current opinion but they have unconsciously recorded the survival in our own time of primitive instincts of mankind. The language of the mediaeval personal combat was perpetuated in the full page advertisement of many citizens of a Western city
bearing foreign names published in a newspaper of Washington , D . C., calling on their representatives in Congress “ to take prompt and vigorous action for the protection of the honor and dignity of the nation .” The selfishness of the unselfish was recorded in the advertisement signed by several distinguished citizens protesting against the entrance of America into the war on the ground that “ What we can achieve on that field (of war)
will win nothing for humanity , and for us neither profit or glory , for our adversaries have nothing that we want, and their strength
is already gone." 22 It is again a hair line that marks the separation between
modern propaganda and old -fashioned politics. Whether or not political parties took their cue from the propagandists is imma
terial, but it is certain that the presidential campaign of 1916 saw an extraordinary development of political advertising and the transference of interest to it from the editorial and from political rallies . The side to be presented by the editorial was almost a foregone conclusion , while rallies had been most expen
sive and they had been attended only by the partisans of the party arranging them . The political advertisement carried a
new appeal and quickly outstripped in interest and effectiveness all the old -time forms of political campaigning. It was carried on not only by the publicity committees of the great party organizations, but by independent leagues, by fusion com mittees, by non -political associations interested in non -political
legislation , by partisan associations formed to secure a specific end or to defeat an undesired policy , by non -partisan leagues for good government, and by every organization that had not a
special “ organ ” at its command. It reached its climax in the advertisements supporting or opposing candidates or parties
that appeared over the signature of private individuals and
presumably at their personal expense,23 and in the formation 22 New York Times, February 5, 1917.
23 Henry Ford advertised under the caption " Humanity and Your Vote" the reasons that led him to support President Wilson , and placed the
