbanze ch to this effort, along h alike to know
ucts made at a distance by others. The male gender altered t:th Prod. tried contributetv:':r ten brands of soap we;e at hoO:e amidst

::·:~ears' Iv~i'rw;;:
~stablish Strasse~ tt,db~~a~o~ships
left the home and went to work for bosses, but they kept a' .. • as Ul.en Bran nn packagmg. one's awn brand was to fee m n allowed distant
0 or Susan puts with con-
in production.
. Wiomens ' prod uctive . . . were deva.JuectVIsible PI ac,
. actiVIties

::nu:::::~:~yt:'s ~~~:;ef~~::~·~o~~~ufor ~o:Jeti:~u~=~~T;

a dazzling vane "reputattons an h ersonal contact and
almost invisible, because left out of the new money econollJy B•nct 'll><J,
as consumers were visible indeed. The Sears and Montg~rnUtw~en
1~rder
the
catalogs, going as they did to family farms, were almost gencte;? "d surne nality." It also sufully 27Wholesalers began bran houses,
Other mass marketers understood well with which gender they';;_~~~· perso
~
k d success · D tment stores, mat .
~
follow~d su~t.
when it wor w manufacturers. eparAnd in a wider sense, these retat
Most ads for branded products targeted Women, in McClure's · on' as did af ;;.e chains tar for example) served as bran1
Munsey Salmost as much as in the Ladies' HomeJournal. Woolworth st::'d
drew mainly women and children, and food chains were a female p: er
d many o
ans' names and s~d
. ·ng ant e
bols (Macy s re s ' . the store or catalog.
ntity to all the products m. . g which proliferated
. ent adverosm , d8
serve until quite recently. Department stores, in particular, created a names, gt:n h nd with brandmg w b subject in chapters an ..
6
social space for women: as late as the 1950s, 80-il5 percent of spending
there was done by women." The serVIces and amemttes they prOVided
Hand m a
through the 1890s~rtised in nationalmagazmes~ir
and which wtll e my . department stores m
own catalogs- and
Manufacturers adv ail order houses through th cards and a host of
made women feel at home - or at a higher-class home than their own.
Some stores, like Macy•s, hired mainly female clerks to put customers at
local newsp';;.~~~=ds, signs, poste'.":adv~;:'g~~~o make the P?tential
there were 1 ways advertlsmg s . h' The voice m most
ease; others, like AT. Stewart, hired attractive young men to eroticize c
other .orm s. In many
lf art of' a persona1 relations
. tp.
8 became t.n£orma1.'
shopping. Either way, the appeal was to women. When stores began to customer feel herse J'hich I will discuss m chaplterd M,.cy struck a siim·
include men's clothing departments, they invariably placed them near national adverttSl~g,
helpful, neighbor y,
sometimes humorous. Row :'e casually homiletic -
. ting copy that ran from
store entrances or in separate buildings, to save men the discomfort of lar note in local ads, wn
wandering deep into this female world.
Gender aside, consuming was a way of life that had to be learned, and ART SCIENCE d
THERE is an or d £ know how to spen
taught Moving from dependence on traditional skills, family labor, local · ney an ew
In spendmg mo ' B the best the mar e k t
artisans, and village merchants, to reliance on products that were made, to the best advantage. uy hea and you are wise.
plugged, and often sold by strangers was exciting but scary. As manu· affords. Buy for cash. Buy c p
facturers and retailers invited people into these new relations of
- to the self-mocking -
sto~es,
distribution, they sought in various ways to build trust. At department
for instance, free entry and departure set people at ease. Home
debvery accommodated and flattered the customer. The policy of fixed R.H.MACY,
pnces - Untversal among mass retailers -made for a clean if impersonal Nos. 204 and 206 6th-av., p TO HIS NECK, TO
transactton. Cash only did likewise, where it was practiced, and also HAVING GONE IN, WAYU ES
ended the often messy and demeaning dependency of customers on WAX DOLLS, CRYING BAB~O~l'T CRY,
merchants.. Most important of all, the money-back guarantee allayed
BABIES THAT CAN'T ANDABIES THAT CAN'T OPEN
fears of bemg gypped, and represented the company as honest, reli· BABIES THAT CAN AND B
able, and permanent. Nor was this policy hYPothetical: both department THEIR EYES OR SHUT 'EM,
stores and m;ul order houses took back significant percentages of what
they sold, making
the customer good
"always on "26
nght. their guarantee of satisfaction ' and keeping ... INEDTOGETOU T 128
.
HAS NOW DETERM Ri hard
These were straightforward business praca·ce h' h d h ·
. cor7orate voice should probably
. go toth ciastic
s, w Ic ma e s oppmg But thewho
Sears, prizefilled
for homtest
every me of sp ace in his catalogs With en us
 SELLING
copv d c tJ L T u R.
,, an told custo E
Compan mers why th
y as a trustworthy c: • ey should
J.Tlend: accept S
ears b
We shall alwa . , ~0 b MOVING THE GOODS 79
well ys rum to make th e uck
. as profitable to the e ordering of aQd
d on a different logic from that of the streets outside. Here one
Instructed to h dl purchaser. Ou goods fro
an e every d r ann 111 u structe
uld wander fro_m gIo:es to b'tcyc1es to th e wnt.mg
· · room, through an
every customer at a distan _or er and letter Wi~of elllplo; Pleasant co . ed confusiOn untted perhaps by a Japanese or Middle Eastern or
in the customer's place a~~ J~st as they Would like t c~e, in [sic] a~ r:;t th dral theme, bY th e aura of sh oppmg,
organtz . and by the purposeful errands
ca e h boy and cash girl - later by the ring of the cash register. A woman
~ of cust?mers in every stat: ~~ome_r in theirs~. e ~atect ~;o tteat of cas arne for cutlery might leave with fine lace and a doll, and feel a
em a neighbor, who can ex . terntory, you wili. we hav:ethey who
. d cof liberation fr om d u ll mstrumenta
. l'tty. The principle of seduction
all our representations and h plam to you how th no doubtfi thou. 31
ktn vercoming that of supply, as retailers created an "environment of
customers. 29 ow carefully we oroughly We I' lld one was · o "32 Dreiser descn'b e d.Its aII ure:
··· Watch the . Ive up desire.
Interests to
And: OfoUr Carrie passed along the busy aisles, much affected by the remarkable
displays of trinkets, dress goods, ~tati~nery, and jewelry. Each separate
Don't be ~c. 'd counter was a show place of dazzhng mterest and attraction. She could
a.trru that you '11 not help feeling the claim of each trinket and valuable upon her per-
orders every day fi WI make a mistake W.
go d W. rom young and ld . e receive h sonally, and yet she did not stop. There was nothing there which she
o s. e are accustomed h ~ who never be.fl Undreds of could not have used- nothing which she did not long to own. The dainty
you want in your own wa to. andhng all kinds of or~re sent away for slippers and stockings, the delicately frilled skirts and petticoats, the
good or poor Writing and'thwntten in any language n ers. Tell us what laces, ribbons, hair-combs, purses, all touched her with individual desire,
, e goods will prom t1 , o matter whether and she felt keenly the fact that not any of these things were in the range
Friendly lette . P Y be sent to you. so
rs pouredm · of her purchase. 33
tomers to visit th m response, bearin
Fixed . e plant when in Chica g orders. Sears invited cus- Space at Woolworth's was humble by comparison, but similar in design.
f
pnces and retu go, and they did
o fered by the m rn policies invited t . Variety stores, like department stores, lured people in through window
catalog copy did ar~eter ~nd accepted by th rust through contracts displays, and trusted that novelty and profusion would set off unantici-
to people it re ~o In a discourse initiated be c~stomer. Advertising and pated impulses to buy. Ward and Sears collected their goods out of sight
personal way.g~s ed as the masses, though i; ~d~ company an? sent out in Chicago plants, but their catalogs brought into the very hands of
transactions of . tant and unequal relaf ressed them m a quasi- farmers and townspeople the same dazzling array, in two-dimensional
neighbor ne ~Ity shop and country t Ions gradually replaced the images spread over more than a thousand pages. Advertising sections of
weather N gotiated prices and term s or~, where one bought from a
· ew relatio f s, gossiped 0 d'
national magazines did the same. By 1900, everyone in American society
more abstract . ns o selling occu . d ' r Iscussed crops and had access to at least some of these social spaces where displays provoked
.,.~ , m some . Pie a new s · 1
!vJ.eanwhile ways Imaginary Ocia space that was the imagination to new visions of self, family, status, the good life.
D , marketers b '1 . I say "everyone": commodified life took root among the wealthier
epartment stor UI t physicall
inated the city es Were paradigmatic El Y rea~ spaces of a new kind. classes first, but marketers cultivated at least the feeling of democracy.
theatrical di lscape. Behind large . 1 egant, Imposing "palaces" dom- Macy's advertising insisted that the store "caters ABSOLUTELY to AIL
h spays lent ' Pate glas · d
s oppers to entran an aura of glam s wm ows, increasingly classes. "34 At Field, Leiter and Company - predecessor of Marshall
doors eased passa ce~ w~ere no steps slo:~ to commodities and drew Field - working women could gaze at Mrs Potter Palmer, Mrs Cyrus
spaces, elevators anged. nl Side were domes ge access, and where revolving McCormick, and Mrs Abraham Lincoln alighting from their carriages,35
tains ater e a1 ' reat Stairca . and Field's clerks were instructed to treat both classes of women with the
• restaurants, hu sc ators, indire . _ses, ga11enes, open
tableaux of commoditi n~reds or thousand ct fhghtmg, mirrors, foun- same courtesy. Sears, as noted above, explicitly told rural folk that their
hneeds n 0 t previously real· es m glass cases meetins 0 peopl e, an d magica · 1 syntax and manners raised no barriers or eyebrows. Woolworth courted
ouse, emporium re Ized. The early SVn g every need and instilling the business of immigrants and blacks (though he refused to hire the lat-
and the . ' sort - sugg ,.Aonyms fl
re IS no reason t d est the exub or store - palace ter). 36 Rural Mrican Americans could receive mail order catalogs.
entering the store one e~te~~bt that custom:;:~~e felt by the owners: Munsey's Magazine, at ten cents a copy, went mainly to middle class
e a World apart . ared that feeling. In people but was within reach of farmers and workers, at least for an occa-
' VIstas and labyrinths con- ~ sional peek into a world that might later be available. The new social
f
_. L~. .
 80
SELLING C
ULTl.J
spaces opened the I{E
th h prospect - th .
r~ug consumption. e Inirage - of a
Fma1Iy, though sho . society
social reproduction a::~ng -~as more and mo lllacte c)
a form of leisure. someth. IndiVIdual survival m re a necessar ClssJe8s
~e. An ideolo~ of fre~~~~o;:: did in their~~~=~ repr~s:~~Vity fer
6
s arpen the division between around con sum ~e anct t ect it as
?ow pragmatism and fantas wo:k and leisure I Ption, anctorPleas,
Ideology, and to what ext y•. self Interest and ill.u .hope I ha'· helped Advertising: New Practices,
th ent Itnacri Sion . ve Sh
e real relations of produ ti o4nary social relati , l11Inglect . oWil New Relations
n?ting that the resistance t~ ~n, expl~i~tion, and hoa~s grew up ~~~is
mzed- came entirely fi th ass retaihng- often b' d selL It is •dst
. rom e wh I Itter Worth
were bemg pushed as 'd o esalers and sm II anct Well
L'k I e, not from th a store orga.
I e all social formations e consuming "pubr .~Wners Who
appearances that mystified i~ :~nopo~y capitalism pre;~~
In 1784, the Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser did indeed become a
daily newspaper, the first in the young Republic. It had begun in 1771 as
between retail palace and ind . d~rl~ng forces. But th ted surface a weekly, then gradually shortened the intervals between issues, driven
nance was perhaps more o a ustnahsts struggle for survi~ connection toward more frequent publication by the amount of advertising its edi-
and the rule of feudal lord; I q~ than that between medie ~and domj. tor was able to bring in.
a national mass culture . n . e 1890s, when national ad v ~~thedral A.5 was customary, page one (of four pages, total) in the first daily
capitalism was far from c~:Om~ Into being, the transition t:e:smgand issue went entirely to ads. The first five ads gave notice of sailings for
dancy, formed the arena for ~eted. Itslemergence, rather than i~nopoly Liverpool, Dublin, Cork, Gothenburg, and London; the sixth offered a
e eve opments 1 .11 . ascen- ship for sale. Three ads proclaimed the services of "brokers," really all-
WI consider next.
purpose merchants and bankers. Half a dozen ads or so offered
assortments of merchandise for sale, from "coarse and fine blankets" to
"Old Cognac Brandy in boxes of 12 bottles each." Such notices were
often connected to the arrival of a particular ship from abroad, with
mixed cargo to be retailed in batches that were quite miscellaneous by
modern standards. There were three ads for real estate, a number of offi-
cial notices (legal actions to be taken unless debts were paid, and so on),
three offers of rewards for information leading to the recovery of stolen
goods, two notices of books just published, an ad for sugar, one for a
dancing school, and a few other odds and ends.
The page looked much like a page of classifieds today: little variety in
typeface or size, and no graphics except for crude woodcuts of ships to
accompany the sailing notices. The advertisements directed readers'
attention to specific lots of goods ("One hundred and nine tierces of
best Carollas RICE, just arrived in the ship Philadelphia, Captain Strong,
from Charleston"), to the services offered by a particular local mer-
chant ("Buys and sells on commission, all kinds of Merchyndize ... "), or
to unique opportunities (sale of a deceased man's household goods at
au:tion) .1 They were in fact similar to news items; most of them reported
UI~1que situations or upcoming events, like the sale of precisely that
shipment of Carollas rice. And so it is with most local advertising today:
a sale on lawn mowers at Sears, through Saturday; the old Garner place
on the market at an asking price of$165,000; and so on. Although news-
papers changed dramatically, beginning with the penny press of the
1830s, eventually drawing most of their revenue from ads, and although