FOLLOW-UP WORK 106
Getting the Subject Talked About 107
Printed Matter for Distribution 109
Publicity Following the Train’s Stop 110
Organization of Local Forces 111
Checking Up Results 113
APPENDIX: Reference Lists of Train, Truck, Trolley, and other Traveling
Campaigns 117
BIBLIOGRAPHY 137
INDEX 143
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
OPPOSITE PAGE
The New York State Healthmobile 10
Interior of Exhibit Car of the “Peach Special” 14
Health Cars of the Louisiana Department of Health 20
Cleveland Children’s Year Special 28
Truck With Extension Devices 29
Traveling Dispensaries 30
Interior of Child Welfare Special of the Federal Children’s Bureau 31
Canning Squad and Portable Kitchen 38
A Transcontinental Truck Tour 39
Poster Advertising the Coming of an Exhibit Train 44
Group of Objects Expressing One Idea 70
Demonstration Car 76
An Outdoor Program 77
Flat Cars Used for Displaying Captured German Trophies 80
Interior of Health Exhibit Car 84
A Well Arranged Exhibit Car 85
Food Conservation Train of New York State College of Agriculture 86
Arrangement of Railroad Car Interior 87
Car Especially Designed for Cooking Demonstrations 92
I
INTRODUCTORY
The tour of the peddler with a pack or cart stocked with goods for sale
and a budget of news for free distribution, and that of the patent
medicine man with his illustrated lecture of misinformation that sells
his dubious wares are forms of traveling publicity campaigns long
familiar in rural districts.
Of recent years many peddlers, carrying new ideas and useful
information but no goods for sale, have been going about the country
representing national and state government bureaus and private
organizations. Their wares are helps to better crops, better houses,
better health. Their mode of traveling has progressed from wagons to
trains and from trains to motor trucks. The size of the enterprise
has varied from a single wagon or automobile with a speaker and a
batch of leaflets to a train of railroad cars or trucks that carry a
traveling exhibit rivaling the “Greatest Show on Earth.” The tours
extend from a jaunt through the county or the districts of a city
to a transcontinental journey. Whatever its form, if the purpose of
the enterprise is to spread information or ideas, or to promote a
community program, it is of interest from an educational and publicity
standpoint.
Although traveling campaigns have been many and varied and the method
has been in use for a number of years, to our knowledge there has been
no attempt up to this time to set down the methods and experiences, the
successes, failures, and difficulties of the various campaigners.
Believing that this method of promoting social programs will continue
to be employed, whatever the type of vehicle used to convey travelers
and their outfits, we have gathered information about a number of
campaigns and offer it here, together with comments and suggestions
for the benefit of those who may be considering the method for the
first time or who have tried it and wish to compare their experiences
with those of others. The descriptions and suggestions are drawn
from accounts of about seventy-five tours of trains, trucks, trolley
cars, and other vehicles, obtained from printed reports, articles,
letters, replies to questionnaires and interviews, as well as from the
observations and experience of the writer.
II
PURPOSES AND ADVANTAGES OF TRAVELING CAMPAIGNS
The popular educational tour on wheels is a method of carrying news
and facts from town to town, instead of distributing this information
in wholesale manner to many towns at the same time through newspapers,
letters, posters, and other familiar avenues for disseminating
information quickly and widely. This use of a method resembling more or
less the old-time place-to-place spreading of the news but in a modern,
up-to-the-minute dress, even under the most favorable conditions
involves a considerable outlay in money, a great deal of hard work,
careful and detailed planning, and equally careful oversight throughout
the journey and the follow-up period. Therefore the person or group
contemplating such an undertaking will naturally wish to consider
carefully its efficiency as a method of publicity before embarking on
it.
In some instances the reason for using the truck or train is that
it may be routed to remote rural districts not well served by the
more modern methods of news distribution. Wherever it goes, however,
the train or truck has two chief advantages as a publicity method;
first, it is an economical way of bringing before scattered audiences
well-equipped speakers or graphic and otherwise attractive illustrative
material--economical because a single group of speakers or unit of
exhibits may in this way be made to serve a large territory; and,
second, its visit to each town may be made an important event,
something which creates news and which may appeal to the imagination of
people generally.
The tours that are described in the following pages suggest just a
few of the unusual and graphic features that may be assembled in a
traveling show to attract attention and to make facts and ideas more
easily understood and remembered. The train or truck in addition,
as already suggested, to bringing into town especially talented or
well-informed speakers and demonstrators, brings also equipment for
demonstrations that may be bulky, expensive, or for other reasons
difficult to duplicate and distribute for display; also rare objects
such as the people in the communities visited would not be likely to
see at all, except as they are brought in for this brief visit.
THE TRAIN AS AN EVENT
The visit of the train, like the revival meeting, the fair, or the
Fourth of July celebration, may be made such a striking event in each
community that its program gets and holds the attention of many people
who would not read a newspaper article or go to an ordinary meeting to
learn about the same topic.
Such an event may be especially timely if a new movement or plan is
about to be launched within the territory to be covered. The brief
demonstration presented before a representative group of citizens
gathered to meet the truck or train often paves the way for the
organization of a permanent activity in the community. This is true
because the method often allows for a more concentrated educational
effort than can be effected in the same time through other types of
campaigns. For example, the occasional visit of the agricultural
special, demonstrating improved methods has, in many instances,
preceded the forming of a county organization of farmers to devote
themselves continuously to studying and experimenting in better farming.
A train or truck campaign, well handled, will help to give freshness
to ideas which may become stale if they continue to reach the people
in the same familiar forms. Whatever the subject matter or purpose of
a local movement for community education or welfare, both the workers
or leaders and the people who form the audiences are refreshed by
variations from familiar methods of presenting the ideas that need to
be gone over time and again in order to get the greater numbers to
listen, to understand, and to assimilate them. The local effectiveness
of the work of the county agricultural agent, or the tuberculosis
committee, or the movement for better rural schools may sometimes
be stimulated through the visit of traveling campaigners bringing
reinforcements in the way of enthusiasm, news gathered along the route,
or old ideas illustrated in new and striking ways.
A TOUR AS A CAMPAIGN “FEATURE”
One occasion when a train tour may be desirable is when the need is
felt for a unique feature or “stunt” in a campaign that employs a
great variety of methods. The Liberty Loan trains were expected to
add “punch” to local campaigns and to make bond selling easier. When
a vigorous effort is being concentrated on an issue or an idea, a
tour of prominent speakers, or striking exhibits, or both, may add a
spectacular element and secure much publicity; first, by getting direct
attention for the idea, and second, by providing material for “news”
both in the press and in the everyday talk of the people.
NOVELTY AND THE DANGER OF ITS WEARING OFF
As a novel device for attracting attention both train and truck have
a real though possibly a short-lived value. In many sections of the
country the exhibit train has long ago become familiar, and already
those who are seeking some new form in which to get their story over
are equipping and operating motor trucks. In a few years these, too,
may lose their power to arouse curiosity. However, the fact that the
novelty of a device wears off does not necessarily destroy its value.
While the novelty of the method itself may wear off, the contents of
the train and the program of the itinerant campaigners leave no end of
possibilities in the way of fresh attractions.
In the use of graphic methods there have been great advances within
quite recent years. So far, only a few of the newer forms of expressing
information in picturesque and dramatic forms have been used in truck
and train projects. There is no reason why trains and trucks should
not continue indefinitely to draw expectant visitors looking for the
new features that may be added this year, just as a circus, a fair, or
exposition is repeated successfully year after year. The exhibitor who
uses an attention-getting device for the first time in any locality
is to some extent responsible for the future success of any similar
traveling shows in the places visited. People who went to see the first
train or truck are likely to visit the second or stay away, according
to the impression made by the first. This responsibility can be met
through careful preparation and good management.
NOT A QUICK METHOD
A point sometimes urged in favor of the educational tour is its rapid
method of carrying information over a wide area. It is undoubtedly the
quickest way of displaying the same objects to a number of communities.
But if you wish the people throughout your territory to have the same
information as nearly as possible at the same time, any method in which
the material is duplicated and sent out to all points at once from a
central place is obviously more suitable than conveying the message
from place to place.
TRAVELING CAMPAIGNS AND RESULTS
One objection frequently raised by those who have conducted educational
tours is that they are quickly forgotten and bring no lasting
results. This is probably a valid objection to the incompleteness
of a particular campaign rather than to the method itself. If the
follow-up work is not planned just as carefully and carried out as
conscientiously as the tour itself, there is no reason to expect that
people will remember it or that action will follow. Every form of
publicity, whether a newspaper article, leaflet, lecture or motion
picture would be just as quickly forgotten if it were an isolated
effort and not part of a well-rounded educational campaign. In the
section on follow-up work, page 106, methods are discussed of fixing
the impressions made on the minds of visitors to the train and of
inducing them to apply the instructions given.
COST OF TOURS
What it costs usually plays a larger part in the choice of a publicity
method than any other single factor. Analysis of the whole plan of the
tour is needed in order to decide regarding the wisdom of spending
money on it. An advance estimate ought to indicate whether a given
expenditure on a traveling campaign appears likely to bring larger
returns than the same amount spent on some other method.
The cost and the scale of different enterprises vary so greatly and
prices are so different from year to year, that it is impossible to
estimate, on the basis of one project, what another one is likely
to cost.[1] By writing to the sources of information listed in the
appendix, beginning on page 117, the reader will probably be able to
obtain detailed information about the cost of any enterprise of a type
that may interest him. Several directors of tours have reported that
they consider the method too expensive. It was found too expensive
in one northern state because the initial outlay was so great in
comparison with the relatively short season during which the truck
could be operated. In one southern state the expenses of an automobile
tour were found to be out of proportion to the total budget of the
organization. A number have reported the method inexpensive, but they
may not have charged against their budget items that others have
been obliged to include. Cars and hauling may have been provided by
a railroad company; the truck may have been a gift; the specialists
and demonstrators may have been regular members of the staff of the
organization and their salaries not charged against the budget of the
tour. In some cases the truck drivers have been volunteers. All of
these things need to be taken into account in making any decision on
the basis of the amount a tour has cost someone else. It is safe to
say that, under the most favorable circumstances, a well-conducted
traveling campaign is not a cheap method of publicity, and the
organization considering it should be very sure that the enterprise is
timely and especially suited to their purpose before embarking on the
venture.
AS BETWEEN TRAINS AND TRUCKS
The most serious drawbacks to a train are that it must stay on a
railway siding, is frequently inconvenient to reach, and its location
hot and dusty in summer, lacking in open space where crowds can gather
comfortably, and, worst of all, is noisy. Still another drawback is
that the shape of a car is not adapted to the effective display of
exhibits and it is difficult also to handle large numbers of visitors.
[Illustration: THE NEW YORK STATE HEALTHMOBILE
Carries motion picture equipment for both indoor and outdoor exhibition
as well as dispensary equipment for holding clinics.]
Even with these awkward handicaps, however, the railroad car has the
advantage of greater size as a setting for exhibits and demonstrations.
Exhibits and equipment for demonstrating, moreover, may be permanently
set up in a train of cars, so that everything is in readiness for
visitors at the time when the train reaches its stopping place. But the
truck is a place for storing rather than displaying exhibits, which
means that each time a program is given, material must be unpacked and
set up in tents, in a hall, or out of doors.
Good points for the truck are that, roads and weather permitting, the
truck campaigner may go wherever and whenever he pleases and stay as
long as he likes, independent of the rails and schedules that limit
the freedom of a train tour. Even bad roads have not prevented some
campaigners from reaching what had seemed to be inaccessible districts.
While the trucks have in certain ways greater adaptability to varied
conditions than trains, the latter will undoubtedly continue to be
employed where its own special uses are of paramount importance and
particularly in cases where the railroads may find it possible, as in
many instances in the past, to provide transportation free or at a
nominal price. The truck, on the other hand, is probably only at the
beginning of its usefulness in educational and publicity work. There
are still untried possibilities of contriving methods for the carrying
of materials especially adapted to a quick display during a short
stop in all sorts of places, which, it would seem, might invite to a
fascinating degree the inventive genius of those interested in the
popular spread of useful information.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The following records of tours may prove at least suggestive: A
three-car train, which traveled through Pennsylvania for five months in
1918, had running expenses of approximately $325 a week. This included
traveling, living expenses, and salaries of three staff members, the
initial cost of exhibits and printed matter, and repairs. It did not
include the salaries of three additional demonstrators, or the initial
cost of rebuilding the interiors of the cars, or any expenses for
hauling of the cars.
A motion picture tour with an automobile truck, traveled for
twenty-eight weeks in 1917 in Maryland at an expense of $124 a week.
This included the fuel and repairs for the car, expenses of the field
staff, rentals of films, and various miscellaneous expenses connected
with the operation of the tour.
III
HOW TRAINS HAVE BEEN USED IN CAMPAIGNING
For a number of years, with the co-operation of the railroads, state
agricultural colleges, departments of health, and private state
organizations have carried on educational and organization work through
demonstration trains. The war propaganda which utilized practically
every known form of publicity did not overlook train, truck or trolley.
One or more of these was used in the campaigns for Liberty Loans, food
conservation, and child welfare.
Descriptions of a few of these trains will illustrate the varied types
of campaigns in which they have been employed.
AGRICULTURAL TRAINS
A Peach Demonstration Train started on a tour in November, 1919, for
the purpose of encouraging and stimulating the peach industry in
the East Texas Fruit Belt. The train consisted of two baggage cars
containing exhibits of insect pests that menace the peach industry,
life-sized models of diseased and perfect fruit, and actual branches
of affected peach trees, and a box car containing a tractor, orchard
plows, and various other kinds of farm machinery needed by an
up-to-date orchardist.
Regarding this train Mr. P. T. Cole, Agricultural Commissioner, St.
Louis Southwestern Railroad of Texas, writes as follows:
The cars were moved on local freight trains nearly all the time,
although on a few occasions we were moved by a through freight. The
cars were opened to the public at 9 a.m., and the farmers were taken
through in groups of about fifteen and a thorough lecture given
them with explanations in detail regarding the various exhibits. We
usually let the school children go through, but did not allow them to
interfere with the work we were giving the farmers. In the afternoon,
at about one o’clock, we accompanied the farmers to a nearby orchard
taking with us pruning tools, the power sprayer, and the tractor.
In the orchard we gave lectures on pruning, and then pruned about a
dozen trees, or sometimes as many as fifty, after which we gave them
a thorough spraying. This demonstration usually consumed the greater
part of the afternoon, but we would return to the cars and discuss the
different problems of orcharding with the growers and in many cases
they remained with us until dark.
The growers in most cases were very enthusiastic over this work, and
we had some excellent demonstrations. Some of the very best were given
in orchards where we had done the same work last year, and where it
was an easy matter to point out the beneficial results of proper
spraying and pruning. We have a number of fine demonstrations to go
back to next year to show the results of the work we have just done.
As a result of this work a great many spray machines have been bought,
and there is more pruning and spraying in progress now than I have
ever seen before.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF EXHIBIT CAR OF THE “PEACH SPECIAL”
A baggage car containing exhibits to show the diseases and insect pests
that menace the peach industry, and the methods of destroying them. See
page 13.]
The following account[2] of a dairy train in Illinois is supplied by
the College of Agriculture of the University of Illinois:
The first dairy train which we assisted in operating was on the
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad from Danville, Illinois, to
Cypress. The equipment consisted of an engine, three ordinary coaches
used for lecture work, an automobile box car with side and end doors,
and a flat car. We had four cows in the automobile car and led them
direct from this car onto the flat car for demonstration purposes. We
had a railing built around the flat car and also a removable platform
between the two cars. We also had a milking machine installed in this
box car which could be observed in operation by opening its side
doors. This was all the exhibit material we had, as our stops in
the towns lasted only from one to two hours. We had a special train
crew and a definite train schedule to follow. As soon as we would
reach a town we would fill up the three lecture coaches, and three
speakers would start at once to give short talks. After talking for
about fifteen minutes, the speakers would trade cars. In this way
each audience heard at least three speakers, and at the conclusion of
these lectures the audience was conducted to the rear car where a cow
demonstration was given. At the conclusion of the cow demonstration
the milking machine demonstration was given in the automobile car. I
might say that the dairy train was highly successful. This was due, I
think, largely to its being well advertised previous to its operation.
Later, another dairy train was operated in a similar manner except
that four lecture coaches were used instead of three. On account of
the warm weather, it was found advisable to give a large number of the
lectures out-of-doors. The coaches were used only during rainy weather
or in towns where, because of congested passenger and freight traffic,
they were not given a good location. In some places our audiences were
so large that we could not accommodate them in four coaches. In that
case all the lecture work was given from the flat car on the rear end
of the train.
The Pure Seed and Home Power Special was the name given to a three-car
train run jointly by the Soo Line, the Wisconsin Bankers’ Association,
and the Wisconsin College of Agriculture in the interests of more
efficient farm methods. The pure seed car contained a display of the
finest Wisconsin grown seed grains, reinforced by explanations driving
home the vital facts concerning the advantages of pure-bred seed. The
home power and home convenience car showed gasoline engine, power
churn, washing machine, separator, home lighting plant, and other
conveniences. A lecture car and a tourist sleeper for the lecturers and
demonstrators completed the equipment. Sixteen counties were visited
and over seven thousand people came to see the train.
The Hessian Fly Special, as described below, is an example of a highly
specialized effort toward accomplishing a very definite purpose:
Since its first appearance in Kansas as an important factor in
wheat production, the Hessian fly has alternately disappeared and
reappeared. During the forty-four years of its known presence in the
state it has produced seven different out-breaks, the last and the
greatest of which destroyed not less than fifteen million bushels of
wheat of the 1915 crop. Believing that not only the attention of the
farmers could best be called to the seriousness of the infestation,
but also that more interest could be created in the control methods
and that a larger number of wheat growers could be reached within a
short time, the Kansas Agricultural College decided to request the
Santa Fé Railway Company, which had a large mileage in the infested
districts, to run a Hessian fly train....
A chart of the infested districts was furnished the dean of the
Extension Division who met with the officials of the Santa Fé and
prepared a schedule consisting of sixty-two stops. It was left
entirely with the college to decide as to the best time to run the
train and it was felt that, inasmuch as the methods of control of
the fly should begin as soon as possible after harvest, the best and
most opportune time for the train would be the week just before the
beginning of harvest.
The train consisted of a baggage car, two modern steel day coaches,
each with a seating capacity of eighty-eight persons, which were
used for lecture cars, and a private car, consisting of parlor and
observation, dining and sleeping compartments. It was understood
at the beginning that the train was to be an exclusive Hessian
fly train and thus it was advertised as the Hessian Fly Special,
operated by the Kansas State Agricultural College in co-operation
with the Santa Fé. The speakers consisted of three entomologists
of the Agricultural College, one entomologist of the United States
Department of Agriculture, the head of the Department of Agronomy,
the superintendent of Farmers’ Institutes of the college, and
one county demonstration agent. In addition to the lecturers,
the company consisted of the agricultural agent of the Santa Fé,
the publicity agent of the Santa Fé, the publicity agent of the
college, and representatives of some of the principal newspapers and
farm publications. The divisional superintendents and roadmasters
accompanied the train over their respective divisions of the road.
Addresses were made at all of the sixty-two places scheduled. In
fact, at nearly all the places the attendance was such as to require
two speakers and, on several occasions, it required a third speaker
to accommodate the large crowd. If the attendance did not exceed two
hundred, the two speakers took care of them in the lecture cars, but
where the crowd was over two hundred the over-flow was taken in the
waiting room of the depot, where a speaker was provided. Where there
was not an opportunity for the insect train to stop, a lecturer was
dropped off to hold a meeting at the depot or an up-town place. Later,
the man would be picked up by one of the regular trains and left at
a station where the Hessian Fly Special was scheduled to stop. Or
a man would be sent ahead on a regular train to hold a meeting and
would later be picked up when the Special came through. In a few cases
speakers were taken to neighboring towns in automobiles. During the
entire trip every speaker on the train gave practically the same
Hessian fly talk. The entomologists and the agronomist of the college
prepared the speech, copies of which were furnished not only to the
speakers but also to all the railroad officials and publicity men who
accompanied the train. The publicity men prepared beforehand all the
articles to be used by the newspapers in the places where addresses
were made. In other words, every address given and every newspaper
article published had just one message and that was the seriousness
of the infestation and what should be done to protect the crop of the
next year. It is the opinion of the writer that much of the success
of the Hessian fly train and the good accomplished were due to the
fact that all departments and all persons concerned were together,
and that nothing was said or done but what met with the approval and
recommendation of every one. The fact that the very methods advocated
for the control of the fly were in keeping with the very methods
recommended by the Agronomy Department and which the progressive
and successful wheat growers knew should be practiced for maximum
yields, appealed to the better judgment of even the most skeptical
ones. The time allowed for each stop was about forty minutes. The
speakers usually arranged for a few minutes’ discussion before closing
the meeting. Specimen cases, charts, and illustrated material were
used in nearly all lectures. As the men left the lecture cars or the
waiting room they were given circulars on the Hessian fly and the
preparation of the seed bed for wheat. The Hessian fly circular was
printed primarily for the occasion. It was simply a timely article
emphasizing the methods of control and closing with a brief life
history of the fly.
In nearly all cases large crowds met the Hessian Fly Special and the
total attendance for the week was approximately seven thousand.[3]
HEALTH TRAINS
In the early days of the tuberculosis movement cars were extensively
used in traveling health campaigns. A pioneer in carrying the message
of health over a state on exhibit trains was Dr. Oscar Dowling,
President of the Louisiana State Board of Health. His health train
made its initial trip in 1910 and with many changes since that time
has continued in service. After the first tours, made with cars loaned
by the railroad, had demonstrated the popularity of the train, the
State Board of Health purchased two coaches. One was fitted up as
an inspection car with a part of it given over to living and office
quarters, and the other as an educational exhibit car, containing
displays of models, charts, and laboratory specimens. Later, two more
cars were purchased for living quarters and the inspection car was
turned into a laboratory car.
A practical application of the lessons taught on the tour was made
by inspectors who accompanied the train. In each place visited they
inspected and scored buildings in which the sanitary conditions
imperilled public health, the reports of their findings being
given publicity while the train was in town. This train attracted the
attention of health workers in other states and has made a number of
trips outside of Louisiana in response to their requests.
[Illustration: HEALTH CARS OF THE LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Showing the garage end of the laboratory car. Here a Ford is stored
ready for use by the inspectors in a quick tour of each town visited.]
The Board of Health of Kansas has used a Pullman car to carry exhibits
on child welfare, tuberculosis, and other health topics. A woman
physician and public health nurses traveled with the car and gave
health talks and explained exhibits. Sixty-nine cities and towns were
visited, the stops varying from one to four days. The purpose was
chiefly educational, but an attempt was made to discuss their health
problems with individuals.
Another example of the Health Special was a car sent out by the West
Virginia Board of Health during 1919, and described in letters sent in
advance to the newspapers as:
A fine, vestibuled coach, equipped with electrically driven models,
health posters, exhibits of living bacteria, exhibits of Red Cross
work, a moving picture machine, and a small but complete chemical and
bacteriological laboratory in one end.
WAR PROPAGANDA
During the war, trains were used in several states to carry the
message of food conservation and more especially to encourage home
canning by simple methods. The Pennsylvania Food Administration, in
co-operation with the Pennsylvania State College of Agriculture
and the Pennsylvania Railroad, ran a train of three cars during the
first and second summer of the war. The train included an exhibit car
containing posters and graphic devices showing why food conservation
was necessary; and two cars where skilled demonstrators illustrated
methods of baking with wheat substitutes and the canning and drying of
fruits and vegetables.
A Save the Surplus Special of two cars toured New York State
encouraging home canning and helping practically to increase it.
During the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign exhibit trains were used in
some districts for displaying war trophies, and during the Fifth
Liberty Loan several shiploads of war equipment and trophies were
distributed over the whole country for display on trains which were
sent into the rural districts and cities. Each train included several
flat cars and a baggage car loaded with captured cannon, German
aëroplanes, machine guns, trench mortars, gas warfare apparatus and
gas masks, and thousands of other interesting trophies. One of our own
tanks, dressed up in its fighting clothes, was an interesting feature
of the exhibits. Each train was accompanied by an armed guard of
returned soldiers, sailors, and marines.
In Missouri a Women’s Patriotic Special made a two weeks’ trip carrying
women speakers who gave talks on the Red Cross, food conservation, and
other war topics.
A GOVERNMENT SAFETY FIRST TRAIN
Probably the most elaborate exhibit train that has yet been sent out
was the Safety First Train of the Department of the Interior, which
toured sixteen states during a period of four months and was visited
by over a half million people. This train, which was furnished by
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, consisted of twelve steel cars,
including a sleeper and diner, and was hauled by two powerful passenger
locomotives. Six governmental departments and the American Red Cross
had exhibits relating to safety work, the purpose of the tour being “to
acquaint the people with the work that the Federal Government is doing
every day to protect its citizens against injury and death, and with
the measures it takes to promote the health and comfort of the people.”
TROLLEY TOURS
Campaigns have been conducted on interurban lines in several states.
For about three months the Woman’s Committee of the State Council of
Defense ran a Children’s Year Special over much of the interurban
trackage of Michigan, in the interests of better babies everywhere, and
as a help in saving Michigan’s quota of the one hundred thousand babies
the Children’s Year was to save.
The car was divided into three sections--the first part contained
an exhibit, the second a compartment in which babies and children
brought for tests were undressed and dressed, and the third a model
examination room where tests and examinations were made by skilled
physicians and trained nurses.
The Woman’s Committee of the State Council of Defense in Massachusetts
also ran a children’s welfare car. The interior of the car was given
over to exhibits of literature and posters on food conservation
and child welfare. The front and back platforms were enlarged and
surrounded by arm railings. On one platform a kitchen was arranged,
where a lecturer gave actual demonstrations of the various food
substitutes; on the other a trained nurse instructed mothers upon the
care and feeding of children in wartime.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Letter from E. A. Clark, College of Agriculture, University of
Illinois.
[3] Journal of Economic Entomology, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1916, George A.
Dean, Entomologist, Kansas State Agricultural Experiment Station.
IV
CAMPAIGNING WITH MOTOR VEHICLES
Traveling motion picture shows, dealing with health and other subjects,
traveling dispensaries and tours demonstrating uses of trucks and thus
advertising trucks themselves, are the chief educational uses of motor
vehicles reported in response to an inquiry widely sent out.
MOTION PICTURE TOURS
Of these, the traveling motion picture show seems to have been longest
in the field. Many state health departments and state tuberculosis
associations have been and still are conducting a part of their
educational work by this means. Recently the Red Cross has carried the
story of its overseas work into remote rural districts in a certain
section of the country by means of a truck equipped with pictures
and machine. A returned overseas worker travels with the truck and
gives talks about past achievements and future plans. An organization
interested in promoting the use of commercial and industrial films has
a number of well equipped trucks which are sent to city parks as well
as country districts to give open-air entertainments.
A TYPICAL MOTION PICTURE MOTOR TOUR
The North Carolina State Board of Health has used a health car equipped
with electric lighting plant, motion picture machine and accessories,
together with a large selection of health and comic films, all in
charge of a lecturer and machinist. This car was sent out in response
to invitations to give health entertainments in co-operation with local
committees, the latter sharing the expense.
The plan was to give substantially the same program in a different
place in the county each day during one week. Each of these places
then received a return visit during each of two succeeding weeks with
a complete change of program. A single program usually consisted of
five or six reels of motion pictures, including three health films
and scenic and comedy films. A victrola was carried with the car to
provide a preliminary musical program and a musical accompaniment with
the comic films. While the health films were being shown, the lecturer
made running comments. Free health literature was on display at a
convenient place to be given out in response to requests. The programs
were given in the school house, church hall or outdoors. Where special
illumination was needed strings of incandescent lights were provided.
The staff carried with them a complete camping, cooking, and sleeping
outfit.[4] Their schedule usually included two programs a day and 12
visits to as many places during a week.
TRAVELING DISPENSARIES
The use of motor trucks for dispensaries or clinics seems to be
increasing rapidly. A number of traveling tuberculosis, dental, child
welfare, and baby clinics are reported from many parts of the country,
not only for rural districts but for large cities. Some of these
dispensaries on wheels are intended chiefly to provide service, that
is, to examine people, rather than for the purpose of publicity or
education. In this case the truck is simply a convenient method of
extending clinical work to districts that have no dispensaries, or to
the homes of patients who cannot or will not go to the dispensary.
But even where service is the main purpose, these trucks are of value
educationally, particularly in this early stage of their use when their
novelty attracts attention to the clinics. Other traveling dispensaries
are intended chiefly to demonstrate to the community the need of
establishing, permanently, some such service as the dispensary gives
during its brief stop-over.
CLEVELAND CHILDREN’S YEAR SPECIAL
A traveling truck dispensary was adopted as a feature of the Children’s
Year by the Children’s Year Committee of the Cleveland Council of
Defense. Mr. J. Dean Halliday, Director of the Bureau of Health
Education of the Cleveland Department of Health, who planned the
construction of the truck and directed its use later, had charge of a
similar campaign for the American Red Cross Tuberculosis Commission in
Italy.
The type used both in Cleveland and in Italy[5] as shown in several
illustrations (see cuts opposite pages 28 and 30) has side tents,
which, when set up, provide fair-sized rooms. The tent on the left was
used as a waiting and dressing room for the mothers who brought babies
for examination; that on the right as lecture and exhibit room. Here
posters and model outfits for the baby were displayed and literature
was given away. The body proper built on the carriage of a large army
truck was fitted out as a model dispensary with examining tables,
scales, measuring stands, desk, cabinet for supplies, electric lights,
and hot and cold water. The equipment included a screen and motion
picture machine which could be set up on top of the truck for evening
programs. In Cleveland the truck was driven by members of a volunteer
women’s motor corps organization, uniformed for the purpose and carried
a physician, a nurse, and a sanitary patrolman, all assigned from the
Health Department.
[Illustration: CLEVELAND CHILDREN’S YEAR SPECIAL
Interior of truck fitted up as a dispensary with steps let down for
visitors. See pages 27 and 28.]
[Illustration: TRUCK WITH EXTENSION DEVICES
The usefulness of this truck for demonstrations and exhibitions is
more than doubled by the tents which are strapped to the sides of the
truck in travel and set up at each stopping place, and by the motion
picture apparatus which is set up on the roof. See page 28.]
The tour included sections of the city known as “death places” because
of their high infant mortality rates. As the crowd gathered the
physician in charge gave a short talk on the object of Children’s
Year. While he was thus engaged the district nurse circulated through
the crowd and, picking out a likely mother and child, persuaded
her to step forward with her child when the physician called for
babies to be examined. It was found necessary to do this in order
to get the remainder of the mothers to fall in line quickly. The
physician examined the child and, if normal, it was quickly weighed
and measured and the regular Children’s Year forms filled out, one
for the committee’s record and a duplicate for the mother. The mother
was advised to report at regular intervals to the city’s nearest
prophylactic dispensary where she would receive instructions as to
how to keep her baby well. For the sake of its effect, she was given
a card signed by the mayor, stating that she was entitled to this
service and urging her to avail herself of it. She then passed on to
the tent containing exhibits where child hygiene and other posters
were displayed and educational pamphlets distributed. The exhibits and
literature were usually presided over by the uniformed motor corps
driver, although on some occasions an extra nurse was carried for the
purpose. In an average afternoon, from twenty-five to thirty babies
would be examined.
Although city nurses were constantly carrying on routine work in the
districts visited, many cases of contagion and sore eyes were found
by the traveling outfit which had been missed entirely by the regular
nurses. After the truck had visited a given section the nurses in
charge of the district dispensary were instructed to make a note of
attendance. Records showed a considerable increase in visitors, a
number of whom brought with them the cards received at the traveling
dispensary or they said that they had been referred to the dispensary
after a preliminary examination on the truck.
MOTOR TRUCK CLINICS IN ITALY
In Italy seven trucks were used with practically the same equipment
as in Cleveland, and three more were equipped for dental work. They
were operated from certain centers in the region where the American
Red Cross Tuberculosis Commission worked in co-operation with Italian
tuberculosis organizations. From these centers the trucks radiated
on one-day trips to neighboring villages and towns carrying posters,
printed matter, and a crew consisting of an Italian physician,
lecturer, nurse, and driver.
A GOVERNMENT CHILD WELFARE SPECIAL
A big, gray automobile truck, known as the “Child Welfare Special,”
has recently been put into the field by the Children’s Bureau of
the United States Department of Labor to test the usefulness of
the automobile in carrying the message of better babies into rural
communities.
[Illustration: TRAVELING DISPENSARIES
Dispensaries of the Tuberculosis Commission of the American Red Cross
in Italy in the Court Yard of the Ducal Palace at Genoa. See pages 28
and 30.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF CHILD WELFARE SPECIAL OF THE FEDERAL
CHILDREN’S BUREAU
For detailed description see page 31.]
The Children’s Bureau has provided the following description of the
truck and its tour:
The truck is modeled very closely upon the dispensary truck used by
the Chicago Tuberculosis Institute. The body of the car is constructed
of wood, painted white on the inside and battleship gray on the
outside. The words, “Child Welfare Special” are lettered in blue
and white on each side of the car. The truck is roomy enough for a
conference room and two dressing rooms. The conference room is nine
and a half feet long, six feet wide, and six feet four inches high in
the center. This room has four windows on each side, high enough to
be out of reach of prying eyes, yet admitting sufficient light for
daytime examinations. The driver’s cab, which is entirely enclosed in
glass, can be reached from the conference room by a sliding door; with
the shades drawn it forms one dressing room. The open-end gates of the
car, provided with double folding doors and heavy curtains that fit
into grooves, form a second dressing room. When a mother enters one of
the rooms, she has the exclusive use of it until the child has been
undressed, examined, and dressed again.
Most of the equipment of the truck is built in. A 15-gallon water
tank, tucked away over the driver’s cab, is connected by faucet with
a stationary washstand in the conference room, which in turn is
connected with a drain to the outside. The examining table and the
linen lockers are built over the wheel housing, an arrangement that
saves space and improves the appearance of the car. A scale for babies
and older children is carried in an especially built trunk. There is
enough storage space for 2,000 publications, a full set of exhibit
material, a balopticon with several boxes of slides, two rolls of
moving picture film, several dozen charts for lecture purposes, cot,
bedding, and cooking utensils for three persons, a large supply of
sheets and muslin squares, and all the other equipment necessary for
conducting a children’s health conference.
Two systems of lighting, one for a 110-volt current that can be taken
from a nearby public building, and the other for a six-volt current
taken from the truck’s own batteries, furnish excellent illumination
for night work. Two electric heaters have recently been installed for
use on cool days. Weather strips have been put on the cab to keep out
wind and rain, and a tarpaulin made to fit over the rear doors keeps
out the dust.
Arrangements have been made for the staff to sleep on the Special--the
doctor on an army cot in the conference room, the nurse on a similar
cot in the rear dressing room, and the chauffeur on the driver’s seat,
which was constructed to serve as a bed.
A nearby public room in a school or church is usually obtained for an
exhibit and waiting room, and here, at opportune moments, the doctor
and nurse give brief talks to waiting mothers, using the exhibit
material as a means of illustration.
The first test of the efficiency of the Special is whether it serves
its purpose. In the main the Special has proved a success from a
mechanical point of view. The dressing rooms are adequate, and the
conference room has proved itself remarkably convenient in spite of
its small space. There are features that would be changed, however, if
another truck were to be built. A more powerful engine is desirable.
In spite of efforts to keep its weight down, the car when completely
loaded tips the scale at 8,000 pounds. It does not seem advisable to
reduce materially this weight as the body must be made to withstand
the jar of travel and uncertain weather. The thirty-five horse power
engine, supplemented by the extra pulling power provided by pneumatic
tires, is adequate for most road conditions, but sandy, steep hills
are negotiated with some difficulty. A heavier engine, one and a half
or two-ton unit, would easily care for this load and at the same
time carry enough reserve for any bad spots that are encountered.
Mechanical adjustments made recently, however, have given greater
power.
Because of its size the Special does not travel well over muddy roads.
The height of the car could be reduced by five or six inches and still
permit easy walking within the car. This would very considerably
reduce the sway and the danger of skidding.
A report from the physician in charge of the Special says:
The Special has the distinct advantage of at once gripping public
interest. This may seem spectacular from the professional standpoint,
but it gets results. It is believed that the ground can be covered
better by the Special than in any other way, that its improved
equipment will make for more satisfactory results than any method
tried to date, and that its usefulness is directly in proportion to
the ability of the physician in charge to make the public realize
that she is merely demonstrating the need of periodic examinations and
a method of providing opportunity for such examinations. She must bear
in mind that the examinations she gives are merely an incident and
not the object of the Special--that her most important function is to
stimulate and aid in the organization of permanent follow-up work by
the community.
SPEAKING TOURS BY AUTOMOBILE OR MOTORCYCLE
One of the simplest and frequently a very effective form of traveling
campaign is the speaking tour of which examples are numerous
and familiar. Suffrage, prohibition, and many other causes have
been promoted by traveling speakers in conspicuously painted or
decorated automobiles. The speakers may carry with them all sorts of
attention-getting devices, from a supply of leaflets to distribute, to
a set of properties that would rival the stock of the old-time patent
medicine man.
A MOTORCYCLE KNIGHT OF HEALTH
The following picturesque description of “A Modern Knight Errant,
Carrying Health Gospel at Fifty Miles an Hour on A Motor Cycle,” is
taken from an article by Samuel Hopkins Adams, about the work of the
Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis Association[6]:
_The “Flying Squadron of Health”_
Seven o’clock of a June evening in the lake country to the north.
Supper is over. The mail has come jolting down by stage from
the nearest railroad point, fourteen miles distant, and has been
distributed from the post office which is also the general store and
the council-house of the locality. The population, gathered in from a
considerable radius, is talking a little politics, chewing a little
tobacco, speculating a bit on the likelihood of rain, and yawning
itself into readiness for home and bed. Far up the dusty road there is
an approaching commotion, perceptible both to ear and eye. Presently
the center of it materializes in the form of a motorcycle bearing a
man and a pack. The cycle pop-pops itself into a stationary phase. The
man dismounts, gives a pleasant “good evening” to the gossiping group,
appraises the immediate lay of the land with a practiced eye, unstraps
a pack or two, and in an incredibly short time has a light silk tent up
in a chosen spot by the road-way, a cooking kit laid out, a Dutch oven
set, and the “makings” of a fire gathered near it.
Now, here is romance for the young of the hamlet, Gypsying a la mode!
Knight-errantry at fifty miles an hour! The news runs amuck in the
locality and in no time there is a growing gathering. Questions begin
to fly; to each the newcomer has his brief but courteous answer, all
the time busy with his preparations for spending the night in the open.
Presently he unfolds carefully a case containing placards, setting them
up one by one against the stone fence. Conjecture, by this time, is at
the point of explosion.
“What are you sellin’, Mister?” comes the direct question.
“Nothing,” answers the stranger, setting up still another placard, and
stepping back to estimate the effect.
“Got a show?”
“Why, yes! in a way.”
“Givin’ out samples?”
“Not exactly.”
“Patent medicine feller, I guess,” surmises one. “Seen a couple of
’em over to Humphrey’s last fall.” “Naw,” controverts another, “He’s
sellin’ pictures, can’t ye see?” “Ain’t goin’ to preach, be ye, young
man?” queries a third.
“That too, in a way,” says the motorist.
Curiosity is now at its height. The crowd couldn’t be driven away by
a thunder shower. The newcomer has nursed the situation until he has
an absorbed attentiveness when he addresses the people in direct and
simple words, explains why he is there, and talks to them about the
peril of consumption and the ready-to-hand methods of guarding against
it, using the charts which he has set up to fortify his telling points.
It is done with a very conversational, homely and personal touch, so
that the audience is encouraged to ask questions about the individual
symptoms, the danger of “catching” the disease, the chances of cure
for this or that friend, what hospital will take old Mrs. Tinkley,
bedridden now for six weeks, and so on through the roster of health
and sickness topics which make up so large a part of the immediate
interests of countryfolk.
When the talk is over the visitor asks for the telephone, calls up a
town perhaps fifty or sixty miles away, and those who are near enough
to cock an ear hopefully (which includes as many as can crowd into the
store) hear something like this:
“Siddallville? Hello! That you, Mr. Conway? Yes. Werle.... I’ll be
there to-morrow night to speak.... No; I’ve got everything....
What’s that? No; no cost. All you have to provide is the hall and
the audience. I’ll furnish the rest.... Yes; seven-thirty to-morrow.
Good-bye!”
In the morning all that remains at the cross-roads to tell of the
visitation is a little heap of ashes, some queer marks in the dust
where the heavy-studded tires have passed--and a germinating seed of
education. The gospel has come to Shucktown.
* * * * *
Wisconsin has since tried something believed to be even better than the
“modern knight.” Finding that the motion pictures were a much greater
attraction than stereopticon slides, and having a four-reel health
film to show, the Wisconsin Anti-Tuberculosis Association gave up its
motorcycle and substituted a motion picture truck which is better
fitted to transport the necessary machinery for its traveling campaign
work.
CARRYING THE CANNING KITCHEN TO THE FOOD SUPPLY
An ingenious use of a truck as a first aid to canners is illustrated in
the photograph opposite page 38. This canning truck, chiefly intended
for service to those coming to see it, but also carrying its message
of war service to many neighborhoods, was sent out by the Women’s
Committee on Food Conservation of the Pittsburgh Food Administration.
The purpose of the truck is well described in a dodger, as follows:
LET US HELP YOU
=How=--With our canning truck.
=When=--At any time you can use us.
=Where=--At your own home or any other convenient place for you.
=Why=--To save home products for home use and leave for the Government
the output from commercial canneries for our soldiers. It is a sin
today to waste surplus vegetables if they can be canned.
=We Furnish=--Canning equipment, a teacher, and five or six helpers,
who carry their lunches with them to avoid extra work for you. They
work from 9 to 4 o’clock.
=You Furnish=--Stove room, a wash boiler, the vegetables or fruits to
be canned, and the jars.
[Illustration: CANNING SQUAD AND PORTABLE KITCHEN
Canning squad of the Allegheny County Council of National Defense, and
their portable kitchen ready to help the farmers’ wives save their
food products. See page 37.]
=Cost=--It will cost you no money, but we will expect some fresh
vegetables or one-fifth of the jars canned during the day. We furnish
the jars for this share, which will later be used for some patriotic
purpose.
The director of this enterprise reported that it was not unusual for
the “crew” to can 80 or 100 quarts of vegetables or fruits in a day and
that they were kept busy every day for six weeks.
[Illustration:
_“United States Official” Photo_
A TRANSCONTINENTAL TRUCK TOUR
Transcontinental train of the Motor Transport Corps, U. S. War
Department. See page 39.]
“CARAVANS” OF TRUCKS
Since the war, much publicity has been obtained for the motor truck
itself by what have been called motor truck development tours. Several
such tours, each covering a number of states, have demonstrated to
farming communities the use of the farm tractor, the advantages of the
truck in carrying farm products to market, and various other uses of
motor vehicles.
A spectacular transcontinental tour of a train of eighty motor vehicles
was made during the summer of 1919 by the Motor Transport Corps of the
War Department. The caravan, which spread out over three miles of road
when in motion, included field kitchens, ambulances, repair trucks, and
in fact every sort of motor vehicle used by the transport service in
France. This trip was undertaken for both recruiting and educational
purposes. The following account of its purposes and methods is supplied
by a representative of the Motor Transport Corps:
The transcontinental trip has been undertaken both for military and
educational purposes, as follows:
(1) An extended service test of the standardized principal types of
army motors.
(2) The War Department’s contribution to the Good Roads movement for
the purpose of developing through-route and transcontinental highways
as military and economic assets.
(3) A demonstration of the practicability of long-distance motor post
and commercial transportation.
(4) The collection of detailed data for use in connection with the
technical training of the commissioned and enlisted personnel of the
Motor Transport Corps.
(5) The procurement of recruits for the Motor Transport Corps.
(6) Studies in terrain observation for certain branches of the army,
particularly the Field Artillery, Air Service and Engineer Corps.
(7) An exhibition to the general public, either through actual contact
or resulting channels of publicity, of the development of the motor
vehicle for military purposes.
The Lincoln Highway Association has co-operated with the Motor
Transport Corps in advertising the passage of the train along the
Lincoln Way, and through its subsidiary organizations it took a
large part in making advance arrangements for the welcome to and the
entertainment of the personnel of the convoy.
In addition, all the usual channels of publicity were employed in
advertising the trip of the convoy, and an officer acting as advance
publicity agent, preceded the train one or more days in order to
give notice of its approach and to make final arrangements for its
entertainment. A personal letter was written to the governor of each
state and to the chief official of each town, village and city and to
heads of civil and commercial organizations along the route, requesting
their co-operation in making the trip a success. A recruiting officer
with proper equipment accompanied the train and often went ahead to
placard towns and arrange for meetings at which Motor Transport moving
pictures were shown and the newly planned system of vocational training
to be given in the Motor Transport Corps schools was explained. All the
cargo trucks in the train carried signs describing the various phases
of the Motor Transport Corps activities. The Associated Press and the
Knights of Columbus had representatives with the train and there were
also several freelance writers representing newspaper syndicates. All
the war activity organizations, especially the War Camp Community
Service, were advised of the passage of the train and did everything
possible to make the men comfortable and to entertain them. As a
result of all this publicity the passage of the train was marked by a
continual succession of hearty greetings and hospitable entertainments.
Each community, large or small, passed through did something to show
its appreciation of the visit and its interest in the purposes of
the trip. In many instances the entertainment program and street
decorations were most elaborate.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Not all of the touring campaigners have considered it an
advantage to carry camping outfits. Some of them say that the work
is so strenuous that they should have good beds at night and no
responsibility for providing for their own comfort. On the other hand,
in some districts camping may provide more comforts than rural hotels
would.
[5] After making a study of the Cleveland trucks sent to Italy, the
Chicago Tuberculosis Institute designed a lighter machine similar to
that described on page 31.
[6] Health to Sell, Samuel Hopkins Adams, La Follette’s Magazine,
December, 1914.
V
ADVANCE PUBLICITY AND ORGANIZATION
IMPORTANCE OF GOOD ADVANCE WORK
The methods used in preparing the communities to receive the train are
as important a feature of the project as the visit of the train itself.
On the effectiveness with which the advance work is done depends its
opportunity to reach as many people as can be accommodated and to have
the audiences made up of the most hopeful “prospects,” those most
likely to act on the suggestions offered. Advance information that
arouses interest will bring visitors to the train in a receptive frame
of mind that makes it easier to present the message quickly.
One or all of the following kinds of advance work will need to be done
in each place to be visited, according to the nature and scope of the
campaign:
1. General publicity and advertising.
2. Specialized appeals directed to selected groups and individuals.
3. Arrangements for distributing attendance over the full period of
the visit.
4. Arrangements for local co-operation in the above work, in taking
care of visitors to the train, and in organizing or carrying out
follow-up work later.
For convenience, the discussion of these matters is given in terms of
trains, although most of it applies equally to motor tours as well.
GENERAL ADVERTISING
The appeal to the general public in a community may be made through
news items in the papers, posters, window cards, window displays,
advertisements and inserts in advertisements, and slides in motion
picture theaters. Of the wide variety of methods to advertise an event,
these are probably the ones best adapted to advance preparation for
both large and small cities and towns. It is not the purpose here to
discuss the technique of preparing any of this material. Unless they
have ability and training in this field, those responsible for getting
work out should call in specialists to do it, or at least to advise
about it.
The purpose of advertising is more than merely to get a crowd. If there
is very little competition from other events, as is often the case in
small towns, it may be fairly easy to secure a large attendance. It is
the business of your advertising to attract the attention of persons
not yet interested in the subject matter and to arouse intelligent
interest in what the train or truck will show. To design posters and
prepare copy that will bring these results requires skill and practise
which may sometimes be obtained as a gift but is worth paying for.
SPECIALIZED APPEAL
The special groups to whom your message is chiefly directed may be
singled out from the general public and definite methods used to
insure their attendance. While most of the trains are of general
interest to the communities visited, the message of the exhibits or
demonstrations is probably addressed primarily to one or a few groups,
classified according to occupation, standing in the community, race,
age, condition of health, or particular interests. Special efforts to
reach these groups may take the form of letters, announcements, or
brief talks addressed to schools, churches, clubs, lodges, or employes
of factories and places of business. Committees on co-operation may
be formed within the groups and delegations appointed to come to the
train. A personal canvass may be made by letters, postcards, personal
visits, or telephone messages to leaders of groups or members of
special bodies.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR DISTRIBUTING THE ATTENDANCE
The tendency of the majority of the people is to select the same period
in the day as the most convenient or desirable time for coming to
the train. When the program is to be repeated a number of times, it
is necessary to plan special methods for distributing the attendance
over the less popular hours. This may be done as a feature of the
advance appeal to particular groups by setting aside periods for school
children, calling conferences of small bodies of people, assigning
hours when delegations will be received and personally conducted, or
having program features of interest to particular groups at stated
hours.
[Illustration:
ROBBERS
AT LARGE
Peach Growers of East Texas are Being Robbed by the
Insects and Diseases that attack Peaches
SPECIALISTS WITH EXHIBIT CARS
COMING
----TO----
_Winfield Texas
Thursday Nov. 20ᵗʰ_
Most complete Orcharding Exhibit Train ever carried to the farmers of
the South.
Will exhibit and demonstrate all phases of peach orchard work.
Three Carloads of Equipment and Exhibits
Carload of power and hand sprayers, a tractor and other modern orchard
equipment.
Two exhibit cars electrically lighted and equipped to show by pictures,
lifelike models, specimens and slides of all the dangerous diseases and
insects known to Texas orchards.
Actual field demonstrations on planting, pruning, spraying and
cultivation will be conducted in an orchard near town.
FREE--EVERYBODY INVITED
UNITED STATES RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION
ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN RAILROAD OF TEXAS
Co-operating with
THE EXTENSION DIVISION OF THE TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE.
UNITED STATES AND STATE DEPARTMENTS OF AGRICULTURE
For Further Information, See Your County Farm Demonstration Agent
POSTER ADVERTISING THE COMING OF AN EXHIBIT TRAIN
This is the type of poster that is frequently sent out in advance of
agricultural trains. The posters are usually on white paper or card
with black letters. The news value of the material on the poster
doubtless secures readers who would not be inclined to give attention
to so much reading matter if it conveyed only educational information.]
ARRANGEMENTS FOR LOCAL CO-OPERATION IN MANAGEMENT
The co-operation of a local committee is needed in advertising and
running the show. The extent of this co-operation will depend upon the
size of the staff in charge of the train, size of the community, and
the nature of the program. The duties of local committees as described
in reports of various campaigns include:
1. Co-operation in advertising the coming of the train.
2. Making or checking up arrangements for the proper placing of the
train.
3. Arranging for a reception committee and helpers, as described in
the section on attendance (pages 55 and 98).
4. Securing such additional equipment as is called for by the program,
such as a meeting hall, motion picture or stereopticon machine.
5. Arranging such entertainment as may be needed by the train staff
in the way of living quarters or meals, or both. The importance of
providing for the comfort of the speakers and explainers who work
under a severe strain can hardly be overestimated.
GETTING THE ADVANCE WORK DONE
The advance work is usually carried out by correspondence with a local
committee or individuals, or by sending an advance agent to make the
arrangements. Many tours of trains have been carried on without an
advance representative, in some cases because the expenses seemed
prohibitive or because of the difficulty in securing a suitable person
for this work. When well-organized local groups in communities to be
visited are already interested in the aims of the tour, it may be
comparatively simple to handle the advance work through correspondence.
But usually it is far more desirable to send an advance representative.
Arranging for local co-operation by correspondence is a slower method
than working through a personal representative. The headquarters staff
also have a more difficult task in preparing publicity material and
letters that will arouse the same enthusiasm that the agent can instil
through his direct contact with editors and other community leaders.
An example of the use of letters in place of an advance agent is
the following which was sent to health officers as one of a series
addressed to leading citizens by the West Virginia Public Health
Council:
My dear Dr. ----:
The “Health Car” now touring the state under the auspices of the
West Virginia State Department of Health, in the interest of health
education and child welfare, will arrive in your city at 8.30 o’clock
on Saturday P.M. and will remain till 1.20 P.M. o’clock on Tuesday.
The car is a vestibuled railway coach entirely remodeled and contains
a chemical and bacteriological laboratory, a health exhibit of posters
and electrically driven models and a picture machine. These, with the
explanation given by a Health Instructor on the car, serve to impress
on the minds of the people the principles of the promotion of health
and prevention of disease.
May we count on you to secure the interest and co-operation of the
medical, dental and nursing professions in your community, for
a public meeting at an hour which you, in consultation with the
Superintendent of Schools and a president of an influential woman’s
organization, may decide? We are also very desirous of securing the
attendance of the Mayor and Town Council and any other citizens who
do, or should, feel responsibility for community welfare and the
conservation of child life. We have also written the Superintendent of
Schools and your newspapers, realizing that the medical profession,
the educational people and the press are the agencies our Government
is counting upon for co-operation in constructive, peace-time work.
The Health Car Corps will communicate with you immediately upon
arrival in your city to learn of your plans for the utilization of
their time and effort while with you. We are anxious to make their
stay in each community count for the highest possible things in the
interest of the public health and welfare.
The car is supplied with a number of good Health Films which we will
be glad to show, free of charge, to the public if arrangements can be
made with some one who has a full-sized picture machine and a hall at
his disposal.
Sincerely yours,
S. L. JEPSON, M.D.
_State Health Commissioner_.
The following report from the director of the Texas Peach Demonstration
Train, described on page 13, is fairly typical of advance work done in
local communities without a personal representative:
Articles announcing the tour of this train have been sent to all the
large newspapers in the east Texas territory, also to the county
newspapers. Individual letters have also been sent to the large peach
growers, urging them to attend these meetings. In counties where
there is a county demonstration agent, a great deal is being done to
bring the matter to the attention of the farmers. Large posters have
been put up a couple of weeks in advance of the train all through
the different towns at which stops are to be made. The chambers of
commerce and business organizations have been called upon several
weeks in advance and furnished with full data, and they are doing all
they can to make the meetings a success. The county judge in each
county has given his co-operation by declaring the week in which the
work is being conducted in his particular county as Horticultural Week.
The chambers of commerce have, in many instances, made arrangements
for special features in connection with the visit of our train.
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE ADVANCE AGENT
The personality and previous experience of the person needed to carry
out advance work form an important factor in the success of the whole
undertaking.
The agent should be able to work successfully with local committees,
since much valuable publicity will be secured through their efforts.
That is to say, he should be adaptable, clear, definite, and orderly
in his statements and in handling a meeting, and be able to inspire
enthusiastic interest in carrying out the plans he outlines.
His training and experience at best should include knowledge of
publicity or advertising methods, experience in working with volunteer
committees, and general information of the subject matter of the
campaign. Of these three, given an alert and intelligent worker who
has a moderate amount of what may be called “publicity sense,” an
understanding of how to organize volunteer workers is probably the
most necessary element in his or her equipment. For he may acquire
in a comparatively short time a working knowledge of the subject,
and may call in outside assistance in preparing the news stories and
advertising plans that he carries with him. But every local committee
presents new and unexpected problems, and no amount of coaching can
provide what is gained by experience in adapting plans and methods to
the peculiarities of a local situation, winning over a local chairman
who has prejudices or skepticisms, or simplifying or expanding plans of
work to fit the resources of the town as the agent may estimate them in
the brief time that he remains.
THE JOB OF THE ADVANCE AGENT
The first advance work is done by the committee or individual who
directs the whole enterprise from some central point, notifying local
persons of the purpose and the date of the agent’s visit. If there
is already a local representative of the movement in the community,
arrangements may be made which will save the agent much time in seeing
the editor, minister, school superintendent, and others on his list
whose co-operation he must secure. If there is no local representative,
letters should be sent directly to the persons upon whom he expects to
call.
The agent’s visit should be timed long enough in advance of the coming
of the train to allow for carrying out the publicity plans, and near
enough so that there will be no chance for interest to wane in the
interval. A ten-day start has been found satisfactory, especially when
the way has been paved for his visit and publicity and advertising
materials are ready for use. If an agent travels in an automobile, he
is better able to adapt his time to local needs and still keep ahead
of the train, than if he is dependent upon railroad schedules.
The Child Welfare Special of the Children’s Bureau was preceded by an
advance agent and the method is described in the bureau’s report of the
tour as follows:
The advance agent, who travels two weeks in advance of the car
arranges the itinerary, attends to the publicity, and organizes local
communities to take charge of the work. Her first step is to call
together a county child welfare committee. With their aid an itinerary
is mapped out, and then local committees are organized in the
communities to be visited. So far as possible, the agents work through
the local child welfare committees formed during Children’s Year.
These committees are asked to provide a suitable location for the
parking of the Special--a spot that is centrally located, well shaded,
and near a public room that can be used both as an exhibit and waiting
room. They are also asked to make a canvass of their districts before
the Special arrives, so that everyone may understand the purpose of
the conference. Each committee member has her field of work clearly
defined. A number of women are asked to serve as hostesses during the
conference, receiving mothers and babies, giving them numbers for
examination, and explaining the exhibit material.
The agent then distributes her cuts and other publicity material for
the newspapers, printed instructions for the child welfare committee,
copies of announcements that ministers are asked to make from
their pulpits, and posters advertising the coming of the Special.
She visits city and county officials, social agencies, editors,
physicians, clergymen, farm advisers, county demonstrators, business
men, and other representative citizens to explain the purpose of the
visit of the car.
As a result of this work of the advance agent, the staff finds
everything is in readiness on the arrival of the Special.
The Land Clearing Special of Georgia, a recent enterprise of the
State College of Agriculture, was preceded by an advertising campaign
designed to make the Land Clearing Demonstration the big event of the
season in each stopping place. In addition to the usual methods of
newspaper publicity, posters, and letters, twenty automobiles carrying
signs announcing the demonstration, visited the rural districts for
a week preceding the event. Telephone owners were called up on the
telephone and invited, and arrangements were made to have factory
and train whistles blow when the demonstrations were about to start.
Information about this plan was widely spread.
ASSIGNMENTS OF ADVANCE WORK FOR LOCAL COMMITTEES
With time for only a day or part of a day’s stop in a town the advance
agent has little opportunity to explain fully to the co-operating
committee all the details of advance preparation expected of its
members. To meet this situation, the directors of the Pennsylvania
Food Conservation Train with the co-operation of the present writer
prepared and multigraphed a set of instructions for local committees.
The agent distributed copies of these instructions to the members of
the executive committee in each town during the meeting that was held
on the day of his visit. Not all of these directions were suited to
every community visited, and frequently suggestions from the local
committee were added or substituted. This set of assignments is quoted
in full below. The features of the assignments especially worth noting
are:
1. That written instructions or suggestions in addition to the agent’s
personal explanation leave less to chance in getting the plans carried
out.
2. That the directions are exceedingly simple and flexible.
3. That each separate assignment was printed on a separate sheet so
that it could be placed in the hands of the person who was to carry it
out.
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT FOR LOCAL CO-OPERATING COMMITTEES REGARDING THE
PENNSYLVANIA FOOD CONSERVATION TRAIN
Food Conservation Train Coming to ... On ... Quota of Attendance ...
You know the old saying, “If you want to get a thing done, do it
yourself.”
But there is a new one that is much more appropriate in wartime when
we should all be working together to win: “If you want to get people
interested, give them something to do to help.”
There is something for everybody to do to make the Food Conservation
Train a success.
=Dividing the Work.= The following list of assignments should be
divided among as many dependable people as you can find. Try some new
people who have not had a chance to help before.
Each assignment is described on a separate sheet, a copy of which may
be given to the person taking the assignment. If necessary, one person
may take several assignments.
=Assignments= =Name of committee chairman=
1. Reception committee.
2. Newspapers.
3. Advertising.
4. Attendance of special groups.
5. Churches.
6. Schools.
7. Attendance of foreign born.
8. Speaking.
9. Personal canvass.
10. Motor service.
11. Miscellaneous.
RECEPTION COMMITTEE
A reception committee usually of from six to ten members should receive
the visitors at the train. It is desirable to have four members on
hand, usually from ten to twelve o’clock, and six members from two
to five o’clock to welcome delegations, distribute literature, give
information, and explain exhibits.
The committee will be given a list of expected delegations so that
their leaders may be known and introduced to the train staff.
The committee will find that the train offers an excellent opportunity
to tell visitors of local activities for food conservation and to
invite their co-operation.
It will be well to have the whole reception committee at the train a
few minutes before its first opening at ten o’clock so that they may
become familiar with exhibits and have time for a brief conference with
members of the staff.
COMMITTEE ON NEWSPAPERS
The advance agent will bring with him material for the local paper, to
which will be added the names of committee members and of persons who
are helping the committee.
Other material that should be of interest to the local papers includes:
1. A list of special delegations from lodges, churches, business
groups, and others that will visit the train.
2. Accounts of talks given by Four Minute Men and others about the
food train and food conservation.
3. An account of the work that is being done for food conservation by
the local committee.
=Editorials.= Editors may be glad to take advantage of the presence of
the train as an occasion for an editorial on some local aspect of the
food situation, as encouraging the use of home products, regarding the
food hoarders, and so forth.
=Out-of-Town Papers.= The newspapers in the territory adjacent to your
town will carry some news of its coming. In addition to news sent to
those editors from state headquarters they will be interested in your
local plans and the names of your workers.
ADVERTISING COMMITTEE
One of these assignments could be given to each of several members of a
committee. The more workers there are the more enthusiasm there will be.
=Posters.= There are probably several persons who would gladly make
posters announcing the train if they were asked. Give them the facts
and let them work out their own ideas. Have these posters shown in
store windows and in public buildings. See that all posters sent from
the Philadelphia office are placed where they will do the most good.
=Window Displays.= Invite merchants to have window displays on food
conservation and help them with ideas. The sheets issued by the Retail
Store Section of the Food Administration contain pictures of windows
that are easy to copy. Be sure that the window display contains an
announcement of the food train.
Ask every merchant who has a sign writer or who makes his own window
cards to make up in his best style a card or sign announcing the coming
of the train.
=Slides in Moving Picture Theaters.= See that slides are displayed in
the moving picture theaters announcing the coming of the train. The
following makes a satisfactory slide:
SEE THE PICTURES AND WAR RELICS
AND
LEARN WARTIME COOKERY
FOOD CONSERVATION TRAIN
_FREE_ _FREE_
12th St. SIDING, PENNSYLVANIA R.R.
10-12 A.M. 2-5 P.M. JULY 15
=Mention in Advertisements of Local Merchants.= Local food dealers,
especially those selling substitutes, should be interested in getting
their customers to see the exhibits and demonstrations. Ask them to
mention the train in their newspaper advertisements preceding its
arrival.
In addition to the usual advertising space of food dealers your
newspaper may be able to have a special page of food advertisements
with a large announcement of the train in the center.
Other advertisers may also be willing to mention the food train and may
find a way to work it into their advertisement as follows:
On your way to the Food Conservation Train on Tuesday, don’t fail to
drop in and see our new assortment of men’s neckwear, etc.
COMMITTEE ON SPECIAL DELEGATIONS
Since only a certain number of the people can see the train during
its brief stay and ALL the people should receive its message, it
is important that special delegations be arranged for, with the
understanding that the delegates will pass on the message brought by
the train to members of their organizations.
Morning attendance is lightest. As many as possible of these special
groups should be arranged for during the morning.
The director of the train and the chairman of the reception committee
should each receive a list of delegations that expect to attend, also
the hour when they will arrive.
If any special group promises to come at a given hour, have a committee
member meet them and introduce them at the train. People will be more
likely to come if they feel some special attention is being shown them.
The following groups are suggested; others may be added or substituted
as the committee may decide:
=Officials.= An official delegation made up of members of council
of defense, city officials, chamber of commerce, trades assembly,
Red Cross and other war agencies, newspaper editors, and others.
This delegation should be the first to come in the morning after the
reception committee arrives.
=Schools.= Special arrangements for the attendance of school children
in the morning are suggested on a separate assignment sheet, with the
heading “Schools.”
=Churches.= See the assignment on Co-operation of Churches for a
suggestion for having delegations from church societies.
=Restaurants and Hotels.= Managers and cooks of hotels and restaurants
should come in a body at a special hour so that information and answers
to questions of special interest to them can be arranged.
=Food Sellers.= There are exhibits of special interest to food sellers,
and these persons can be very helpful in passing on information to
their customers. All should be asked to attend in a body if possible.
Can you arrange for the stores to be closed at a certain hour?
=Employes.= Employers might be willing to excuse some of their workers
in stores and factories, especially if they are near the train, for a
brief visit. If a factory delegation can be arranged for at the noon
hour a special session may be arranged for them.
=Clubs.= All fraternal orders, civic, social clubs, and labor unions,
should be especially urged to be represented. The men’s organizations
will be especially interested in the war relics and in the maps showing
important facts about food distribution.
COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION OF CHURCHES
The Food Conservation Train aims to teach the message of
brotherhood--of sharing our food with those whose need is greater than
ours. All the churches will be glad to help make it a success if you
tell them what to do.
=Announcements.= Ask ministers to have announcement of the train given
at all services during the week before it arrives. Announcement forms
are supplied.
=Delegations.= Invite church societies to send delegations to the
train. Be sure that the women who plan church suppers, bazaars, and
food sales are appointed among delegates. They will receive valuable
suggestions.
It is important that men’s classes and societies send delegates.
=Sermons.= Ask ministers to preach sermons on the Sunday before the
train arrives on our obligation to feed the world from our generous
stores of food. They may obtain helpful information from (insert name
of a food administration bulletin giving general information about
the food situation), of which copies may be had from (name of local
official or committee).
COMMITTEE ON SCHOOLS
School children can be of great assistance in spreading the news of the
train.
=Invitations to Parents.= The teachers may be asked to have the
children write invitations to their parents to visit the train as an
exercise in composition.
=Attendance of School Children.= Groups of older school children
(attending high school) should come with their teachers in squads of
about thirty or forty at fifteen-minute intervals during the morning.
Domestic science classes should come in a body.
Drawing and manual training classes may be asked to study the exhibits
with a view to reproducing them at a later date for the benefit of
parents and friends.
COMMITTEE ON ATTENDANCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE GROUPS
Remember those who do not speak English. We particularly wish to reach
them. The following steps are necessary:
=The Leaders.= The committee should see and actively interest the
clergymen. If they approve, they can do much to interest the members of
their congregations.
In the same manner, interest the chief foreign business men. Find out
what leaders among them have been revealed by the Liberty Loan and
other campaigns, and reach them.
=Workers.= Let every employer having foreign workers and every woman
employing foreign domestics advertise to and through them.
Arrange special hours for groups by languages and be sure to have an
interpreter or a speaker in their own language.
=Be Democratic!= Above all else be democratic in your dealings with
these foreign-born workers. Make them feel that they are asked to take
a part in a common experience, not that the native born are “unloading”
something upon the foreigners. Keep yourselves in the attitude of being
willing to learn as well as to teach.
COMMITTEE ON SPEAKING
Use the Four Minute Men in advertising the train. Call upon others
who can speak. Tell them what the Pennsylvania Food Administration is
trying to do with the train and ask them to speak for you.
The director and staff of the train are willing to address noon
meetings with the object of urging attendance at the afternoon session.
Factory employes can be reached in this way. Arrange with the manager
of any local corporation, particularly one employing girls, to have
such a meeting.
Try to have a speaker at any gathering that is held during the week or
ten days before the train arrives.
PERSONAL CANVASS
=The Men.= If your men are not as eager to conserve as the women, get
them to come to the train and we can help you to interest them. The
exhibit car especially contains war relics, pictures, and maps of
interest to men. Invite as many men as you can reach personally or by
telephone.
=The Farmers’ Wives.= The best publicity to farmers’ wives is personal.
Let the committee take the telephone book, divide up the names of the
farmers, and see that each farm woman is ’phoned to at least three days
before our coming. Have letters sent to farmers’ wives several days
before train arrives. (Forms supplied.)
If you know of interested women who are lame, or otherwise shut in,
send someone for them in an automobile.
=Last Minute Calls.= Personal telephone calls on a day before the train
arrives are an indispensable means of insuring attendance. Get some of
the older high school girls to divide up the telephone directory among
them and call up the numbers systematically from their own homes. They
should simply announce that the Food Conservation Train is going to be
in town to-morrow and give the time and place where it may be found.
If the train has been generally advertised a large attendance can be
insured by this method. It reminds people.
=Motor Service.= In order to reach the people of outlying districts, it
is possible to organize a girls’ motor service. Have the automobiles
go to an advertised point where they will pick up all who desire to go
to the train. They can make several trips in morning and afternoon.
It would be well to have automobiles doing this work carry banners
advertising the train and its special work.
VI
THE MESSAGE OF THE TOUR
The message of the campaign includes the ideas, facts, and plans to be
presented to the audiences. The choice of a topic or its scope, what
to say about it, and how much, are questions deserving more thoughtful
consideration and real work than is usually given to them. The most
important and the most difficult thing in preparing the message is
to have constantly in mind a picture of the way in which it is to be
delivered. If, for example, the project takes the form of an exhibit
and lecture train in which visitors will spend part of their time
listening to a talk and the remainder passing through several cars to
examine displays, we should, as we plan the message, try to picture
the train on the siding at, let us say, Jonesville. We should also
visualize the numbers and types of people likely to come, how they will
divide their time between the talks and the exhibits, how long they
will stay, or how long we will wish them to stay, what they know about
the subject already, and what they will want to know, what they could
do with this or that kind of information, and how much and what part of
the message they are likely to remember. If the campaign is carried
on with a truck and its program includes a demonstration which only a
few people can see, and a motion picture and lecture program for much
larger numbers, there are two problems; first, visualizing the small
groups for the demonstration, and second, the larger audience for the
more popular program.
Reports of topics and methods of presenting them that have come in from
many and varied traveling campaigns indicate that much more attention
could be given to this question of preparing the message, and that
frequently topics have been selected and the form of presentation
worked out with only a very hazy visualization of the conditions and
the people to be encountered at Jonesville and other points along the
route.
CHOICE OF A TOPIC
Experience leads most directors, sooner or later, to choose a single
topic that is definite and concrete, rather than a group of topics
or one that is broad in scope. This limiting of the topic is all the
more likely to be important where the subject of the campaign is
unfamiliar to the prospective audience. The titles given to many of
the agricultural trains indicate that their directors have found the
concrete and single topic satisfactory. Trains have been called the
“Stump Pulling Special,” “Wheat Special,” “Better Seed Car,” and “Dairy
Train.”
In the health field the topics have often been very general, as “Child
Welfare” or merely “Public Health.” One public health car, which seemed
to be fairly typical, carried exhibits on the prevention and cure of
tuberculosis, care of babies, the duties of the school nurse, food
adulteration, communicable diseases, playgrounds, venereal diseases,
and a description of the functions of the State Health Department. The
more inclusive and thus less specific the topic the more vague and
general will be the talk about it afterward by those who visited the
train.
A reason sometimes given for presenting varied and general topics is
that the purpose is not so much to give definite information which
will be remembered and acted on, as to impress people with the scope
and importance of the subject. For example, the visitors to a public
health car in which many phases of the subject are touched upon may
carry away a conviction that public health work is important to the
community and should be supported although their ideas of it were very
vague. This result may satisfy the purpose of some campaigns, but more
often directors who present a variety of topics hope that something
about each will be remembered; and there is reason for believing that
their hope will not come as near to realization, or at least that
the information will not be of as great utility, as it might if the
subjects were fewer and more specifically treated.
Another argument frequently brought forward in favor of including
several topics is that all sorts of people will visit the train or
truck, and while one will be interested in one subject others will be
more interested in something else. When those in charge of the program
are meeting only a few people at a time, they can talk separately to
each visitor about special problems, but the brief stops made on most
tours require the message to be presented to a large group at one
time or at least in quick succession, so that in practice it usually
happens that all the visitors see and hear the same things. In this
case the more closely a single and concrete topic is adhered to, the
more hopeful campaigners may be that what is said or displayed will be
remembered.
An equally important reason for limiting the number of topics is the
desirability of having your whole audience get the same message. In
connection with the Wheat Specials, for example, not alone should the
farmer and the farmer’s wife and the farmer’s children be informed
about the wheat problems of the locality, but the local banker and
business man stand in need of much the same information. The preacher
and the doctor will help to spread the doctrine, and the school teacher
can make good use of what he learns. The more nearly the entire
community, young and old, understands and is interested in the same
message, the more likely that the desired results will follow.
Occasionally two or three topics may be presented on the same train by
having separate cars for each topic and a separate audience for each.
Thus, on one train a car containing household labor-saving devices was
designed to interest the wives of farmers, and a pure-seed car the
farmers. Or several topics may be combined in such a way that they are
made parts of one large idea. Health topics might be brought together
under “The Health of the Family,” and divided into instruction about
the care of the baby, the child at school, the teaching of social
hygiene to older boys and girls, and the sanitation of the household.
But even when thus closely related to the family interests of the
visitors, this group of topics is still too varied to permit any one to
make a strong and lasting impression.
WHAT TO TELL
Having chosen a topic, there is sure to be so much to tell about it
that careful selection again becomes necessary. The best guide in
preparing the subject matter of the program is the visualization of
expected audiences already referred to. It cannot be too strongly
emphasized that the relation of the subject matter to their interests,
circumstances, and habits will largely determine their response to the
suggestions given. Often this relationship exists, but is not explained
clearly enough to be readily understood. The fact that the traveling
campaigners come from a distance, bringing new ideas expressed in an
unfamiliar way, leads an audience to look upon the whole project as
something which is no doubt very interesting to see and hear about, but
of no immediate concern to themselves. It is worth while to make a very
special effort to overcome this attitude of aloofness and to make the
audiences see that what you are bringing is something that they have
been wanting all the time, without their fully realizing it.
[Illustration: GROUP OF OBJECTS EXPRESSING ONE IDEA
A conspicuous title sign holds together a number of objects and
captions illustrating one idea. The exhibit gains greater unity and
separation from other exhibits by being enclosed on three sides.]
MAKING UP THE PROGRAM
The term program is used here to include the combined activities and
displays that make up what is presented to visitors at each stopping
point. It may consist of music, talks, demonstrations, motion pictures,
or displays of posters and objects, or several of these features
combined, with varying emphasis on one or the other form.
It may be held inside of railroad cars or in an open space, using for a
stage a flat car, the rear platform of a passenger car, or a temporary
structure. Or it may be given in a hall in the town. Sometimes the
program includes both indoor and outdoor features.
It is usually a good idea to arrange what might be called a “unit”
program that will include everything that it is desirable for a given
visitor or group of visitors to do, see, and hear in order to fully
understand and enjoy the message. This unit program has an important
place in the arrangement of itinerary, schedule, and the arrangements
made for the attendance. For example, if the unit program lasts an
hour we have a means of deciding the number of times it needs to be
repeated in order to reach the desired number of visitors. If it lasts
two or three hours we are likely to find that in our advance work we
will need to make a greater effort to attract a carefully selected
audience, since the longer the program in most cases the fewer the
people who could enjoy it even once. The suggestions below have to
do with some of the factors to take into account in selecting and
combining features of this unit program.
Features intended wholly or mainly as attractions, such as music, or
dramatic or comic films, should not be placed in competition with
educational features for getting attention or holding interest. They
may be said to compete when they distract attention from the main topic
or take up an undue share of the time of visitors, or are so much more
popular in form than the educational topics as to be more talked about
and remembered afterward.
The program should be arranged so that the one idea or set of facts
which it is the purpose of the tour to deliver holds the center of
the stage at all times, and so that it commands attention whether it
takes the form of a talk or exhibit, or both. As has already been said,
the main idea should not be overshadowed or lost sight of through the
rivalry of other attractions. Finally, so that there may be no doubt
that it is understood and remembered, the main idea should be repeated
in different forms, in talks, demonstrations, exhibits, and printed
matter.
If the visitor is obliged to stand during all or the greater part of
the time he is not likely to give more than an hour of interested
attention to talks and displays. Many will give much less. The actual
period that the average visitors will remain under certain conditions
is soon learned by experimenting, and each feature should be timed so
that a satisfactory presentation of the subject can be assured for the
majority of them.
However attractively the subject is presented through motion pictures
or other displays, a good talker is about the most important element
in getting the idea across to the visitors. Whether the speaker
accompanies his talk with slides or objects, conducts a demonstration,
explains exhibits, or makes running comments on motion pictures, his
ability to be heard, to hold interest, and to express himself simply,
briefly, and concretely will often be the chief factor in the success
of the program. Lecturers for traveling campaigns should be chosen
as much for their ability as speakers as for their knowledge of the
subject matter.
PROGRAMS OF EXHIBIT TRAINS
The following plan for a program was announced for one of the Liberty
Loan trains:
Aerial bombs will be sent off as train reaches stop.
Liberty Loan representatives in charge of train will make brief
address and ask local committee of three to come onto the platform.
Five-minute address by the local chairman or someone selected by him.
Talk by returned soldier.
Address by experienced speaker with principal object of urging
necessity of subscribing to Loan.
Invitation by Liberty Loan representative to inspect exhibition.
The trains for which this program was planned made short stops and the
talks were given from a platform or from one of the flat cars. A large
crowd could be reached by a single speaking program. In this case the
speaking was the important feature, and the exhibits of war material
were an “attraction” rather than an educational feature. It satisfied
the purpose of the tour to have most of the time devoted to speeches,
followed by a rapid view of exhibits.
The extension division of the Texas State College of Agriculture
reports the following program method:
Immediately upon going into a town, the people were loaded into the
lecture cars and three lecturers would alternate for a twenty-minute
talk on different subjects in each car. Where outdoor meetings were
held the exhibit cars were closed upon coming into town and general
lectures were first had from the platform car, then the live stock
were led onto the platform car where special demonstrations were
given. As soon as this formal program was completed the specialists
were stationed back through the exhibition cars and the crowds were
allowed to enter the front of the train and pass gradually through the
entire train, making such inquiries of the specialists as they cared
to while going through the exhibition car.
Here again the speaking and the outdoor demonstrations are evidently
regarded as the important features. Such a plan should not be
considered if the exhibits are of real importance. The audience that
has been standing during the program of perhaps half an hour or more,
and has then waited in line to go through the train, is a tired
audience and not nearly so responsive as though its members came fresh
to the exhibits. It is also true that when the program is so arranged
that the whole crowd is ready at one time to start through the train,
there is much more difficulty in managing the people and much more
dissatisfaction on the part of those at the rear end of the line. It
is difficult to get careful attention for exhibits from people who
are being moved ahead to make way for an impatient crowd standing in
long lines behind them. The managers of trains will do well to decide
in advance whether the speaking or the exhibits constitute the really
important feature of the program. If it is the exhibits, then the
speaking should be made incidental, perhaps, by having a ten-minute
talk given from the platform at regular intervals as a new group is to
be started through the train.
A PROGRAM COMBINING DEMONSTRATIONS AND EXHIBITS
A method of dividing the time between demonstrations in two cars and
an exhibit car was worked out satisfactorily on the Pennsylvania
Food Conservation Train. All the audience passed through the train
in the same direction, starting at the same point, except that
at the beginning of the session all the cars were filled at once
to avoid delays. When the first car was filled a talk on canning
started. No attempt was made to demonstrate a complete process, but
different vegetables or fruits were in various stages of preparation
continuously, so that a fifteen-minute illustrated talk brought out the
points that required emphasis. After about five minutes of questions
and looking at displays of equipment and canned articles, this crowd
moved on to the next car, while the first car was filled again with the
next group of arrivals. In the second car a similar program was given
on uses of wheat substitutes. In the third car two explainers met the
audience and explained the exhibits found there. As the topics in all
three cars were closely related (the demonstrations showing how to save
food and the exhibits showing why food saving was necessary), an hour
spent in three cars gave variety enough to keep interest awake and
still kept closely to the one big idea--“Save Food.”
[Illustration: DEMONSTRATION CAR
A day coach used for a canning demonstration on the food conservation
train of the New York Central Railroad and the New York State College
of Agriculture.]
[Illustration: AN OUTDOOR PROGRAM
Crowd listening to a speech at the War Trophy Train which toured
Kentucky as a feature of the Fourth Liberty Loan campaign.]
OUTDOOR SPEAKING AT TRAINS
If speaking to a general audience is the important thing, a talk from
the outside of the train would seem better than crowding people into
the cars; but even outside speeches from the platform or a flat car, or
an especially built platform at the train present many difficulties.
The location of the train frequently does not provide good standing
room for the crowds; there is frequently distraction from the noise of
other trains and persistent rainy weather must be reckoned with also.
It is very important to have speakers with good outdoor voices, for the
effect on the audience of straining to hear a speaker is irritating and
leaves behind a bad impression.
VII
EXHIBIT CARS
TYPES OF CARS
Practically every type of car from the Pullman to the flat car can be
fitted up to suit some exhibit or demonstration purpose. The Pullman,
with its broad windows and attractively finished woodwork, makes a more
pleasing setting for displays than the day coach. The day coach with
seats removed and shelves built in for the display of exhibits has been
the most generally used type of car. Photographs of the Pennsylvania
Food Conservation Train show day coaches with interiors fitted up
with counters, platforms, and cupboards with dimensions based on a
careful calculation of the desired use of every inch of floor and wall
space.[7] The baggage car is more nearly ready for use in an emergency
since it does not need to be dismantled, but it is neither so well
lighted nor so well finished as the coach. The flat car is well adapted
to a display of large and heavy equipment, or for demonstrations that,
require a platform to display them to an audience standing near the
track. On agricultural trains, demonstrations of milking or judging
live stock have been given on flat cars. On the Liberty Loan trains
flat cars were employed to show cannon, machine guns, tanks, and other
large equipment. In the photograph opposite page 80 a flat car is shown
fitted with a framework for a tarpaulin for protection against weather.
This is a necessary precaution in using flat cars.
An experienced director of exhibit trains writes: “An especially built
and designed car for the purpose is well worth its additional cost.
Such cars as I have seen provided by the railroads for temporary
service in exhibit lines have all been old, small, and often
broken-down baggage or passenger cars, in every way unsuitable for a
purpose where the most extreme dimensions available still leave the
exhibit and circulation space contracted. Cars should be built on the
largest frames and the most extreme dimensions that the railroads, as
governed by their tracks, bridges, and tunnels can handle. Windows
should be set high in the car walls, giving a high source of light and
maximum wall space for exhibits, and should be larger than those in the
ordinary coach to secure better ventilation. The doors should be built
wider than the usual car door.” The plan calls for small and compact
living and office quarters at one end. The director also adds that
the installation of an engine to furnish lights and power for working
models is an important item of equipment. One engine is sufficient
to run lights, fans, and models for several cars. In these days of
portable electrical outfits, this item is practicable and fairly
inexpensive.
TRAVELING ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STAFF MEMBERS
The kind of living arrangements provided for the lecturers and
assistants will depend, to some extent, upon the frequency of the stops
and the number of persons traveling with the train. Several of the more
elaborately equipped trains have carried a Pullman sleeping coach and a
diner for the staff members. If there are frequent stops, it would seem
that at least sleeping quarters on the train are necessary. Meals are
sometimes arranged for at stopping places, and in this case the advance
agent is responsible for seeing that good meals are assured. When stops
of a full day or more are made, the staff members sometimes find rooms
and meals in hotels en route. Whatever the arrangements, as is stated
elsewhere, they should insure the greatest possible degree of comfort
to the staff, in order to offset the severe strain that this kind of
campaigning inevitably involves.
TREATMENT OF CAR INTERIORS
The two chief difficulties with exhibits on trains are keeping them
clean and so securing them in place as to withstand the jarring motion.
Washable surfaces on floors, shelves, and walls are essential. Exhibits
should be either of the kind that are easily kept clean or else placed
under cover or frequently replaced. No decorations such as draped
bunting, which collects and holds dust, should be used. Clusters of
small flags hung straight from chandeliers are attractive and non-dust
collecting decorations. Small objects should be either securely
fastened to shelves or packed away while the train is in motion.
[Illustration: FLAT CARS USED FOR DISPLAYING CAPTURED GERMAN TROPHIES
A section of a Liberty Loan War Relic Train. Canvas covers can be
thrown over the framework to protect the exhibit from the rain. This
framework also provides a support for arc lights, so that the exhibit
can be displayed at night.]
EXHIBITS
Having selected the subject matter, you have a choice of presenting it
through exhibits, demonstrations, talks, or all three.
For still exhibits the use of models, objects, cartoons, posters,
transparencies for the windows, and brief slogans or statements on
placards have been found most suitable. As is brought out in a later
section under methods of display, the dimensions of a car place severe
limitations on the forms that may be used to advantage, and the same
principle applies to the selection of these as to the content of a
train exhibit.
Just as there should be few ideas so there should not be too many
sizes, shapes, and forms of exhibits which confuse the eye in the way
that variety of topics confuses the mind.
Because of the necessity of moving people through the cars rapidly
enough to make way for others to follow, it is essential that whatever
is displayed may be quickly seen and understood. This limitation rules
out many forms that might be shown satisfactorily in halls. Anything
that is expressed chiefly by words may better be left to speakers
and printed matter for distribution as there is not time to read
words and figures and, indeed, visitors have little inclination to
do so. Diagrams, particularly those presenting detailed facts, also
call for close examination and delay the progress of visitors. One
train exhibitor of experience says: “One of the greatest dangers to
be avoided is an excess of charts and small type. The exhibit should
be such that the crowds can be kept moving through the car and,
nevertheless, be able to seize the principal points intended to be
taught.”
A description of a part of a single health car in one report includes
“75 wall charts illustrating the cost in human lives of tuberculosis,
typhoid fever, and diarrhea. Each series of charts has grouped about
it from two to twelve models. Several hundred photographs show
occupational conditions favorable to tuberculosis.” Such a collection
as this is suited only to intensive study and not at all to a popular
traveling exhibit.
Methods used to attract attention to one thing should not distract
attention from other things. For example, in a certain health car
a bell struck every three minutes tolling the one hundred and
seventy-five thousand deaths annually from tuberculosis. This is a
striking and effective way of making people heed a startling fact, but
unfortunately every time the bell rang in so small a space as the car
it interfered with the study of other features being presented.
There is little opportunity to get attention for detailed or complex
displays, no matter how attractive and interesting they may be. The
following is taken from a description of a mechanical device shown on a
train through which visitors were always moving rapidly because there
was a long waiting line: “A model block-signal system about 25 feet in
length, illustrating the protection provided by a clock-signal system
was in full operation. This model had two sidings and was designed
particularly to show single-track operation. Intermediate signals were
shown between the clock signals by means of lights.” The information
that this model conveyed illustrates very well the kind that is too
complicated to be understood without a careful examination and some
explanation by an attendant.
You must, therefore, in planning the form as in planning the content of
your exhibit, keep your eye steadily on the picture of the Smiths and
Browns at the train as it stands on the side track in Jonesville with
many people moving through the cars. You can test the practicability
of your devices and other displays by asking yourself these questions
concerning the probable reaction of Brown and Smith:
Will it attract their attention?
Will it arouse their interest?
Will they remember it?
Will it bring a response from them?