The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1905-11-07
A Patent Medicine Talk


Readers of such leading maya
lines. as the Ladies Home jour
nap and eco1lier's Weekly must
Rave noticed recently many articles
relative to patent medicines
TIE editors of these magazines
are seeking to bring about by leg1s-
1stion and agitation, what they
,I.oose to call a reform In the patent
sz1sJ;rir7r business. They make the,
r+stene11t that it is not only-Snsate,
mt ,,T,Ivise. and in many cases de-
stTuetive Of health, for peopls to
purchase and consume patent rz1ed1-
cines the ingredients OF which they
have no knowledge
II Il not our purpose to enter into
a discussion of the merits or de-
merits of this agitation or crusade.
Thousands of people have used
patent medicines and have oSe1
benefited by them. At the same tlIlle
there are undoubtedly evils e2zlstIz1g
in the ABUSE Of some so-cal4eo
patent medicines. Because you
have thief in your nelghoornooo
you would not say the whole nei lgs2
6oThood is composed of thieves We
1r1o.v tI1at we have plenty Of GUS
TONERS at our counters who tell our
clerks what benefit they derive from
this or that preparation
Yet even with this knowledge
# Is hard for US to say what one
among the patent medicines IS the
stneighbofhood black-leg. The un-
fortunate part of our position Is
that we do not know the formulas
of the patent medicines we sell.
We do not believe that the pro-
prietors of patent medicines are dis
honest or that they are Intentionally
I1isrepresenting their products. Il
we did we would certainly refuse to
sell their goods over our counter
Our exact position in this patent
medicine agitation Is this: We are
the servants of the public We sell
and will continue to sell patent
medicines Just the same as the gro
Ger sells you canned corn or Pota-
toes. We want our patrons to ind
in our stock Just what they demand
only we can positively say that at
any time we find medicine IS m
furious we will throw it out ct our
store.
Several years ago. thousand of
the leading druggists throughout
the United States organized them
selves together in a cooperative
company to produce remedies which
they could back up with their own
names and their own regulations.
The first object of this co-oPera-
tive company was to produce line
of remedies that every druggist
would know thoroughly. There
,uere to he no secret formulas; the
ingredients of every remedy would.
be known to every druggist.
Each of these thousand druggists
contributed to the organization all
that his knowledge and experience
had brought to him in the way OF
advice as to different remedies.
The formulas of something like
1000 or more remedies were sent to
the company. A committee of ex-
perts was appointed and this COM
Inittee went over the various for
naulas conscientiously and earnestly
for long period of time and selected
from the entire list about 200 stand
ard remedies, the manufacture OF
which the company then undertook.
The company in the meantime
had erected a perfect laboratory
large, we11-appointed, with every ap-
roIiance known to modern skill The
combined capital of a thousand
druggists made it possible for the
company to purchase In the largest
quantities, the fundamental drugs
and herbs, etc, that form the in
gradients of the various remedies.
g. WI