The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-29
REVENUE TAX ON MEDICINES
COMMISSIONERS CoNsTRUC-
TON OF THE LAW.
What Drugs and Medicines Are Tax
able and What Are Exempt
Trade Marks and Advertisements.

Washington, July 2s-The commits
sioner Of internal revenue has issued an
important circular, in which he gives
an Interpretation of the last clause of
section 20 Of the new revenue act, as TO
what medical preparations or articles
are subject to tax Hereunder. The
commissioner construes this clause as
follows:
Any medicinal article which is COM
pounded by any formula, published or
unpublished, viii be held to be taxable
under schedule 3. act of June Is, 1898,
when il is put up in style or manner
similar toethat of patent, trade mark
or proprietary medicine in general, or
is advertised upon package or other
wise, as remedy or specifics for any all
ment, as having any special claim to
merit, or as having any peculiar I'D
vantage in mode Of preparation, quail
ity, use or effect.
Any medicine will be held to be put
up in style or manner similar, etc,
when the package, wraps, label, bottle
or container resembles in one or more
particulars any make or brand of pat
ent, trade mark or proprietary medl-
ciae in general"
E'0r example the use Of a trade mark
upon medicine makes it taxable, also
the use of makers name or any other
persons name in the posSeSsTve form,
Immediately before the name of the
medicine, as Smiths pills" or the use
of any name Immediately following the
name of the medicine. This shall not
be construed, however, TO prohibit the
name OF the physician who was the
author of the formula Immediately fol-
lowing the name of the medicine. Nor
shall it be construed to prohibit the
name of the manufacturer being blown
in the bottle or printed incOnspicu-
ously on the label or wrapper. Any
medicine will be considered to be adj
vertised on the package or otherwise
as remedies for any ailment, if there is
any statement whatever upon any part
of the article of any disease or affec-
ton of the human or animal body for
which the contents should or may be
used. This shall not be construed,
however, as prohibiting the printing of
the formula and the dose on the label
or words indicating the therapeutic ac-
ton of the medicine in purely technical
language not in common use.
Any medicinal article will be held to
be advertised on the package or other
wise as having any special claim to
merit, or TO any peculiar advantage in
the mode of preparation, quality, use
or effect, when any description of it,
either on the package or otherwise, in
cludes any statement to the effect that
it has special or peculiar medicinal
value over other like articles or other
articles of the same class; or when it
has any word, phrase or sentence,
either in the title or formula, or other
wise, which indicates its superior merit
over articles of its class.
For example. "tasteless quinine,
improved cod liver OIL" but this shall
not be construed to exclude the words
pure" chemically pure" ETC., which
have for their object the definition of
the grade of the article, or the words
graduated, crystalized, pressed, re-
sublimed, etc, intended to indicate the
manner of manufacture or which indi-
cate only well known established
methods of manufacture