826  News  Items  and  Personal  Notes.  (Am.  jour.  Pharm. 
^      Nov.,  1918. 
Colgate  &  Co.,  manufacturers  of  toilet  articles  and  soaps,  for 
years  had  adopted  a  plan  of  marketing  their  goods  only  to  such 
dealers  as  adhere  to  the  re-sale  prices  fixed  by  the  manufacturers. 
The  Federal  Trade  Commission  held  that  this  method  of  selling  is 
contrary  to  the  law  and  claimed  that  it  enhanced  the  price  of  these 
commodities  to  the  consumer. 
In  an  editorial  commenting  upon  this  suit  (see  American  Jour- 
nal of  Pharmacy,  March,  1918,  p.  157)  we  expressed  an  opinion 
that  the  method  adopted  by  Colgate  &  Co.  by  which  minimum  prices 
were  fixed  for  their  products,  which  they  ask  their  customers  to 
observe  in  retailing  such  articles,  did  not  appear  to  be  an  attempt  to 
restrain  trade. 
The  decision  of  the  Court  has  sustained  the  contention  of  Col- 
gate &  Co.  and  upheld  their  method  of  selecting  their  customers  and 
the  Colgate  plan  of  marketing  products  as  being  entirely  within  the 
right  of  the  manufacturer.  This  decision  must  be  viewed  as  an  im- 
portant one  bearing  upon  the  much  discussed  question  of  price 
maintenance. 
Armour  &  Company's  Production  of  the  "  Iron  Ration." — 
What  has  been  denominated  as  the  "  iron  ration  "  of  the  American 
Army  consists  of  a  mixture  of  wheat  and  meat  dried  and  ground 
to  a  powder  and  cakes  of  chocolate.  Each  ration  weighs  twelve 
ounces,  and  is  put  up  in  a  small  tin  to  fit  the  soldier's  pocket,  and 
contains  the  nutritive  value  equivalent  to  three  meals.  The  ration 
can  be  eaten  either  dry,  or  mixed  with  cold  or  hot  water,  whichever 
is  available. 
To  collect  the  machinery  necessary  to  put  up  these  rations  would 
in  ordinary  times  have  taken  months.  On  the  spur  of  serving  the 
army,  the  special  machinery  was  installed  by  Armour  &  Co.  in  a 
little  over  a  month,  and  in  that  time  they  were  producing  the  rations 
at  the  rate  of  over  12,000  per  day.  During  the  last  few  months  they 
have  been  supplying  these  at  the  rate  of  60,000  tins  per  day. 
The  Goldwater  Formula  Disclosure  Ordinance  Invalid. — 
E.  Fougera  &  Co.,  Inc.,  et  al.,  contested  this  ordinance  of  the  Health 
Department  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  the  Court  of  Appeals  of 
New  York  State  on  October  15  decided  the  case  in  favor  of  E. 
Fougera  &  Co.,  Inc.,  declaring  this  ordinance  invalid.  The  decision 
of  the  lower  court  in  this  case  was  that  "  It  must  appear  first  that 
the  interest  of  the  public  generally  as  distinguished  from  those  of  a 
