New-York tribune., 1886-04-25
PUSHING PATENT MEDICINE
A BUSINESS NOT EASY TO START.

IL there Is business which the average citizen
looks upon as being lucrative above all others it 10
that of patent medicines. The prevailing opinion
in regard to this peculiar branch Of trade Ia that
whoever has the disposition TO engage IN H. though
his abilities may be Of an ordinary kind and the
article which he sells Of less merit yet in due
time he s certain to become an owner Of 2:2O
horses steam yachts and all the other Injuries Of
millonaires. This Is n mistake. Instead of being
q safe and speedy way to wealth the proprietary
compound road to riches has become an exceeding
ly hard and hazardous to travel. At least such
is the unanimous conclusion of number of whole
sale drug men whose long experience in handling
goods of this character ables them to speak from
n practical knowledge of the subject. A TRIBUNE
reporter talked with several of these men the other
day. and found that the statements made by the
manager of of the largo drug firms of the city
were supported in the main by the others. This 10
what he said:
"Therc is, on the average. a new proprietary
medicine of some kind put on the market every day
in the year in New. York alone. Yet how many OF
them heard of by the public In any general
wayi Just about 2 per cent This Is surprising
statement, but am quite that statistics will
bear it ont. You see the public only hears about
the few successful firms; it knows nothing of the
hundreds of failures which are made. and because
succeed to greater or less extent. IL they could
only examine the books of the advertising agents
and see the lists of those who have tried vain to
acquire wealth in this way they would think differ
emily about this matter"
How do y0u account for this7 Is the business
itself dying out ~
"By no means; there more patent medicines
used to-day than ever but there are also far more
persons engaged in the trade now than there were
formerly. and. hence, it follows that competition
is much greater. The history Of the majority Of
the failures to which have referred to would be
found TO read something as follows man, who
has probably never mae much money IN his life.
happens to come across prescription which in his
experience proves to be efficient remedy for
some internal or external ache pain. He tells his
friends about it, Some of them try 1t and are also
benefited by its use. This excites him. Visions Of
easily acquired fortunes dance before his mind and
he begins to make preparations for getting his
panacea before the entire country at Usually
he starts by trying to get some large drug house to
take hold and boom it, and pay him a prncely roy
atty for this privilege which, of course, none oil
them would think of doing; they have all had too
much experience to undertake such job. The
refusal vexes him aud he that he'll go IL alone
and cause them to regret that they refused his
offer lie gets together few hundred or few
thousand dollars the savings of years ofttntimeS,
or perhaps forms q stock company with a limited
capital. and begins operations by inserting an all
vertisemcnt in the big dalies His notions OF
advertising are Grade that he is surprised to find
few if any responses to the notice. People do not
run after anything. particularly patent medicines.
the first OF the second or the sixth time that it is
brought before them. Indeed. it is scarcely noticed
at all until it is seen again and again. and hes be-
-, ,I,. iliar
for a week or month IS not enough to bring in
satisfactory results It must be kept Mp right along
to make things pay. and the notices must also be
iudiciously prepared. Glittering generaities wont
do the statements must be specific, novel and
pointed. To advertise in this manner requires
plenty Of capital and experience. few hundred
or. for that matter. few thousand dollars, go a
short way toward advertising right along half
dozen metropolitan newspapers. This fact the
would-be patent medicine man finds out to his
great dissatisfaction aft he has spent his $500,
1000 ~. ZOO, and received III return Tor TINS
expenditure "a few stray orders" .
" But did not most of the large concerns OF this
kind start with a small capital " =,
"Of course they did, AMI that Is just the
point | am about to tOnch upon All the great
hourishng proprietary medicine estaOiishmehts
with scarcely exception, started III very
modest way. But whore Not ia a big city Ike
New-lork or Chicago by any means No.. they
had their origin generally in some small city or
country town and gradually worked their way into
popular use. The goods were made to pay Their
own expenses and the sale Of them increased the
proprietors spread out INTO larger towns and finally
into tie big cities. where we find them taking
whole page Of sunday paper and making IL pay
them splendldly.' al,
:" No sir. it is not. You may sni ie. but affirm
that medicine of this kind to attain any degree OF
success must have merit, and the nlore-the better
recall case in my own experience where
company lost 100000 in trying to put prepa-
ration on the market which did not possess the
qualities that they claimed for it, DO not ms
understand me. | do not mean that tho virtues OF
these compounds are not awtully eXaggerateu;
every sensible man kno ws this fact perfectly well
What | insist upon is that in the poorest 0i these
goods which have aly sale, there are n Few grams
of real worth. while many OF them are excellent
As "A matter Of fact, some OF the best prescriptions
ever put up are on the market IN this form. But
no matter Row worthy the article, IL must lie intro
ducrd and kept before the pub llc by advertising
When however. people begin tn buy and test II
for themselves then the question of merit arises III
il proves to be really valuable and does a reason
able amount of that which its owners claimed lor
it, then naturally man tells another about 1t
and this free advertising gives the great profit.
Did not the law requiring the formula 0f every
prop <tarv compound to Oe printed on tho label
iniure the business somewhat 4
Not in the sli ghtest Here" he said taking
down bottle from the shelf. is the recipe OF TINS
med lcine given under oath ana no uouDt correct
am considered an eXper, druggist, but there are
ingredients given here which never saw or hcar1
o before. yet invest! CATION would show that tney
nharmaceutical world Or it may be that these are
but new and perfectly legitimate names OF the n' 81
familiar drugs. can state approximately what
the composition of tins compound Is but not Win
sufficient accuracy TO pnt il up myself and swear
that my compound would be identical with the
original Yet il the proprietor of this were brought
into court he would prove the satisfaction OF the
ury tLat he had complied with the law IN question
and show that every ingredient IN hls formula
had it's place in the materia lnedca. There are
men who make "A business of getting up these pre-
scriptions which seem to be explicit and IN real
ity tell nothing of any consequence"
I" IT, az YOU maintain, these medicines are really
mer;torors how is 1t that their sale stops soon
as the propIietors cease TO be adyertiscdp
"Ihat is easily seen. There is scarcely an i'll to
which flesh is heir for which there are not dozens
of remedies Of this kind in the market all being
pushed vigorously. Hence when one drops back
the Others take its place. People. moreover, are
fond of woTshIpping rising suns and quickly forget
Iii inn Ill 1t they lOnQer see dallY.V