Clark Stanley
Clark Stanley (b. c. 1854 in Abilene, Texas,) better known as "The Rattlesnake King," is a late 19th century and early 20th century American entrepreneur, merchant, author, healer, cowboy, and apparent philanthropist who marketed, produced, and sold an original brand of snake oil liniment, or rubefacient, specifically patented and branded as 'Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment.' His career as a cowboy and author is often overlooked due to the historical account of Clark Stanley's business career that leads to a present-day American cultural association for snake oil in forming a broader concept within its attribution to popular belief. There is a wide ranging conceptual framework for snake oil found in popular culture that may be traced to a US District Court indictment against Clark Stanley. Most ideas of snake oil lie in a superstition that (specifically Clark Stanley's) snake oil epitomizes patent medicines typical of the era in American history that were often sold at medicine shows. Thus, it is continually held in contingents of modern mass culture that 'The Rattlesnake King' is both the quintessential American entrepreneur and businessperson as well as the quintessential American trickster and confidence artist.
History and Biography
The historical account of Clark Stanley definitively embodies the least of (a great deal of) inherent fraud within American business ethics, especially as it relates to his standing among more wealthy medicine salespersons that prevailed in masking addictive drugs, often found in elixir containing intoxicating and/or hazardous ingredients, as medicine during the late 19th, and early 20th centuries.
Most of Clark Stanley's life history is unrecorded, and the only account of his birth remains his own contention, while there is no known account of his death. There is also no known record of his patent for Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. Additionally, there is no record of his existence outside of his own pictured advertisement, relics of his merchandise, production records, and his once business facilities, along with a short record of a judgment that condemned his brand of snake oil in federal court. Observers of Stanley's peculiar business career are only left to guess what became of "The Rattlesnake King."
According to Stanley's own account, he was born in Texas in 1854, in the town of Abilene, and began more than two years of study with a Hopi medicine man at Walpi, Arizona in 1879, having spent the previous eleven years as a cowboy.[1][2] He alleged that his study taught him the secrets of extracting an oil contained in rattlesnakes that could be used topically in order to heal a wide array of common ailments as well as 'partial paralysis,' and 'all pain and lameness.'[3] With the assistance of a Boston druggist, Stanley used the knowledge he obtained in Arizona to formulate his own brand of patented snake oil, and began marketing and selling his product at medicine shows before it became widely available. However, his allegations of its effectiveness, and its origin from rattlesnakes was later judged to represent fraud, with the legal case against Stanley setting a precedent in law that allowed for increased bureaucratic jurisdiction over traditional (American) medicine in regards to medical ethics, and what may translate to the practice of modern medicine.
The acknowledgment of 'The Rattlesnake King' in history has been overwhelmingly negative, finding its place as a source of controversy. Revisionist accounts of Stanley's business career label him as a confidence artist, and snake oil (in general) as a placebo. Original accounts of 'The Rattlesnake King's' career contend that the condemnation of Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment pitted him at odds with authorities falling under an elite class of quackery, acknowledging his businessperson prototype as bona fide evidence that Stanley represents a victim of the bourgeoisie's own scapegoating, thus pointing to Stanley's snake oil career as the epitome of entrepreneurship in America today, as well as throughout American history.
Whether or not a distinct difference between a 'confidence artist,' and an 'entrepreneur' and/or 'businessperson' exists, outside of connotation, is a semantic judgment that lies outside of the court ruling against Stanley. There are broader implications at work within the public records of the historical era when weighted against the account of "The Rattlesnake King." While revisionist accounts tend to describe Stanley as a huckster, such a description necessarily exposes an argument that he was a (rather successful) entrepreneur by judging his career along a negative connotation. It is apparently noted that similar and far more corrupt entrepreneurs than Stanley have most often been esteemed in a positive manner throughout American history. Stanley's career may be used in scholarly discussions to indict the very system, or civil religion, describing the character structure and/or 'moral character' of humankind (in general.)
Snake Oil
Main Article: Snake Oil
Snake oil is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) utilizing fat extracted from the Chinese water snake (Enhydris chinensis.)[4] It is a rubefacient and/or ointment, and is applied topically to relieve minor physical pain. It has been used in TCM for many centuries, and is a relatively common medication prescribed by doctors ascribing the practice of TCM. Its effectiveness as medicine has been a historical source of controversy in the Western world, where there is much confusion over its origin and constitution due to a U.S. District Court judgment against Clark Stanley.
In Western culture, snake oil is most commonly associated with a placebo, panacea and/or deceptive marketing. Its association in Western culture lies in the fact that many 19th century United States and 18th century European entrepreneurs advertised and sold mineral oil (often mixed with various active and inactive household herbs, spices, and compounds, but containing no properties of snakes,) as 'snake oil liniment,' making frivolous claims about its efficacy as a panacea. Patent medicines that claimed to be a 'cure-all' panacea were extremely common in medicine during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, particularly among vendors masking addictive drugs, such as amphetamine, alcohol and opium based concoctions, in 'elixir,' to be sold as medication and/or products promoting health at medicine shows. Contrary to superstition and popular belief, snake oil has never been used for this purpose, and does not contain intoxicating, poisonous, or hazardous ingredients.
Career
Stanley was well received by the public for his showmanship in presenting live rattlesnakes, and enacting a snake charming presentation, supposedly revealing a secret process of 'snake oil extraction' to the keen observer. He employed this show in order to sell a rubefacient that was falsely advertised as snake oil. His sales appeal was launched to seemingly mesmerized crowds of potential consumers, although it is likely that Stanley's cowboy-styled showmanship effectually hypnotized his audiences by employing trickery. Given the public's trust in the integrity of the US patent process, an apparent patent obtained for Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment worked to present his product as worthwhile and legitimate, despite its questionable origin and lack of proven efficacy to cure many of the conditions purported in accordance with his advertising claims. Additionally, Stanley undoubtedly utilized a clever theatrical element in his patent medicine exhibition, which likely served as a means to boost advertisement, and differentiate Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment from other patent medicines.
In 1893, Stanley employed his act utilizing live rattlesnakes to garner a significant degree of attention at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.[5] According to Stanley, this boosted the public's confidence in his snake oil's legitimacy, leading to him establishing production facilities in Beverly, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. Given his legacy as a self-purported cowboy, it is likely that Stanley's theatrics stood out in comparison to his predominantly peasant counterparts frequenting medicine shows, and working as cowboys, while also deviating from seemingly more legitimate entrepreneurs of elite status. In stark contrast to those he boasted to have common associations (cowboys and peddlers,) it can be said that Clark Stanley's moderate degree of popularity led to a reasonably notable amount of success, which provided him with a healthy working income. Consequently, it also led to increased scrutiny lying in his product and presentation's exposure among those ascribing to be professional as opposed to cowboys.
Civil Proceedings: The U.S. vs. Clark Stanley
In 1916, subsequent to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment was examined by the Bureau of Chemistry, and found to be drastically overpriced and of limited value, containing no properties actually derived from rattlesnakes (it contained mineral oil, a fatty compound thought to be tallow, capsaicin from chili peppers, camphor, and turpentine.)[6][7] This is similar in composition to modern-day capsaicin and/or camphor based chest rubs, notably corresponding to Vicks VapoRub and RUBA535. As a result of its catastrophically high price, claims of it being a panacea, and the fact that it contained no properties of rattlesnakes, Stanley faced federal prosecution for peddling mineral oil in a fraudulent manner as snake oil. In his 1916 civil hearing instigated by federal prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island, Stanley plead no contest to the allegations against him, giving no admission of guilt.[8] His plea of nolo contendere was accepted, and as a result, Stanley was fined $20.00.[9] This amount of money corresponds to roughly $457 in 2018.[10]
Modern Implications
Fraudulent marketing techniques employed by Western businesspersons producing snake oil, namely those of Clark Stanley, are not dissimilar from most advertising campaigns employed in accordance with entrepreneurial business practices today. Such deception is prevalent in storefronts, among retail stores, as well as among peddlers who sell a wide array of products, and is particularly common in services marketing. Examples of modern products alleged to be marketed similarly to snake oil are products of herbalism, dietary supplements, and religious or spiritual items such as a crucifix(used to ward away evil,) a crystal (when used spiritually for the Christian crucifixion purpose,) or a Tibetan singing bowl (used for healing.) Common indictments of false advertising for these, and other products marketed similarly to snake oil often materialize in allegations of dubious advertising founded in claims that these products are holy/sacred, scientific, healthy, or natural. There is also a popular reference to snake oil within allegations of false advertising founded in claims of promoting intoxicating drugs, such as false advertising for legalized marijuana and alcohol, or deceptive marketing that increases prescriptions of controlled substances such as opium, and amphetamines.
Quite unlike snake oil in Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are quasi-justifiable means to codify snake oil in Western culture as a fraudulent panacea given that there are no known accounts of snake oil peddled in the United States or Europe containing any trace of actual snake extract. Thus, it is generally assumed that any variety of snake oil is in line with most other patent medicine available in the 18th, and 19th century, a placebo, though it is generally noted that snake oil is less dangerous than many other patent medicines containing intoxicating, or hazardous ingredients. Nonetheless, snake oil represents a concept for a particular type of fraud that may be extended to many of the same intoxicating drugs once sold by Stanley's competitors at medicine shows, namely alcohol, opium, and amphetamines, which remain widely prescribed and available today. Most of these drugs are now manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, or fall under government control in some form or fashion.
Legacy in American Popular Culture
Since the condemnation of Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment in U.S. District Court, the term 'snake oil' has been established in popular culture as a reference to any worthless concoction sold as medicine, and has been extended to describe a widely ranging degree of fraudulent goods, services, ideas, and activities such as worthless rhetoric in politics. By further extension, a snake oil salesman is commonly used in English to describe a con artist, quack, huckster, or charlatan. It is also used in a de facto manner to describe the general nature of many modern professions such as a politician or religious leader, most especially US Christian ministers, and namely televangelists. It is also commonly used in a quackery sense to describe many present day physicians and doctors associated with medical malpractice, such as an internist, as well as attorneys filing frivolous lawsuits, and is often used as a broad term to describe anyone in the profession of sales, most commonly car salespeople, and pharmaceutical sales representatives.
The term, 'Stanley rattlesnake,' is also ascribed in certain contingents of US popular culture to describe an elaborate decoy shown by an 'official' businessperson, attorney, physician, politician, or religious leader obliging similar attributes as those embodied by Clark Stanley. These contingents contend that Mr. Stanley is the most honest embodiment of the independent American entrepreneur or businessperson today, representing the face of mercantilism throughout history. As opposed to the revisionist account identifying Stanley as a confidence artist, this view contends that Clark Stanley is the quintessential American entrepreneur. The exposure of the semantic whole in the prevailing viewpoint, as it regards business ethics exposed in the account of Clark Stanley, allows for a systemic indictment of the capitalist system as a whole of the systematic implementation of fraud in defining business ethics.
See Also
Business career of Donald Trump
Health care in the United States
References
- ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=Aiw-KntGPrgC&lpg=PA75&dq=hopi%20indians%20clark%20stanley&pg=PA75#v=onepage&q=hopi%20indians%20clark%20stanley&f=false
- ^ https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen
- ^ Chemistry, United States Bureau of (1917). Service and Regulatory Announcements. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ Alves, Rômulo; Rosa, Ierecê Lucena (2012-09-19). Animals in Traditional Folk Medicine: Implications for Conservation. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9783642290251.
- ^ https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/26/215761377/a-history-of-snake-oil-salesmen,
- ^ Chemistry, United States Bureau of (1917). Service and Regulatory Announcements. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ File:SnakeOilDecision.jpg
- ^ Chemistry, United States Bureau of (1917). Service and Regulatory Announcements. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ Chemistry, United States Bureau of (1917). Service and Regulatory Announcements. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ "$20 in 1916 → 2018 | Inflation Calculator". www.in2013dollars.com. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
- Hurley, Dan (2006). "The Rattlesnake King. Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry". Archived from the original on July 9, 2011.