Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1906-05-09
establishments.
A Patent Medicine Talk

Readers of such leading maga-
zines, as the Ladies Home Jour
nal" and Golfers Weekly" must
have noticed recently many articles
relative to patent medicines.
The editors of these magazines
are seeking to bring about by legis-
lation and agitation, what they
choose to call reform in the patent
medicine business. They make the {.
statement that it is not only unsafe,
but unwise. and in many cases de-
structive of health, for people to
purchase and consume patent medi-
cines the ingredients of which they
have no knowledge.
1t it 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 been
benefited by them. At the same time
there are undoubtedly evils existing
in the ABUSE of some so-called
patent medicines. Because you
have thief in your neighborhood
you would not say the whole neigh
borhood is composed of thieves. We
know that 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
it is hard for US to say what one
among the patent medicines is the
''neighborhood backlog" The uu-
fortunate part of our position is
that we do not know the formulas
o. the patent medicines we sell.
We do not believe that the pro-
prietors of patent medicines are dis
honest or that they are Intentionally
disappearing their products. If
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 find
in our stock just what they demand,
only we can positively say that at
any time we find medicine is in
furious we will throw it out of OUT
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
were to be 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 a. 70 different remedies.
The formulas CT something like
1000 or more rerlc;.c5 were sent to
the company. A committee of ex-
perts was appointed and this COM
rnittee went over the various for
mulas consciertiou5ly and earnestly
Cor a long period of tire ard selected
from the entire list about 900 stand
ard remedies, thu r:. ff2,c,tture Of
which the company thol undertook.
The company in the meantime
had erected a perfect laboratory
large. well-appoirted, with every ap-
pliance know, 20 modern skill. The
combined ca7j,al cE 4 thousand
druggists made it possible fer the
company 70 purchase II thc.l2-Tcst
quantities, the Fundamental drugs
and herbs, etc, that form the in
gradients of the various remedies.