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prominent Chicago newspaper and spread before its advertising manager a full-page advertisement, with blank spaces in the center.
"We want some good testimonials to fill out with," he said.
"You can get all of those you want, can't you?" asked the newspaper manager.
"Can you?" returned the other. "Show me four or five strong ones from local politicians and you get the ad."
Fake Testimonials
That day reporters were assigned to secure testimonials with photographs which subsequently appeared in the full-page advertisement as
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A CONTRACT CONTAINING THE RED CLAUSE
The "Red Clause" is shown in heavy type, beginning with the words "It is mutually agreed …" The Gazette has recently decided to exclude all patent-medicine advertising from its columns.
promised. As for the men who permitted the use of their names for this purpose, several of them afterward admitted that they had never tasted the "Compound," but that they were willing to sign the testimonials for the joy of appearing in print as "prominent citizens." Another Chicago news-