Frederick J. Schlink (October 26, 1891 – January 15, 1995) was an American

consumer rights Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent businesse ...

activist. He co-wrote the book ''

100,000,000 Guinea Pigs ''100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs, and Cosmetics'' is a book written by Arthur Kallet and F. J. Schlink first released in 1933 by the Vanguard Press and manufactured in the United States of America. Its central argum ...

'' with

Arthur Kallet Arthur Kallet (December 15, 1902February 24, 1972) was an American consumer advocate. Career An engineer, Kallet co-authored a 1933 book entitled '' 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics'' with fellow engineer ...

, and co-founded the

watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watchdog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...

group

Consumers' Research Consumers' Research is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Established in 1929, it was a founding organization in the Consumer movement, consumer protection movement. It turned to the righ ...

Life and activism

Schlink was born in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is a city in Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Illinois River, the city had a population of 113,150 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Ill ...

, and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1912. In 1914, he acquired the degree of Mechanical Engineer, and worked at the

United States Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

until 1919. After work in quality control for

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey S. Firestone (18681938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, carriages, and other form ...

, and for the

Bell Telephone Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

, he became an assistant secretary for the non-profit

American Standards Association The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private nonprofit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organiz ...

. In 1927, Schlink was co-author, with

Stuart Chase Stuart Chase (March 8, 1888 – November 16, 1985) was an American economist, social theorist, and writer. His writings covered topics as diverse as general semantics General semantics is a school of thought that incorporates philosophy, philo ...

, of the bestseller, ''

Your Money's Worth ''Your Money's Worth: A study in the waste of the consumer's dollar'' is a 1927 nonfiction book on consumerism written by Stuart Chase and Frederick J. Schlink. It is notable for becoming popular enough to initiate a consumer protection Cons ...

'', a warning about sales pressure and misleading advertising. The book called attention to the "Consumers' Club", a small organization in

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

. Within two years, the club had members nationwide and was incorporated as

. Arthur Kallet, the secretary of the group, enlisted Schlink's aid as co-author of ''One Hundred Million Guinea Pigs'' in 1933. (The title referred to what was roughly the population of the United States at the time.) The book caused a stir, noting that some well-advertised products (including mouthwash and hair dyes) were sometimes useless and even dangerous. In 1934, he published a pamphlet with his wife, Mary Catherine Phillips, ''Discovering Consumers''. His final book was ''Eat, Drink and be Wary'' in 1935. Schlink himself lived for sixty years after the book's publication and died at the age of 103 in Phillipsburg, NJ.

Consumers' Research

Schlink was instrumental in moving Consumers' Research to

Washington, New Jersey Washington is a borough in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,299, an increase of 838 (+13.0%) from the 2010 census count of 6,461, which in turn reflected a d ...

and then the Bowerstown section of Washington Township, New Jersey. When employees demanded more wages, he refused. Three went on strike with outside union help, and were terminated. Forty more employees then struck as support for those terminated. Schlink had always been focused upon capitalistic advertising, and he saw this an "unholy alliance" with the strikers, and he used force to break the strike. This act was one that started the exodus of former CR employees to their own organization, the new ''

Consumers Union A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. Th ...

'', which began publishing its own magazine, ''Consumers Union Reports'', in direct competition to Schlink's ''Consumers' Research Bulletin''. This magazine soon surpassed the ''Bulletin'' in circulation, and, renamed ''

Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...

'', became and remains the leading North American consumer magazine.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlink, Frederick J. Schlink, F. J. Schlink, F. J. Schlink, F. J. Schlink, F. J. University of Illinois alumni Writers from Peoria, Illinois People from Warren County, New Jersey