The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1914-11-12
DEFENDS POPULAR REMEDIES
Speaker says Newspapers Should In
vestieats Merits Of Medicines Be-
fore Barring Advertisements


fore Barring Advertisements
That an organized attempt mas been
made to blacken the reputation OF the
popular family remedies of this coun-
try. and to mislead the newspaper
publishers into rejecting the adyer-
tising of such medicines, was the
charge made by Carl J. Balliett. OF
Buffalo. N. Y. at the convention OF the
Advertising Afiiliation at Detroit
Mr.. Balliett il 4 director Of the Pro
prietary Association of America. which
includes In its membership two hun
dred firms which make the popular
prepared medicines OF America
Mr.. Balliett pointed out that II 10
the duty of the newspaper publisher
to refuse the advertising Of any fake
or fraudulent medicine. just ~ 1t 10
his duty to refuse any fake or fraudu.
lent advertising. but 1t 10 not right to
shut down on all medical Advertising
because there have been some takers.
any more than 1t would be right to
refuse to publish all department store
have made q practice Of lying about
bargain sales.
Disease and death are mysteries.
People who are perfectly we'll are
skeptical. They laugh at the time
worn patent medicine Joke. Just as
they laugh again and again over the
many variations OF the operation Joke
h,,s
the patient died" This so-called hu-
NOR has perhaps hurt the medicine
business with we'll people. but when
the hitherto healthy man feels q Sc
we're pain or illness. he Immediately
wants medicine, and will bless the
cure whether 1t be at the hands of a
regular doctor, homeopath. an osteo-
path. Christian Scientist or patent
medicine. There is nothing more
deadly than disease; nothing more
honorable than to cure it.
Mr.. Balliett refuted the idea sought
to be spread about that patent medi-
cines are unpopular by showing that
from 1900 to 1912 the amount of pre-
pared medicines consumed in America
increased from 100000. 900 to $780,
100000 annually. He showed that, al
though the American Medical Assocf-
alton is trying as an organization to
extermfnate so-called patent medi-
cines. the family doctor, Individually,
Is not fighting them but prescribing
them. He estimated that 40T of the
prescriptions written by doctors today
proprietary medicines.
The writings of DR.. Harvey w. Wi
ley, he said, have also aimed to de-
stroy confidence in proprietary medi-
cines: but that DR.. Wiley's ideas are
not infallible is shown by cases where
his analyses were entirely wrong. Mr..
Balliett mentioned a case where. with
all the power Of the Government, he
fought preparation as being danger
GUS to health, and was ingloriously
There has been spread the idea that
clever faker can mix q few useless
ingredients and, by smart advertising.
sell tons of 1t and win sudden wealth:
whereas, as matter of fact. the medi-
cine business is notoriously dimcult,
and. where there has been one success
1t 1t, there have been q hundred fail.
ores. Any medicine which has no
merit cannot live. because persons
who are duped into buying it once will
not buy 1t again. and the profit from
a medicine can only come
from repeat sales to the same, salts.
ned people. Therefore, any medicine
which has been on the market for q
number of years. and is still adyer-
Used. must have merit behind it to ac.
count for its success,
In conclusion Mr.. Balliett declared
that no newspaper IL doing Justice to
Its readers in the matter of medica,
Or other advertising, unless it investi.
gates, not only the wording of the ad-
offered for publication.
but the merits of the article adyer-
Used. He pointed out that the few
newspapers who have been deluded
Into the policy of barring out medical
have adopted this general
policy, rather than to form an tnves.
ttsadon bureau of this kind which
could. In constructive and useful ef.
Tort. investigate and decide what Ia
good product and what is a fraud
n not only the medicine business. hut
IN every other business which adyer.
Uses Its wares to the public.
The audience seemed to agree with
Mr.. Balliett's ideas on the subject and
me chairman decided the question at
issue in his favor
1t takes a capable wife to yauk the
,onceit out of a man.