Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1914-11-13
DEFENDS POPULAR REMEDIES
Speaker Says Newspapers Should In
vestigate Merits of Medicines Be-
fore Barring Advertisements.

That an organized attempt has been
made to blacken the reputation Of the
popular family remedies of this coun-
try, and to mislead the newspaper
publishers into rejecting the adver-
Using of such medicines, was the
charge made by Carl j. Balliett, of
Buffalo, N. Y, at the convention Of the
Advertising Afiliation at Detroit.
Mr.. Balliett is 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 1t Is
the duty of the newspaper publisher
to refuse the advertising of any fake
or fraudulent medicine, Just as 1t is
his duty to refuse any fake or fraudu-
lent advertising, but it is not right to
shut down on all medical advertising
because there have been some takers,
any more than it would be right to
refuse to publish all department store
advertising because certain stores
have made a practice Of lying about
bargain sales.
Disease and death are mysteries.
People who are perfectly well 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
THE operation was a success but
the patient died." This so-called hui
NOR has perhaps hurt the medicine
business with well people, but when
the hitherto healthy man feels 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, a 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 medf-
cines are unpopular by showing that
from 1900 to 1919 the amount of pre-
pared medicines consumed in America
increased from $100.00O,000 to $780,.
100000 annually. He showed that, al
| though the American Medical Associ
alton Is trying as an organization &c
exterminate so-caIled patent medf
cines, the family doctor, individually
/ Is not fighting them but prescribing
them. He estimated that 400 of the
prescriptions written by doctors toda!
include proprietary medicines.
mi - TNV Ia
ley, he said, have also aimed to de
stroy confidence in proprietary medi
cines; but that DR.. Wileys ideas ar
not infallible is shown by cases wher
his analyses were entirely wrong. MI
BaIliett mentioned a case where, wit
all the power of the Government. h
fought a preparation as being danger
GUS to health. and was ingloriousl
walloped.
There has been spread the idea tina
a clever faker can mix few useles
ingredients and, by smart advertising
sell tons of it and win sudden wealth
whereas, as a matter of fact, the med
cine business Is VIGOROUSLY Difficult
and, where there has been one success
/ at 1t. there have been a hundred fai
ures. Any medicine which has n
} merit cannot 1--we. because person
! who are duped into buying 1t once wi
J not buy 1t again, and the profit fro
: advertising a medicine can only CON
. from repeat sales to the same, sati
fed people. Therefore, any mediciT
: which has been on the market for
number of years. and is still adve
= tised, must have merit behind it to a
/ count for its success.
In conclusion Mr.. Balliett declare
that no newspaper is doing justice
it's readers in the matter of medic
or other advertising, unless it inves
gates, not only the wording of the a
vertisement offered for publicatio
but the merits of the article adyC
tised. He pointed out that the fe
newspapers who have been delud
into the policy of barring out medic
advertising have adopted this genel
policy, rather than to form an inv
tigation bureau of this kind viii
could, in a constructive and useful
fort, investigate and decide what
a good product and what is fral
in not only the medicine business,
In every other business which adv
tises its wares to the public.
The audience seemed to agree vi
Mr.. Ballie' rs ideas on the subject a
the chairman decided the question
issue in his favor.