Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1891-08-27
SUBSTITUTE SWINDLE.
Dishonest Druggists Who Palm OF
Hcmo-Made Goods.
10" an Unsuspecting Public Is I'm
posed Upon by Unprincipled
Dealers In Household
Remedies.

hr. a FRANK richardson, of New
York, has done the public good service
by calling attention in his recent adj
dress before the National Editorial as
scciation at st. Paul to the petty but
extensive frauds practiccd upon CUSTOM
ers through what Is known as the sub
stitute swindlc. The modus operandi
OF these dishonest deals, says the Chi
cago Tribune, may be-bfieHy explained.
There are many standard articles which
have attained = n large sale and wide
spread reputation by their legitimate
merits and the liberal advertising of
their proprietors. Certain unprincipled
druggists and small dealers have taken
advantage of these circumstances to
counterfeit these goods by initiating
them just closely enough t o keep them
selves out of the clutches Of the law. At
Detroit and IN other cities there are
houses whose entire business consists
in manufacturing limitations of these
articles, or Substitutes" which are
made so as to closely resemble the orig
mails in materials used, in the name,
and inNhe general appearance of the
boxes, bottles or wrappers. AS an in
ducement to these small dealers and
the better TO enable them to carry out
the swindle, their names frequently are
printed on the packages by the manu-
f%acturers, and the false caption ''our
W make is often added. 1t is easy
to see how the swindle is worked. A
customer goes into a store and asks for
a popular reInedy. The dealer says that
he has it, which is probably n lie, but
recommends the customer to buy a
preparation put up by himself, which
he claims to be equally good, and
which, he says, he can recommend, be-
cause, he pretends, he has compound
ed 1t himself" and it Is his Town make"
and, besides, while the desired article
may be fifty cents a bottle, he can sell
his own preparation at twenty-five
cents. Nine times out of ten the Gus
toner, relying upon the statement of
the druggist, viii be induced by
motives of economy to take the sub
s%titute, which, of course, is worthless
and which may be dangerous. The
dealer is enabled to do this because he
buys very cheaply from the manu-
f%acturer' and thus the two get the BEN
eft of the advertising OF the genuine
material and divide large profits. Thus
an transporting public is swindled.
1t is needless to say that TIRE druggist.
or dealer WHO viii descend to this con-
temptible business merely because he
can make u larger profit upon the sub
stitute than he "a upon the genuine
article is a comnon swindler, and mono
the less a swindler because the trick Is
devised 50 cunningly IS to save him
from prosecution and deserved punish
ment. 1t is q freud upon manufacturers
who are making "a legitimate article
and who have spent thousands OF dol
lars to bring it before the public, and
q fraud upon customers who are tricked
into buying a bogus article which is
worthless, ii not something worse. It
is time that this contemptible business
was stopped, and it can be if the press
of the country viii vcntilate and ex-
pose It and if the public win refuse to
patronize druggists who palm off these
nostrums upon it, Customers should
demand the article they have every
reason to believe is the best, and If a
dealer begins the old story recommend
ing q preparation lie has made himself,
which he knows to be pure because be
made 1t, which has his name on tho
wrapper, etc, it should be sufficient
cause to refuse it promptly and go else
where for their goods. 1t is the lowest
and meanest form Of common thievery,
and if the public win join hands with
the press it can be broken up, 1t is
certainly for the interests of the former
to do so, as it is the principal sufferer.