Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-10-08
PATENT MEDICINES,
Men VINO Make Proprietary Medi-
zines and Those Who Use Them
Fortunes In Nostrums- Makers

New York Herald.

nelI wholesale druggist IN answer to
reporters inquiry. SIN the first
place. the word patent as applied to
medicines Is RoS correct. Many wears
ago, wAen the business of manufactur-
ing these medicines first started some
OF the proprietors did get out patents
on their wares, but experience taught
them better very soon. To get a pat
emit it was necessary to specify the ex>
act ingredients of the medicine and
their proportions. as that was vir>
tually giving 10 the world what was
most important to be kept secret. the
plan of patenting was abandoned al
most as soon as II was begun, and in
stead a trade mark was invented and
copyrighted. TIE federal government
grants these trademarks, but with
holds its protec ton from them leav-
ing to the state courts the onus Of for
bidding. their infringement And this
was the case--uniusly SO, too-for
years, during which the federal gov.
ernment levied burdensome taxation
on the medicines thus copyrighted.
Therefore TO speak correctly, they
should be called proprietary, not pat,
ent, medicines,
"When did these medicines origin
ate9 Well, to speak correctly, they
are as old as the human race. Ia the
days when the doctors were less plen~
tIful and less skilled. every man was
more or less his own doctor. Every
oil woman had her gavorite herbs,
aad thus in time long tried and reli-
able recipes fell into the hands Of
shrewd men with an eye to the main
chance. Not few physicians are TO
be credited with the paternity Of many
popular and successful patent medis
cines. Probably the real rise and
wide sale of patent medicines do not
extend much further back than half a
century. Most of the very successful
ones trace their history no further
back than that. Out of about five
thousand articles of domestic make,
not more than fifty can be carried on
as a business apart from other intesest
Indeed out of the five thousand there
are probably only five hundred that
can be set down as of any importance.
1t is safe to say that not more than
half dozen have made million
each.
"The people of this country are
great patrons of patent medicines, the
middle classes especially. The rich
can always consult a physician at the
least prcyocatlon, and the very poor
can avoid both doctors expenses and
the cost of patent medicines by going
to dIspensaries where they are treated
gratutously. Much is claimed for
the efficiency of these medicines
much, indeed for some of them. Put
as a rule, they possess a certain virtue
Many of them are merely physicians
prescriptions made up on grand
scale, and are stated to cure only spe-
cifc cases Of bodily arrangement.
The day of the cure all medicines is
as good as gone by. Some of the
medicines are really good for the purs
poses they are applied TO. There are
new remedies constantly coming into
the field, but unless backed by a
heavy capital they and their projec
tors invariably come to grief. Not
even plenty of money can bolster up
a remedy if it be worthless, or if there
be too many articles of the same kind
in the market.
ALLOWING the remedy to be all that
is claimed for it, that it is backed up
heavily, advertised well, and has ell
bow room in its own particular field
there still remain the usual contingen
cies aud risks related to all business
ventures. The business is not all
profit as many people think. The
manufactures sees but a small propor-
ton of the dollar that the customer
pays the retailer for his bottle of medi
cine. A dollar bottle Of medicine is
generally sold TO the trade through
the jobber at 81 per dozen. Before
the manufacturer begins to think Of
profit ne must figure on labor, mate
rial, rent freight, express, clerk hire,
and advertising bills. The last ex-
pense is an important item. 1t has
been estimated that in the last twenty
years 800, 600, 600 have been spent in
advertising proprietary medicines.
The small advertiser is now here. So
in the end il the proprietor makes IL
cents on the dollar bottle Of medicine
he is lucky. The retailers net profit
is nearly double that amount. When
the stamp tax on proprietary medicine
was levied about4 per cent on the re-
tail price, in reality 10 per cent on the
manufacturers price-the manufatur-
ers made even less than now. In
four years only the stamp tax thus
levied rolled into the government
Golfers an average of at least 81, 800, =
600 a year. The stamp tax has done
away with, but the tax Of $3.50 gal
Ion on alcohol principal ingredient
in the manufacture Of medicines still
exists.
According to the last United States
census there are 563 establishments
in this country devoted to the pro
prietary medicine business, employ
ing 4 ,0l5 operatives, with an aggre
gate investment capital amounting to
so, 500, 600, and the annual product
is valued at S14 $50, 900. New York
state leads all Others with an inves!ed
capital of So, 512. 430, which is about
one third of the entire. country's in
vestment. Pennsylvania comes next
and Missouri ranks third in invested
capital, followed respectively by Ohio
and Magsae an Spttgs m thp a