Evening star., 1932-01-24
How the Federal Trade Commission, in
Cooperation With Other Government
Departments, Is Waging Vigorous
Warfare Against the Sale of Fake
Remedies Which Cost the American
People Hundreds of Millions of
Dollars and Jeopardize Public Health.
BY J. A. FOX.

BY ]. A. FOX.
HE search for the fountain of youth,
which got its first publicity In q
large way from Ponce de Leon, Is
stin on in full blast easy money
continues in great demand and
everybody wants to be beautiful
AL of which constitutes reason why the
Federal Trade Commission, usually linked In
the public mind with ponderous invest1ga-
tions is engaged in a vigorous warfare on
brand Of racketeering that has cost guliole
public hundreds of millions of dollars, despite
the fact that often it has been carried on
with opera bouffe trimmings
The commission has long battled chicanery.
For more than two years now, however, It
has been intensifying its efforts and, operating
through an agency designated as the Speclal
Board of Investigation, has put hoooie on
nearly 400 individuals and organizations whose
principal stock in trade was yoluble promises.
Using as a weapon the legal curb on false
and misleading advertising, and assisted by
publishers the commission has laid about 1t
right energetically trimming millions from the
bill which the guileless foot annually m their
never ending quest for health, wealth and
happiness.
Fake "cures"-Sometimes actually harmful
for every known ailment, pledgng rich financial
return: expert advice" on any problem, In va
rious shapes and guises have been landed IN
the Trade Commission net, with the result
that those engaged in such exploitation are
pretty much on the run-but the fight goes on.
might be expected, the field of health Is
the most fertile for this class.
People with ailments for which they have
unsuccessfully sought relief elsewhere, or for
hay
necessary operations, are quick to take any
avenue which promises help, and the of1er
of remedy" is eagerly grasped.
e. J. Adams, chairman Of the board, Is au-
thority for the statement that 80 per cent
of the cases before 1t involve cures; some
times q preparation at another, device OF
some kind-and usually without any merit.
There was one individual, a sef-styled doc
tor with whom the commission clashed who
claimed descent from an early president, ana
traded strongly on the family name rs he
dispensed an electric belt OF reputedly mar
velous powers.
This was operated on the ordinary house
current and It's virtue was declared TO lie In
control box" that set up magnetic held.
Ths net result of all this v0s that when the
patient was hooked up, he could be freed OF
ANYTHING in the disease line from asthma
through the rest Of the alphabet-so 1t was
said.
was felt that virtue wasn't doing the only
living in connection with the matter, and the
doctor" eventually was forced to trim his
family tree and the rest Of his claims. Luck
ily before any one was electrocuted with the
machine.
An even more elaborate device, and by the
same token, capable of greater accomplish
ment, consisted of time-clock linked to
phonograph, which was supposed to be operated
while the patient slept, working through his
or Neutrality-suspicious. mind"
If the recipient of the treatment was Ill, a
phonograph record, at intervals, would repeat:
"You are better now; you are better now; you
are getting better"
Or perhaps the subject enjoyed gin too well,
or tobacco and the treatment was designed
to correct this taste. Then the phonograph
would drone: Gin is bad for you or, maybe
~You don't like gin"
The commission may have thought that
such a layout would tend to spread insomnia;
at any rate they didn't believe that it would
perform according to specifications, so 1t was
ruled out too
THAT thing has one virtue, though" Secre-
tary Adams says. "It sold up TO about $500
and so limited the class of suckers who could
afford to buy It,"
~Strangely enough, too, when you run into
q contraption Of this sort, you sometimes find
that the Individual in whose mind it originated
actually believes IN it," he commented
Take this me-clock- -phonograph arrange
ment The fellow responsible for 1t argued
that it would do what he claimed for it,
THE nostrums which probably make their ap-
l pearance with the greatest frequency are
the rheumatism cures" In powders, pills and
liquids they come and while they might help
one thing or another, rheumatism Is not In
cluded But the phrase good for rheumatism"
apparently has pulling power In making sales.
Not few OF these preparations have been rele-
gated TO their proper limbo
Then there are the youth -restoratives."