S TR EAM O F T H OU GH T I N SA LE (^19)
to ry, w e m ay app eal to th e exp eri e nc e o f
oth e r selle rs wh o h ave fac e d o ur p robl em ;
an d by ob serv ing th eir sol uti on s, w e m ay
gove rn our p roc e dure.
H ow disc ove r th ei r exp e ri e nce s? To a sk
them woul d evoke c ont ra dicti ons a n d opini on s
o f differen t. degree s of reliability. F urth e r
m ore, sinc e we seek scien tific fo rm ul a ti on s
o f o ur fac t s w e m us t h ave figu re s in stea d of
opinion s. How sh all w e re duc e th e ex peri
ences o f sell e rs to n umeri c al t e rms?
Th e a n swe r is, Use th e “ historical m e th od.
Inve stiga te th e p ractices of th e selle rs o f th e
pa s t and ob se rve th e way s i n wh ich th ey
solve d th e probl em s tha t confron t u s.
F o r exa mpl e, i n an swering “ hi storic ally
th e que sti on p rop o unde d ab ove : I s i t i n ge n
e ral m ore p rofitabl e to use upp er-ca se o r
l owe r- case type i n h ea dline s ?, one w oul d go
to t h e file s o f newsp ap ers and m aga zine s fo r
many yea rs ba ck, an d a scer tai n th e p ercenta ge
of h ea dli nes i n small l e tte rs. An i nvestiga tio n
of thi s n a tu re by th e auth or di scl ose d th e
fa ct th a t a dvertisers h ave bee n using wi th
inc rea sing frequency l ow er-c ase h ea dlin es.
Wh erea s in^1905 sixty- th ree p e r c en t o f th e
hea dline s i n full-p age a dve rti se ment s i n th e
Literary D igest we re i n l owe r-ca se typ e, i n
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