26 SEPTEMBER 1941, Page 14

Quack Advertisements The quarter's issue of The Countryman is, I

fancy, slightly better than usual. " Remember the time old Winston joined the Bricklayers' Union? " is the opening sentence of one of those anonymous un- professional reminiscences that are part of The Countryman's secret of success. -The Future of the Land is discussed, following Sir Daniel Hall's proposals in a recent issue, by Dr. Orwin, the Duke of Mom- rose, A. G. Street, and others, and there is an excellent suggestion– long overdue—that it is time a commission-here examined the claims put forward by advertisements. The United States Federal Trade Commission has recently been examining advertisements of "food) drugs and cosmetics " generally, and testing the products. In twelve months it examined 300,700 advertisements and ordered nearly 300 firms to " cease and desist " for misrepresentation. One's pression is that here, with the rationing of more essential foods, the ,war on nerves, the need for various forms of protection, that has been an• increase in the sale and advertisement of what collo/ people call " mullocks." The recent report of a firm being fined fat selling bottles of synthetically coloured water labelled as containing the juice of 16 oranges " suggests a case in point. Some time ago I picked up a copy of the B.MA. booklet Secret Remedies, issued some years back. Its revelations on popular brands of food and drugs were even then staggering.