The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-02-20
THAT FORMULA.
One Who Should Know Dis
cusses the Bill,
Arguments Against It's Pas
sage.

SdRts
Editors Herald:
Any person acquainted with the
reputed father of the bill now be-
fore our Legislature, proposing to
compel the manufacturers or VEN
doris Of patent medicines, to append
the formula, would never doubt bis
good intent; but 1 am compelled to
say that l certainly do not admire
his judgment In this instance.
am well aware that he ought, by
virtue of his experience, to be much
better capable of passing upon a
matter of this kind than am; vet
am constrained to believe that he
has looked only at few phases of
the question. If it be made a law
that no compounds of any kind shall
be sold as medicines, in this Terri
tory, unless the package containing
them bear the printed formula, it OF
course follows that penalty be at
tached to the disregard Of said law
One of the provisions of the pro-
posed law reads something like this
"Any person who shall, after the
fret day of June, 1884, sell any pro
prietary. or other medicine, except
on the prescription OF physician,
without first putting on the bottle or
package containing the medicine, a
formula of the contents of the bot
tie, or package, in plain English
language. shall be guilty Of a mis-
demeanor."
It is to this particular section
that I shall address my remarks, as
1 see no objection to the other pro-
visions. = 1t seems clear to nae that
the making it a misdemeanor to sell
proprietary medicines is equivalent
to the condemnation, il not the con-
fiscation, of all such goods then in
the Territory. ''.'''' 800
Now, for any person to assume for
q moment that q mere Territory has
the right to do anything like that,
would indicate a strange and un>
accountable lack Of appreciation of
the powers of dependency. The
powefof a Territory Is extremely
small, In many particulars, and in
such case as this it is infinites-
sinai. Forbidding . person to sell
these articles may seem like q very
simple affair to the mind of the pro.
jector of this boomerang, but that
which depends upon the prohlbi>
tion to sell, is apparently overlooked
Practically, 1t declares
against the importation to this Ters
ritery of all articles to which the
act refers, and thereby the labOra-
tories Of the entire nation and the
world are localized against.
We will suppose case. The firm
Of Lodem 81 F'irem, of New York,
have been making catbartic pills,
under a manufacturer license
granted by the proper u:horitips,
for fifty years. By virtue of ihe
customs Of the United States, they
have been allowed to send their
goods to any part Of the Union,
restraint. during the whole
course of their business career. Sud
1enly they are told that on account
IF law of the Territory of Utah,
hey will be thereafter compelled TO
place the printed formula in plain
English language upon all their
pill boxes sent abroad throughout
she world, or else make a special
edition for the Utah market. The
first thing such q firm as that will
10, is to send gross or two Of their
pills to CIRCULATE" the Legislature,
and pay no further attention to it.
Accordingly, the pills come to Utah
and Scourem s. Co. offer them for
sale. Mrs. Very Bilious buys a
box, and the case is reported TO the
police authorities, and soon after
wards the druggists are arrested and
4 fine is imposed. Scourem takes an
appeal, but rather than be further
annoyed he PLACES bogus formula
lpon all the other boxes, so as to sell
hem more easily. Some one hears
Scourem tell Of the little joke and
reports him. Again he is arrested,
and claims that the formula is gen.
nine. What follows? Naturally,
he law-making power is anxious to |
avoid defeat, and an analysis is or
Tered at the public expense, then |
he row begins in earnest; each and
every box of pills must besubmitted
10 the test, as in q case of this |
kind no one box OF pills |
IAN be any guide to the character of |
another. Therefore, unless all The
pills of q certain brand were re-
luced to mass, and that run
through sanlpling tmill, it would |
Do necessary to anslyze every box,
or for that matter, every pill
Finally, suppose, after the pills |
had been tested by the official pill
they might be returned |
to Scourem 81 Co., ct. al, aud with |
5he recognized formula attached, he /
allowed to poison people just as
with as without tie |
formula. And so on to the en,, f |
the chapter. II life were not too |
short to be wasted upon such asub-