Flashlights were made to sell batteries?

This was an offhand remark made by a police officer who was demonstating the use of flashlights for self-defense on the series of such shows seen Saturday mornings on Spike TV- he was referring to the dark years of flashlight production before the present era. This hadn't occurred to me before but, thinking it over, the statement seems to have merit- until Maglites came along, most if not all flashlights aka torches I ever owned or saw were made by Everready, Rayovac, and so on. Is that why they were so... feeble... for so many decades?