Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1896 — A TOWN MADE OF SALVE. [ARTICLE]

A TOWN MADE OF SALVE.

All Diseases Divided Among tke Competitors. Adams, in Jefferaou county. New York, is a salve town. It manufactures salve, s|H*eulates in salve, and corners the salve market wlrc*n it wants to. This salve* is pnt'np in round tin boxes, one size selllag at fifty cents and the* other at twenty-five cents. When money is witrc*e these boxes of salve pass as legal tender te the village. There arc* probably one hundred different brands of salve* made* in Adame. There Is salve* for rheumatism, salve for eczema, salve for burns, scratches and bruises, salve for consumption, salve for tan and sunburn—and so through a long catalogue* of ailments. Fifteen years ago then* was counted no shrewder business man iu Northern New York titan Henry <». Kenyon. Left a substantial property by bis father, he* so managed and umnipnlated it that lie doubh*d its value. The fever of spec ulation seized Mr. Kenyon. and iu* went to Chicago and began dabbling in wheat. c*orn ami )s>rk. He was apuarently successful. The uniform success of his venture's on the Chicago board gradually led Mr. Kenyon to believe himself invincible, and he* became reckless. Ono clay lie* invested heavily in wheat. Wheat took a tumble, and the next day Mr. Kenyon was looking around for a job of work that would afford him the means of buying bread for himself and family. This unfortunate* downfall* of Mr. Kenyon was the* beginning of Adams’ greatness. Mr. Kenyon settled down iu Adams and Itegan to cast alsnit him for some sort of business that could lie started without capital. There was an old physician next door to Mr. Kenyon—a physician who had brought safely through colic-. teething, mumps, measles and scarlatina ninetent hs of Adams' population. This doctor prepared a salve* that was a favorite with ills patients for nil skin disease's. Tin* old doctor died soon after Kenyon reached town, hut before passing away he* gave the secret of the salve* compound to Mr. Kenyon. The ex-speculator In wheat bought a few cents’ worth of the required materials and a couple* dozen tin boxen aud opened up business In his wife's kltciic'ii. Cnnvnsslng agents were employed on commission and soon twenty-five* and llfty-eent lmxi*s of Adams’ now product found their way Into nearly every house In the* county. The venture was a success from the* start. Other Adams citizens without capita 1 and wit it an inherited distaste* for work concluded that the* salve* business offered brilliant Inducements, and soon nearly every other house In the* village was redolent with herba and pasty concoctions, and strewn from cellar to garret with tin boxes and printed labels. These new manufacturers determlned upon an honorable course* Im*fore* entering the* field occupied by Mr. Kenyon. They all met in conference, undo plan was adopted whereby It was agreed that there* should la* no clashing coin|ie*tltlon. An organization was jrnrfeeted under the* title* of tin* Salve Makers' Protective League, aud an agreement provide! for the allotment of a certain number of diseases and ailments to each manufacturer. Tbim one* salve nutker was permitted to make salve* for healing burns, scalds, tetter, itch, eczema. etc,; another for wounds, bruises, cuts, sores, ulcers, ami another for croup, diphtheria, lumlsigo, rheumatism and jaundice—und so on through a long list embracing all known ailments. Every manufacturer was bound by the agreement to sti«*k to his own disease. Candidates for admission to the league were considered eligible when they could present a list of diseases not owned by another member, und licenses to manufacture were then Issued duly setting forth the field of which the new salve was to have sole control. Tin* business thrived, and up to this time not one of those who within the past dozen years took up the manufacture of salve at Adams has failed to make money.