Plain Talk at Last

"If I were a competitor and saw a bottle of beer with the label 'Canadian Ace,' I might 'tend' to write the Federal Trade Commission complaining that the label was fraudulent. ... If I were a thirsty tramp and saw the label I would have the 'tendency' to beg, borrow, or steal a bottle. . . . But so far I have not had the feeling that I was 'being put upon.' " In so writing, in an FTC decision, freshman Commissioner Lowell B. Mason last week also wrote some FTC history.

When Mason, a Republican who likes bow ties, boating and plain talk, was appointed a commissioner by his old friend Harry Truman, the President hoped that Mason would turn FTC into a plain-speaking tribunal. Businessmen could then get quick, common sense answers on important labeling matters. By substituting chatty, humorous prose for the usual gobbledygook, Mason proved that he was the man the President thought.

The case, complicated by three years of FTC's red tape, became simple in Mason's decision. The Manhattan Brewing Co. had been labeling its beer "Canadian Ace" since 1939, spent $750,000 advertising it. In 1943 FTC decided that "Canadian Ace" tended to mislead the public into believing the beer came from Canada. The company suggested adding a big "Made in U.S.A." to the label, but FTC stuck to its ruling that "Canadian Ace" could not be used. Commissioner Mason took a good layman's look at the offending label, reported: "It is hard to tell exactly what this label does to me. . . . Every time I stare at it, I get a different emotion." But at no time did he get the emotion that he was being defrauded. Result: Manhattan Brewing could keep its "Canadian Ace" if qualified by a tag line "Made in U.S.A."

Businessmen who remember how Lawyer Mason won a case before FTC by quoting his own doggerel-were delighted at the sympathetic note from the other side of the fence. If the new commissioner has his way, FTC will be, in his own words, more like a policeman directing traffic than one operating speed traps.

* Question then before FTC: would a car polish named "Porcelainize" trick the public into believing the polish coated its cars with porcelain.

Mason's jingle:

When you buy polish, your car to rub up,

Who the heck wants to buy a china teacup?

But the attorney's afraid that some people wish

To have fenders and bumpers made of clay--like a dish.

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