The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-01-31

oNoAAolnAS I14eoA4StS dIe 11OW pIOpOSu Are these theorists right or wrong? We had better inform our- selves, so we or our representatives in Congress can vote i11telligently on the subject when legislation dealing with trademarks comes up for de- cision.
 What is a trade mark? The Ox- ford Dictionary says: trade mark registered device or name of which the exclusive use is secured to the manufacturer who distinguishes his goods by it." This is good for the manufacturers protection; it is even better for the consumers protection. If the canned beans you buy are bad you know from the trade mark whom to blame, also what to buy next time.
 In fact, looking back into history we find that the original purpose of the trade mark was a requirement. imposed by guild officials to identi- fy the maker so he could be pun ished, if his goods or his work turn ed out to be below the standards set by the Guilds. However, it worked the other way. The silver smith, for example was quick to see that the better the quality of the pieces with his name stamped on it, the greater would be the demand for his products. Purchasers soon dis covered that the shortcut way of making sure they were getting their moneys worth was to look for the trade mark. All you needed to know about a silver piece in colon ial days was to know 1t was stamp ed with the trade mark of Paul Re- were.
 Confusion Without Trade Marks
 When the old time Guild officials observed that the personal trade mark of the artisan was assuming first importance and the Guild less importance with probable loss of jobs to Guild office-holders, the Guilds induced governments to elim- inate trade marks and fix prices and standards of quality. What happened in those bygone days may be easily imagined from some of our present experiences with our gov- ernment's attempts to run private business, however well intended. Public payrolls became thickly up holstered with officials and func- tionaries to protect the poor con- sumer." The consumed to pay 10 times more in taxes to support offi- cialS, than occasional bad buys on the market would have cost him.
 History proves that the elimina- tion of trade marks ends only in confusion.
 By the time America got to be a country on it's own, people had dis covered that consumers, free to choose between freely competing products automatically protected themselves. Manufacturers began building up guaranteed quality trade marks. For example, Bakers Cho- colate' spelled satisfaction to con- sumers even before the American colonies had constitution.
 A Good Cup of Coffee
 Do you like a good cup of coffee? Would you like to be sure of having the same good cup of coffee for to- morrows breakfast that you had this morning? If so, you will be in- terested in this quotation from Principles of Marketing" magazine. The article was written by Profess sors Maynard, Weidler, and Beck man of Ohio State University.
 "One of the principal reasons for the use of brand is that it helps the consumer identify the article which he is buying. Assume the case of a householder who buys bulk coffee and who is so pleased with it that he desires to duplicate his purchase the next time he is in the market for a supply. His only hope of securing the same quality, blend or flavor is the possibility that the grocer may remember from which barrel or can the preceding sale was made and thus be able to supply the same quality of the product. If the grocer fails to remember or If he has purchased new supply of bulk cof- fee in the meantime, the chances are that the user of the unbranded article will secure somewhat diff ferent product at the time of the second purchase. Contrast this witt the purchase of branded goods. The consumer needs only to remember the name of the brand of coffee which pleases him and ask for that brand when he next visits tht grocery. Brands make 1t relatively easy to secure successive supplies of desirable articles and conversely they are of equal aid in avoiding the repurchaSe of those which art unsatisfactory"