NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1941)

given an opportunity to show cause why cease and desist orders should not be issued against them. Drug I'rofits, Inc. — Alleging misrepresentation in the sale of medicinal preparations designated “Phalene” and “Burtone”, a complaint has been issued against J. H. Camp, their distributor, trading as J. H, Camp and as Drug Profits, Inc., Ravenswood, W. Va. In radio advertisements the respondent represented, according to the complaint, that “Phalene” is a liver tonic; that its use will help remove poisons which cause premature aging ; that it is a competent treatment for sick headache, nausea, appetite loss, aching muscles and joints, restless sleep, rundown condition, indi¬ gestion and acid conditions, and that "Burtone” is effective for treating bilious attacks, stomach nausea, headaches, indigestion and tired-out feeling, and that it will correct faulty habits of elimination, produce free organic action of liver and lower bowel, and free the body of toxic poisons. Alleging that the respondent’s representations are exaggerated and untrue, the complaint charges that “Phalene” is primarily an irritant laxative; that its effect on the liver would be limited to tending to increase bile secretion, and that it has no therapeutic effect in treating the conditions mentioned in excess of affording temporary relief when such conditions are due to constipation. The therapeutic property of “Burtone”, the complaint continues, is limited to that of a laxative and mild choleretic. The com¬ plaint alleges that this preparation has no therapeutic value in treating the conditions mentioned in excess of affording temporary relief when due to constipation. (4446) Milk Cap Statistioal Hiireaii, Philadelphia, and 12 manufac¬ turers representing more than 75 per cent of the total business of the paper disc milk bottle cap industry, are charged with con¬ spiracy to prevent price competition and restrain trade in viola¬ tion of the Federal Trade Commission Act in a complaint. Included also as respondents are George J. Lincoln, Jr., Phila¬ delphia, manager and executive secretary of the bureau, and the bureau’s executive committee consisting of Ray W. Blodgett, Belvidere, Ill., George VV. Rohrbeck, Detroit, and Robert PI. Schulz, Piqua, Ohio. The respondent manufacturers of milk bottle caps are: Atlas Paper Box Company, trading as Atlas Bottle Cap Company, Chat¬ tanooga, Tcnn.; Great Lakes Bottle Cap Company, Detroit; Robert S. Leonard Company, Kansas City, Mo.; L. Levingston Company, San Francisco; Fowler E. Macy and Edna B. Macy, trading as Fowler E. Macy Company, Converse, Inch; Mid-West Bottle Cap Company, Belvidere, Ill.; National Manufacturing Company, Kansas City, Mo,; Ohio Bottle Cap Company, Piqua, Ohio; Piqua Cap Company, Piqua, Ohio; Sealright Company, Inc., Pulton, N. Y.; Smith-Lee Company, Inc., Oneida, N. Y.; and Standard Cap anti Seal Corporation, Chicago. All the respondent manufacturers except Standard Cap and Seal Corporation are members of The Milk Cap Statistical Bu¬ reau, a trade association known until 1937 as National .Association of Bottle Cap Manufacturers. Approximately 21 concerns, composing the milk bottle cap industry, including the 12 resjiondent manufacturers, sell approxi¬ mately 10,000,000,000 caps annually, valued at approximately ,'54,506,000, to jobbers and dairies. The Commission complaint alleges that the respondent bureau, its executive committee, manufacturer members and Standard Cap and Seal Corporation carried out understandings, agreements, combinations and conspiracies imrsuant to which the respondent manufacturers fixed minimum prices, maintained uniform prices, and fixed and maintained uniform discounts and other conditions for the sale of their products; fixed and maintained, wdth dairies, uniform contract terms providing for the dairies’ actual yearly requirements of bottle caps at a price dependent upon the quantity contracted for, and furnished the bureau with lists of such dairies under contract. Pursuant to the agreements, the respondent bureau, according to the complaint, issued a “Jobber Rating Book” for use of the respondent manufacturers, classifying and rating all jobbers pur¬ chasing 350,000 or more paper disc milk bottle caps annually, and the respondent manufacturers allegedly abided by the Jobber Rating Books in fletermining urices and discounts allowed jobbers. A “Dairy Rating Book”, and supplements thereto, classifying and rating the approximately 50,000 dairies in the United States, were issued from time to time by the respondent bureau, accord QO — January 24, 1941 ing to the complaint, and the respondent manufacturers allegedly abided by the rating books in determining prices at which dairies would be sold. The rating book, it is alleged, classified dairies in groups using 25,000,000 or more, 12,000,000 to 25,000,000, and 5,000,000 to 12,000,000 caps yearly. The complaint further charges that the respondent manufacturers furnished the bureau with copies of all invoices covering sales; changed, simultaneously, prices and discounts, and, in the event of a price advance, agreed that each respondent manufacturer w'ould have the privilege of shipping customers under contract the same number of bottle caps in the succeeding two months as that customer purchased from the same manufacturer in the prior two months at the prior price. According to the complaint, the respondent manufacturers, at the time of each price advance, furnished the respondent bureau the lists of customers under contract with them and records show¬ ing the quantity of paper disc milk bottle caps which had been shipped to such customers in the prior 60 days. (4448) Montgomery Mard & Co., Inc., Chicago, has been served with a complaint alleging misleading representation in the sale of devices advertised in its mail order catalogs as “Ward’s Posture.4id Health Belts”, “Diab Reducers”, and “Du Pont A’clutex Per¬ forated Reducers”. The complaint alleges that through various representations, il¬ lustrations and the use of the terms “Flealth” and “Reducers” in the trade names of the devices, the respondent corporation advertises that the devices when worn w'ill reduce excess flesh, correct figure faults, reduce the wearer’s diaphragm and abdomen, correct pendulous abdomens, take two to three inches from ab¬ domen and diaphragm, and make reducing easy. According to the complaint, the wearing of the respondent’s devices will not cause a reduction of local or body tissue, and will not effectively remove fat or lessen excess weight. The prod¬ ucts allegedly have no value in maintaining or restoring body health. However, the complaint continues, the devices will afford artificial support, lessen the prominence of pendulous abdomens and, by compressing the portion of the body about which thev are placed, change the wearer’s physical appearance. They will not correct this abdominal condition, according to the complaint, but instead will cause further loss of the functioning of the abdominal muscles. (4447) CEASE AND DESIST ORDERS Commission has issued the following cease and desist orders: .American Cord & Webbing Company — Max Krauss, trading as American Cord & Webbing Company, 394 Broadway, New York, has been ordered to cease and desist from misleading representa¬ tions in the sale of cloth tape or web used in connection with the manufacture of Venetian blinds. The respondent sells this tape or web to manufacturers or wholesalers of the blinds. Among the products sold by the respondent, according to Com¬ mission findings, are a variety of tapes colored by vat dyes, and some colored by other processes. The Commission order directs the respondent to cease and desist from representing that products not dyed with vat dyes are vat dyed, and that colors of the respondent’s products will not change or fade, or that they are impervious to the effects of sunlight, or will successfully resist the effects of sunlight for specified periods, when in fact the products do fade or change color because of such exposure. The respondent also is directed to cease using the term “Lintex” to describe a product not composed of linen and the term “Siltex” to refer to a product not composed of silk; and to discontinue advertising, offering or selling articles composed wholly or partly of rayon without clearly disclosing the rayon content and, in the case of products composed partly of rayon and partly of other fibers or materials, naming all such fibers or materials, including the rayon, in the order of their predominance by weight, beginning with the largest single constituent. (4112) IJowe & Hartman — .An order has been issued directing R. G. Bowe and W. W. Hartman, trading as Bowe & Hartman, 101