Middletown transcript., 1914-11-14
DEFENDS POPULAR REMEDIES
Speaker Says Newspapers Should In
Vestieate 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'
tising 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 a 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 it 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 1t 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
skept- II. 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 hu-
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 it 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 medi-
cines are unpopular by showing that
from 1900 to 1912 the amount of pre-
pared medicines consumed in America
increased from $100,O00,000 to $780,
100000 annually. He showed that, al
though the American Medical Associ-
alton is trying as an organization to
exterminate so-called patent medi-
cines, the family doctor, individually,
Is not fighting them but prescribing
them. He estimated that 404o Of the
prescriptions written by doctors today
include 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 case where, with
all the power Of the Government, he
fought a preparation as being danger
GUS to health and was ingloTiodsly
walloped.
There has been spread the idea that
a clever faker can mix a few useless
ingredients and, by smart advertising,
sell tons of it and win sudden wealth; /;
whereas, as a matter of fact, the medi-
cine business is notoriously difficult,
and, where there has been one success
at it, there have been a hundred fail
ures. Any medicine which has no
merit cannot live, because persons
who are duped into buying it once will
not buy it again, and the profit from
advertising a medicine can only come
from repeat sales to the same, satis-
fed people. Therefore, any medicine
which has been on the market for a
number Of years, and is still adver-
tised, must have merit behind it to ac-
count for its success.
In conclusion Mr.. Balliett declared
that no newspaper is doing justice to
it's readers in the matter Of medical
or other advertising, unless it investi-
gates, not only the wording Of the ad-
vertisement offered for publication,
but the merits OF the article adver-
tised. He pointed out that the few
newspapers who have been deluded
into the policy of barring out medical
advertising have adopted this general
policy, rather than to form an inves-
tigation bureau of this kind which
could, in constructive and useful eff
fort, investigate and decide what is
a good product and what is fraud,
in not only the medicine business, but
in every other business which adver-
tises its wares to the public.
The audience seemed to agree with
Mr. Balliett's ideas c1 the subject and
he chairman decided the question at
Issue in his favor.