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diff --git a/44325-8.txt b/44325-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9907ad4..0000000 --- a/44325-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4848 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's The Great American Fraud, by Samuel Hopkins Adams - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Great American Fraud - The Patent Medicine Evil - -Author: Samuel Hopkins Adams - -Release Date: December 1, 2013 [EBook #44325] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT AMERICAN FRAUD *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger - - - - - - - - -THE GREAT AMERICAN FRAUD - -By Samuel Hopkins Adams - - -A Series of Articles on the Patent Medicine Evil, Reprinted from -Collier's Weekly - - I-----The Great American Fraud 3 - II----Peruna and the Bracers 12 - III---Liquozone 23 - IV----The Subtle Poisons 32 - V-----Preying on the Incurables 45 - VI----The Fundamental Fakes 57 - - ALSO - - THE PATENT MEDICINE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS - - - - -I. THE GREAT AMERICAN FRAUD. - -Reprinted from Collier's Weekly, Oct. 7, 1905. {003} - -This is the introductory article to a series which will contain a full -explanation and exposure of patent-medicine methods, and the harm done -to the public by this industry, founded mainly on fraud and poison. -Results of the publicity given to these methods can already be seen -in the steps recently taken by the National Government, some State -Governments and a few of the more reputable newspapers. The object -of the series is to make the situation so familiar and thoroughly -understood that there will be a speedy end to the worst aspects of the -evil. - -[IMAGE ==>] {003} - -Gullible America will spend this year some seventy-five millions of -dollars in the purchase of patent medicines. In consideration of this -sum it will swallow huge quantities of alcohol, an appalling amount of -opiates and narcotics, a wide assortment of varied drugs ranging from -powerful and dangerous heart depressants to insidious liver stimulants; -and, far in excess of all other ingredients, undiluted fraud. For fraud, -exploited by the skillfulest of advertising bunco men, is the basis of -the trade. Should the newspapers, the magazines and the medical journals -refuse their pages to this class of advertisements, the patent-medicine -business in five years would be as scandalously historic as the South -Sea Bubble, and the nation would be the richer not only in lives and -money, but in drunkards and drug-fiends saved. - -"Don't make the mistake of lumping all proprietary medicines in one -indiscriminate denunciation," came warning from all sides when this -series was announced. But the honest attempt to separate the sheep from -the goats develops a lamentable lack of qualified candidates for the -sheepfold. External remedies there may be which are at once honest in -their claims and effective for their purposes; they are not to be found -among the much-advertised ointments or applications which fill the -public prints. - -Cuticura may be a useful preparation, but in extravagance of advertising -it rivals the most clamorous cure-all. Pond's Extract, one would -naturally suppose, could afford to restrict itself to decent methods, -but in the recent {004}epidemic scare in New York it traded on the -public alarm by putting forth "display" advertisements headed, in heavy -black type, "Meningitis," a disease in which witch-hazel is about as -effective as molasses. This is fairly comparable to Peruna's ghoulish -exploitation, for profit, of the yellow-fever scourge in New Orleans, -aided by various southern newspapers of standing, which published as -_news_ an "interview" with Dr. Hartman, president of the Peruna Company. - - - - -Drugs That Make Victims. - -When one comes to the internal remedies, the proprietary medicines -proper, they all belong to the tribe of Capricorn, under one of two -heads, harmless frauds or deleterious drugs. For instance, the laxatives -perform what they promise; if taken regularly, as thousands of people -take them (and, indeed, as the advertisements urge), they become an -increasingly baneful necessity. Acetanilid will undoubtedly relieve -headache of certain kinds; but acetanilid, as the basis of headache -powders, is prone to remove the cause of the symptoms permanently by -putting a complete stop to the heart action. Invariably, when taken -steadily, it produces constitutional disturbances of insidious -development which result fatally if the drug be not discontinued, and -often it enslaves the devotee to its use. Cocain and opium stop pain; -but the narcotics are not the safest drugs to put into the hands of the -ignorant, particularly when their presence is concealed in the "cough -remedies," "soothing syrups," and "catarrhal powders" of which they are -the basis. Few outside of the rabid temperance advocates will deny a -place in medical practice to alcohol. But alcohol, fed daily and in -increasing doses to women and children, makes not for health, but for -drunkenness. Far better whiskey or gin unequivocally labeled than the -alcohol-laden "bitters," "sarsaparillas" and "tonics" which exhilerate -fatuous temperance advocates to the point of enthusiastic testimonials. - -None of these "cures" really does cure any serious affection, although -a majority of their users recover. But a majority, and a very large -majority, of the sick recover, anyway. Were it not so--were one illness -out of fifty fatal--this earth would soon be depopulated. - - - - -As to Testimonials. - -The ignorant drug-taker, returning to health from some disease which he -has overcome by the natural resistant powers of his body, dips his pen -in gratitude and writes his testimonial. The man who dies in spite of -the patent medicine--or perhaps because of it--doesn't bear witness to -what it did for him. We see recorded only the favorable results: the -unfavorable lie silent. How could it be otherwise when the only avenues -of publicity are controlled by the advertisers? So, while many of the -printed testimonials are genuine enough, they represent not the average -evidence, but the most glowing opinions which the nostrum vender -can obtain, and generally they are the expression of a low order of -intelligence. Read in this light, they are unconvincing enough. But the -innocent public regards them as the type, not the exception. "If that -cured Mrs. Smith of Oshgosh it may cure me," says the woman whose -symptoms, real or imaginary, are so feelingly described under the -picture. Lend ear to expert testimony from a certain prominent cure-all: - -"They see my advertising. They read the testimonials. They are -convinced. They have faith in Peruna. It gives them a gentle stimulant -and so they get well." - -There it is in a nutshell; the faith cure. Not the stimulant, but the -faith inspired by the advertisement and encouraged by the stimulant -does the work--or seems to do it. If the public drugger can convince his -patron {005}that she is well, she _is_ well--for his purposes. In the -case of such diseases as naturally tend to cure themselves, no greater -harm is done than the parting of a fool and his money. With rheumatism, -sciatica and that ilk, it means added pangs; with consumption, Bright's -disease and other serious disorders, perhaps needless death. No onus of -homicide is borne by the nostrum seller; probably the patient would have -died anyway; there is no proof that the patent bottle was in any way -responsible. Even if there were--and rare cases do occur where the -responsibility can be brought home--there is no warning to others, -because the newspapers are too considerate of their advertisers to -publish such injurious items. - - - - -The Magic "Red Clause." - -With a few honorable exceptions the press of the United States is at the -beck and call of the patent medicines. Not only do the newspapers modify -news possibly affecting these interests, but they sometimes become their -active agents. F. J. Cheney, proprietor of Hall's Catarrh Cure, devised -some years ago a method of making the press do his fighting against -legislation compelling makers of remedies to publish their formulæ, or -to print on the labels the dangerous drugs contained in the medicine--a -constantly recurring bugaboo of the nostrum-dealer. This scheme he -unfolded at a meeting of the Proprietary Association of America, of -which he is now president. He explained that he printed in red letters -on every advertising contract a clause providing that the contract -should become void in the event of hostile legislation, and he boasted -how he had used this as a club in a case where an Illinois legislator -had, as he put it, attempted to hold him for three hundred dollars on a -strike bill. - -"I thought I had a better plan than this," said Mr. Cheney to his -associates, "so I wrote to about forty papers and merely said: 'Please -look at your contract with me and take note that if this law passes you -and I must stop doing business,' The next week every one of them had an -article and Mr. Man had to go." - -So emphatically did this device recommend itself to the assemblage that -many of the large firms took up the plan, and now the "red clause" is a -familiar device in the trade. The reproduction printed on page 6 {p006} -is a fac-simile of a contract between Mr. Cheney's firm and the Emporia -_Gazette_, William Allen White's paper, which has since become one -of the newspapers to abjure the patent-medicine man and all his ways. -Emboldened by this easy coercion of the press, certain firms have since -used the newspapers as a weapon against "price-cutting," by forcing -them to refuse advertising of the stores which reduce rates on patent -medicines. Tyrannical masters, these heavy purchasers of advertising -space. - -To what length daily journalism will go at the instance of the business -office was shown in the great advertising campaign of Paine's Celery -Compound, some years ago. The nostrum's agent called at the office of a -prominent Chicago newspaper and spread before its advertising manager a -full-page advertisement, with blank spaces in the center. - -"We want some good, strong testimonials to fill out with," he said. - -"You can get all of those you want, can't you?" asked the newspaper -manager. - -"Can _you?_" returned the other. "Show me four or five strong ones from -local politicians and you get the ad." - - - - -Fake Testimonials. - -That day reporters were assigned to secure testimonials with photographs -which subsequently appeared in the full-page advertisement as -promised. As for the men who permitted the use of their names for this -{006}purpose, several of them afterward admitted that they had -never tasted the "Compound," but that they were willing to sign the -testimonials for the joy of appearing in print as "prominent citizens." -Another Chicago newspaper compelled its political editor to tout for -fake indorsements of a nostrum. A man with an inside knowledge of the -patent-medicine business made some investigations into this phase of the -matter, and he declares that such procurement of testimonials became so -established as to have the force of a system, only two Chicago papers -being free from it. - -[IMAGE ==>] {006} - -To-day, he adds, a similar "deal" could be made with half a dozen of -that city's dailies. It is disheartening to note that in the case of -one important and high-class daily, the Pittsburg _Gazette_, a trial -rejection of all patent-medicine advertising received absolutely no -support or encouragement from the public; so the paper reverted to its -old policy. - -[IMAGE ==>] {007} A WINDOW EXHIBIT IN A CHICAGO DRUG STORE. - -{008} The control is as complete, though exercised by a class of -nostrums somewhat differently exploited, but essentially the same. -Only "ethical" preparations are permitted in the representative medical -press, that is, articles not advertised in the lay press. Yet this -distinction is not strictly adhered to. "Syrup of Figs," for instance, -which makes widespread pretense in the dailies to be an extract of the -fig, advertises in the medical journals for what it is, a preparation -of senna. Antikamnia, an "ethical" proprietary compound, for a long -time exploited itself to the profession by a campaign of ridiculous -extravagance, and is to-day by the extent of its reckless _use_ on the -part of ignorant laymen a public menace. Recently an article announcing -a startling new drug discovery and signed by a physician was offered to -a standard medical journal, which declined it on learning that the drug -was a proprietary preparation. The contribution was returned to the -editor with an offer of payment at advertising rates if it were printed -as editorial reading matter, only to be rejected on the new basis. -Subsequently it appeared simultaneously in more than twenty medical -publications as reading matter. There are to-day very few medical -publications which do not carry advertisements conceived in the same -spirit and making much tin same exhaustive claims as the ordinary quack -"ads" of the daily press, and still fewer that are free from promises -to "cure" diseases which are incurable by any medicine. Thus the medical -press is as strongly enmeshed by the "ethical" druggers as the lay press -is by Paine, "Dr." Kilmer, Lydia Pinkham, Dr. Hartman, "Hall" of the -"red clause" and the rest of the edifying band of life-savers, leaving -no agency to refute the megaphone exploitation of the fraud. What -opposition there is would naturally arise in the medical profession, but -this is discounted by the proprietary interests. - - - - -The Doctors Are Investigating. - -"You attack us because we cure your patients," is their charge. They -assume always that the public has no grievance against them, or, rather, -they calmly ignore the public in the matter. In his address at the last -convention of the Proprietary Association, the retiring president, W. -A. Talbot of Piso's Consumption Cure, turning his guns on the medical -profession, delivered this astonishing sentiment: - -"No argument favoring the publication of our formulas was ever uttered -which does not apply with equal force to your prescriptions. It is -pardonable in you to want to know these formulas, for they are good. -But you must not ask us to reveal these valuable secrets, to do what you -would not do yourselves. The public and our law-makers do not want your -secrets nor ours, _and it would be a damage to them to have them_." - -The physicians seem to have awakened, somewhat tardily, indeed, to -counter-attack. The American Medical Association has organized a Council -on Pharmacy and Chemistry to investigate and pass on the "ethical" -preparations advertised to physicians, with a view to listing those -which are found to be reputable and useful. That this is regarded as -a direct assault on the proprietary interests is suggested by the -protests, eloquent to the verge of frenzy in some cases, emanating from -those organs which the manufacturers control. Already the council has -issued some painfully frank reports on products of imposingly scientific -nomenclature; and more are to follow. - - - - -What One Druggist Is Doing. - -Largely for trade reasons a few druggists have been fighting the -nostrums, but without any considerable effect. Indeed, it is surprising -to see that people are so deeply impressed with the advertising claims -put forth daily as to be impervious to warnings even from experts. {009} - -A cut-rate store, the Economical Drug Company of Chicago, started on a -campaign and displayed a sign in the window reading: - -[IMAGE ==>] {009} - -PLEASE DO NOT ASK US - -What is ANY OLD PATENT MEDICINE Worth? - -For you embarrass us, as our honest answer must be that IT IS WORTHLESS - -If you mean to ask at what price we sell it, that is an entirely -different proposition. - -When sick, consult a good physician. It is the only proper course. And -you will find it cheaper in the end than self-medication with worthless -"patent" nostrums. - -This was followed up by the salesmen informing all applicants for the -prominent nostrums that they were wasting money. Yet with all this that -store was unable to get rid of its patent-medicine trade, and to-day -nostrums comprise one-third of its entire business. They comprise about -two-thirds of that of the average small store. - -Legislation is the most obvious remedy, pending the enlightenment of -the general public or the awakening of the journalistic conscience. But -legislation proceeds slowly and always against opposition, which may be -measured in practical terms as $250,000,000 at stake on the other -side. I note in the last report of the Proprietary Association's annual -meeting the significant statement that "the heaviest expenses were -incurred in legislative work." Most of the legislation must be done by -states, and we have seen in the case of the Hall Catarrh cure contract -how readily this may be controlled. - -Two government agencies, at least, lend themselves to the purposes of -the patent-medicine makers. The Patent Office issues to them trade-mark -registration (generally speaking, the convenient term "patent medicine" -is a misnomer, as very few are patented) without inquiry into the nature -of the article thus safeguarded against imitation. The Post Office -Department permits them the use of the mails. Except one particular -line, the disgraceful "Weak Manhood" remedies, where excellent work has -been done in throwing them out of the mails for fraud, the department -has done nothing in the matter of patent remedies, and has no present -intention of doing anything; yet I believe that such action, powerful as -would be {010}the opposition developed, would be upheld by the courts on -the same grounds that sustained the Post Office's position in the recent -case of "Robusto." - - - - -A Post-Office Report. - -That the advertising and circular statements circulated through the -mails were materially and substantially false, with the result of -cheating and defrauding those into whose hands the statements came; - -That, while the remedies did possess medicinal properties, these were -not such as to carry out the cures promised; - -That the advertiser knew he was deceiving; - -That in the sale and distribution of his medicines the complainant made -no inquiry into the specific character of the disease in any individual -case, but supplied the same remedies and prescribed the same mode of -treatment to all alike. - -Should the department apply these principles to the patent-medicine -field generally, a number of conspicuous nostrums would cease to be -pat-, rons of Uncle Sam's mail service. - -Some states have made a good start in the matter of legislation, among -them Michigan, which does not, however, enforce its recent strong law. -Massachusetts, which has done more, through the admirable work of its -State Board of Health, than any other agency to educate the public on -the patent-medicine question, is unable to get a law restricting this -trade. In New Hampshire, too, the proprietary interests have proven -too strong, and the Mallonee bill was destroyed by the almost -united opposition of a "red-clause" press. North Dakota proved more -independent. After Jan. 1, 1906, all medicines sold in that state, -except on physicians' prescriptions, which contain chloral, ergot, -morphin, opium, cocain, bromin, iodin or any of their compounds or -derivatives, or more than 5 per cent, of alcohol, must so state on -the label. When this bill became a law, the Proprietary Association -of America proceeded to blight the state by resolving that its members -should offer no goods for sale there. - -Boards of health in various parts of the country are doing valuable -educational work, the North Dakota board having led in the legislation. -The Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina boards have been -active. The New York State board has kept its hands off patent -medicines, but the Board of Pharmacy has made a cautious but promising -beginning by compelling all makers of powders containing cocain to put -a poison label on their goods; and it proposes to extend this ruling -gradually to other dangerous compositions. - - - - -Health Boards and Analyses. - -It is somewhat surprising to find the Health Department of New York -City, in many respects the foremost in the country, making no use of -carefully and rather expensively acquired knowledge which would serve -to protect the public. More than two years ago analyses were made by the -chemists of the department which showed dangerous quantities of cocain -in a number of catarrh powders. These analyses have never been printed. -Even the general nature of the information has been withheld. Should -any citizen of New York, going to the Health Department, have asked: -"My wife is taking Birney's Catarrh Powder; is it true that it's a -bad thing?" the officials, with the knowledge at hand that the drug in -question is a mater of cocain fiends, would have blandly emulated the -Sphinx. Outside criticism of an overworked, undermanned and generally -efficient department is liable to error through ignorance of the -problems involved in its administration; yet one can not but believe -that some form of warning against what is wisely admittedly a public -menace would have been a wiser form {011}of procedure than that -which has heretofore been discovered by the formula, "policy of the -department." - -Policies change and broaden under pressure of conditions. The Health -Commissioner is now formulating a plan which, with the work of the -chemists as a basis, shall check the trade in public poisons more or -less concealed behind proprietary names. - -It is impossible, even in a series of articles, to attempt more than an -exemplary treatment of the patent-medicine frauds. The most degraded -and degrading, the "lost vitality" and "blood disease" cures, reeking of -terrorization and blackmail, can not from their very nature be treated -of in a lay journal. Many dangerous and health-destroying compounds will -escape through sheer inconspicuousness. I can touch on only a few of -those which may be regarded as typical: the alcohol stimulators, as -represented by Peruna, Paine's Celery Compound and Duffy's Pure Malt -Whiskey (advertised as an exclusively medical preparation); the catarrh -powders, which breed cocain slaves, and the opium-containing soothing -syrups, which stunt or kill helpless infants; the consumption cures, -perhaps the most devilish of all, in that they destroy hope where hope -is struggling against bitter odds for existence; the headache powders, -which enslave so insidiously that the victim is ignorant of his own -fate; the comparatively harmless fake as typified by that marvelous -product of advertising and effrontery, Liquozone; and, finally, the -system of exploitation and testimonials on which the whole vast system -of bunco rests, as on a flimsy but cunningly constructed foundation. - - - - -II. PERUNA AND THE BRACERS. - -Reprinted from Collier's Weekly, Oct. 28, 1905. {012} - -A distinguished public health official and medical writer once made this -jocular suggestion to me: - -"Let us buy in large quantities the cheapest Italian vermouth, poor gin -and bitters. We will mix them in the proportion of three of vermouth to -two of gin, with a dash of bitters, dilute and bottle them by the -short quart, label them '_Smith's Reviver ana Blood Purifier; dose, -one wineglassful before each meal_'; advertise them to cure erysipelas, -bunions, dyspepsia, heat rash, fever and ague, and consumption; and to -prevent loss of hair, smallpox, old age, sunstroke and near-sightedness, -and make our everlasting fortunes selling them to the temperance trade." - -"That sounds to me very much like a cocktail," said I. - -"So it is," he replied. "But it's just as much a medicine as Peruna and -not as bad a drink." - -Peruna, or, as its owner, Dr. S. B. Hartman, of Columbus, Ohio (once -a physician in good standing), prefers to write it, Pe-ru-na, is at -present the most prominent proprietary nostrum in the country. It has -taken the place once held by Greene's Nervura and by Paine's Celery -Compound, and for the same reason which made them popular. The name of -that reason is alcohol.* Peruna is a stimulant pure and simple, and -it is the more dangerous in that it sails under the false colors of a -benign purpose. - - * Dr. Ashbel P. Grinnell of New York City, who has made a - statistical study of patent medicines, asserts as a provable - fact that more alcohol is consumed in this country in patent - medicines than is dispensed in a legal way by licensed - liquor venders, barring the sale of ales and beer. - -According to an authoritative statement given out in private circulation -a few years ago by its proprietors, Peruna is a compound of seven -drugs with cologne spirits. This formula, they assure me, has not been -materially changed. None of the seven drugs is of any great potency. -Their total is less than one-half of 1 per cent, of the product. -Medicinally they are too inconsiderable, in this proportion, to produce -any effect. There remains to Peruna only water and cologne spirits, -roughly in the proportion of three to one. Cologne spirits is the -commercial term for alcohol. - - - - -What Peruna Is Made Of. - -Any one wishing to make Peruna for home consumption may do so by mixing -half a pint of cologne spirits, 190 proof, with a pint and a half of -water, adding thereto a little cubebs for flavor and a little burned -sugar for color. Manufactured in bulk, so a former Peruna agent -estimates, its cost, including bottle and wrapper, is between fifteen -and eighteen cents a bottle. Its price is $1.00. Because of this -handsome margin of profit, and by way of making hay in the stolen -sunshine of Peruna advertising, many imitations have sprung up to harass -the proprietors of the alcohol-and-water product. Pe-ru-vi-na, P-ru-na, -Purina, Anurep (an obvious inversion); these, bottled and labeled to -resemble Peruna, are self-confessed imitations. From what the Peruna -people tell me, I gather that they are dangerous and damnable frauds, -and that they cure nothing. - -What does Peruna cure? Catarrh. That is the modest claim for it; nothing -but catarrh. To be sure, a careful study of its literature will suggest -its value as a tonic and a preventive of lassitude. But its reputation -{013}rests on catarrh. What is catarrh? Whatever ails you. No matter -what you've got, you will be not only enabled, but compelled, after -reading Dr. Hartman's Peruna book, "The Ills of Life," to diagnose -your illness as catarrh and to realize that Peruna alone will save -you. Pneumonia is catarrh of the lungs; so is consumption. Dyspepsia -is catarrh of the stomach. Enteritis is catarrh of the intestines. -Appendicitis--surgeons, please note before operating--is catarrh of the -appendix. Bright's disease is catarrh of the kidneys. Heart disease is -catarrh of the heart. Canker sores are catarrh of the mouth. Measles -is, perhaps, catarrh of the skin, since "a teaspoonful of Peruna thrice -daily or oftener is an effectual cure" ("The Ills of Life"). Similarly, -malaria, one may guess, is catarrh of the mosquito that bit you. Other -diseases not specifically placed in the catarrhal class, but yielding to -Peruna (in the book), are colic, mumps, convulsions, neuralgia, women's -complaints and rheumatism. Yet "Peruna is not a cure-all," virtuously -disclaims Dr. Hartman, and grasps at a golden opportunity by advertising -his nostrum as a preventive against yellow fever! That alcohol and -water, with a little coloring matter and one-half of 1 per cent, of mild -drugs, will cure all or any of the ills listed above is too ridiculous -to need refutation. Nor does Dr. Hartman himself personally make that -claim for his product. He stated to me specifically and repeatedly that -no drug or combination of drugs, with the possible exception of quinin -for malaria, will cure disease. His claim is that the belief of the -patient in Peruna, fostered as it is by the printed testimony, and -aided by the "gentle stimulation," produces good results. It is well -established that in certain classes of disease the opposite is true. -A considerable proportion of tuberculosis cases show a history of the -Peruna type of medicines taken in the early stages, with the result of -diminishing the patient's resistant power, and much of the typhoid in -the middle west is complicated by the victim's "keeping up" on this -stimulus long after he should have been under a doctor's care. But it -is not as a fraud on the sick alone that Peruna is baneful, but as the -maker of drunkards also. - -"It can be used any length of time without acquiring a drug habit," -declares the Peruna book, and therein, I regret to say, lies -specifically and directly. The lie is ingeniously backed up by Dr. -Hartman's argument that "nobody could get drunk on the prescribed doses -of Peruna." - -Perhaps this is true, though I note three wineglassfuls in -forty-five minutes as a prescription which might temporarily alter a -prohibitionist's outlook on life. But what makes Peruna profitable to -the maker and a curse to the community at large is the fact that the -minimum dose first ceases to satisfy, then the moderate dose, and -finally the maximum dose; and the unsuspecting patron, who began with -it as a medicine, goes on to use it as a beverage and finally to be -enslaved by it as a habit. A well-known authority on drug addictions -writes me: - -"A number of physicians have called my attention to the use of Peruna, -both preceding and following alcohol and drug addictions. Lydia -Pinkham's Compound is another dangerous drug used largely by drinkers; -Paine's Celery Compound also. I have in the last two years met four -cases of persons who drank Peruna in large quantities to intoxication. -This was given to them originally as a tonic. They were treated under my -care as simple alcoholics." - - - - -The Government Forbids the Sale of Peruna to Indians. - -Expert opinion on the non-medical side is represented in the government -order to the Indian Department, reproduced on the following page, the -kernel of which is this: {014} - -DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, - -OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, - -Washington, D. C., _August 10, 1905._ - -_To Indian Agents and School Superintendents in charge of Agencies:_ - -The attention of the Office has been called to the fact that many -licensed traders are very negligent as to the way in which their stores -are kept. Some lack of order might he condoned, but it is reported that -many stores are dirty even to filthiness. Such a condition of affairs -need not be tolerated, and improvement in that respect must be insisted -on. - -The Office is not so inexperienced as to suppose that traders open -stores among Indians from philanthropic motive's. Nevertheless a trader -has a great influence among the Indians with whom he has constant -dealings and who are often dependent upon him, and there are not a few -instances in which the trader has exerted this influence for the welfare -of his customers as well as for his own profit. - -A well-kept store, tidy in appearance, where the goods, especially -eatables, are handled in a cleanly way, with due regard to ordinary -hygiene, and where exact business methods prevail is a civilizing -influence among Indians, while disorder, slovenliness, slipshod ways, -and dirt are demoralizing. - -You will please examine into the way in which the traders under your -supervision conduct their stores, how their goods, particularly edible -goods, are handled, stored, and given out, and see to it that in these -respects, as well in respect of weights, prices, and account-keep-ing, -the business is properly conducted. If any trader, after due notice, -fails to come up to these requirements you will report him to this -Office. - -In connection with this investigation, please give particular attention -{016}to the proprietary medicines and other compounds which the traders -keep in stock, with special reference to the liability of their misuse -by Indians on account of the alcohol which they contain. The sale of -Peruna, which is on the lists of several traders, is hereby absolutely -prohibited. As a medicine, something else can be substituted; as an -intoxicant, it has been found too tempting and effective. Anything of -the sort under another name which is found to lead to intoxication you -will please report to this Office. When a compound of that sort gets a -bad name it is liable to be put on the market with some slight change of -form and a new name. Jamaica ginger and flavoring extracts of vanilla, -lemon, and so forth, should be kept in only small quantities and in -small bottles and should not be sold to Indians, or at least only -sparingly to those who it is known will use them only for legitimate -purposes. - -Of course, you will continue to give attention to the labeling of -poisonous drugs with skull and cross-bones as per Office circular of -January 12, 1905. - -Copies of this circular letter are herewith to be furnished the traders. - -Yours, respectfully, - -C. F. LARRABEE, - -_Acting Commissioner._ - - -Note, in the fifth paragraph, these sentences: "The sale of Peruna which -is on the list of several traders, _is hereby absolutely prohibited._ -As a medicine something else can be substituted; as an Intoxicant it has -been found too tempting." - - - -Alcohol In "Medicines" And In Liquors. - -[IMAGE ==>] {015} - -These diagrams show what would be left in a bottle of patent medicine -If everything was poured out except the alcohol; they also show the -quantity of alcohol that would be present if the same bottle had -contained whisky, champagne, claret or beer. It is apparent that a -bottle of Peruna contains as much alcohol as five bottles of beer, or -three bottles of claret or champagne--that is, bottles of the same size. -It would take nearly nine bottles of beer to put as much alcohol into -a thirsty man's system as a temperance advocate can get by drinking one -bottle of Hostetter's Stomach Bitters. While the "doses" prescribed -by the patent medicine manufacturers are only one to two teaspoonfuls -several times a day, the opportunity to take more exists, and even small -doses of alcohol, taken regularly, cause that craving which is the first -step in the making of a drunkard or drag fiend. - -Specific evidence of what Peruna can do will be found in the following -report, verified by special investigation: - -Pinedale, Wyo., Oct. 4.-- (Special.)--"Two men suffering from delirium -tremens and one dead is the result of a Peruna intoxication which took -place here a few days ago. C. E. Armstrong, of this place, and a -party of three others started out on a camping trip to the Yellowstone -country, taking with them several bottles of whisky and ten bottles of -Peruna, which one of the members of the party was taking as a tonic. The -trip lasted over a week. The whisky was exhausted and for two days -the party was without liquor. At last some one suggested that they use -Peruna, of which nine bottles remained. Before they stopped the whole -remaining supply had been consumed and the four men were in a state of -intoxication, the like of which they had never known before. Finally, -one awoke with terrible cramps in his stomach and found his companions -seemingly in an almost lifeless condition. Suffering terrible agony, -he crawled on his hands and knees to a ranch over a mile distant, the -process taking him half a day. Aid was sent to his three companions. -Armstrong was dead when the rescue party arrived. The other two men, -still unconscious, were brought to town in a wagon and are still in a -weak and emaciated condition. Armstrong's body was almost tied in a knot -and could not be straightened for burial." - -Here is testimony from a druggist in a Southern "no license" town: - -"Peruna is bought by all the druggists in this section by the gross. I -have seen persons thoroughly intoxicated from taking Peruna. The common -remark in this place when a drunken party is particularly obstreperous -is that he is on a 'Peruna drunk,' It is a notorious fact that a great -many do use Peruna to get the alcoholic effect, and they certainly do -get it good and strong. Now, there are other so-called remedies used for -the same purpose, namely, Gensenica, Kidney Specific, Jamaica Ginger, -Hostetter's Bitters, etc." - -So well recognized is this use of the nostrum that a number of the -Southern newspapers advertise a cure for the "Teruna habit." which -is probably worse than the habit, as is usually the case with these -"cures." In southern Ohio and in the mountain districts of West Virginia -the "Peruna jag" is a standard form of intoxication. - - - - -Two Testimonials. - -A testimonial-hunter in the employ of the Peruna company was referred -by a Minnesota druggist to a prosperous farmer in the neighborhood. The -farmer gave Peruna a most enthusiastic "send-off"; he had been using -it for several months and could say, etc. Then he took the agent to his -barn and showed him a heap of empty Peruna bottles. The agent counted -them. There were seventy-four. The druggist added his testimonial. "That -old boy has a 'still' on all the time since he discovered Peruna," said -he. "He's my star customer." The druggist's testimonial was not printed. - -At the time when certain Chicago drug stores were fighting some of the -leading patent medicines, and carrying only a small stock of them, a -boy {017}called one evening at one of the downtown shops for thirty-nine -bottles of Peruna. "There's the money," he said. "The old man wants to -get his before it's all gone." Investigation showed that the purchaser -was the night engineer of a big downtown building and that the entire -working staff had "chipped in" to get a supply of their favorite -stimulant. - -"But why should any one who wants to get drunk drink Peruna when he can -get whisky?" argues the nostrum-maker. - -There are two reasons, one of which is that in many places the -"medicine" can be obtained and the liquor can not. Maine, for instance, -being a prohibition state, does a big business in patent medicines. So -does Kansas. So do most of the no-license counties in the South, though -a few have recently thrown out the disguised "boozes." Indiana Territory -and Oklahoma, as we have seen, have done so because of Poor Lo's -predilection toward curing himself of depression with these remedies, -and for a time, at least, Peruna was shipped in in unlabeled boxes. - -United States District Attorney Mellette, of the western district of -Indian Territory, writes: "Vast quantities of Peruna are shipped into -this country, and I have caused a number of persons to be indicted for -selling the same, and a few of them have been convicted or have entered -pleas of guilty. I could give you hundreds of specific cases of 'Peruna -drunk' among the Indians. It is a common beverage among them, used for -the purposes of intoxication." - -The other reason why Peruna or some other of its class is often the -agency of drunkenness instead of whisky is that the drinker of Peruna -doesn't want to get drunk, at least she doesn't know that she wants to -get drunk. I use the feminine pronoun advisedly, because the remedies -of this class are largely supported by women. Lydia Pinkham's variety of -drink depends for its popularity chiefly on its alcohol. Paine's Celery -Compound relieves depression and lack of vitality on the same principle -that a cocktail does, and with the same necessity for repetition. I -know an estimable lady from the middle West who visited her dissipated -brother in New York--dissipated from her point of view, because she was -a pillar of the W. C. T. U., and he frequently took a cocktail before -dinner and came back with it on his breath, whereon she would weep over -him as one lost to hope. One day, in a mood of brutal exasperation, when -he hadn't had his drink and was able to discern the flavor of her grief, -he turned on her: - -"I'll tell you what's the matter with you," he said. "You're -drunk--maudlin drunk!" - -She promptly and properly went into hysterics. The physician who -attended diagnosed the case more politely, but to the same effect, -and ascertained that she had consumed something like half a bottle of -Kilmer's Swamp-Root that afternoon. Now, Swamp-Root is a very creditable -"booze," but much weaker in alcohol than most of its class. The -brother was greatly amused until he discovered, to his alarm, that his -drink-abhorring sister couldn't get along without her patent medicine -bottle! She was in a fair way, quite innocently, of becoming a drunkard. - -Another example of this "unconscious drunkenness" is recorded by the -_Journal of the American Medical Association_: "A respected clergyman -fell ill and the family physician was called. After examining the -patient carefully the doctor asked for a private interview with the -patient's adult son. - -"'I am sorry to tell you that your father undoubtedly is suffering from -chronic alcoholism,' said the physician. - -"'Chronic alcoholism! Why, that's ridiculous! Father never drank a -drop of liquor in his life, and we know all there is to know about his -habits.' - -"'Well, my boy, its chronic alcoholism, nevertheless, and at this -present {018}moment your father is drunk. How has his health been -recently? Has he been taking any medicine?' - -"'Why, for some time, six months, I should say, father has often -complained of feeling unusually tired. A few months ago a friend of -his recommended Peruna to him, assuring him that it would build him up. -Since then he has taken many bottles of it, and I am quite sure that he -has taken nothing else.'" - -From its very name one would naturally absolve Duffy's Malt Whiskey -from fraudulent pretence. But Duffy's Malt Whiskey is a fraud, for -it pretends to be a medicine and to cure all kinds of lung and -throat diseases. It is especially favored by temperance folk. "A -dessertspoonful four to six times a day in water and a tablespoonful on -going to bed" (personal prescription for consumptive), makes a fair grog -allowance for an abstainer. - -[IMAGE ==>] {018} - -A SALOON WINDOW DISPLAY AT AUBURN. N. Y. - -This bar-room advertises Duffy's Malt Whiskey, the beverage "indorsed" -by the "distinguished divines and temperance workers" pictured below, -and displays it with other well-known brands of Bourbon and rye--not -as a medicine, but purely as a liquor, to be served, like others, in -15-cent drinks across the bar. - - - - -Medicine or Liquor? - - -[IMAGE ==>] {019} - -THREE "DISTINGUISHED TEMPERANCE WORKERS" WHO ADVOCATE THE USE OF -WHISKEY. - -Of these three "distinguished divines and temperance workers," the Rev. -Dunham runs a Get-Married-Quick Matrimonial Bureau, while the "Rev." -Houghton derives his income from his salary as Deputy Internal Revenue -Collector, his business being to collect Uncle Sam's liquor tax. The -printed portrait of Houghton is entirely Imaginary; a genuine photograph -of the "temperance worker" and whiskey Indorser is shown above. The -Rev. McLeod lives in Greenleaf, Mich.--a township of 893 inhabitants, in -Salina County, north of Port Huron, and off the railway line. Mr. McLeod -was called to trial by his presbytery for Indorsing Duffy's whiskey and -was allowed to "resign" from the fellowship. {020}It has testimonials -ranging from consumption to malaria, and indorsements of the clergy. -On the opposite page we reproduce a Duffy advertisement showing the -"portraits" of three "clergymen" who consider Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey -a gift of God, and on page 18 [IMAGE ==>] {018}a saloon-window display -of this product. For the whisky has its recognized place behind the bar, -being sold by the manufacturers to the wholesale liquor trade and by -them to the saloons, where it may be purchased over the counter for -85 cents a quart. This is cheap, but Duffy's Pure Malt Whiskey, is not -regarded as a high-class article. - -[IMAGE ==>] {020} - -REV. W. N. DUNHAM. - -Born in Vermont eighty-two years ago, Mr. Dunham was graduated from the -Boston Medical College and practiced medicine until about thirty years -ago, when he moved west. There he became a preacher. He occupied the -pulpit of the South Cheyenne, Wyoming, Congregational Church for ten -years. Two years ago he retired from the pulpit and established a -marriage bureau for the accommodation of couples who come over from -Colorado to be married. No money was paid by the Duffy's Malt Whiskey -people for Dunham's testimonial; but he received about $10 "to have his -picture taken." - -"REV." M. N. HOUGHTON. - -This Is the actual likeness of the "distinguished divine" with the side -whiskers in the Duffy whiskey advertisement. Mr. Houghton was for a -number of years pastor of the Church of Eternal Hope, of Bradford, Pa. -He retired six years ago to enter politics, and is now a deputy Internal -Revenue collector. Although a member of the Universalist Church, Mr. -Houghton is a spiritualist and delivered orations last summer at the -Lily Dale assembly, the spiritualistic "City of Light" located near -Dunkirk, N. Y. Mr. Houghton owned racehorses and was a patron of the -turf. - -Its status has been definitely settled in New York State, where Excise -Commissioner Cullinane recently obtained a decision in the supreme court -declaring it a liquor. The trial was in Rochester, where the nostrum is -made. Eleven supposedly reputable physicians, four of them members of -the Health Department, swore to their belief that the whisky contained -drugs which constituted it a genuine medicine. The state was able to -show conclusively that if remedial drugs were present they were in -such small {021}quantities as to be indistinguishable, and, of course, -utterly without value; in short, that the product was nothing more or -less than sweetened whisky. Yet the United States government has long -lent its sanction to the "medicine" status by exempting Duffy's Pure -Malt Whiskey from the federal liquor tax. In fact, the government is -primarily responsible for the formal establishment of the product as a -medicine, having forced it into the patent medicine ranks at the time -when the Spanish war expenses were partly raised by a special tax on -nostrums. Up to that time the Duffy product, while asserting its virtues -in various ills, made no direct pretence to be anything but a whisky. -Transfer to the patent medicine list cost it, in war taxes, more -than $40,000. By way of setting a _quid pro quo_, the company began -ingeniously and with some justification to exploit its liquor as "the -only whisky recognised by the government as medicine," and continues -so to advertise, although the recent decision of the Internal Revenue -Department, providing that all patent medicines which have no medicinal -properties other than the alcohol in them must pay a rectifier's tax, -relegates it to its proper place. While this decision is not a severe -financial blow to the Duffys and their congeners (it means only a few -hundred dollars apiece), it is important as officially establishing -the "bracer" class on the same footing with whisky and gin, where they -belong. Other "drugs" there are which sell largely, perhaps chiefly, -over the oar, Hostetter's Bitters and Damiana Bitters being prominent in -this class. - -When this series of articles was first projected, _Collier's_ received -a warning from "Warner's Safe Cure," advising that a thorough -investigation would be wise before "making any attack" on that -preparation. I have no intention of "attacking" this company or any one -else, and they would have escaped notice altogether, because of their -present unimportance, but for their letter. The suggested investigation -was not so thorough as to go deeply into the nature of the remedy, which -is an alcoholic liquid, but it developed this interesting fact; Warner's -Safe Cure, together with all the Warner remedies, is leased, managed -and controlled by the New York and Kentucky Distilling Company, -manufacturers of standard whiskies which do not pretend to remedy -anything but thirst. Duffy's Malt Whiskey is an another subsidiary -company of the New York and Kentucky concern. This statement is -respectfully submitted to temperance users of the Malt Whiskey and the -Warner remedies. - - - - -Some Alcohol Percentages. - -Hostetter's Bitters contain, according to an official state analysis, -44 per cent, of alcohol; Lydia Pinkham appeals to suffering womanhood with -20 per cent, of alcohol; Hood's Sarsaparilla cures "that tired feeling" -with 18 per cent.; Burdock's Blood Bitters, with 25 per cent.; Ayer's -Sarsaparilla, with 26 per cent., and Paine's Celery Compound, with -21 per cent. The fact is that any of these remedies could be interchanged -with Peruna or with each other, so far as general effect goes, though -the iodid of potassium in the sarsaparilla class might have some effect -(as likely to be harmful as helpful ) which would be lacking in the -simpler mixtures. - -If this class of nostrum is so harmful, asks the attentive reader of -newspaper advertising columns, how explain the indorsements of so many -people of prominence and reputation? "Men of prominence and reputation" -in this connection means Peruna, for Peruna has made a specialty of high -government officials and people in the public eye. In a self-gratulatory -dissertation the Peruna Company observes in substance that, while the -leading minds of the nation have hitherto shrunk from the publicity -attendant on commending any patent medicine, the transcendent virtues of -Peruna have overcome this amiable modesty, and, one and all, they stand -forth its avowed champions. This is followed by an ingenious document -headed {022}"Fifty Members of Congress Send Letters of Indorsement -to the Inventor of the Great Catarrh Remedy, Pe-ru-na," and quoting -thirty-six of the letters. Analysis of these letters brings out the -singular circumstance that in twenty-one of the thirty-six there is no -indication that the writer has ever tasted the remedy which he so -warmly praises. As a sample, and for the benefit of lovers of ingenious -literature, I reprint the following from a humorous member of Congress: - -"My secretary has as bad a case of catarrh as I ever saw, and since he -has taken one bottle of Peruna he seems like a different man. - -"Taylorsville, N. C. Romulus Z. Linney." - -The famous letter of Admiral Schley is a case in point. He wrote to the -Peruna Company: - -"I can cheerfully say that Mrs. Schley has used Peruna, and, I believe, -with good effect. [Signed] W. S. Schley." - -This indorsement went the rounds of the country in half-page blazonry, -to the consternation of the family's friends. Admiral Schley seems -to have appreciated that this use of his name was detrimental to his -standing. He wrote to a Columbus religious journal the following letter: - -"1820 I Street, Washington, D. C., Nov. 10,1904. "_Editor Catholic -Columbian_:--The advertisement of the Peruna Company, inclosed, is made -without any authority or approval from me. When it was brought to -my attention first I wrote the company a letter, stating that -the advertisement was offensive and must be discontinued. Their -representative here called on me and stated he had been directed to -assure me no further publication would be allowed, as it was without my -sanction. - -"I would say that the advertisement has been made without my knowledge -or consent and is an infringement of my rights as a citizen. - -"If you will kindly inform me what the name and date of the paper was in -which the inclosed advertisement appeared I shall feel obliged. - -"Very truly yours, W. S. Schley." - -Careful study of this document will show that this is no explicit denial -of the testimonial. But who gives careful study to such a letter? On the -face of it, it puts the Peruna people in the position of having forged -their advertisement. Ninety-nine people out of a hundred would get -that impression. Yet I have seen the testimonial, signed with Admiral -Schley's name and interlined in the same handwriting as the signature, -and I have seen another letter, similarly signed, stating that Admiral -Schley had not understood that the letter was to be used for such -advertising as the recipient based on it. If these letters are forgeries -the victim has his recourse in the law. They are on file at Columbus, -Ohio, and the Peruna Company would doubtless produce them in defense of -a suit. - - - - -What the Government Can Do. - -One thing that the public has a right to demand in its attitude toward -the proprietary medicines containing alcohol: that the government carry -out rigidly its promised policy no longer to permit liquors to disguise -themselves as patent medicines, and thereby escape the tax which is put -on other (and probably better) brands of intoxicants. One other demand -it should make on the purveyors of the concoctions: that they label -every bottle with the percentage of alcohol it contains; that they label -every man who writes testimonials to Duffy, and the W. C. T. U. member -who indorses Peruna, Lydia Pinkham, Warner and their compeers, will -know when they imbibe their "tonics," "invigorators," "swamp roots," -"bitters," "nerve-builders" or "spring medicines" that they are sipping -by the tablespoon or wineglassful what the town tippler takes across the -license-paying bar. - - - - -III.--LIQUOZONE. - -Reprinted from Collier's Weekly, Nov. 18, 1905. {023} - -Twenty years ago the microbe was making a great stir in the land. The -public mind, ever prone to exaggerate the importance and extent of any -new scientific discovery, ascribed all known diseases to microbes. The -infinitesimal creature with the mysterious and unpleasant attributes -became the leading topic of the time. Shrewdly appreciating this golden -opportunity, a quack genius named Radam invented a drug to slay the new -enemy of mankind and gave it his name. Radam's Microbe Killer filled the -public prints with blazonry of its lethal virtues. As it consisted of a -mixture of muriatic and sulphuric acids with red wine, any microbe which -took it was like to fare hard; but the ingenious Mr. Radam's method of -administering it to its intended prey via the human stomach failed to -commend itself to science, though enormously successful in a financial -sense through flamboyant advertising. - - - - -Liquozone "Cures" Thirty-seven Varieties. - -In time some predaceous bacillus, having eluded the "killer," carried -off its inventor. His nostrum soon languished. To-day it is little heard -of, but from the ashes of its glories has risen a mightier successor, -Liquozone. Where twenty years ago the microbe reveled in publicity, -to-day we talk of germs and bacteria; consequently Liquozone exploits -itself as a germicide and bactericide. It dispenses with the red wine -of the Radam concoction and relies on a weak solution of sulphuric -and sulphurous acids, with an occasional trace of hydrochloric or -hydrobromic acid. Mostly it is water, and this is what it "cures": - - "Asthma, Gallstones, - Abscess--Anemia, Goiter--Gout; - Bronchitis, Hay Fever--Influenza, - Blood Poison, La Grippe, - Bowel Troubles, Leucorrhea, - Coughs--Colds, Malaria--Neuralgia, - Consumption, Piles--Quinsy, - Contagious Diseases, Rheumatism, - Cancer--Catarrh, Scrofula, - Dysentery--Diarrhea, Skin Diseases, - Dyspepsia--Dandruff, Tuberculosis, - Eczema--Erysipelas, Tumors--Ulcers, - Fevers, Throat Troubles - ---all diseases that begin with fever--all inflammations--all -catarrh--all contagious diseases--all the results of impure or poisoned -blood. In nervous diseases Liquozone acts as a vitalizer, accomplishing -what no drugs can do." - -These diseases it conquers by destroying, in the human body, the germs -which cause (or are alleged to cause) them. Such is Liquozone's claim. - -Yet the Liquozone Company is not a patent medicine concern. We have -their own word for it: - -"We wish to state at the start that we are not patent medicine men, and -their methods will not be employed by us.... Liquozone is too important -a product for quackery." - -The head and center of this non-patent medicine cure-all is Douglas -Smith. {024}Mr. Smith is by profession a promoter. He is credited with -a keen vision for profits. Several years ago he ran on a worthy ex-piano -dealer, a Canadian by the name of Powley (we shall meet him again, -trailing clouds of glory in a splendid metamorphosis), who was selling -with some success a mixture known as Powley's Liquefied Ozone. This was -guaranteed to kill any disease germ known to science. Mr. Smith examined -into the possibilities of the product, bought out Powley, moved the -business to Chicago and organized it as the Liquid Ozone Company. Liquid -air was then much in the public prints. Mr. Smith, with the intuition -of genius, and something more than genius' contempt for limitations, -proceeded to catch the public eye with this frank assertion: "Liquozone -is liquid oxygen--that is all." - -It is enough. That is, it would be enough if it were but true. Liquid -oxygen doesn't exist above a temperature of 229 degrees below zero. One -spoonful would freeze a man's tongue, teeth and throat to equal solidity -before he ever had time to swallow. If he could, by any miracle, manage -to get it down, the undertaker would have to put him on the stove to -thaw him out sufficiently for a respectable burial. Unquestionably -Liquozone, if it were liquid oxygen, would kill germs, but that wouldn't -do the owner of the germs much good because he'd be dead before they had -time to realize that the temperature was falling. That it would cost a -good many dollars an ounce to make is, perhaps, beside the question. The -object of the company was not to make money, but to succor the -sick and suffering. They say so themselves in their advertising. For -some reason, however, the business did not prosper as its new owner had -expected. A wider appeal to the sick and suffering was needed. Claude C. -Hopkins, formerly advertising manager for Dr. Shoop's Restorative (also -a cure-all) and perhaps the ablest exponent of his specialty in the -country, was brought into the concern and a record-breaking campaign -was planned. This cost no little money, but the event proved it a good -investment. President Smith's next move showed him to be the master of a -silver tongue, for he persuaded the members of a very prominent law firm -who were acting as the company's attorneys to take stock in the concern, -and two of them to become directors. These gentlemen represent, in -Chicago, something more than the high professional standing of their -firm; they are prominent socially and forward in civic activities; in -short, just the sort of people needed by President Smith to bulwark his -dubious enterprise with assured respectability. - - - - -The Men Who Back the Fake. - -In the Equitable scandal there has been plenty of evidence to show -that directors often lend their names to enterprises of which they know -practically nothing. This seems to have been the case with the lawyers. -One point they brought up: was Liquozone harmful? Positively not, -Douglas Smith assured them. On the contrary, it was the greatest boon to -the sick in the world's history, and he produced an impressive bulk of -testimonials. This apparently satisfied them; they did not investigate -the testimonials, but accepted them at their face value. They did not -look into the advertising methods of the company; as nearly as I can -find out, they never saw an advertisement of Liquozone in the papers -until long afterward. They just became stockholders and directors, that -is all. They did as hundreds of other upright and well-meaning men had -done in lending themselves to a business of which they knew practically -nothing. - -While the lawyers continued to practice law, Messrs. Smith and Hopkins -were running the Liquozone Company. An enormous advertising campaign -was begun. Pamphlets were issued containing testimonials and claiming -{025}the soundest of professional backing. Indeed, this matter of -expert testimony, chemical, medical and bacteriologic, is a specialty of -Liquozone. Today, despite its reforms, it is supported by an ingenious -system of pseudoscientific charlatanry. In justice to Mr. Hopkins it is -but fair to say that he is not responsible for the basic fraud; that the -general scheme was devised, and most of the bogus or distorted medical -letters arranged, before his advent. But when I came to investigate -the product a few months ago I found that the principal defense against -attacks consisted of scientific statements which would not bear analysis -and medical letters not worth the paper they were written on. In -the first place, the Liquozone people have letters from chemists -asseverating that the compound is chemically scientific. - - - - -Faked and Garbled Indorsements. - - -[IMAGE ==>] {025} - -ANALYSIS OF LIQUOZONE. - -SULPHURIC ACID -- About nine-tenths of one per cent. SULPHUROUS ACID -- -About three-tenths of one per cent WATER....... -- Nearly ninety-nine -per cent. - -Sulphuric acid is oil of vitriol. Sulphurous acid is also a corrosive -poison. Liquozone is the combination of these two heavily diluted. - -Messrs. Dickman, Mackenzie & Potter, of Chicago, furnish a statement -to the effect that the product is "made up on scientific principles, -contains no substance deleterious to health and is an antiseptic and -germicide of the highest order." As chemists the Dickman firm stands -high, but if sulphuric and sulphurous acids are not deleterious to their -health there must be something peculiar about them as human beings. Mr. -Deavitt of Chicago makes affidavit that the preparation is not made by -compounding drugs. A St. Louis bacteriologist testifies that it will -kill germs (in culture tubes), and that it has apparently brought -favorable results in diarrhea, rheumatism and a finger which a -guinea-pig had gnawed. These and other technical indorsements are set -forth with great pomp and circumstance, but when analyzed they fail to -bear out the claims of Liquozone as a medicine. Any past investigation -into the nature of Liquozone has brought a flood of "indorsements" -down on the investigator, many of them medical. My inquiries have been -largely along medical lines, because the makers of the drug claim the -private support of many physicians and medical institutions, and such -testimony is the most convincing. "Liquozone has the indorsement of an -overwhelming number of medical authorities," says one of the pamphlets. - -One of the inclosures sent to me was a letter from a young physician on -the staff of the Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, who was paid $25 to -make bacteriologic tests in pure cultures. He reported: "This is -to certify that the fluid Liquozone handed to me for bacteriologic -examination has shown bacteriologic and germicidal properties." At the -same time he {026}informed the Liquozone agent that the mixture would -be worthless medicinally. He writes me as follows: "I have never used or -indorsed Liquozone; furthermore, its action would be harmful when taken -internally. Can report a case of gastric ulcer due probably to its use." - -Later in my investigations I came on this certificate again. It was -quoted, in a report on Liquozone, made by the head of a prominent -Chicago laboratory for a medical journal, and it was designated "Report -made by the Michael Reese Hospital," without comment or investigation. -This surprising garbling of the facts may have been due to carelessness, -or it may have some connection with the fact that the laboratory -investigation was about that time employed to do work for Mr. Douglas -Smith, Liquozone's president. - -Another document is an enthusiastic "puff" of Liquozone, quoted as being -contributed by Dr. W. H. Myers in _The New York Journal of Health_. -There is not nor ever has been any such magazine as _The New York -Journal of Health_. Dr. W. H. Myers, or some person masquerading under -that name, got out a bogus "dummy" (for publication only, and not as -guarantee of good faith) at a small charge to the Liquozone people. - -For convenience I list several letters quoted or sent to me, with the -result of investigations. - -The Suffolk Hospital and Dispensary of Boston, through its president, -Albert C. Smith, writes: "Our test shows it (Liquozone) to possess great -remedial value." The letter I have found to be genuine. But the hospital -_medical_ authorities say that they know nothing of Liquozone and never -prescribe it. If President Smith is prescribing it he is liable to -arrest, as he is not an M.D. - -A favoring letter from "Dr." Fred W. Porter of Tampa, Fla., is quoted. -The Liquozone recipients of the letter forgot to mention that "Dr." -Porter is not an M.D., but a veterinary surgeon, as is shown by his -letter head. - -Dr. George E. Bliss of Maple Rapids, Mich., has used Liquozone for -cancer patients. Dr. Bliss writes me, under the flaming headline of his -"cancer cure," that his letter is genuine and "not solicitated." - -Dr. A. A. Bell of Madison, Ga., is quoted as saying: "I found Liquozone -to invigorate digestion." He is _not_ quoted (although he wrote it) -as saying that his own personal experience with it had shown it to be -ineffective. I have seen the original letter, and the unfavorable part -of it was blue-penciled. - -For a local indorsement of any medicine perhaps as strong a name as -could be secured in Chicago is that of Dr. Frank Billings. In the -offices of _Collier's_ and elsewhere Dr. Billings has been cited by the -Liquozone people as one of those medical men who were prevented only by -ethical considerations from publicly indorsing their nostrum, but who, -nevertheless, privately avowed confidence in it. Here is what Dr. -Billings has to say of this: - -Chicago, Ill., July 31, 1905. - -_To the Editor of Collier's Weekly._ - -_Dear Sir_:--I have never recommended Liquozone in any way to any one, -nor have I expressed to any representative of the Liquozone Company, or -to any other person, an opinion favorable to Liquozone. (Signed) - -Frank Billings, M.D. - -Under the heading, "Some Chicago Institutions which Constantly Employ -Liquozone," are cited Hull House, the Chicago Orphan Asylum, the Home -for Incurables, the Evanston Hospital and the Old People's Home. - -Letters to the institutions elicited the information that Hull -House {027}had never used the nostrum, and had protested against the -statement; that the Orphan Asylum had experimented with it only for -external applications, and with such dubious results that it was soon -dropped; that it had been shut out of the Home for Incurables; that a -few private patients in the Old People's Home had purchased it, but on -no recommendation from the physicians; and that the Evanston Hospital -knew nothing of Liquozone and had never used it. - -Having a professional interest in the "overwhelming number of medical -indorsements" claimed by Liquozone, a Chicago physician, Dr. W. H. -Felton, went to the company's offices and asked to see the medical -evidence. None was forthcoming; the lists, he was informed, were in the -press and could not be shown. He then asked for the official book for -physicians advertised by the firm, containing "a great deal of evidence -from authorities whom all physicians respect." This also, they said, was -"in the press." As a matter of fact, it has never come out of the press -and never will; the special book project has been dropped. - -One more claim and I am done with the "scientific evidence." In a -pamphlet issued by the company and since withdrawn occurs this sprightly -sketch: - -"Liquozone is the discovery of Professor Pauli, the great German -chemist, who worked for twenty years to learn how to liquefy oxygen. -When Pauli first mentioned his purpose men laughed at him. The idea -of liquefying gas--of circulating a liquid oxygen in the blood--seemed -impossible. But Pauli was one of those men who set their whole hearts on -a problem and follow it out either to success or to the grave. So Pauli -followed out this problem though it took twenty years. He clung to it -through discouragements which would have led any lesser man to abandon -it. He worked on it despite poverty and ridicule," etc. - - - - -Liquozone Kills a Great German Scientist. - -Alas for romance! The scathing blight of the legal mind descended on -this touching story. The lawyer-directors would have none of "Professor -Pauli, the great German chemist," and Liquozone destroyed him, as it -had created him. Not totally destroyed, however, for from those rainbow -wrappings, now dissipated, emerges the humble but genuine figure of our -old acquaintance, Mr. Powley, the ex-piano man of Toronto. He is the -prototype of the Teutonic savant. So much the Liquozone people now -admit, with the defence that the change of Powley to Pauli was, at most, -a harmless flight of fancy, "so long as we were not attempting to use a -name famous in medicine or bacteriology in order to add prestige to the -product." A plea which commends itself by its ingeniousness at least. - -Gone is "Professor Pauli," and with him much of his kingdom lies. In -fact, I believe there is no single definite intentional misstatement in -the new Liquozone propaganda. For some months there has been a cessation -of all advertising, and an overhauling of materials under the censorship -of the lawyer-directors, who were suddenly aroused to the real situation -by a storm of protest and criticism, and, rather late in the day, began -to "sit up and take notice." The company has recently sent me a copy of -the new booklet on which all their future advertising is to be based. -The most important of their fundamental misstatements to go by the board -is "Liquozone is liquid oxygen." - -"Liquozone contains no free oxygen," declares the revision frankly. No -testimonials are to be printed. The faked and garbled letters are to -be dropped from the files. There is no claim of "overwhelming medical -indorsement." Nor is the statement {028}anywhere made that Liquozone -will cure any of the diseases in which it is recommended. Yet such is -the ingenuity with which the advertising manager has presented his case -that the new newspaper exploitation appeals to the same hopes and -fears, with the same implied promises, as the old. "I'm well because of -Liquozone," in huge type, is followed by the list of diseases "where it -applies." And the new list is more comprehensive than the old. - - - - -All Ills Look Alike to Liquozone. - -[IMAGE ==>] {028} - -Just as to Peruna all ills are catarrh, so to Liquozone every disease is -a germ disease. Every statement in the new prospectus of cure "has been -submitted to competent authorities, and is exactly true and correct.," -declares the recently issued pamphlet, "Liquozone, and Tonic Germicide"; -and the pamphlet goes on to ascribe, among other ills, asthma, gout, -neuralgia, dyspepsia, goiter and "most forms of kidney, liver and heart -troubles" to germs. I don't know just which of the eminent authorities -who have been working for the Liquozone Company fathers this remarkable -and epoch-making discovery. {029} - -Unfortunately, the writer of the Liquozone pamphlet, and the experts who -edited it, got a little mixed on their germs in the matter of malaria. -"Liquozone is deadly to vegetable natter, but helpful to animals," -declares the pamphlet.... "Germs are vegetables"--and that is the reason -that Liquozone kills them. But malaria, which Liquozone is supposed to -cure, is positively known to be due to animal organisms in the blood, -not vegetable. Therefore, if the claims are genuine, liquozone, being -"helpful to animals," will aid and abet the malaria organism in his -nefarious work, and the Liquozone Company, as well-intentioned men, -working in the interests of health, ought to warn all sufferers of this -class from use of their animal-stimulator. - -The old claim is repeated that nothing enters into the production of -Liquozone but gases, water and a little harmless coloring matter, and -that the process requires large apparatus and from eight to fourteen -days' time. I have seen the apparatus, consisting of huge wooden vats, -and can testify to their impressive size. And I have the assurance of -several gentlemen whose word (except in print) I am willing to take, -that fourteen days' time is employed in impregnating every output of -liquid with gas. The result, so far as can be determined chemically -or medicinally, is precisely the same as could be achieved in fourteen -seconds by mixing the acids with the water. The product is still -sulphurous and sulphuric acid heavily diluted, that is all. - -Will the compound destroy germs in the human body? This is, after all, -the one overwhelmingly important point for determination; for if it -will, all the petty fakers and forgery, the liquid oxygen and Professor -Pauli and the mythical medical journalism may be forgiven. For more than -four months now _Collier's_ has been patiently awaiting some proof of -the internal germicidal qualities of Liquozone None has been -forthcoming except specious generalities from scientific employés of -the company--and testimonials. The value of testimonials as evidence is -considered in a later article. Liquozone's are not more convincing than -others. Of the chemists and bacteriologists employed by the Liquozone -Company there is not one who will risk his professional reputation on -the simple and essential statement that Liquozone taken internally kills -germs in the human system. One experiment has been made by Mr. Schoen -of Chicago, which I am asked to regard as indicating in some degree -a deterrent action of Liquozone on the disease of anthrax. Of two -guinea-pigs inoculated with anthrax, one which was dosed with Liquozone -survived the other, not thus treated, by several hours. Bacteriologists -employed by us to make a similar test failed, because of the surprising -fact that the dose as prescribed by Mr. Schoen promptly killed the first -guinea-pig to which it was administered. A series of guinea-pig tests -was then arranged (the guinea-pig is the animal which responds to germ -infection most nearly as the human organism responds), at which Dr. -Gradwohl, representing the Liquozone Company, was present, and in which -he took part. The report follows: {030} - -LEDERLE LABORATORIES. - -Sanitary, Chemical and Bacteriologic Investigations. - -518 FIFTH AVENUE, - -NEW YORK CITY. - -October 21, 1905, - -Anthrax Test. Twenty-four guinea-pigs were inoculated with anthrax -bacilli, under the same conditions, the same amount being given to each. -The representative of the Liquozone people selected the twelve pigs for -treatment. These animals were given Liquozone is 5 c.c. doses for three -hours. In twenty-four hours all pigs were dead--the treated and the -untreated ones. - -Second Anthrax Test. Eight guinea-pigs were Inoculated under the same -conditions with a culture of anthrax sent by the Liquozone people. Four -of these animals were treated for three hours with Liquozone as in -the last experiment. These died also in from thirty-six to forty-eight -hours, as did the remaining four. - -Diphtheria Test. Six guinea-pigs were inoculated with diphtheria -bacilli and treated with Liquozone. They all died in from forty-eight -to seventy-two hours. Two out of three controls (i. e., untreated -guinea-pigs) remained alive after receiving the same amount of culture. - -Tuberculosis Test. Eight guinea-pigs were inoculated with tubercle -bacilli. Four of these animals were treated for eight hours with 5 c.c. -of a 20 per cent, solution of Liquozole. Four received no Liquozone. At -the end of twenty-four days all the animals were killed. - -Fairly developed tuberculosis was present in all. - -To summarize, we would say that the Liquozone had absolutely no curative -effect, but did, when given in pure form, lower the resistance of the -animals, so that they died a little earlier than those not treated. - -Lederle Laboratories. - -By Ernst J. Lederle. - - -Dr. Gradwohl, representing the Liquozone Company, stated that he was -satisfied of the fairness of the tests. He further declared that in his -opinion the tests had proved satisfactorily the total ineffectiveness of -Liquozone as an internal germicide. - -But these experiments show more than that. They show that in so far as -Liquozone has any effect, it tends to lower the resistance of the body -to an invading disease. That is, in the very germ diseases for which -it is advocated, _Liquozone may decrease the chances of the patient's -recovery with every dose that is swallowed, but certainly would not -increase them_. - -In its own field Liquozone is _sui generis_. On the ethical side, -however, there are a few "internal germicides," and one of these comes -in for mention here, not that it is in the least like Liquozone in -its composition, but because by its monstrous claims it challenges -comparison. - -Since the announcement of this article, and before, _Collier's_ has been -in receipt of much virtuous indignation from a manufacturer of remedies -which, he claims, Liquozone copies. Charles Marchand has been the most -active enemy of the Douglas Smith product. He has attacked the makers in -print, organized a society, and established a publication mainly devoted -to their destruction, and circulated far and wide injurious literature -(most of it true) about their product. Of the relative merits of -Hydrozone, Glycozone (Marchand's products); and Liquozone, I know -nothing; but I know that the Liquozone Company has never in its history -put forth so shameful an advertisement as the one reproduced on page -28, [IMAGE ==>] {028} signed by Marchand, and printed in the New Orleans -_States_ when the yellow-fever scare was at its height. {031} - -And Hydrozone is an "ethical" remedy; its advertisements are to be found -in reputable medical journals. - - - - -The Same Old Fake. - -Partly by reason of Marchand's energy, no nostrum in the country has -been so widely attacked as the Chicago product. Occasional deaths, -attributed (in some cases unjustly) to its use, have been made the most -of, and scores of analyses have been printed, so that in all parts -of the country the true nature of the nostrum is beginning to be -understood. The prominence of its advertising and the reckless breadth -of its claims have made it a shining mark. North Dakota has forbidden -its sale. San Francisco has decreed against it; so has Lexington, Ky., -and there are signs that it will have a fight tor its life soon in -other cities. It is this looming danger that impelled Liquozone to an -attempted reform last summer. Yet, in spite of the censorship of -its legal lights, in spite of the revision of its literature by its -scientific experts, in spite of its ingenious avoidance of specifically -false claims in the advertising which is being scattered broadcast -to-day, Liquozone is now what it was before its rehabilitation, a fraud -which owes its continued existence to the laxity of our public health -methods and the cynical tolerance of the national conscience. - - - - -IV--THE SUBTLE POISONS. - -Reprinted from Collier's Weekly, Dec. 2, 1006. {032} - -Ignorance and credulous hope make the market for most proprietary -remedies. Intelligent people are not given largely to the use of the -glaringly advertised cure-alls, such as Liquozone or Peruna. Nostrums -there are, however, which reach the thinking classes as well as the -readily gulled. Depending, as they do, for their success on the lure of -some subtle drug concealed under a trademark name, or some opiate not -readily obtainable under its own label, these are the most dangerous -of all quack medicines, not only in their immediate effect, but because -they create enslaving appetites, sometimes obscure and difficult of -treatment, most often tragically obvious. Of these concealed drugs the -headache powders are the most widely used, and of the headache powders -Orangeine is the most conspicuous. - -Orangeine prints its formula. It is, therefore, its proprietors claim, -not a secret remedy. But to all intents and purposes it is secret, -because to the uninformed public the vitally important word "acetanilid" -in the formula means little or nothing. Worse than its secrecy is its -policy of careful and dangerous deception. Orangeine, like practically -all the headache powders, is simply a mixture of acetanilid with less -potent drugs. Of course, there is no orange in it, except the orange hue -of the boxes and wrappers which is its advertising symbol. But this is -an unimportant deception. The wickedness of the fraud lies in this: -that whereas the nostrum, by virtue of its acetanilid content, thins the -blood, depresses the heart and finally undermines the whole system, it -claims _to strengthen the heart and to produce better blood_. Thus -far in the patent medicine field I have not encountered so direct and -specific an inversion of the true facts. - -Recent years have added to the mortality records of our cities a -surprising and alarming number of sudden deaths from heart failure. In -the year 1902 New York City alone reported a death rate from this cause -of 1.34 per thousand of population; that is about six times as great as -the typhoid fever death record. It was about that time that the headache -powders were being widely advertised, and there is every reason to -believe that the increased mortality, which is still in evidence, is due -largely to the secret weakening of the heart by acetanilid. Occasionally -a death occurs so definitely traceable to this poison that there is -no room for doubt, as in the following report by Dr. J. L. Miller, of -Chicago, in the _Journal of the American Medical Association_, on the -death of Mrs. Frances Robson: - -"I was first called to see the patient, a young lady, physically -sound, who had been taking Orangeine powders for a number of weeks for -insomnia. The rest of the family noticed that she was very blue, and -for this reason I was called. When I saw the patient she complained of -a sense of faintness and inability to keep warm. At this time she had -taken a box of six Orangeine powders within about eight hours. She was -warned of the danger of continuing the indiscriminate use of the remedy, -but insisted that many of her friends had used it and claimed that it -was harmless. The family promised to see that she did not obtain any -more of the remedy. Three days later, however, I was called to the house -and found the patient dead. The family said that she had gone to her -room the evening before in her usual health. The next morning, the -patient not appearing, they investigated and found her dead. The case -was reported to the coroner, and the coroner's verdict was: 'Death was -from the effect of an overdose of Orangeine {033}powders administered by -her own hand, whether accidentally or otherwise, unknown to the jury.'" - -Last July an 18-year-old Philadelphia girl got a box of Orangeine -powders at a drug store, having been told that they would cure headache. -There was nothing on the label or in the printed matter inclosed with -the preparation warning her of the dangerous character of the nostrum. -Following the printed advice, she took two powders. In three hours she -was dead. Coroner Dugan's verdict follows: - -"Mary A. Bispels came to her death from kidney and heart disease, -aggravated by poisoning by acetanilid taken in Orangeine headache -powders." - - - - -Prescribing Without Authority. - -Yet this poison is being recommended every day by people who know -nothing of it and nothing of the susceptibility of the friends to whom -they advocate it. For example, here is a testimonial from the Orangeine -booklet: - -"Miss A. A. Phillips, 60 Powers street, Brooklyn, writes: 'I always keep -Orangeine in my desk at school, and through its frequent applications to -the sick I am called both "doctor and magician."'" - -If the school herein referred to is a public school, the matter is -one for the Board of Education; if a private school, for the Health -Department or the county medical society. That a school teacher should -be allowed to continue giving, however well meaning her foolhardiness -may be, a harmful and possibly fatal dose to the children intrusted -to her care seems rather a significant commentary on the quality of -watchfulness in certain institutions. - -Obscurity as to the real nature of the drug, fostered by careful -deception, is the safeguard of the acetanilid vender. Were its perilous -quality known, the headache powder would hardly be so widely used. And -were the even more important fact that the use of these powders becomes -a habit, akin to the opium or cocain habits, understood by the public, -the repeated sales which are the basis of Orangeine's prosperity would -undoubtedly be greatly cut down. Orangeine fulfills the prime requisite -of a patent medicine in being a good "repeater." Did it not foster -its own demand in the form of a persistent craving, it would hardly be -profitable. Its advertising invites to the formation of an addiction to -the drug. "Get the habit," it might logically advertise, in imitation of -a certain prominent exploitation along legitimate lines. Not only is -its value as a cure for nervousness and headaches insisted on, but its -prospective dupes are advised to take this powerful drug as a _bracer_. - -"When, as often, you reach home tired in body and mind... take an -Orangeine powder, lie down for thirty minutes' nap--if possible--anyway, -relax, then take another." - -"To induce sleep, take an Orangeine powder immediately before retiring. -When wakeful, an Orangeine powder will have a normalizing, quieting -effect." - -It is also recommended as a good thing to begin the day's work on in the -morning--that is, take Orangeine night, morning and between meals! - -These powders pretend to cure asthma, biliousness, headaches, colds, -catarrh and grip (dose: powder every four hours during the day for a -week!--a pretty fair start on the Orangeine habit), diarrhea, hay fever, -insomnia, influenza, neuralgia, seasickness and sciatica. - -Of course, they do not cure any of these; they do practically nothing -but give temporary relief by depressing the heart. With the return -to normal conditions of blood circulation comes a recurrence of the -nervousness, {034}headache, or what not, and the incentive to more of -the drug, until it becomes a necessity. In my own acquaintance I know -half a dozen persons who have come to depend on one or another of these -headache preparations to keep them going. One young woman whom I have -in mind told me quite innocently that she had been taking five or -six Orangeine powders a day for several months, having changed from -Koehler's powders when some one told her that the latter were dangerous! -Because of her growing paleness her husband had called in their -physician, but neither of them had mentioned the little matter of the -nostrum, having accepted with a childlike faith the asseverations of -its beneficent qualities. Yet they were of an order of intelligence that -would scoff at the idea of drinking Swamp-Root. - -[IMAGE ==>] {034} - - - - -An Acetanilid Death Record. - -This list of fatalities is made up from statements published in the -newspapers. In every case the person who died had taken to relieve a -headache or as a bracer a patent medicine containing acetanilid, without -a doctor's prescription. This list does not include the case of a dog -in Altoona, Pa., which died immediately on eating some sample headache -powders. The dog did not know any better. - - Mrs. Minnie Bishop, Louisville, Ky.; Oct. 16, 1903. - Mrs. Mary Cusick and Mrs. Julia Ward, of 172 Perry Street, - New York City; Nov. 27, 1903. - Fred. P. Stock, Scranton, Pa.; Dec. 7, 1903. - C. Frank Henderson, Toledo, 0.; Dec. 13, 1903. - Jacob E. Staley, St. Paul, Mich.; Feb. 18, 1904. - Charles M. Scott, New Albany, Ind.; March 15, 1904. - Oscar McKinley, Pittsburg, Pa.; April 13, 1904. - Otis Staines, student at Wabash College; April 13, 1904. - Mrs. Florence Rumsey, Clinton, la.; April 23, 1904. - Jenny McGee, Philadelphia, Pa.; May 26, 1904. - Mrs. William Mabee, Leoni, Midi.; Sept. 9, 1904. - Mrs. Jacob Friedman, of South Bend, Ind.; Oct. 19, 1904. - Miss Libbie North, Rockdale, N. Y.; Oct. 26, 1904. - Margaret Hanahan, Dayton, O.; Oct. 29, 1904. - Samuel Williamson, New York City; Nov. 21, 1904. - George Kublisch, St. Louis, Mo.; Nov. 24, 1904. - Robert Breck, St. Louis, Mo.;'Nov. 27, 1904. - Mrs. Harry Haven, Oriskany Falls, N. Y.; Jan. 17, 1905. - Mrs. Jennie Whyler, Akron, 0.; April 3, 1905. - Mrs. Augusta Strothmann, St. Louis, Mo.; June 20, 1905. - Mrs. Mary A. Bispels, Philadelphia, Pa.; July 2, 1905. - Mrs. Thos. Patterson, Huntington, W. Va.; Aug. 15, 1905. - -Some of these victims died from an alleged overdose; others from the -prescribed dose. In almost every instance the local papers suppressed -the name of the fatal remedy, {035}Peruna. That particular victim -had the beginning of the typical blue skin pictured in the street-car -advertisements of Orangeine (the advertisements are a little mixed, as -they put the blue hue on the "before taking," whereas it should go on -the "after taking"). And, by the way, I can conscientiously recommend -Orangeine, Koehler's powders, Royal Pain powders and others of that -class to women who wish for a complexion of a dead, pasty white, -verging to a puffy blueness under the eyes and about the lips. Patient -use of these drugs will even produce an interesting and picturesque, if -not intrinsically beautiful, purplish-gray hue of the face and neck. - -[IMAGE ==>] {035} - - - - -Drugs That Deprave. - -Another acquaintance writes me that he is unable to dissuade his wife -from the constant use of both Orangeine and Bromo-Seltzer, although her -{036}health is breaking down. Often it is difficult for a physician to -diagnose these cases because the symptoms are those of certain diseases -in which the blood deteriorates, and, moreover, the victim, as in opium -and cocain slavery, will positively deny having used the drug. A case -of acetanilid addiction (in "cephalgin," an ethical proprietary) is thus -reported: - -"When the drug was withheld the patient soon began to exhibit all the -traits peculiar to the confirmed morphine-maniac--moral depravity -and the like. She employed every possible means to obtain the drug, -attempting even to bribe the nurse, and, this failing, even members of -the family." Another report of a similar case (and there are plenty of -them to select from) reads: - -"Stomach increasingly irritable; skin a grayish or light purplish hue; -palpitation and slight enlargement of the heart; great prostration, with -pains in the region of the heart; blood discolored to a chocolate -hue. The patient denied that she had been using acetanilid, but it was -discovered that for a year she had been obtaining it in the form of -a proprietary remedy and had contracted a regular 'habit.' On the -discontinuance of the drug the symptoms disappeared. She was discharged -from the hospital as cured, but soon returned to the use of the drug and -applied for readmission, displaying the former symptoms." - -[IMAGE ==>] {036} - -NEW YORK STATE'S NEW POISON LABEL. - - - - -On a cocain-laden medicine. - -Where I have found a renegade physician making his millions out of -Peruna, or a professional promoter trading on the charlatanry of -Liquozone, it has seemed superfluous to comment on the personality of -the men. They are what their business connotes. With Orangeine the case -is somewhat different. Its proprietors are men of standing in other and -reputable spheres of activity. Charles L. Bartlett, its president, is a -graduate of Yale University and a man of some prominence in its alumni -affairs. Orangeine is a side issue with him. Professionally he is the -western representative of Ivory Soap, one of the heaviest of legitimate -advertisers, and he doubtless learned from this the value of skillful -exploitation. Next to Mr. Bartlett, the largest owner of stock (unless -he has recently sold out) is William Gillette, the actor, whose -enthusiastic indorsement of the powders is known in a personal sense to -the profession which he follows, and in print to hundreds of thousands -of theater-goers who have read it in their programs. Whatever these -gentlemen may think of their product (and I understand that, incredible -as it may seem, both of them are constant users of it and genuine -believers in it), the methods by which it is sold and the essential and -mendacious concealment of its real nature illustrate the {037}level to -which otherwise upright and decent men are brought by a business which -can not profitably include either uprightness or decency in its methods. - -Orangeine is less dangerous, except in extent of use, than many other -acetanilid mixtures which are much the same thing under a different -name. A friend of mine with a weak heart took the printed dose of -Laxative Bromo Quinin and lay at the point of death for a week. There -is no word of warning on the label. In many places samples of headache -powders are distributed on the doorsteps. The St. Louis Chronicle -records a result: - -"Huntington, W. Va., Aug. 15, 1905.--While Mrs. Thomas Patterson was -preparing supper last evening she was stricken with a violent headache -and took a headache powder that had been thrown in at her door the day -before. Immediately she was seized with spasms and in an hour she was -dead." - -That even the lower order of animals is not safe is shown by a canine -tragedy in Altoona, Pa., where a prize collie dog incautiously devoured -three sample tablets and died in an hour. Yet the distributing agents of -these mixtures do not hesitate to lie about them. Rochester, N. Y., has -an excellent ordinance forbidding the distribution of sample medicines, -except by permission of the health officer. An agent for Miniature -Headache Powders called on Dr. Goler with a request for leave to -distribute 25,000 samples. - -"What's your formula?" asked the official. - -"Salicylate of soda and sugar of milk," replied the traveling man. - -"And you pretend to cure headaches with that?" said the doctor. "I'll -look into it." - -Analysis showed that the powders were an acetanilid mixture. The sample -man didn't wait for the result. He hasn't been back to Rochester since, -although Dr. Goler is hopefully awaiting him. - -Bromo-Seltzer is commonly sold in drug stores, both by the bottle and -at soda fountains. The full dose is "a heaping teaspoonful." A heaping -teaspoonful of Bromo-Seltzer means about ten grains of acetanilid. The -United States Pharmacopeia dose is four grains; five grains have been -known to produce fatal results. The prescribed dose of Bromo-Seltzer is -dangerous and has been known to produce sudden collapse. - -Megrimine is a warranted headache cure that is advertised in several -of the magazines. A newly arrived guest at a Long Island house party -brought along several lots and distributed them as a remedy for headache -and that tired feeling. It was perfectly harmless, she declared; didn't -the advertisement say "leaves no unpleasant effects"? As a late dance -the night before had left its impress on the feminine members of the -house party, there was a general acceptance of the "bracer." That -night the local physician visited the house party (on special "rush" -invitation), and was well satisfied to pull all his patients through. -He had never before seen acetanilid poisoning by wholesale. A Chicago -druggist writes me that the wife of a prominent physician buys Megrimine -of him by the half-dozen lots secretly. She has the habit. - -On October 9, W. H. Hawkins, superintendent of the American Detective -Association, a mar of powerful physique and apparently in good health, -went to a drug store in Anderson, Ind., and took a dose of Dr. Davis' -Headache Powders. He then boarded a car for Marion and shortly after -fell to the floor, dead. The coroner's verdict is reproduced on page 35. -{035} Whether these powders are made by a Dr. W. C. Davis, of -Indianapolis, who makes Anti-Headache, I am unable to state. -Anti-Headache describes itself as "a compound of mild ingredients and -positively contains no dangerous drugs." It is almost pure acetanilid. - -In the "ethical" field the harm done by this class of proprietaries is -perhaps {038}as great as in the open field, for many of those which are -supposed to be sold only in prescriptions are as freely distributed to -the laity as Peruna. And their advertising is hardly different. - -Antikamnia, claiming to be an "ethical" remedy, and advertising through -the medical press by methods that would, with little alteration, fit any -patent painkiller on the market, is no less dangerous or fraudulent than -the Orangeine class which it almost exactly parallels in composition. It -was at first exploited as a "new synthetical coal-tar derivative," -which it isn't and never was. It is simply half or more acetanilid -(some analyses show as high as 68 per cent.) with other unimportant -ingredients in varying proportions. In a booklet entitled "Light on -Pain," and distributed on doorsteps, I find under an alphabetical list -of diseases this invitation to form the Antikamnia habit: - -[IMAGE ==>] {038} - -"Nervousness (overwork and excesses)--Dose: One Antikamnia tablet every -two or three hours. - -"Shoppers' or Sightseers' Headache--Dose: Two Antikamnia tablets every -three hours. - -"Worry (nervousness, 'the blues')--Dose: One or two Antikamnia and -Codein tablets every three hours." - -Codein is obtained from opium. The codein habit is well known to all -institutions which treat drug addictions, and is recognized as being no -less difficult to cure than the morphin habit. - -The following well-known "remedies" both "ethical" and "patent," depend -for their results upon the heart-depressing action of Acetanilid: - - Orangeine - Bromo-Seltzer - Megrimine - Anti-Headache - Ammonol - Salacetin - Royal Pain Powders Dr. Davis's Headache Phenalgin - Cephalgin - Miniature Headache Powders - Powders - -A typical instance of what Antikamnia will do for its users is that of a -Pennsylvania merchant, 50 years old, who had declined, without apparent -Antikamnia {039}cause, from 140 to 116 pounds, and was finally brought -to Philadelphia in a state of stupor. His pulse was barely perceptible, -his skin dusky and his blood of a deep chocolate color. On reviving he -was questioned as to whether he had been taking headache powders. He -had, for several years. What kind? Antikamnia; sometimes in the plain -tablets, at other times Antikamnia with codein. How many? About twelve -a day. He was greatly surprised to learn that this habit was responsible -for his condition. - -"My doctor gave it to me for insomnia," he said, and it appeared that -the patient had never even been warned of the dangerous character of the -drug. - -Were it obtainable, I would print here the full name and address of -that attending physician, as one unfit, either through ignorance or -carelessness, to practice his profession. And there would be other -physicians all over the country who would, under that description, -suffer the same indictment within their own minds for starting innocent -patients on a destructive and sometimes fatal course. For it is the -careless or conscienceless physician who gets the customer for the -"ethical" headache remedies, and the customer, once secured, pays -a profit, very literally, with his own blood. Once having taken -Antikamnia, the layman, unless informed as to its true nature, will -often return to the drug store and purchase it with the impression that -it is a specific drug, like quinin or potassium chlorate, instead of a -disguised poison, exploited and sold under patent rights by a private -concern. The United States Postoffice, in its broad tolerance, permits -the Antikamnia company to send through the mails little sample boxes -containing tablets enough to kill an ordinary man, and these samples are -sent not only to physicians, as is the rule with ethical remedies, -but to lawyers, business men, "brain workers" and other prospective -purchasing classes. The box bears the lying statement: "No drug -habit--no heart effect." - -Just as this is going to press the following significant case comes in -from Iowa: - -"Farmington, Iowa, Oct. 6.-- (Special to the -Constitution-Democrat.)--Mrs. Hattie Kick, one of the best and most -prominent ladies of Farmington, died rather suddenly Wednesday morning -at 10 o'clock from an overdose of Antikamnia, which she took for a -severe headache from which she was suffering. Mrs. Kick was subject to -severe headaches and was a frequent user of Antikamnia, her favorite -remedy for this ailment." - -There is but one safeguard in the use of these remedies: to regard them -as one would regard opium and to employ them only with the consent of -a physician who understands their true nature. Acetanilid has its uses, -but not as a generic painkiller. Pain is a symptom; you can drug it away -temporarily, but it will return clamoring for more payment until the -final price is hopeless enslavement. Were the skull and bones on every -box of this class of poison the danger would be greatly minimized. - -With opium and cocain the case is different. The very words are danger -signals. Legal restrictions safeguard the public, to a greater or less -degree, from their indiscriminate use. Normal people do not knowingly -take opium or its derivatives except with the sanction of a physician, -and there is even spreading abroad a belief (surely an expression of the -primal law of self-preservation) that the licensed practitioner leans -too readily toward the convenient narcotics. - -But this perilous stuff is the ideal basis for a patent medicine because -its results are immediate (though never permanent), and it is its own -best advertisement in that one dose imperatively calls for another. -Therefore it behooves the manufacturer of opiates to disguise the use of -the drug. This he does in varying forms, and he has found his greatest -success in the "cough and consumption cures" and the soothing syrup -class. The former of these will be considered in another article. As -to the "soothing syrups," {040}designed for the drugging of helpless -infants, even the trade does not know how many have risen, made their -base profit and subsided. A few survive, probably less harmful than -the abandoned ones, on the average, so that by taking the conspicuous -survivors as a type I am at least doing no injustice to the class. - -Some years ago I heard a prominent New York lawyer, asked by his office -scrub woman to buy a ticket for some "association" ball, say to her: -"How can you go to these affairs, Nora, when you have two young children -at home?" - -"Sure, they're all right," she returned, blithely; "just wan teaspoonful -of Winslow's an' they lay like the dead till mornin'." - -What eventually became of the scrub woman's children I don't know. The -typical result of this practice is described by a Detroit physician who -has been making a special study of Michigan's high mortality rate: - -"Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup is extensively used among the poorer -classes as a means of pacifying their babies. These children eventually -come into the hands of physicians with a greater or less addiction to -the opium habit. The sight of a parent drugging a helpless infant into a -semi-comatose condition is not an elevating one for this civilized age, -and it is a very common practice. [IMAGE ==>] {040}I can give you one -illustration from my own hospital experience, which was told me by the -father of the girl. A middle-aged railroad man of Kansas City had a -small daughter with summer diarrhea. For this she was given a patent -diarrhea medicine. It controlled the trouble, but as soon as the remedy -was withdrawn the diarrhea returned. At every withdrawal the trouble -began anew, and the final result was that they never succeeded in curing -this daughter of the opium habit which had taken its hold on her. It -was some years afterward that the parents became aware that she had -contracted the habit, when the physician took away the patent medicine -and gave the girl morphin, with exactly the same result which she had -experienced with the patent remedy. At the time the father told me -this story his daughter was 19 years of age, an only child of wealthy -parents, and one who could have had every advantage in life, but who was -a complete wreck in every way as a result of the opium habit. The father -told me, with tears in his eyes, that he would rather she had died with -the original illness than to have lived to become the creature which she -then was." The proprietor of a drug store in San José, Cal., writes to -_Collier's_ as follows: - -[IMAGE ==>] {041} - -"I have a good customer, a married woman with five children, all under -10 years of age. When her last baby was born, about a year ago, the -first thing she did was to order a bottle of Winslow's Soothing Syrup, -and every {042}week another bottle was bought at first, until now a -bottle is bought every third day. Why? Because the baby has become -habituated to the drug. I am not well enough acquainted with the family -to be able to say that the weaned children show any present abnormality -of health due to the opium contained in the drug, but the after-effects -of opium have been thus described.... Another instance, quite as -startling, was that of a mother who gave large quantities of soothing -syrup to two of her children in infancy; then, becoming convinced of -its danger, abandoned its use. These children in middle life became -neurotics, spirit and drug-takers. Three children born later and not -given any drugs in early life grew up strong and healthy. - -"I fear the children of the woman in question will all suffer for their -mother's ignorance, or worse, in later life, and have tried to do my -duty by sending word to the mother of the harmful nature of the stuff, -but without effect. - -"P. S.--How many neurotics, fiends and criminals may not 'Mrs. Winslow' -be sponsor for?" - -This query is respectfully referred to the Anglo-American Drug Company, -of New York,' which makes its handsome profit from this slave trade. - -Recent legislation on the part of the New York State Board of Pharmacy -will tend to decrease the profit, as it requires that a poison label be -put on each bottle of the product, as has long been the law in England. - -An Omaha physician reports a case of poisoning from a compound bearing -the touching name of "Kopp's Baby Friend," which has a considerable -sale in the middle west and in central New York. It is made of sweetened -water and morphin, about one-third grain of morphin to the ounce. - -"The child (after taking four drops) went into a stupor at once, the -pupils were pin-pointed, skin cool and clammy, heart and respiration -slow. I treated the case as one of opium poisoning, but it took twelve -hours before my little patient was out of danger." - -As if to put a point of satirical grimness on the matter, the -responsible proprietor of this particular business of drugging helpless -babies is a woman, Mrs. J. A. Kopp, of York, Pa. - -Making cocain fiends is another profitable enterprise. Catarrh powders -are the medium. A decent druggist will not sell cocain as such, -steadily, to any customer, except on prescription, but most druggists -find salve for their consciences in the fact that the subtle and -terrible drug is in the form of somebody's sure cure. There is need to -say nothing of the effects of cocain other than that it is destructive -to mind and body alike, and appalling in its breaking down of all -moral restraint. Yet in New York City it is distributed in "samples" -at ferries and railway stations. You may see the empty boxes and the -instructive labels littering the gutters of Broadway any Saturday night, -when the drug-store trade is briskest. - -Simey's Catarrhal Powder, Dr. Cole's Catarrh Cure, Dr. Gray's Catarrh -Powder and Crown Catarrh Powder are the ones most in demand. All of -them are cocain; the other ingredients are unimportant--perhaps even -superfluous. - -Whether or not the bottles are labeled with the amount of cocain makes -little difference. The habitués know. In one respect, however, the -labels help them by giving information as to which nostrum is the most -heavily drugged. - -"People come in here," a New York City druggist tells me, "ask what -catarrh powders we've got, read the labels and pick out the one that's -got the most cocain. When I see a customer comparing labels I know she's -a fiend." {043} - -Naturally these owners and exploiters of these mixtures claim that the -small amount of cocain contained is harmless. For instance, the "Crown -Cure," admitting 2% per cent., says: - -"Of course, this is a very small and harmless amount. Cocain is now -considered to be the most valuable addition to modern medicine... it is -the most perfect relief known." - -Birney's Catarrh Cure runs as high as 4 per cent, and can produce -testimonials vouching for its harmlessness. Here is a Birney -"testimonial" to the opposite effect, obtained "without solicitation -or payment" (I have ventured to put it in the approved form), which no -sufferer from catarrh can afford to miss. [IMAGE ==>] {043} - -READ what William Thompson, of Chicago, says of - -BIRNEY'S CATARRH CURE. - -"Three years ago Thompson was a strong man. Now he is without money, -health, home or friends." - -(Chicago Tribune.) - -"I began taking Birney's Catarrh Cure (says Thompson) three years ago, -and the longing for the drug has grown so potent that I suffer without -it. - -"I followed the directions at first, then I increased the quantity until -I bought the stuff by the dozen bottles." - -A famous drink and drug cure in Illinois had, as a patient, not long -ago, a 14-year-old boy, who was a slave to the Birney brand of cocain. -He had run his father $300 in debt, so heavy were his purchases of the -poison. - -Chicago long ago settled this cocain matter in the only logical way. The -proprietor of a large downtown drug store noticed several years ago -that at noon numbers of the shop girls from a great department store -purchased certain catarrh powders over his counter. He had his clerk -warn them that the powders contained deleterious drugs. The girls -continued to purchase in increasing numbers and quantity. He sent word -to the superintendent of the store. "That accounts for the number of our -girls that have gone wrong of late," was the superintendent's comment. -The druggist, Mr. McConnell, had an analysis made by the Board of -Health, which showed that the powder most called for was nearly 4 per -cent, cocain, whereon he threw it and similar powders out of stock. The -girls went elsewhere. Mr. McConnell traced them and started a general -movement against this class of remedies, which resulted in an ordinance -forbidding their sale. Birney's Catarrhal Powders, as I am informed, to -meet the new conditions brought-out a powder without cocain, which had -the briefest kind of a sale. For weeks thereafter the downtown stores -were haunted by haggard young men and women, who begged for "the old -powders; these new ones don't do any good." As high as $1.00 premium was -paid for the 4 per cent, cocain species. To-day the Illinois druggist -who sells cocain in this form is liable to arrest. Yet in New York, -at the corner of Forty-second street and Broadway, I saw recently a -show-window display of the Birney cure, and similar displays are not -uncommon in other cities. - -Regarding other forms of drugs there may be honest differences of -opinion as to the limits of legitimacy in the trade. If mendacious -advertising were stopped, and the actual ingredients of every nostrum -plainly published {044}and frankly explained, the patent medicine trade -might reasonably claim to be a legitimate enterprise in many of its -phases. But no label of opium or cocain, though the warning skull and -cross-bones cover the bottle, will excuse the sale of products that are -never safely used except by expert advice. I believe that the Chicago -method of dealing with the catarrh powders is the right method in -cocain- and opium-bearing nostrums. Restrict the drug by the same -safeguards when sold under a lying pretence as when it flies its true -colors. Then, and then only, will our laws prevent the shameful trade -that stupefies helpless babies and makes criminals of our young men and -harlots of our young women. - - - - -V.--PREYING ON THE INCURABLES. - -Reprinted from Collier's Weekly, Jan. 13, 1906. {045} - -Incurable disease is one of the strongholds of the patent medicine -business. The ideal patron, viewed in the light of profitable business, -is the victim of some slow and wasting ailment in which recurrent hope -inspires to repeated experiments with any "cure" that offers. In -the columns of almost every newspaper you may find promises to cure -consumption. Consumption is a disease absolutely incurable by any -medicine, although an increasing percentage of consumptives are saved by -open air, diet and methodical living. This is thoroughly and definitely -understood by all medical and scientific men. Nevertheless there are in -the patent medicine world a set of harpies who, for their own business -interests, deliberately foster in the mind of the unfortunate sufferer -from tuberculosis the belief that he can be saved by the use of some -absolutely fraudulent nostrum. Many of these consumption cures contain -drugs which hasten the progress of the disease, such as chloroform, -opium, alcohol and hasheesh. Others are comparatively harmless in -themselves, but for their fervent promises of rescue they delude the -sufferer into misplacing his reliance, and forfeiting his only chance by -neglecting those rigidly careful habits of life which alone can conquer -the "white plague." One and all, the men who advertise medicines to cure -consumption deliberately traffic in human life. - -[IMAGE ==>] {045} - -Certain members of the Proprietary Association of America (the patent -medicine "combine") with whom I have talked have urged on me the claim -that there are firms in the nostrum business that are above criticism, -and have mentioned H. E. Bucklen & Co., of Chicago, who manufacture a -certain salve. The Bucklen salve did not particularly interest me. -But when I came to take up the subject of consumption cures I ran -unexpectedly on an interesting trail. In the country and small city -newspapers there is now being advertised lavishly "Dr. King's New -Discovery for Consumption." It is proclaimed to be the "only sure cure -for consumption." Further announcement is made that "it strikes terror -to the doctors." As it is a morphin and chloroform mixture, "Dr. King's -New Discovery for Consumption" is well calculated to strike terror to -the doctors or to any other class or profession, except, perhaps, the -undertakers. It is a pretty diabolical concoction to give to any one, -and particularly to a consumptive. The chloroform temporarily allays -the cough, thereby checking Nature's effort to throw off the dead -matter from the lungs. The opium drugs the patient into a deceived -cheerfulness. The combination is admirably designed to shorten the life -of any consumptive who takes it steadily. Of course, there is nothing on -the label of the bottle to warn the purchaser. That would be an example -of legitimate advertising in the consumption field. - -[IMAGE ==>] {046} - -A TYPICAL FRAUD. - -Chloroform and Prussic Acid. {047} - -Another "cure" which, for excellent reasons of its own, does not print -its formula, is "Shiloh's Consumption Cure," made at Leroy, N. Y., by -S. C. Wells & Co. Were it to publish abroad the fact that it contains, -among other ingredients, chloroform and prussic acid. Under our present -lax system there is no warning on the bottle that the liquid contains -one of the most deadly of poisons. The makers write me: "After you have -taken the medicine for awhile, if you are not firmly convinced that you -are very much better we want you to go to your druggist and get back all -the money that you have paid for Shiloh." - -[IMAGE ==>] {047} - -[IMAGE ==>] {048} - -[IMAGE ==>] {049} - -But if I were a consumptive, after I had taken "Shiloh" for awhile I -should be less interested in recovering my money than in getting back my -wasted chance of life. Would S. C. Wells & Co. guarantee that? {050} - -Morphin is the important ingredient of Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup. -Nevertheless, the United States Postoffice Department obligingly -transmits me a dose of this poison through the mails from A. C. Meyer -& Co., of Baltimore, the makers. The firm writes me, in response to my -letter of inquiry: - -"We do not claim that Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup will cure an established -case of consumption. If you have gotten this impression you most likely -have misunderstood what we claim.... We can, however, say that Dr. -Bull's Cough Syrup has cured cases said to have been consumption in its -earliest stages." - -Quite conservative, this. But A. C. Meyer & Co. evidently don't follow -their own advertising very closely, for around my sample bottle (by -courtesy of the Postoffice Department) is a booklet, and from that -booklet I quote: - -"_There is no case of hoarseness, cough, asthma, bronchitis... or -consumption that can not be cured speedily by the proper use of Dr. -Bull's Cough Syrup_." - -If this is not a claim that Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup "will cure an -established case of consumption," what is it? The inference from Meyer -& Co.'s cautious letter is that they realize their responsibility for a -cruel and dangerous fraud and are beginning to feel an uneasiness -about it, which may be shame or may be only fear. One logical effect -of permitting medicines containing a dangerous quantity of poison to -be sold without the poison label is shown in the coroner's verdict -reproduced on page 47. - -[IMAGE ==>] {047} - -In the account of the Keck baby's death from the Dr. Bull opium mixture, -which the Cincinnati papers published, there was no mention of the -name of the cough syrup. Asked about this, the newspapers gave various -explanations. Two of them disclosed that they had no information on the -point. This is contrary to the statement of the physician in the case, -and implies a reportorial, laxity which is difficult to credit. One -ascribed the omission to a settled policy and one to the fear of libel. -When the coroner's verdict was given out, however, the name of the -nostrum got into plain print. On the whole, the Cincinnati papers showed -themselves gratifyingly independent. - -Another case of poisoning from this same remedy occurred in Morocco, -Ind., the victim being a 2-year-old child. The doctor reports: - -"In an hour, when first seen, symptoms of opium poisoning were present. -In about twelve hours the child had several convulsions, and spasms -followed for another twelve hours at intervals. It then sank into a coma -and died in the seventy-two hours with cardiac failure. The case was -clearly one of death from overdose of the remedy." - -The baby had swallowed a large amount of the "medicine" from a bottle -left within its reach. Had the bottle been properly labeled with skull -and cross-bones the mother would probably not have let it lie about. - -Caution seems to have become a suddenly acquired policy of this class -of medicines, in so far as their correspondence goes. Unfortunately, -it does not extend to their advertising. The result is a rather painful -discrepancy. G. G. Green runs hotels in California and manufactures -quack medicines in Woodbury, N. J., one of these being "Boschee's German -Syrup," a "consumption cure." Mr. Green writes me (per rubber stamp): - -"Consumption can sometimes be cured, but not always. Some cases are -beyond cure. However, we suggest that you secure a trial bottle of -German Syrup for 25 cents," etc. - -On the bottle I read: "Certain cure for all diseases of the throat and -lungs." Consumption is a disease of the lungs; sometimes of the throat. -{051} - -If it "can sometimes be cured, but not always," then the German Syrup -is not a "certain cure for all diseases of the throat and lungs," and -somebody, as the ill-fated Reingelder put it, "haf lied in brint" on -Mr. Green's bottle, which must be very painful to Mr. Green. Mr. Green's -remedy contains morphin and some hydrocyanic acid. Therefore consumption -will be much less often curable where Boschee's German Syrup is used -than where it is not. - - - - -Absolutely False Claims. - -A curious mixture of the cautious, semi-ethical method and the blatant -claim-all patent medicine is offered in the Ozomulsion Company. -Ozomulsion does not, like the "cures" mentioned above, contain active -poisons. It is one of the numerous cod-liver oil preparations, and its -advertising, in tne medical journals at first and now in the lay -press, is that of a cure for consumption. I visited the offices of the -Ozomulsion Company recently and found them duly furnished with a regular -physician, who was employed, so he informed me, in a purely ethical -capacity. There was also present during the interview the president -of the Ozomulsion Company, Mr. A. Frank Richardson, former advertising -agent, former deviser of the advertising of Swamp-Root, former -proprietor of Kranitonic and present proprietor of Slocum's Consumption -Cure, which is the "wicked partner" of Ozomulsion. For convenience I -will put the conversation in court report form, and, indeed, it partook -somewhat of the nature of a cross-examination: - -Q.--Dr. Smith, will Ozomulsion cure consumption? - -A.--Ozomulsion builds up the tissues, imparts vigor, aids the natural -resistance of the body, etc. (Goes into a long exploitation in the -manner and style made familiar by patent medicine pamphlets. ) - -Q.--But will it cure consumption? - -A.--Well, without saying that it is a specific, etc. (Passes to an -instructive, entertaining and valuable disquisition on the symptoms and -nature of tuberculosis. ) - -Q.--Yes, but will Ozomulsion cure consumption? - -A.--We don't claim that it will cure consumption. - -Q.--Does not this advertisement state that Ozomulsion will cure -consumption? (SHowing advertisement.) - -A.--It seems to. - -Q.--Will Ozomulsion cure consumption? - -A.--In the early stages of the disease-- - -Q. (interrupting)--Does the advertisement make any qualifications as to -the stage of tne disease? - -A.--Not that I find. - -Q.--Have you ever seen that advertisement before? - -A.--Not to my knowledge. - -Q.--Who wrote it? - -A. (by President Richardson)--I done that ad. myself. - -Q.--Mr. Richardson, will Ozomulsion cure consumption? - -A.--Sure; we got testimonials to prove it. - -Q.--Have you ever investigated any of these testimonials? - -Q. (to Dr. Smith)--Dr. Smith, in view of the direct statement of your -advertising, do you believe that Ozomulsion will cure consumption? - -A.--Well, I believe in a great many cases it will. - - - - -Health for Five Dollars. - -That is as far as Dr. Smith would go. I wonder what he would have said -as to the Dr. T. A. Slocum side of the business. Dr. Slocum puts out a -"Special Cure Offer" that will snatch you from the jaws of death, on the -{052}blanket plan, for $6, and guarantees the cure (or more medicine) for -$10. His scheme is so noble and broad-minded that I can not refrain from -detailing it. For $5 you get, - - 1 large bottle of Psychine, - 1 large bottle of Ozomulsion, - 1 large bottle of Coltsfoote Expectorant, - 1 large tube of Ozojell, - 3 boxes of lazy Liver Pills - 3 Hot X-Ray Porous Plaster, - -"which," says the certificate, "will in a majority of cases effect a -permanent care of the malady from which the invalid is now suffering." -Whatever ails you--that's what Dr. T. A. Sloram cures. For $10 you get -almost twice the amount, plus the guarantee. Surely there is little left -on earth, unless Dr. Slocum should issue a $15 offer, to include funeral -expenses and a tombstone. - -The Slocum Consumption Cure proper consists of a gay-hued substance -known as "Psychine." Psychine is about 16 per cent, alcohol, and has a -dash of strychnin to give the patient his money's worth. Its alluring -color is derived from cochineal. It is "an infallible and unfailing -remedy for consumption." Ozomulsion is also a sure cure, if the -literature is to be believed. To cure one's self twice of the same -disease savors of reckless extravagance, but as "a perfect and permanent -cure will be the inevitable consequence," perhaps it's worth the money. -It would not do to charge Dr. T. A. Slocum with fraud, because he is, -I suppose, as dead as Lydia E. Pinkham; but Mr. A. Frank Richardson is -very much alive, and I trust it will be no surprise to him to see here -stated that his Ozomulsion makes claims that it can not support, that -his Psychine is considerably worse, that his special cure offer is a bit -of shameful quackery, and that his whole Slocum Consumption Cure is a -fake and a fraud so ludicrous that its continued insistence is a -brilliant commentary on human credulousness. - -Since the early '60s, and perhaps before, there has constantly been in -the public prints one or another benefactor of the human race who wishes -to bestow on suffering mankind, free of charge, a remedy which has -snatched him from the brink of the grave. Such a one is Mr. W. A. -Noyes, of Rochester, N. Y. To any one who writes him he sends gratis -a prescription which will surely cure consumption. But take this -prescription to your druggist and you will fail to get it filled, -for the simple reason that the ingenious Mr. Noyes has employed a -pharmaceutical nomenclature peculiarly his own If you wish to try the -"Cannabis Sativa Remedy" (which is a mixture of hasheesh and other -drugs) you must purchase it direct from the advertiser at a price which -assures him an abnormal profit. As Mr. Noyes writes me proposing to give -special treatment for my (supposed) case, depending on a diagnosis of -sixty-seven questions, I fail to see why he is not liable for practicing -medicine without a license. - - - - -Piso Grows Cautious. - -Piso's Consumption Cure, extensively advertised a year or two ago, is -apparently withdrawing from the field, so far as consumption goes, -and the Pino people are now more modestly promising to cure coughs and -colds. Old analyses give as the contents of Piso's Cure for Consumption -alcohol, chloroform, opium and cannabis indica (hasheesh). In reply -to an inquiry as to whether their remedy contains morphin and cannabis -indica, the Piso Company replies: "Since the year 1872 Piso's Cure has -contained no morphin or anything derived from opium." The question as to -cannabis indica is not answered. Analysis shows that the "cure" contains -chloroform, alcohol and apparently cannabis indica. It is, therefore, -another of the {053}remedies which can not possibly cure consumption, -but, on the contrary, tend by their poisonous and debilitating drugs to -undermine the victim's stamina. - -Peruna, Liquozone, Duffy's Malt Whiskey, Pierce's Golden Medical -Discovery and the other "blanket" cures include tuberculosis in their -lists, claiming great numbers of well-authenticated cures. From the -imposing book published by the R. V. Pierce Company, of Buffalo, I took -a number of testimonials for investigation; not a large number, for I -found the consumption testimonial rather scarce. From fifteen letters I -got results in nine cases. Seven of the letters were returned to me -marked "unclaimed," of which one was marked "Name not in the dictory," -another "No such postoffice in the state" and a third "Deceased." The -eighth man wrote that the Golden Medical Discovery had cured his cough -and blood-spitting, adding: "It is the best lung medisan I ever used for -lung trubble." The last man said he took twenty-five bottles and was -cured! Two out of nine seems to me a suspiciously small percentage of -traceable recoveries. Much stress has been laid by the Proprietary -Association of America through its press committee on the suit brought -by R. V. Pierce against the Ladies' Home Journal, the implication being -(although the suit has not yet been tried) that a reckless libeler of a -noble and worthy business has been suitably punished. In the full -appreciation of Dr. Pierce's attitude in the matter of libel, I wish to -state that in so far as its claim of curing consumption is concerned his -Golden Medical Discovery is an unqualified fraud. - -[IMAGE ==>] {053} - -One might suppose that the quacks would stop short of trying to deceive -the medical profession in this matter, yet the "consumption cure" may -be found disporting itself in the pages of the medical journals. For -instance, I find this advertisement in several professional magazines: - -"McArthur's Syrup of Hypophosphites has proved itself, time and time -again, to be positively beneficial in this condition [tuberculosis] -in the hands of prominent observers, clinicians and, what is more, -practicing physicians, hundreds of whom have written their admiring -encomiums in {054}its behalf, and it is the enthusiastic conviction of -many that _its effect is truly specific_" Which, translated into lay -terms, means that the syrup will cure consumption. I find also in the -medical press "a sure cure for dropsy," fortified with a picture worthy -of Swamp-Root or Lydia Pinkham. Both of these are frauds in attempting -to foster the idea that they will _cure_ the diseases, and they are -none the less fraudulent for being advertised to the medical profession -instead of to the laity. - -Is there, then, no legitimate advertising of preparations useful in -diseases such as tuberculosis? Very little, and that little mostly in -the medical journals, exploiting products which tend to build up and -strengthen the patient. There has recently appeared, however, one -advertisement in the lay press which seems to me a legitimate attempt -to push a nostrum. It is reproduced at the beginning of this article. -Notice, first, the frank statement that there is no specific for -consumption; second, that there is no attempt to deceive the public into -the belief that the emulsion will be helpful in all cases. Whether or -not Scott's Emulsion is superior to other cod-liver oils is beside the -present question. If all patent medicine "copy" were written in the same -spirit of honesty as this, I should have been able to omit from this -series all consideration of fraud, and devote my entire attention to the -far less involved and difficult matter of poison. Unhappily, all of -the Scott's Emulsion advertising is not up to this standard. In another -newspaper I have seen an excerpt in which the Scott & Bowne Company come -perilously near making, if they do not actually make, the claim that -their emulsion is a cure, and furthermore make themselves ridiculous by -challenging comparison with another emulsion, suggesting a chemical test -and offering, if their nostrum comes out second best, _to give to the -institution making the experiment a supply of their oil free for a -year_. This is like the German druggist who invented a heart-cure and -offered two cases to any one who could prove that it was injurious! - -Consumption is not the only incurable disease in which there are good -pickings for the birds of prey. In a recent issue of the New York Sunday -_American-Journal_ I find three cancer cures, one dropsy cure, one -"heart-disease soon cured," three epilepsy cures and a "case of -paralysis cured." Cancer yields to but one agency--the knife. Epilepsy -is either the result of pressure on the brain or some obscure cerebral -disease; medicine can never cure it. Heart disease is of many kinds, and -a drug that may be helpful in relieving symptoms in one case might be -fatal in another. The same is true of dropsy. Medical science knows no -"cure" for paralysis. As space lacks to consider individually the nature -of each nostrum separately, I list briefly, for the protection of those -who read, a number of the more conspicuous swindles of this kind now -being foisted on the public: - - Rupert Wells' Radiatized Fluid, for cancer. - Miles' Heart Disease Cure. - Miles' Grand Dropsy Cure. - Dr. Tucker's Epilepsy Cure. - Dr. Grant's Epilepsy Cure. - W. H. May's Epilepsy Cure. - Dr. Kline's Epilepsy Cure. - Dr. W. 0. Bye's Cancer Cure. - Mason's Cancer Cure. - Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People, - -which are advertised to cure paralysis and are a compound of green -vitriol, starch and sugar. - -Purchasers of these nostrums not only waste their money, but in many -cases they throw away their only chance by delaying proper treatment -until it is too late. {055} - -Properly, a "cure" known as Bioplasm belongs in this list, but so -ingenious are its methods that it deserves some special attention. In -some of the New York papers a brief advertisement, reading as follows, -occupies a conspicuous position. - -"After suffering for ten years the torture that only an ataxic can know, -Mr. E. P. Burnham, of Delmar, N. Y., has been relieved of all pain and -restored to health and strength, and the ability to resume his usual -pursuits, by an easily obtained and inexpensive treatment which -any druggist can furnish. To any fellow-sufferer who mails him a -self-addressed envelope Mr. Burnham sends free this prescription which -cured him."--Adv. - -Now, people who give away something for nothing, and spend money -advertising for a chance to do it, are as rare in the patent medicine -business as out of it, and Delmar, N. Y., is not included in any map of -Altruria that I have learned of E. P. Burnham, therefore, seemed worth -writing to. The answer came back promptly, inclosing the prescription -and explaining the advertiser's purpose: - -"My only motive in the notice which caught your attention is to help -other sufferers. _You owe me nothing. I have nothing to sell_. When -you are benefited, however, if you feel disposed and able to send me -a contribution to assist me in making this great boon to our -felow-sufferers better known it will be thankfully received and used for -that purpose." - -I fear that Mr. Burnham doesn't make much money out of grateful -correspondents who were cured of locomotor ataxia by his prescription, -because locomotor ataxia is absolutely and hopelessly incurable. Where -Mr. Burnham gets his reward, I fancy, is from the Bioplasm Company, of -100 William street, New York, whose patent medicine is prescribed for -me. I should like to believe that his "only motive is to help other -sufferers," but as I find, on investigation, that the advertising agents -who handle the "Burnham" account are the Bioplasm Company's agents, I am -regretfully compelled to believe that Mr. Burnham, instead of being of -the tribe of the good Samaritan, is probably an immediate relative of -Ananias. The Bioplasm Company also proposes to cure consumption, and is -worthy of a conspicuous place in the Fraud's Gallery of Nostrums. - -Even the skin of the Ethiop is not exempt from the attention of the -quacks. A colored correspondent writes, asking that I "give a paragraph -to these frauds who cater to the vanity of those of my race who insult -their Creator in attempting to change their color and hair," and inclose -a typical advertisement of "Lustorene," which "straightens kinky, nappy, -curly hair," and of "Lustorone Face Bleach," which "whitens the darkest -skin" and will "bring the skin to any desired shade or color." Nothing -could better illustrate to what ridiculous lengths the nostrum fraud -will go. Of course, the Lustorone business is fraudulent. Some time -since a Virginia concern, which advertised to turn negroes white, was -suppressed by the Postoffice Department, which might well turn its -attention to Lustorone Face Bleach. - -There are being exploited in this country to-day more than 100 cures, -for diseases that are absolutely beyond the reach of drugs. They -are owned by men who know them to be swindles, and who in private -conversation will almost always evade the direct statement that their -nostrums will "cure" consumption, epilepsy, heart disease and ailments -of that nature. Many of them "guarantee" their remedies. They will -return your money if you aren't satisfied. And they can afford to. They -take the lightest of risks. The real risk is all on the other side. -It is their few pennies per bottle against your life. Were the facile -patter by which they lure to the bargain a menace to the pocketbook -alone, one might regard them only as ordinary {056}followers of light -finance, might imagine them filching their gain with the confidential, -half-brazen, half-ashamed leer of the thimblerigger. But the matter -goes further and deeper. Every man who trades in this market, whether he -pockets the profits of the maker, the purveyor or the advertiser, takes -toll of blood. He may not deceive himself here, for here the patent -medicine is nakedest, most cold-hearted. Relentless greed sets the trap -and death is partner in the enterprise. - - - - -VI--THE FUNDAMENTAL FAKES. - -Reprinted from Collier's Weekly, Feb. 17, 1906. {057} - -Advertising and testimonials are respectively the aggressive and -defensive forces of the Great American Fraud. Without the columns of the -newspapers and magazines wherein to exploit themselves, a great majority -of the patent medicines would peacefully and blessedly fade out of -existence. Nearly all the world of publications is open to the swindler, -the exceptions being the high-class magazines and a very few independent -spirited newspapers. The strongholds of the fraud are dailies, great -and small, the cheap weeklies and the religious press. According to -the estimate of a prominent advertising firm, above 90 per cent, of -the earning capacity of the prominent nostrums is represented by their -advertising. And all this advertising is based on the well-proven -theory of the public's pitiable ignorance and gullibility in the vitally -important matter of health. - -Study the medicine advertising in your morning paper, and you will find -yourself in a veritable goblin-realm of fakery, peopled with monstrous -myths. Here is an amulet in the form of an electric belt, warranted -to restore youth and vigor to the senile; yonder a magic ring or a -mysterious inhaler, or a bewitched foot-plaster which will draw the -pangs of rheumatism from the tortured body "or your money back"; and -again some beneficent wizard in St. Louis promises with a secret philtre -to charm away deadly cancer, while in the next column a firm of magi -in Denver proposes confidently to exorcise the demon of incurable -consumption without ever seeing the patient. Is it credible that a -supposedly civilized nation should accept such stuff as gospel? Yet -these exploitations cited above, while they are extreme, differ only -in degree from nearly all patent-medicine advertising. Ponce de Leon, -groping toward that dim fountain whence youth springs eternal, might -believe that he had found his goal in the Peruna factory, the Liquozone -"laboratory" or the Vitæ-Ore plant; his thousands of descendants in -this century of enlightenment painfully drag themselves along poisoned -trails, following a will-o'-the-wisp that dances above the open graves. - - - - -Newspaper Accomplices. - -If there is no limit to the gullibility of the public on the one hand, -there is apparently none to the cupidity of the newspapers on the other. -As the Proprietary Association of America is constantly setting forth in -veiled warnings, the press takes an enormous profit from patent-medicine -advertising. Mr. Hearst's papers alone reap a harvest of more than half -a million dollars per annum from this source. The Chicago _Tribune_, -which treats nostrum advertising in a spirit of independence, and -sometimes with scant courtesy, still receives more than $80,000 a year -in medical patronage. Many of the lesser journals actually live on -patent medicines. What wonder that they are considerate of these -profitable customers! Pin a newspaper owner down to the issue of fraud -in the matter, and he will take refuge in the plea that his advertisers -and not himself are responsible for what appears in the advertising -columns. _Caveat emptor_ is the implied superscription above this -department. The more shame to those publications {058}which prostitute -their news and editorial departments to their greed. Here are two -samples, one from the Cleveland _Plain-Dealer_, the other from a -temperance weekly, Green Goods "Cable News." - -The "Ascatco" advertisement, which the Plain-Dealer prints as a -cablegram, without any distinguishing mark to designate it as an -advertisement, of course, emanates from the office of the nostrum, and -is a fraud, as the _Plain-Dealer_ well knew when it accepted payment, -and became partner to the swindle by deceiving its readers. Tne Vitæ-Ore -"editorial" appears by virtue of a full-page advertisement of this -extraordinary fake in the same issue. - -Whether, because church-going people are more trusting, and therefore -more easily befooled than others, or from some more obscure reason, many -of the religious papers fairly reek with patent-medicine fakes. -Take, for instance, the _Christian Endeavor World_, which is the -undenominational organ of a large, powerful and useful organization, -unselfishly working toward the betterment of society. A subscriber who -recently complained of certain advertisements received the following -reply from the business manager of the publication: - -"Dear Sir:--Your letter of the 4th comes to me for reply. Appreciating -the good spirit in which you write, let me assure you that, to the best -of our knowledge and belief, we are not publishing any fraudulent -or unworthy medicine advertising. We decline every year thousands of -dollars' worth of patent-medicine advertising that we think is either -fraudulent or misleading. You would be surprised, very likely, if you -could know of the people of high intelligence and good character who are -benefited by these {059}medicines. We have taken a great deal of pains -to make particular inquiries of our subscribers with respect to this -question, and a very large percentage of them are devoted to one or -more well-known patent medicines, and regard them as household remedies. -Trusting that you will be able to understand that we are acting -according to our best and sincerest judgment, I remain, yours very -truly, - -"The Golden Rule Company, - -"George W. Coleman, Business Manager" - -Running through half a dozen recent issues of the _Christian Endeavor -World_, I find nineteen medical advertisements of, at best, dubious -nature. Assuming that the business management of the _Christian Endeavor -World_ represents normal intelligence, I would like to ask whether it -accepts the statement that a pair of "magic foot drafts" applied to the -bottom of the feet will cure any and every kind of rheumatism in any -part of the body? Further, if the advertising department is genuinely -interested in declining "fraudulent or misleading" copy, I would call -their attention to the ridiculous claims of Dr. Shoop's medicines, -which "cure" almost every disease; to two hair removers, one an "Indian -Secret," the other an "accidental discovery," both either fakes or -dangerous; to the lying claims of Hall's Catarrh Cure, that it is "a -positive cure for catarrh" in all its stages to "Syrup of Figs," which -is not a fig syrup, but a preparation of senna; to Dr. Kilmer's Swamp -Root, of which the principal medicinal constituent is alcohol; and, -finally, to Dr. Bye's Oil Cure for cancer, a particularly cruel swindle -on unfortunates suffering from an incurable malady. All of these, with -other matter, which for the sake of decency I do not care to detail -in these columns, appear in recent issues of the _Christian Endeavor -World_, and are respectfully submitted to its management and its -readers. - - - - -Quackery and Religion. - -The Baptist Watchman of Oct. 12, 1905, prints an editorial defending the -principle of patent medicines. It would be interesting to know whether -the back page of the number has any connection with the editorial. This -page is given up to an illustrated advertisement of Vito-Ore, one of -the boldest fakes in the whole Frauds' Gallery. Vitæ-Ore claims to be -a mineral mined from "an extinct mineral spring," and to contain free -iron, free sulphur and free magnesium. It contains no free iron, no free -sulphur, and no free magnesium. It announces itself as "a certain and -never-failing cure" for rheumatism and Bright's disease, dropsy, -blood poisoning, nervous prostration and general debility, among other -maladies. Whether it is, as asserted, mined from an extinct spring -or bucketed from a sewer has no bearing on its utterly fraudulent -character. There is no "certain and never-failing cure" for the diseases -in its list, and when the _Baptist Watchman_ sells itself to such an -exploitation it becomes partner to a swindle not only on the pockets -of its readers, but on their health as well. In the same issue I find -"Piso's Cure for Consumption," - -"Bye's Cancer Cure," - -"Mrs. M. Summer's Female Remedy," - -"Winslow's Soothing Syrup," and "Juven Pills," somewhat disguised here, -but in other mediums openly a sexual weakness "remedy." - -A correspondent sends me clippings from _The Christian Century_, leading -off with an interesting editorial entitled "Our Advertisers," from which -I quote in part: - -"We take pleasure in calling the attention of our readers to the high -grade of advertising which _The Christian Century_ commands. We shall -continue to advertise only such companies as we know to be thoroughly -reliable. During the past year we have refused thousands of dollars' -{060}worth of advertising which other religious journals are running, -but which is rated 'objectionable' by the better class of periodicals. -Compare our advertising columns with the columns of any other purely -religious journal, and let us know what you think of the character of -our advertising patrons." - -Whether the opinion of a non-subscriber will interest _The Christian -Century_ I have no means of knowing, but I will venture it. My opinion -is that a considerable proportion of its advertisements are such as any -right-minded and intelligent publisher should be ashamed to print, and -that if its readers accept its endorsement of the advertising columns -they will have a very heavy indictment to bring against it. Three -"cancer cures," a dangerous "heart cure," a charlatan eye doctor, Piso's -Consumption Cure, Dr. Shoop's Rheumatism Cure and Liquozone make up -a pretty fair "Frauds' Gallery" for the delectation of _The Christian -Century's_ readers. - -[IMAGE ==>] {060} - -As a convincing argument, many nostrums guarantee, not a cure, as they -would have the public believe, but a reimbursement if the medicine is -unsatisfactory. - -Liquozone does this, and faithfully carries out its agreement. -Electro-gen, a new "germicide," which has stolen Liquozone's advertising -scheme almost word for word, also promises this. Dr. Shoop's agreement -{061}is so worded that the unsatisfied customer is likely to have -considerable trouble in getting his money back. Other concerns send -their "remedies" free on trial, among these being the ludicrous "magic -foot drafts" referred to above. At first thought it would seem that -only a cure would bring profit to the makers. But the fact is that most -diseases tend to cure themselves by natural means, and the delighted and -deluded patient, ascribing the relief to the "remedy," which really has -nothing to do with it, sends on his grateful dollar. Where the money -is already paid, most people are too inert to undertake the effort of -getting it back. It is the easy American way of accepting a swindle as a -sort of joke, which makes for the nostrum readers ready profits. - - - - -Safe Rewards. - -Then there is the "reward for proof" that the proprietary will not -perform the wonders advertised. The Liquozone Company offer $1,000, I -believe, for any germ that Liquozone will not kill. This is a pretty -safe offer, because there are no restrictions as to the manner in which -the unfortunate germ might be maltreated. If the matter came to an -issue, the defendants might put their bacillus in the Liquozone bottle -and freeze him solid. If that didn't end him, they could boil the ice -and save their money, as thus far no germ has been discovered which -can survive the process of being made into soup. Nearly all of the -Hall Catarrh Cure advertisements offer a reward of $100 for any case -of catarrh which the nostrum fails to cure. It isn't enough, though one -hundred times that amount might be worth while; for who doubts that Mr. -F. J. Cheney, inventor of the "red clause," would fight for his cure -through every court, exhausting the prospective $100 reward of his -opponent in the first round? How hollow the "guarantee" pretence is, is -shown by a clever scheme devised by Radam, the quack, years ago, when -Shreveport was stricken with yellow fever. Knowing that his offer could -not be accepted, he proposed to the United States Government that he -should eradicate the epidemic by destroying all the germs with Radam's -Microbe Killer, offering to deposit $10,000 as a guarantee. Of course, -the Government declined on the ground that it had no power to accept -such an offer. Meantime, Radam got a lot of free advertising, and his -fortune was made. - -No little stress is laid on "personal advice" by the patent-medicine -companies. This may be, according to the statements of the firm, from -their physician or from some special expert. As a matter of fact, it is -almost invariably furnished by a $10-a-week typewriter, following -out one of a number of "form" letters prepared in bulk for the -"personal-inquiry" dupes. Such is the Lydia E. Pinkham method. The -Pinkham Company writes me that it is entirely innocent of any intent to -deceive people into believing that Lydia E. Pinkham is still alive, and -that it has published in several cases statements regarding her demise. -It is true that a number of years ago a newspaper forced the Pinkham -concern into a defensive admission of Lydia E. Pinkham's death, but -since then the main purpose of the Pinkham advertising has been to -befool the feminine public into believing that their letters go to a -woman--who died nearly twenty years ago of one of the diseases, it is -said, which her remedy claims to cure. - - - - -The Immortal Mrs. Pinkham. - -True, the newspaper appeal is always "Write to Mrs. Pinkham," and this -is technically a saving clause, as there is a Mrs. Pinkham, widow of the -son of Lydia E. Pinkham. What sense of shame she might be supposed to -suffer in the perpetration of an obvious and public fraud is presumably -{062}salved by the large profits of the business. The great majority -of the gulls who "write to Mrs. Pinkham" suppose themselves to be -addressing Lydia E. Pinkham, and their letters are not even answered by -the present proprietor of the name, but by a corps of hurried clerks and -typewriters. - -You get the same result when you write to Dr. Hartman, of Peruna, for -personal guidance. Dr. Hartman himself told me that he took no active -part now in the conduct of the Peruna Company. If he sees the letters -addressed to him at all, it is by chance. "Dr. Kilmer," of Swamp-Root -fame, wants you to write to him about your kidneys. There is no Dr. -Kilmer in the Swamp-Root concern, and has not been for many years. Dr. -T. A. Slocum, who writes you so earnestly and piously about taking care -of your consumption in time, is a myth. The whole "personal medical -advice" business is managed by rote, and the letter that you get -"special to your case" has been printed and signed before your inquiry -ever reached the shark who gets your money. - -An increasingly common pitfall is the letter in the newspapers from some -sufferer who has been saved from disease and wants you to write and get -the prescription free. A conspicuous instance of this is "A Notre -Dame Lady's Appeal" to sufferers from rheumatism and also from female -trouble. "Mrs. Summers," of Notre Dame, Ill., whose picture in the -papers represents a fat Sister of Charity, with the wan, uneasy -expression of one who feels that her dinner isn't digesting properly, -may be a real lady, but I suspect she wears a full beard and talks in -a bass voice, because my letter of inquiry to her was answered by the -patent medicine firm of Vanderhoof & Co., who inclosed some sample -tablets and wanted to sell me more. There are many others of this class. -It is safe to assume that every advertising altruist who pretends to -give out free prescriptions is really a quack medicine firm in disguise. - -One more instance of bad faith to which the nostrum patron renders -himself liable: It is asserted that these letters of inquiry in the -patent medicine field are regarded as private. "All correspondence -held strictly private and sacredly confidential," advertises Dr. R. V. -Pierce, of the Golden Medical Discovery, etc. A Chicago firm of letter -brokers offers to send me 50,000 Dr. Pierce order blanks at $2 a -thousand for thirty days; or I can get terms on Ozomulsion, Theodore -Noel (Vitæ-Ore), Dr. Stevens' Nervous Debility Cure, Cactus Cure, -women's regulators, etc. - -With advertisements in the medical journals the public is concerned only -indirectly, it is true, but none the less vitally. Only doctors read -these exploitations, but if they accept certain of them and treat their -patients on the strength of the mendacious statements it is at the peril -of the patients. Take, for instance, the Antikamnia advertising which -appears in most of the high-class medical journals, and which includes -the following statements: - - "Do not depress the heart. - Do not produce habit. - Are accurate--safe--sure." - -These three lines, reproduced as they occur in the medical journals, -contain five distinct and separate lies--a triumph of condensed -mendacity unequaled, so far as I know, in the "cure all" class. For an -instructive parallel here are two claims made by Duffy's Malt Whiskey, -one taken from a medical journal, and hence "ethical," the other -transcribed from a daily paper and therefore to be condemned by all -medical men. - -Puzzle: Which is the ethical and which the unethical advertisement? - -[IMAGE ==>] {063} - -"It is the only cure and preventative [sic] of consumption, pneumonia, -grip, bronchitis, coughs, colds, malaria, low fevers and all wasting, -weakening, diseased conditions." {064} - -"Cures general debility, overwork, la grippe, colds, bronchitis, -consumption, malaria, dyspepsia, depression, exhaustion and weakness -from whatever cause." - -All the high-class medical publications accept the advertising -of "McArthur's Syrup of Hypophosphites," which uses the following -statement: "It is the enthusiastic conviction of many (physicians) that -its effect is truly specific." That looks to me suspiciously like a -"consumption cure" shrewdly expressed in pseudo-ethical terms. - - - - -The Germicide Family. - -Zymoticine, if one may believe various medical publications, "will -prevent microbe proliferation in the blood streams, and acts as an -efficient eliminator of those germs and their toxins which are already -present." Translating this from its technical language, I am forced to -the conviction that Zymoticine is half-brother to Liquozone, and if the -latter is illegitimate at least both are children of Beelzebub, father -of all frauds. Of the same family are the "ethicals" Acetozone and -Keimol, as shown by their germicidal claims. - -Again, I find exploited to the medical profession, through its own -organa, a "sure cure for dropsy." - -"Hygeia presents her latest discovery," declares the advertisement, and -fortifies the statement with a picture worthy of Swamp-Root or Lydia -Pinkham. Every intelligent physician knows that there is no sure cure -for dropsy. The alternative implication is that the advertiser hopes to -get his profit by deluding the unintelligent of the profession, and -that the publications which print his advertisement are willing to hire -themselves out to the swindle. - -In one respect some of the medical journals are far below the average of -the newspapers, and on a par with the worst of the "religious" journals. -They offer their reading space for sale. Here is an extract from a -letter from the _Medical Mirror_ to a well-known "ethical firm": - -"Should you place a contract for this issue we shall publish a 300-word -report in your interest in our reading columns." - -Many other magazines of this class print advertisements as original -reading matter calculated to deceive their subscribers. - -Back of all patent medicine advertising stands the testimonial. Produce -proofs that any nostrum can not in its nature perform the wonders that -it boasts, and its retort is to wave aloft its careful horde or letters -and cry: - -"We rest on the evidence of those we have cured." - -The crux of the matter lies in the last word. Are the writers of those, -letters really cured? What is the value of these testimonials? Are -they genuine? Are they honest? Are they, in their nature and from their -source, entitled to such weight as would convince a reasonable mind? - -Three distinct types suggest themselves: The word of grateful -acknowledgement from a private citizen, couched in such terms as to -be readily available for advertising purposes; the encomium from some -person in public life, and the misspelled, illiterate epistle which is -from its nature so unconvincing that it never gets into print, and which -outnumbers the other two classes a hundred to one. First of all, -most nostrums make a point of the mass of evidence. Thousands of -testimonials, they declare, {065}just as valuable for their purposes as -those they print, are in their files. This is not true. I have taken -for analysis, as a fair sample, the "World's Dispensary Medical Book," -published by the proprietors of Pierce's Favorite Prescription, the -Golden Medical Discovery, Pleasant Pellets, the Pierce Hospital, etc. As -the dispensers of several nostrums, and because of their long career in -the business, this firm should be able to show as large a collection of -favorable letters as any proprietary concern. - - - - -Overworked Testimonials. - -In their book, judiciously scattered, I find twenty-six letters twice -printed, four letters thrice printed and two letters produced four -times. Yet the compilers of the book "have to regret" (editorially) that -they can "find room only for this comparatively small number in this -volume." Why repeat those they have if this is true? If enthusiastic -indorsements poured in on the patent medicine people, the Duffy's Malt -Whiskey advertising management would hardly be driven to purchasing -its letters from the very aged and from disreputable ministers of the -gospel. If all the communications were as convincing as those published, -the Peruna Company would not have to employ an agent to secure -publishable letters, nor the Liquozone Company indorse across the face -of a letter from a Mrs. Benjamin Charters: "Can change as we see fit." -Many, in fact I believe I may say almost all, of the newspaper-exploited -testimonials are obtained at an expense to the firm. Agents are -employed to secure them. This costs money. Druggists get a discount -for forwarding letters from their customers. This costs money. Persons -willing to have their picture printed get a dozen photographs for -themselves. This costs money. Letters of inquiry answered by givers -of testimonials bring a price--25 cents per letter, usually. Here is a -document sent out periodically by the Peruna Company to keep in line its -"unsolicited" beneficiaries: - -"As you are aware, we have your testimonial to our remedy. It has been -some time since we have heard from you, and so we thought best to -make inquiry as to your present state of health and whether you still -occasionally make use of Peruna. We also want to make sure that we have -your present street address correctly, and that you are making favorable -answers to such letters of inquiry which your testimonial may occasion. -Remember that we allow 25 cents for each letter of inquiry. You have -only to send the letter you receive, together with a copy of your reply -to the same, and we will forward you 25 cents for each pair of letters. - -"We hope you are still a friend of Peruna and that our continued use -of your testimonial will be agreeable to you. We are inclosing stamped -envelope for reply. Very sincerely yours, - -"The Peruna Drug Manufacturing Company, - -"Per Carr." - -And here is an account of another typical method of collecting this sort -of material, the writer being a young New Orleans man, who answered an -advertisement in a local paper, offering profitable special work to a -news paper man with spare time: - -"I found the advertiser to be a woman, the coarseness of whose features -was only equaled by the vulgarity of her manners and speech, and whose -self-assertiveness was in proportion to her bulk. She proposed that I -set about securing testimonials to the excellent qualities of Peruna, -which she pronounced 'Pay-Runa,' for which I was to receive a fee of $5 -to $10, according to the prominence of 'the guy' from whom I obtained -it. This I declined {066}flatly. She then inquired whether or not I was -a member of any social organizations or clubs in the city, and receiving -a positive answer she offered me $3 for a testimonial, including the -statement that Pay-Runa had been used by the members of the Southern -Athletic Club with good effects, and raised it to $5 before I left. - -"Upon my asking her what her business was before she undertook the -Pay-Runa work, she became very angry. Now, when a female is both very -large and very angry, the best thing for a small, thin young man to do -is to leave her to her thoughts and the expression thereof. I did it." - -[IMAGE: ==>] {066} - - - - -No Questions Desired. - -{067} Testimonials obtained in this way are, in a sense, genuine; that -is, the nostrum firm has documentary evidence that they were given; -but it is hardly necessary to state that they are not honest. Often -the handling of the material is very careless, as in the case of Doan's -Kidney Pills, which ran an advertisement in a Southern city embodying -a letter from a resident of that city who had been dead nearly a year. -Cause of death, kidney disease. - -In a former article I have touched on the matter of testimonials -from public men. These are obtained through special agents, through -hangers-on of the newspaper business who wheedle them out of congressmen -or senators, and sometimes through agencies which make a specialty of -that business. A certain Washington firm made a "blanket offer" to a -nostrum company of a $100 joblot of testimonials, consisting of one -De Wolf Hopper, one Sarah Bernhardt and six "statesmen," one of them a -United States senator. Whether they had Mr. Hopper and Mme. Bernhardt -under agreement or were simply dealing in futures I am unable to say, -but the offer was made in business-like fashion. And the "divine Sarah" -at least seems to be an easy subject for patent medicines, as her -letters to them are by no means rare. Congressmen are notoriously easy -to get, and senators are by no means beyond range. There are several -men now in the United States Senate who have, at one time or another, -prostituted their names to the uses of fraud medicines, which they do -not use and of which they know nothing. Naval officers seem to be easy -marks. Within a few weeks a retired admiral of our navy has besmirched -himself and his service by acting as pictorial sales agent for Peruna. -If one carefully considers the "testimonials" of this class it will -appear that few of the writers state that they have ever tried the -nostrum. We may put down the "public man's" indorsement, then, as -genuine (documentarily), but not honest. Certainly it can bear no weight -with an intelligent reader. - -Almost as eagerly sought for as this class of letter is the medical -indorsement. Medical testimony exploiting any medicine advertised in the -lay press withers under investigation. In the Liquozone article of this -series I showed how medical evidence is itself "doctored." This was -an extreme instance, for Liquozone, under its original administration, -exhibited less conscience in its methods than any of its competitors -that I have encountered. Where the testimony itself is not distorted, it -is obtained under false pretences or it comes from men of no standing in -the profession. Some time ago Duffy's Malt Whiskey sent out an agent to -get testimonials from hospitals. He got them. How he got them is told -in a letter from the physician in charge of a prominent Pennsylvania -institution: - -"A very nice appearing man called here one day and sent in his card, -bearing the name of Dr. Blank (I can't recall the name, but wish I -could), a graduate of Vermont University. He was as smooth an article as -I have ever been up against, and I have met a good many. He at once -got down to business and began to talk of the hospitals he had visited, -mentioning physicians whom I knew either personally or by reputation. He -then brought out a lot of documents for me to peruse, all of which were -bona fide affairs, from the various institutions, signed by the various -physicians or resident physicians, setting forth the merits or use of -'Duffy's Malt Whiskey.' He asked if I had ever used it. I said yes, but -very little, and was at the time using some, a fact, as I was sampling -what he handed me. He then placed about a dozen small bottles, holding -possibly two ounces, on the table, and said I should keep it, and he -would send me two quarts free for use here as soon as he got back." - - - - -Getting a Testimonial from a Physician. - -{068} "He next asked me if I would give him a testimonial regarding -Duffy's Whiskey. I said I did not do such things, as it was against -my principles to do so. 'But this is not for publication,' he said. I -replied that I had used but little of it, and found it only the same as -any other whisky. He then asked if I was satisfied with the results as -far as I had used it. I replied that I was. He then asked me to state -that much, and I very foolishly said I would, on condition that it was -not to be used as an advertisement, and he assured me it would not be -used. I then, in a few words, said that 'I (or we) have used and are -using Duffy's Malt Whiskey, and are satisfied with the results,' signing -my name to the same. He left here, and what was my surprise to receive -later on a booklet in which was my testimonial and many others, with -cuts of hospitals ranging along with people who had reached 100 years by -use of the whisky, while seemingly all ailments save ringbone and spavin -were being cured by this wonderful beverage. I was provoked, but was -paid as I deserved, for allowing a smooth tongue to deceive me. Duffy's -Malt Whiskey has never been inside this place since that day and never -will be while I have any voice to prevent it. The total amount used at -the time and before was less than half a gallon." - -This hospital is still used as a reference by the Duffy people. - -Many of the ordinary testimonials which come unsolicited to the -extensively advertised nostrums in great numbers are both genuine and -honest. What of their value as evidence? - -Some years ago, so goes a story familiar in the drug trade, the general -agent for a large jobbing house declared that he could put out an -article possessing not the slightest remedial or stimulant properties, -and by advertising it skillfully so persuade people of its virtues that -it would receive unlimited testimonials to the cure of any disease for -which he might choose to exploit it. Challenged to a bet, he became a -proprietary owner. Within a year he had won his wager with a collection -of certified "cures" ranging from anemia to pneumonia. Moreover, he -found his venture so profitable that he pushed it to the extent of -thousands of dollars of profits. His "remedy" was nothing but sugar. I -have heard "Kaskine" mentioned as the "cure" in the case. It answers the -requirements, or did answer them at that time, according to an analysis -by the Massachusetts State Board of Health, which shows that its -purchasers had been paying $1 an ounce for pure granulated sugar. -Whether "Kaskine" was indeed the subject of this picturesque bet, or -whether it was some other harmless fraud, is immaterial to the point, -which is that where the disease cures itself, as nearly all diseases -do, the medicine gets the benefit of this _viæ medicatriæ naturæ_--the -natural corrective force which makes for normal health in every human -organism. Obviously, the sugar testimonials can not be regarded as very -weighty evidence. - - - - -Testimonials for a Magic Ring. - -There is being advertised now a finger ring which by the mere wearing -cures any form of rheumatism. The maker of that ring has genuine letters -from people who believe that they have been cured by it. Would any one -other than a believer in witchcraft accept those statements? Yet they -are just as "genuine" as the bulk of patent medicine letters and written -in as good faith. A very small proportion of the gratuitous indorsements -get into the newspapers, because, as I have said, they do not lend -themselves {069}well to advertising purposes. I have looked over the -originals of hundreds of such letters, and more than 90 per cent, of -them--that is a very conservative estimate--are from illiterate and -obviously ignorant people. Even those few that can be used are rendered -suitable for publication only by careful editing. The geographical -distribution is suggestive. Out of 100 specimens selected at random -from the Pierce testimonial book, eighty-seven are from small, -remote hamlets, whose very names are unfamiliar to the average man of -intelligence. Only five are from cities of more than 50,000 inhabitants. -Now, Garden City, Kas.; North Yamhill, Ore.; Theresa, Jefferson County, -N. Y.; Parkland, Ky., and Forest Hill, W. Va., may produce an excellent -brand of Americanism, but one does not look for a very high average of -intelligence in such communities. Is it only a coincidence that the -mountain districts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee, recognized -as being the least civilized parts of the country, should furnish a -number of testimonials, not only to Pierce, but to Peruna, Paine's -Celery Compound and other brands, out of all proportion to their -population? On page 65 {065} is a group of Pierce enthusiasts and a -group of Peruna witnesses. Should you, on the face of this exhibit, -accept their advice on a matter wholly affecting your physical welfare? -This is what the advertiser is asking you to do. - -Secure as is the present control of the Proprietary Association over the -newspapers, there is one point in which I believe almost any journal may -be made to feel the force of public opinion, and that is the matter of -common decency. Newspapers pride themselves on preserving a respectable -moral standard in their news columns, and it would require no great -pressure on the part of the reading public (which is surely immediately -interested) to extend this standard to the advertising columns. I am -referring now not only to the unclean sexual, venereal and abortion -advertisements which deface the columns of a majority of papers, but -also to the exploitation of several prominent proprietaries. - -Recently a prominent Chicago physician was dining _en famille_ with a -friend who is the publisher of a rather important paper in a Western -city. The publisher was boasting that he had so established the -editorial and news policy of his paper that every line of it could be -read without shame in the presence of any adult gathering. - -"Never anything gets in," he declared, "that I couldn't read at this -table before my wife, son and daughter." - -The visitor, a militant member of his profession, snuffed battle from -afar. "Have the morning's issue brought," he said. Turning to the second -page he began on Swift's Sure Specific, which was headed in large black -type with the engaging caption, "Vile, Contagious Blood Poison." Before -he had gone far the 19-year-old daughter of the family, obedient to -a glance from the mother, had gone to answer an opportune ring at the -telephone, and the publisher had grown very red in the face. - -"I didn't mean the advertisements," he said. - -"I did," said the visitor, curtly, and passed on to one of the extremely -intimate, confidential and highly corporeal letters to the ghost of -Lydia E. Pinkham, which are a constant ornament of the press. The -publisher's son interrupted: - -"I don't believe that was written for me to hear," he observed. "I'm -too young--only 25, you know. Call me when you're through. I'll be out -looking at the moon." - -Relentlessly the physician turned the sheet and began on one of the -Chattanooga Medical Company's physiological editorials, entitled "What -{070}Men Like in a Girl." For loathsome and gratuitous indecency, for -leering appeal to their basest passions, this advertisement and the -others of the Wine of Cardui series sound the depths. The hostess lasted -through the second paragraph, when she fled, gasping. - -"Now," said the physician to his host, "what do you think of yourself?" - -The publisher found no answer, but thereafter his paper was put under -a censorship of advertising. Many dailies refuse such "copy" as this of -Wine of Cardui. And here, I believe, is an opportunity for the entering -wedge. If every subscriber to a newspaper who is interested in keeping -his home free from contamination would protest and keep on protesting -against advertising foulness of this nature, the medical advertiser -would soon be restricted to the same limits of decency which other -classes of merchandise accept as a matter of course, for the average -newspaper publisher is quite sensitive to criticism from his readers. A -recent instance came under my own notice in the case of the _Auburn_ (N. -Y.) _Citizen_, which bought out an old-established daily, taking over -the contracts, among which was a large amount of low-class patent -medicine advertising. The new proprietor, a man of high personal -standards, assured his friends that no objectionable matter would be -permitted in his columns. Shortly after the establishment of the new -paper there appeared an advertisement of Juven Pills, referred to above. -Protests from a number of subscribers followed. Investigation showed -that a so-called "reputable" patent medicine firm had inserted this -disgraceful paragraph under their contract. Further insertions of the -offending matter were refused and the Hood Company meekly accepted the -situation. Another central New York daily, the _Utica Press_, rejects -such "copy" as seems to the manager indecent, and I have yet to hear of -the paper's being sued for breach of contract. No perpetrator of unclean -advertising can afford to go to court on this ground, because he knows -that his matter is indefensible. - -Our national quality of commercial shrewdness fails us when we go into -the open market to purchase relief from suffering. The average American, -when he sets out to buy a horse, or a house, or a box of cigars, is a -model of caution. Show him testimonials from any number of prominent -citizens and he would simply scoff. He will, perhaps, take the word of -his life-long friend, or of the pastor of his church, but only after -mature thought, fortified by personal investigation. Now observe the -same citizen seeking to buy the most precious of all possessions, sound -health. Anybody's word is good enough for him here. An admiral whose -puerile vanity has betrayed him into a testimonial; an obliging and -conscienceless senator; a grateful idiot from some remote hamlet; a -renegade doctor or a silly woman who gets a bonus of a dozen photographs -for her letter--any of these are sufficient to lure the hopeful patient -to the purchase. He wouldn't buy a second-hand bicycle on the affidavit -of any of them, but he will give up his dollar and take his chance of -poison on a mere newspaper statement which he doesn't even investigate. -Every intelligent newspaper publisher knows that the testimonials which -he publishes are as deceptive as the advertising claims are false. Yet -he salves his conscience with the fallacy that the moral responsibility -is on the advertiser and the testimonial-giver. So it is, but the -newspaper shares it. When an aroused public sentiment shall make our -public men ashamed to lend themselves to this charlatanry, and shall -enforce on the profession of journalism those standards of decency in -the field of medical advertising which apply to other advertisers, the -Proprietary {071}Association of America will face a crisis more -perilous than any threatened legislation. For printers' ink is the very -life-blood of the noxious trade. Take from the nostrum vendors the means -by which they influence the millions, and there will pass to the limbo -of pricked bubbles a fraud whose flagrancy and impudence are of minor -import compared to the cold-hearted greed with which it grinds out its -profits from the sufferings of duped and eternally hopeful ignorance. - - - - -THE PATENT MEDICINE CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. - -Reprinted from Collier's Weekly, Nov. 4, 1905. {072} - - "Here shall the Press the People's rights maintain. - Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain." - - --Joseph Story: Motto of the Salem Register. - -_Would any person believe that there is any one subject upon which the -newspapers of the United States, acting in concert, by prearrangement, -in obedience to wires all drawn by one man, will deny full and free -discussion? If such a thing is possible, it is a serious matter, for we -rely upon the newspapers as at once the most forbidding preventive and -the swiftest and surest corrective of evil. For the haunting possibility -of newspaper exposure, men who know not at all the fear of God pause, -hesitate, and turn back from contemplated rascality. For fear "it might -get into the papers," more men are abstaining from crime and carouse -to-night than for fear of arrest. But these are trite things--only, what -if the newspapers fail us? Relying so wholly on the press to undo evil, -how shall we deal with that evil with which the press itself has been -seduced into captivity?_ - -In the Lower House of the Massachusetts Legislature one day last March -there was a debate which lasted one whole afternoon and engaged some -twenty speakers, on a bill providing that every bottle of patent -medicine sold in the state should bear a label stating the contents of -the bottle. More was told concerning patent medicines that afternoon -than often comes to light in a single day. The debate at times was -dramatic--a member from Salem told of a young woman of his acquaintance -now in an institution for inebriates as the end of an incident which -began with patent medicine dosing for a harmless ill. There was humor, -too, in the debate--Representative Walker held aloft a bottle of Peruna -bought by him in a drug store that very day and passed it around for -his fellow-members to taste and decide for themselves whether Dr. -Harrington, the Secretary of the State Board of Health, was right when -he told the Legislative Committee that it was merely a "cheap cocktail." - -The Papers did not Print One Word. - -In short, the debate was interesting and important--the two qualities -which invariably ensure to any event big headlines in the daily -newspapers. But that debate was not celebrated by big headlines, nor any -headlines at all. Yet Boston is a city, and Massachusetts is a state, -where the proceedings of the legislature figure very large in public -interest, and where the newspapers respond to that interest by reporting -the sessions with greater fullness and minuteness than in any -other state. Had that debate {073}been on prison reform, on Sabbath -observance, the early closing saloon law, on any other subject, there -would have been, in the next day's papers, overflowing accounts of -verbatim report, more columns of editorial comment, and the picturesque -features of it would have ensured the attention of the cartoonist. - -Now why? Why was this one subject tabooed? Why were the daily accounts -of legislative proceedings in the next day's papers abridged to a -fraction of their usual ponderous length, and all reference to the -afternoon debate on patent medicines omitted? Why was it in vain for the -speakers in that patent-medicine debate to search for their speeches -in the next day's newspapers? Why did the legislative reporters fail to -find their work in print? Why were the staff cartoonists forbidden to -exercise their talents on that most fallow and tempting opportunity--the -members of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts gravely tippling -Peruna and passing the bottle around to their encircled neighbors, that -practical knowledge should be the basis of legislative action? - -I take it if any man should assert that there is one subject on which -the newspapers of the United States, acting in concert and as a -unit, will deny full and free discussion, he would be smiled at as an -intemperate fanatic. The thing is too incredible. He would be regarded -as a man with a delusion. And yet I invite you to search the files of -the daily newspapers of Massachusetts for March 16, 1905, for an account -of the patent-medicine debate that occurred the afternoon of March 15 in -the Massachusetts Legislature. In strict accuracy it must be said that -there was one exception. Any one familiar with the newspapers of the -United States will already have named it--the Springfield _Republican_. -That paper, on two separate occasions, gave several columns to the -record of the proceedings of the legislature on the patent-medicine -bill. Why the otherwise universal silence? - -The patent-medicine business in the United States is one of huge -financial proportions. The census of 1900 placed the value of the annual -product at $59,611,355. Allowing for the increase of half a decade of -rapid growth, it must be to-day not less than seventy-five millions. -That is the wholesale price. The retail price of all the patent -medicines sold in the United States in one year may be very -conservatively placed at one hundred million dollars. And of this one -hundred millions which the people of the United States pay for patent -medicines yearly, fully forty millions goes to the newspapers. Have -patience! I have more to say than merely to point out the large revenue -which newspapers receive from patent medicines, and let inference do the -rest. Inference has no place in this story. There are facts a-plenty. -But it is essential to point out the intimate financial relation between -the newspapers and the patent medicines. I was told by the man who for -many years handled the advertising of the Lydia E. Pinkham Company that -their expenditure was $100,000 a month, $1,200,000 a year. Dr. Pierce -and the Peruna Company both advertise more extensively than the Pinkham -Company. Certainly there are at least five patent-medicine concerns -in the United States who each pay out to the newspapers more than one -million dollars a year. When the Dr. Greene Nervura Company of Boston -went into bankruptcy, its debts to newspapers for advertising amounted -to $535,000. To the Boston _Herald_ alone it owed $5,000, and to so -small a paper, comparatively, as the Atlanta _Constitution_ it owed -$1,500. One obscure {074}quack doctor in New York, who did merely an -office business, was raided by the authorities, and among the papers -seized there were contracts showing that within a year he had paid to -one paper for advertising $5,856.80; to another $20,000. Dr. Humphreys, -one of the best known patent-medicine makers, has said to his -fellow-members of the Patent Medicine Association: "The twenty thousand -newspapers of the United States make more money from advertising -the proprietary medicines than do the proprietors of the medicines -themselves.... Of their receipts, one-third to one-half goes for -advertising." More than six years ago, Cheney, the president of the -National Association of Patent Medicine Men, estimated the yearly amount -paid to the newspapers by the larger patent-medicine concerns at twenty -million dollars--more than one thousand dollars to each daily, weekly -and monthly periodical in the United States. - -[IMAGE ==>] {074} - - - - -Silence is the Fixed Quantity. - -Does this throw any light on the silence of the Massachusetts papers? -{075} - -Naturally such large sums paid by the patent-medicine men to the -newspapers suggest the thought of favor. But silence is too important a -part of the patent-medicine man's business to be left to the capricious -chance of favor. Silence is the most important thing in his business. -The ingredients of his medicine--that is nothing. Does the price of -goldenseal go up? Substitute whisky. Does the price of whisky go up? Buy -the refuse wines of the California vineyards. Does the price of opium go -too high, or the public fear of it make it an inexpedient thing to use? -Take it out of the formula and substitute any worthless barnyard -weed. But silence is the fixed quantity--silence as to the frauds he -practices; silence as to the abominable stewings and brewings that enter -into his nostrum; silence as to the deaths and sicknesses he causes; -silence as to the drug fiends he makes, the inebriate asylums he fills. -Silence he must have. So he makes silence a part of the contract. - -Read the significant silence of the Massachusetts newspapers in the -light of the following contracts for advertising. They are the regular -printed form used by Hood, Ayer and Munyon in making their advertising -contracts with thousands of newspapers throughout the United States. - -On page 80 [IMAGE ==>] {080} is shown the contract made by the J. C. -Ayer Company, makers of Ayer's Sarsaparilla. At the top is the name of -the firm, "The J. C. Ayer Company, Lowell,, Mass.," and the date. Then -follows a blank for the number of dollars, and then the formal contract: -"We hereby agree, for the sum of............ Dollars per year,........to -insert in the............. published at............... the advertisement -of the J. C. Ayer Company." Then follow the conditions as to space to be -used each issue, the page the advertisement is to be on and the position -it is to occupy. Then these two remarkable conditions of the contract: -"First--It is agreed in case any law or laws are enacted, either state -or national, harmful to the interests of the T. C. Ayer Company, that -this contract may be canceled by them from date of such enactment, and -the insertions made paid for pro-rata with the contract price." - -This clause is remarkable enough. But of it more later. For the present -examine the second clause: "Second--It is agreed that the J. C. Ayer Co. -may cancel this contract, pro-rata, in case advertisements are published -in this paper in which their products are offered, with a view to -substitution or other harmful motive; also in case any matter otherwise -detrimental to the J. C. Ayer Company's interest is permitted to appear -in the reading columns or elsewhere in the paper." - -This agreement is signed in duplicate, one by the J. C. Ayer Company and -the other one by the newspaper. - - - - -All Muzzle-Clauses Alike. - -That is the contract of silence. (Notice the next one, in identically -the same language, bearing the name of the C. I. Hood Company, the -other great manufacturer of sarsaparilla; and then the third--again in -identically the same words--for Dr. Munyon.) That is the clause which -with forty million dollars, muzzles the press of the country. I wonder -if the Standard Oil Company could, for forty million dollars, bind -the newspapers of the United States in a contract that "no matter -detrimental to the Standard Oil Company's interests be permitted to -appear in the reading columns or elsewhere in this paper." - -Is it a mere coincidence that in each of these contracts the silence -{076}clause is framed in the same words? Is the inference fair that -there is an agreement among the patent-medicine men and quack doctors -each to impose this contract on all the newspapers with which it deals, -one reaching the newspapers which the other does not, and all combined -reaching all the papers in the United States, and effecting a universal -agreement among newspapers to print nothing detrimental to patent -medicines? You need not take it as an inference. I shall show it later -as a fact. - -[IMAGE ==>] {076} - -"In the reading columns or elsewhere in this paper." The paper must not -print itself, nor must it allow any outside party, who might wish to -do so, to pay the regular advertising rates and print the truth about -patent medicines in the advertising columns. More than a year ago, just -after Mr. Bok had printed his first article exposing patent medicines, -a business man in St. Louis, a man of great wealth, conceived that it -would {077}help his business greatly if he could have Mr. Bok's article -printed as an advertisement in every newspaper in the United States. -He gave the order to a firm of advertising agents and the firm began in -Texas, intending to cover the country to Maine. But that advertisement -never got beyond a few obscure country papers in Texas. The contract of -silence was effective; and a few weeks later, at their annual meeting, -the patent-medicine association "Resolved"--I quote the minutes--"That -this Association commend the action of the great majority of the -publishers of the United States who have consistently refused said false -and malicious attacks in the shape of advertisements which in whole or -in part libel proprietary medicines." - -I have said that the identity of the language of the silence clause -in several patent-medicine advertising contracts suggests mutual -understanding among the nostrum makers, a preconceived plan; and I -have several times mentioned the patent-medicine association. It seems -incongruous, almost humorous, to speak of a national organization of -quack doctors and patent-medicine makers; but there is one, brought -together for mutual support, for co-operation, for--but just what -this organization is for, I hope to show. No other organization ever -demonstrated so clearly the truth that "in union there is strength." Its -official name is an innocent-seeming one--"The Proprietary Association -of America." There are annual meetings, annual reports, a constitution, -by-laws. And I would call special attention to Article II of those -by-laws. - -"The objects of this association," says this article, "are: to protect -the rights of its members to the respective trade-marks that they may -own or control; to establish such mutual co-operation as may be required -in the various branches of the trade; to reduce all burdens that may -be oppressive; to facilitate and foster equitable principles in the -purchase and sale of merchandise; to acquire and preserve for the use -of its members such business information as may be of value to them; to -adjust controversies and promote harmony among its members." - -That is as innocuous a statement as ever was penned of the objects of -any organization. It might serve for an organization of honest cobblers. -Change a few words, without altering the spirit in the least, and a body -of ministers might adopt it. In this laboriously complete statement -of objects, there is no such word as "lobby" or "lobbying." Indeed, so -harmless a word as "legislation" is absent--strenuously absent. - - - - -Where the Money Goes. - -But I prefer to discover the true object of the organization of the -"Proprietary Association of America" in another document than Article -II of the by-laws. Consider the annual report of the treasurer, say -for 1904. The total of money paid out during the year was $8,516.26. -Of this, one thousand dollars was for the secretary's salary, leaving -$7,516.26 to be accounted for. Then there is an item of postage, one -of stationery, one of printing--the little routine expenses of every -organization; and finally there is this remarkable item: - -Legislative Committee, total expenses, $6,606.95. - -Truly, the Proprietary Association of America seems to have several -{078}objects, as stated in its by-laws, which cost it very little, and -one object--not stated in its by-laws at all--which costs it all its -annual revenue aside from the routine expenses of stationery, postage -and secretary. If just a few more words of comment may be permitted on -this point, does it not seem odd that so large an item as $6,606.95, -out of a total budget of only $8,516.26, should be put in as a lump sum, -"Legislative Committee, total expenses"? And would not the annual report -of the treasurer of the Proprietary Association of America be a more -entertaining document if these "total expenses" of the Legislative -Committee were carefully itemized? - -[IMAGE ==>] {078} - -Not that I mean to charge the direct corruption of legislatures. The -Proprietary Association of America used to do that. They used to spend, -according to the statement of the present president of the organization, -Mr. F. J. Cheney, as much as seventy-five thousand dollars a year. But -that was before Mr. Cheney himself discovered a better way. The fighting -of public health legislation is the primary object and chief activity, -the very raison d'etre, of the Proprietary Association. The motive back -of bringing the quack doctors and patent-medicine manufacturers of the -United States into a mutual organization was this: Here are some -scores of men, each paying a large sum annually to the newspapers. The -aggregate of these sums is forty million dollars. By organization, the -full effect of this money can be got and used as a unit in preventing -the passage of laws which would compel them to tell the contents of -their nostrums, and in suppressing the newspaper publicity which would -drive them {079}into oblivion. So it was no mean intellect which devised -the scheme whereby every newspaper in America is made an active lobbyist -for the patent-medicine association. The man who did it is the present -president of the organization, its executive head in the work of -suppressing public knowledge, stifling public opinion and warding off -public health legislation, the Mr. Cheney already mentioned. He makes -a catarrh cure which, according to the Massachusetts State Board of -Health, contains fourteen and three-fourths per cent, of alcohol. As -to his scheme for making the newspapers of America not only maintain -silence, but actually lobby in behalf of the patent medicines, I am glad -that I am not under the necessity of describing it in my own words. -It would be easy to err in the direction that makes for incredulity. -Fortunately, I need take no responsibility. I have Mr. Cheney's own -words, in which he explained his scheme to his fellow-members of the -Proprietary Association of America. The quotation marks alone (and the -comment within the parentheses) are mine. The remainder is the language -of Mr. Cheney himself: - - - - -Mr. Cheney's Plan. - -"We have had a good deal of difficulty in the last few years with the -different legislatures of the different states.... I believe I have a -plan whereby we will have no difficulty whatever with these people. I -have used it in my business for two years and know it is a practical -thing.... I, inside of the last two years, have made contracts with -between fifteen and sixteen thousand newspapers, and never had but one -man refuse to sign the contract, and my saying to him that I could not -sign a contract without this clause in it he readily signed it. My point -is merely to shift the responsibility. We to-day have the responsibility -on our shoulders. As you all know, there is hardly a year but we have -had a lobbyist in the different state legislatures--one year in New -York, one year in New Jersey, and so on." (Read that frank confession -twice--note the bland matter-of-factness of it.) "There has been a -constant fear that something would come up, so I had this clause in my -contract added. This is what I have in every contract I make: 'It is -hereby agreed that should your state, or the United States Government, -pass any law that would interfere with or restrict the sale of -proprietary medicines, this contract shall become void.'... In the -state of Illinois a few years ago they wanted to assess me three hundred -dollars. I thought I had a better plan than this, so I wrote to about -forty papers and merely said: 'Please look at your contract with me and -take note that if this law passes you and I must stop doing business, -and my contracts cease.'" The next week every one of them had an article, -and Mr. Man had to go.... - -I read this to Dr. Pierce some days ago and he was very much taken up -with it. I have carried this through and know it is a success. I know -the papers will accept it. Here is a thing that costs us nothing. We -are guaranteed against the $75,000 loss for nothing. It throws the -responsibility on the newspapers.... I have my contracts printed and -I have this printed in red type, right square across the contract, so -there can be absolutely no mistake, and the newspaper man can not say -to me, 'I did not see it.' He did see it and knows what he is doing. It -seems to me it is a point worth every man's attention.... I think this -is pretty near a sure thing. - -[IMAGE ==>] {080} - -THIS IS THE FORM OF CONTRACT--SEE (A) (B) (C)--THAT MUZZLES THE PRESS OF -THE UNITED STATES. - -The gist of the contract lies in the clause which is marked with -brackets, to the effect that the agreement is voidable, In case any -matter detrimental to the advertiser's interests "Is permitted to appear -in the reading columns, or elsewhere, in this paper." This clause, -in the same words, appears in all three of these patent-medicine -advertising contracts. The documents reproduced here were gathered -from three different newspapers in widely separated parts of the United -States. The name of the paper in each case has been suppressed in order -to shield the publisher from the displeasure of the patent-medicine -combination. How much publishers are compelled to fear this displeasure -is exemplified by the experience of the Cleveland _Press,_ from whose -columns $18,000 worth of advertising was withdrawn within forty-eight -hours. {081} - -I should like to ask the newspaper owners and editors of America what -they think of that scheme. I believe that the newspapers, when they -signed each individual contract, were not aware that they were being -dragooned into an elaborately thought-out scheme to make every newspaper -in the United States, from the greatest metropolitan daily to the -remotest country weekly, an active, energetic, self-interested lobbyist -for the patent-medicine association. If the newspapers knew how they -were being used as cat's-paws, I believe they would resent it. Certainly -the patent-medicine association itself feared this, and has kept this -plan of Mr. Cheney's a careful secret. In this same meeting of the -Proprietary Association of America, just after Mr. Cheney had made the -speech quoted above, and while it was being resolved that every other -patent-medicine man should put the same clause in his contract, the -venerable Dr. Humphreys, oldest and wisest of the guild, arose and said: -"Will it {082}not be now just as well to act on this, each and every one -for himself, instead of putting this on record?... I think the idea is -a good one, But really don't think it had better go in our proceedings." -And another fellow nostrum-maker, seeing instantly the necessity -of secrecy said: "I am heartily in accord with Dr. Humphreys. The -suggestion is a good one, but when we come to put in our public -proceedings, and state that we have adopted such a resolution, I want to -say that the legislators are just as sharp as the newspaper men.... As -a consequence, this will decrease the weight of the press comments. -Some of the papers, also, who would not come in, would publish something -about it in the way of getting square....." - -[IMAGE ==>] {082} - -This contract is the backbone of the scheme. The further details, the -organization of the bureau to carry it into effect--that, too, has been -kept carefully concealed from the generally unthinking newspapers, -who are all unconsciously mere individual cogs in the patent-medicine -lobbying machine. At one of the meetings of the association, Dr. R. V. -Pierce of Buffalo arose and said (I quote him verbatim):... "I would -move you that the report of the Committee on Legislation be made a -special order to be taken up immediately... that it be considered -in executive session, and that every person not a member of the -organization be asked to retire, so that it may be read and considered -in executive session. There are matters and suggestions in reference to -our future action, and measures to be taken which are advised therein, -that we would not wish to have published broadcast over the country for -very good reasons." - -Now what were the "matters and suggestions" which Dr. Pierce "would -not wish to have published broadcast over the country for very good -reasons?" {083} - -Can Mr. Cheney Reconcile These Statements? - - -Letter addressed to Mr. William Allen White, Editor of the Gazette, -Emporia, Kan. - -By Frank J. Cheney. - -Dear Sir-- - -I have read with a great deal of interest, to-day, an article in -Colliers illustrating therein the contract between your paper and -ourselves, [see p. 18--Editor.] {018}Mr. S. Hopkins Adams endeavored very -hard (as I understand) to find me, but I am sorry to say that I was not -at home. I really believe that I could have explained that clause of -the contract to his entire satisfaction, and thereby saved him the -humiliation of making an erratic statement. - -This is the first intimation that I ever have had that that clause was -put into the contract to control the Press in any way, or the editorial -columns of the Press. I believe that if Mr. Adams was making contracts -now, and making three-year contracts, the same as we are, taking into -consideration the conditions of the different legislatures, he would be -desirous of this same paragraph as a safety guard to protect himself, in -case any State did pass a law prohibiting the sale of our goods. - -His argument surely falls flat when he takes into consideration the -conduct of the North Dakota Legislature, because every newspaper in that -State that we advertise in hid contracts containing that clause. Why -we should be compelled to pay for from one to two years' advertising or -more, in a State where we could not sell our goods, is more than I can -understand. As before stated, it is merely a precautionary paragraph to -meet conditions such as now {084}exist in North Dakota. We were -compelled to withdraw from that State because we would not publish our -formula, and, therefore, under this contract, we are not compelled to -continue our advertising. - - - - -Extract from a speech delivered before the Proprietary Association of -America. - -By Frank J. Cheney. - -"We have had a good deal of difficulty in the last few years with the -different legislatures of the different states.... I believe I have a -plan whereby we will have no difficulty whatever with these people. I -have used it in my business for two years, and I know it is a practical -thing.... I, inside of the last two years, have made contracts with -between fifteen and sixteen thousand newspapers, and never had but one -man refuse to sign the contract, and by saying to him that I could not -sign a contract without this clause in it he readily signed it. My point -is merely to shift the responsibility. We to-day have the responsibility -of the whole matter upon our shoulders.... - -"There? has been constant fear that something would come up, so I had -this clause in my contract added. This is what I have in every contract -I make: 'It is hereby agreed that should your State, or the United -States government, pass any law that would interfere with or restrict -the sale of proprietary medicines, his contract shall become void.'... -In the State of Illinois a few years ago they wanted to assess me three -hundred dollars. I thought I had a better plan than this, so I wrote to -about forty papers, and merely said: 'Please look at your contract with -me and take note that if this law passes you and I must stop doing -business, and my contracts cease.' The next week every one of them had -an article.... I have carried this through and know it is a success. I -know the papers will accept it. Here is a thing that costs us nothing. -We are guaranteed against the $75,000 loss for nothing. It throws the -responsibility on the newspapers.... I have my contracts printed and I -have this printed in red type, right square across the contract, so -there can be absolutely no mistake, and the newspaper man can not say to -me, 'I did not see it.' He did see it and knows what he is doing. It -seems to me it is a point worth every man's attention.... I think this -is pretty near a sure thing." - -To illustrate: There are 739 publications in your State--619 of these -are dailies and weeklies. Out of this number we are advertising in over -500, at an annual expenditure of $8,000 per year (estimated). We make a -three-year contract with all of them, and, therefore, our liabilities in -your State are $24,000, providing, of course, all these contracts were -made at the same date. Should these contracts all be made this fall -and your State should pass a law this winter (three months later) -prohibiting the sale of our goods, there would be virtually a loss to us -of $24,000. Therefore, for a business precaution to guard against just -such conditions, we add the red paragraph referred to in Collier's. - -I make this statement to you, as I am credited with being the originator -of the paragraph, and I believe that I am justified in adding this -paragraph to our contract, not for the purpose of controlling the Press, -but, as before stated, as a business precaution which any man should -take who expects to pay his bills. - -Will you kindly give me your version of the situation? Awaiting an early -reply, I am, - -Sincerely yours, - -FRANK J. CHENEY. - -[IMAGE ==>] {083} - -[IMAGE ==>] {084} - - - - -Valuable Newspaper Aid. - -{085} Dr. Pierce's son, Dr. V. Mott Pierce, was chairman of the -Committee on Legislation. He was the author of the "matters and -suggestions" which must be considered in the dark. "Never before," said -he, "in the history of the Proprietary Association were there so many -bills in different state legislatures that were vital to our interests. -This was due, we think, to an effort on the part of different state -boards of health, who have of late years held national meetings, to make -an organized effort to establish what are known as 'pure food laws.'" -Then the younger Pierce stated explicitly the agency responsible for the -defeat of this public health legislation: "We must not forget to -place the honor where due for our uniform success in defeating class -legislation directed against our legitimate pursuits. The American -Newspaper Publishers' Association has rendered us valued aid through -their secretary's office in New York and we can hardly overestimate the -power brought to bear at Washington by individual newspapers."... (On -another occasion, Dr. Pierce, speaking of two bills in the Illinois -Legislature, said: "Two things operated to bring these bills to the -danger line. In the first place, the Chicago papers were almost wholly -without influence in the Legislature.... Had it not been for the active -co-operation of the state outside of Chicago there is absolute certainty -that the bill would have passed.... I think that a great many members -do not appreciate the power that we can bring to bear on legislation -through the press.") But this power, in young Dr. Pierce's opinion, must -be organized and systematized. "If it is not presumptuous on the part of -your chairman," he said modestly, "to outline a policy which experience -seems to dictate for the future, it would be briefly as follows"--here -the younger Pierce explains the "matters and suggestions" which must -not be "published broadcast over the country." The first was "the -organization of a Legislative Bureau, with its offices in New York or -Chicago. Second, a secretary, to be appointed by the chairman of the -Committee on Legislation, who will receive a stated salary, sufficiently -large to be in keeping with such person's ability, and to compensate him -for the giving of all his time to this work." - -"The benefits of such a working bureau to the Proprietary Association," -said Dr. Pierce, "can be foreseen: First, a systematic plan to acquire -early knowledge of pending or threatened legislation could be taken up. -In the past we have relied too much on newspaper managers to acquaint us -of such bills coming up.... Another plan would be to have the regulation -formula bill, for instance, introduced by some friendly legislator, and -have it referred to his own committee, where he could hold it until -all danger of such another bill being introduced were over, and the -Legislature had adjourned." - -Little wonder Dr. Pierce wanted a secret session to cover up the frank -{087}naïveté of his son, which he did not "wish to have published -broadcast over the country, for very good reasons." - -[IMAGE ==>] {086} - -EXAMPLE OF WHAT MR. CHENEY CALLS "SHIFTING THE RESPONSIBILITY." - -This letter was sent by the publishers of one of the leading newspapers -of Wisconsin to Senator Noble of that state. It illustrates the method -adopted by the patent-medicine makers to compel the newspapers In each -state to do their lobbying for them. Senator Noble introduced a bill -requiring patent-medicine manufacturers to state on their labels the -percentage of various poisons which every bottle might contain. Senator -Noble and a few others fought valiantly for their bill throughout -the whole of the last session of the Wisconsin Legislature, but were -defeated by the united action of the newspaper publishers, who, as this -letter shows, exerted pressure of every kind, Including threats, to -compel members of the Legislature to vote against the bill. - -In discussing this plan for a legislative bureau, another member told -what in his estimation was needed. "The trouble," said he--I quote -from the minutes--"the trouble we will have in attempting to buy -legislation--supposing we should attempt it--is that we will never know -what we are buying until we get through. We may have paid the wrong man, -and the bill is passed and we are out. It is not a safe proposition, if -we consider it legitimate, which we do not." - -True, it is not legitimate, but the main point is, it's not safe; that's -the thing to be considered. - -The patent-medicine man continued to elaborate on the plans proposed -by Dr. Pierce: "It would not be a safe proposition at all. What this -association should have... is a regularly established bureau.... We -should have all possible information on tap, and we should have a list -of the members of the legislature of every state. We should have a list -of the most influential men that control them, or that can influence -them.... For instance, if in the state of Ohio a bill comes up that is -adverse to us, turn to the books, find out who are members of the -legislature there, who are the publishers of the papers in the state, -where they are located, which are the Republican and which the -Democratic papers.... It will take money, but if the money is rightly -spent, it will be the best investment ever made." - - - - -The Trust's Club for Legislators. - -That is about as comprehensive, as frankly impudent a scheme of -controlling legislation as it is possible to imagine. The plan was put -in the form of a resolution, and the resolution was passed. And so the -Proprietary Association of America maintains a lawyer in Chicago, and -a permanent secretary, office and staff. In every state it maintains -an agent whose business it is to watch during the session of the -Legislature each day's batch of new bills, and whenever a bill affecting -patent medicines shows its head to telegraph the bill, verbatim, to -headquarters. There some scores of printed copies of the bill are made, -and a copy is sent to every member of the association--to the Peruna -people, to Dr. Pierce at Buffalo, to Kilmer at Birmingham, to Cheney at -Toledo, to the Pinkham people at Lynn, and to all the others. Thereon -each manufacturer looks up the list of papers in the threatened state -with which he has the contracts described above. And to each newspaper -he sends a peremptory telegram calling the publisher's attention to the -obligations of his contract, and commanding him to go to work to defeat -the anti-patent-medicine bill. In practice, this organization works with -smooth perfection and well-oiled accuracy to defeat the public health -legislation which is introduced by boards of health in over a score of -states every year. To illustrate, let me describe as typical the -history of the public health bills which were introduced and defeated -in Massachusetts last year. I have already mentioned them as showing how -the newspapers, obeying that part of their contract which requires -them to print nothing harmful to patent medicines, refused to print -any account of the exposures which were made by several members of the -Legislature during the debate of the bill. I wish here to describe their -obedience to that other clause of the {088}contract, in living up to -which they printed scores of bitterly partisan editorials against the -public health bill, and against its authors personally; threatened with -political death those members of the Legislature who were disposed to -vote in favor of it, and even, in the persons of editors and owners, -went up to the State House and lobbied personally against the bill. And -since I have already told of Mr. Cheney's author-ship of the scheme, I -will here reproduce, as typical of all the others (all the other large -patent-medicine concerns sent similar letters and telegrams), the letter -which Mr. Cheney himself on the 14th day of February sent to all -the newspapers in Massachusetts with which he has lobbying -contracts--practically every newspaper in the state: - -"Toledo, Ohio, Feb. 14, 1905. - -"Publishers - -"----- Mass. - -"Gentlemen: - -"Should House bills Nos. 829, 30, 607, 724, or Senate bill No. 185 -become laws, it will force us to discontinue advertising in your state. -Your prompt attention regarding this bill we believe would be of mutual -benefit. - -"We would respectfully refer you to the contract which we have with you. - -"Respectfully, - -"Cheney Medicine Company." - - -Now here is the fruit which that letter bore: a strong editorial against -the anti-patent-medicine bill, denouncing it and its author in the most -vituperative language, a marked copy of which was sent to every member -of the Massachusetts Legislature. But this was not all that this one -zealous publisher did; he sent telegrams to a number of members, and a -personal letter to the representative of his district calling on that -member not only to vote, but to use his influence against the bill, on -the pain of forfeiting the paper's favor. - -Now this seems to me a shameful thing--that a Massachusetts newspaper, -of apparent dignity and outward high standing, should jump to the -cracking of the whip of a nostrum-maker in Ohio; that honest and -well-meaning members of the Massachusetts Legislature, whom all the -money of Rockefeller could not buy, who obey only the one thing -which they look on as the expression of the public opinion of their -constituents, the united voice of the press of their district--that -these men should unknowingly cast their votes at the dictate of a -nostrum-maker in Ohio, who, if he should deliver his command personally -and directly, instead of through a newspaper supine enough to let him -control it for a hundred dollars a year, would be scorned and flouted. - -Any self-respecting newspaper must be humiliated by the attitude of -the patent-medicine association. They don't ASK the newspapers to do -it--they ORDER it done. Read again Mr. Cheney's account of his plan, -note the half-contemptuous attitude toward the newspapers. And read -again Mr. Cheney's curt letter to the Massachusetts papers; Observe the -threat, just sufficiently veiled to make it more of a threat; and the -formal order from a superior to a clerk: "We would respectfully refer -you to the contract which we have with you." - -And the threat is not an empty one. The newspaper which refuses to -aid the patent-medicine people is marked. Some time ago Dr. V. Mott -{089}Pierce of Buffalo was chairman of what is called the "Committee on -Legislation" of the Proprietary Association of America. He was giving -his annual report to the association. "We are happy to say," said -he, "that though over a dozen bills were before the different State -Legislatures last winter and spring, yet we have succeeded in defeating -all the bills which were prejudicial to proprietary interests without -the use of money, and through the vigorous co-operation and aid of the -publishers. January 23 your committee sent out letters to the principal -publications in New York asking their aid against this measure. It is -hardly necessary to state that the publishers of New York responded -generously against these harmful measures. The only small exception was -the _Evening Star_ of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., the publisher of which, in a -very discourteous letter, refused to assist us in any way." - -Is it to be doubted that Dr. Pierce reported this exception to his -fellow patent-medicine men, that they might make note of the offending -paper, and bear it in mind when they made their contracts the following -year? There are other cases which show what happens to the newspaper -which offends the patent-medicine men. I am fortunate enough to be -able to describe the following incident in the language of the man who -wielded the club, as he told the story with much pride to his fellow -patent-medicine men at their annual meeting: - -"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Proprietary Association," said Mr. -Cooper, "I desire to present to you a situation which I think it is -incumbent on manufacturers generally to pay some attention to--namely, -the publication of sensational drug news which appears from time to time -in the leading papers of the country.... There are, no doubt, many of -you in the room, at least a dozen, who are familiar with the sensational -articles that appeared in the Cleveland _Press_. Gentlemen, this is a -question that appeals to you as a matter of business.... The Cleveland -Press indulged in a tirade against the so-called 'drug trust.'... (the -'drug trust' is the same organization of patent-medicine men--including -Pierce, Pinkham, Peruna, Kilmer and all the well-known ones--which I -have referred to as the patent-medicine association. Its official name -is the Proprietary Association of America.) "I sent out the following -letter to fifteen manufacturers" (of patent medicines): - -"'Gentlemen--Inclosed we hand you a copy of matter which is appearing -in the Cleveland papers. It is detrimental to the drug business to have -this matter agitated in a sensational way. - -In behalf of the trade we would ask you to use your influence with the -papers in Cleveland to discontinue this unnecessary publicity, and if -you feel you can do so, we would like to have you wire the business -managers of the Cleveland papers to discontinue their sensational -drug articles, as it is proving very injurious to your business. -Respectfully, E. R. Cooper.' - -"Because of that letter which we sent out, the Cleveland Press received -inside of forty-eight hours telegrams from six manufacturers canceling -thousands of dollars' worth of advertising and causing a consequent -dearth of sensational matter along drug lines. It resulted in a loss -to one paper alone of over eighteen thousand dollars in advertising. -Gentlemen, when you touch a man's pocket, you touch him where he lives; -that principle {090}is true of the newspaper editor or the retail -druggist, and goes through all business." - - - - -The Trust's Club for Newspapers. - -That is the account of how the patent-medicine man used his club on -the newspaper head, told in the patent-medicine man's own words, as he -described it to his fellows. Is it pleasant reading for self-respecting -newspaper men--the exultant air of those last sentences, and the worldly -wisdom: "When you touch a man's pocket you touch him where he lives; -that principle is true of the newspaper editor..."? - -But the worst of this incident has not yet been told. There remains the -account of how the offending newspaper, in the language of the bully, -"ate dirt". The Cleveland _Press_ is one of a syndicate of newspapers, -all under Mr. McRae's ownership--but I will use Mr. Cooper's own words: -"We not only reached the Cleveland _Press_ by the movement taken up -in that way, but went further, for the Cleveland _Press_ is one of a -syndicate of newspapers known as the Scripps-McRae League, from whom -this explanation is self-explanatory: - -"'Office Schipps-McRae Press Association. - -"'Mr. E. R. Cooper, Cleveland, Ohio: - -"'Mr. McRae arrived in New York the latter part of last week after a -three months' trip to Egypt. I took up the matter of the recent cut-rate -articles which appeared in the Cleveland _Press_ with him, and to-day -received the following telegram from him from Cincinnati: 'Scripps-McRae -papers will contain no more such as Cleveland _Press_ published -concerning the medicine trust--M. A. McRae.' - -"'I am sure that in the future nothing will appear in the Cleveland Press -detrimental to your interests. - -"'Yours truly, - -"'F. J. Carlisle.'" - - -This incident was told, in the exact words above quoted, at the -nineteenth annual meeting of the Proprietary Association of America. - -I could, if space permitted, quote many other telegrams and letters from -the Kilmer's Swamp Root makers, from the Piso's Cure people, from all -the large patent-medicine manufacturers. The same thing that happened -in Massachusetts happened last year in New Hampshire, in Wisconsin, -in Utah, in more than fifteen states. In Wisconsin the response by the -newspapers to the command of the patent-medicine people was even more -humiliating than in Massachusetts. Not only did individual newspapers -work against the formula bill; there is a "Wisconsin Press -Association," which includes the owners and editors of most of the -newspapers of the state. That association held a meeting and passed -resolutions, "that we are opposed to said bill... providing that -hereafter all patent medicine sold in this state shall have the formula -thereof printed on their labels," and "Resolved, That the association -appoint a committee of five publishers to oppose the passage of the -measure." And in this same state the larger dailies in the cities took -it on themselves to drum up the smaller country papers and get them -to write editorials opposed to the formula bill. Nor was even this -the measure of their activity in response to the command of the patent -medicine association. I am able to give the letter which is here -reproduced [see page 86]. {086} It was sent by the publisher -of one of the largest daily papers in Wisconsin to the state senator -who {091}introduced the bill. In one western state, a board of health -officer made a number of analyses of patent medicines, and tried to have -the analyses made public, that the people of his state might be warned. -"Only one newspaper in the state," he says in a personal letter, "was -willing to print results of these analyses, and this paper refused them -after two publications in which a list of about ten was published. - -In New Hampshire--but space forbids. Happily there Is a little silver in -the situation. The legislature of North Dakota last year passed, and the -governor signed a bill requiring that patent-medicine bottles shall -have printed on their labels the percentage of alcohol or of morphin or -various other poisons which the medicine contains. That was the first -success in a fight which the public health authorities have waged -in twenty states each year for twenty years. In North Dakota the -patent-medicine people conducted the fight with their usual weapons, -the ones described above. But the newspapers, be it said to their -everlasting credit, refused to fall in line to the threats of the -patent-medicine association. And I account for that fact in this way: -North Dakota is wholly a "country" community. - -It has no city of over 20,000, and but one over 5,000. The press of the -state, therefore, consists of very small papers, weeklies, in which -the ownership and active management all lie with one man. The editorial -conscience and the business manager's enterprise lie under one hat. With -them the patent-medicine scheme was not so successful as with the more -elaborately organized newspapers of older and more populous states. - -Just now is the North Dakota editor's time of trial. The law went into -effect July 1. The patent-medicine association, at their annual meeting -in May, voted to withdraw all their advertising from all the papers in -that state. This loss of revenue, they argued self-righteously, would -be a warning to the newspapers of other states. Likewise it would be -a lesson to the newspapers of North Dakota. At the next session of the -legislature they will seek to have the label bill repealed, and they -count on the newspapers, chastened by a lean year, to help them. For the -independence they have shown in the past, and for the courage they will -be called on to show in the future, therefore, let the newspapers of -North Dakota know that they have the respect and admiration of all -decent people. - -"What is to be done about it?" is the question that follows exposure of -organized rascality. In few cases is the remedy so plain as here. For -the past, the newspapers, in spite of these plain contracts of silence, -must be acquitted of any very grave complicity. The very existence of -the machine that uses and directs them has been a carefully guarded -secret. For the future, be it understood that any newspaper which -carries a patent-medicine advertisement knows what it is doing. The -obligations of the contract are now public property. And one thing more, -when next a member of a state legislature arises and states, as I have -so often heard: "Gentlemen, this label bill seems right to me, but I can -not support it; the united press of my district is opposed to it"--when -that happens, let every one understand the wires that have moved "the -united press of my district." {092} - -The Following are Extracts and Abstracts from Various Articles in the -Ladies Home Journal? - -A PECULIAR "ETC." - -A great show of frankness was recently made by a certain "patent -medicine." The makers advertised that they had concluded to take the -public into their confidence, and that thereafter they would print a -formula of the medicine on each bottle manufactured. - -"There is nothing secretive about our medicine," was the cry. "We have -nothing to hide. Here is the formula. Show it to your physician." - -Then comes the formula: This herb and that herb, this ingredient -and that ingredient, and the formula winds up, "etc." All good, -old-fashioned, well recognized drugs were those which were -mentioned--all except the "etc." - -A certain Board of Pharmacy had never heard of a drug called "etc.," and -so made up Its mind to find out. - -And the "etc." was found to be 3.76 per cent of cocain!--just the -simple, death-dealing cocain!--From _The Ladies' Home Journal_, -February, 1906. - - -PATENT MEDICINE CONCERNS AND LETTER BROKERS. - -One of the most disgusting and disgraceful features of the patent -medicine business is the marketing of letters sent by patients to patent -medicine firms. Correspondence is solicited by these firms under the -seal of sacred confidence. When the concern is unable to do further -business with a patient it disposes of the patient's correspondence to -a letter-broker, who, in turn, disposes of it to other patent medicine -concerns at the rate of half a cent, for each letter. - -This Information was made public by Mark Sullivan in the _Ladies' Home -Journal_ for January, 1906. - -[IMAGE ==>] {092} - -An advertisement showing how the names to orders sent to "Patent -Medicine" concerns are offered for sale or rent to be used by others. - -Yet we are told how "Sacredly Confidential" these letters are regarded -and held. (The advertisement is from the _Mail Order Journal_, April, -1905.) - -Says Mr. Sullivan: "One of these brokers assured me he could give me -'choice lots' of 'medical female letters'... Let me now give you, from -the printed lists of these 'letter brokers' some idea of the way in -which these {093}'sacredly confidential' letters are hawked about the -country. Here are a few samples, all that are really printable: - -"'55,000 Female Complaint Letters' Is the sum total of one Item, and -the list gives the names of the "medicine company" or the "medical -institute" to whom they were addressed. Here is a barter, then, in -55,000 letters of a private nature, each one of which, the writer -was told, and had a right to expect, would be regarded as sacredly -confidential by the "doctor" or concern to whom she had been deluded -into telling her private ailments. Yet here they are for half a cent -each! - -"Another batch of some 47,000 letters addressed to five 'doctors' and -'institutes' is emphasized because they were all written by women! A -third batch is: - -"'44,000 Bust Developer Letters'--letters which one man in a "patent -medicine" concern told me were "the richest sort of reading you could -get hold of." - -"A still further lot offers: '40,000 Women's Regulator Letters'--letters -which in their context any woman can naturally imagine would be of the -most delicate nature. Still, the fact remains, here thy are for sale." - -Is not this contemptible? - -In the same article Mr. Sullivan exposes the inhuman greed of patent -medicine concerns that turn into cold cash the letters of patients -afflicted with the most vital diseases. - -To quote Mr. Sullivan again: "All these are made the subject of public -barter. Here are offered for sale, for example: 7,000 Paralysis Letters; -9,000 Narcotic Letters; 52,000 Consumption Letters; 3,000 Cancer -Letters, and even 65,000 Deaf Letters. Of diseases of the most private -nature one is offered here nearly one hundred thousand letters--letters -the very classification of which makes a sensitive person shudder." - - - - -An Appeal To The American Woman. - -"If the American woman would withhold her patronage from these secret -nostrums the greater part of the industry would go to pieces. I do -not ask any woman to take my word for this. Let me give her a personal -statement direct from one of these manufacturers himself--a 'doctor' to -whom thousands of women are writing to-day, and whose medicines they are -buying by the hundreds of thousands of bottles each year. I quote his -own statement, word for word: - -"'Men are "on" to the game; we don't care a damn about them. It is the -women we are after. We have buncoed them now for a good many years, and -so long as they remain as "easy" as they have been, and we can make them -believe that they are sick, we're all right. Give us the women every -time. We can make them feel more female troubles In a year than they -would really have if they lived to be a hundred.' ".--From "Why 'Patent -Medicines' are Dangerous," Edward Bok, Ladies' Home Journal, March, -1905. - - -"REPEATERS." - -It is the "repeat" orders that make the profit. Referring to a certain -patent medicine that had gone to the wall a nostrum agent said that It -failed because "it wasn't a good repeater." When these men doubt whether -a new medicine will be a success they say: "I'm afraid it wouldn't be a -'repeater.'" - -"_Cure_ rheumatism" said a veteran patent medicine man considering -the exploitation of a new remedy; "good Heavens, man, you don't want a -remedy that _cures_ 'em. Where would you get your 'repeats'? You want to -get up a medicine that's full of dope, so the more they take of it the -more they'll want."--From "The Inside Story of a Sham," _Ladies' Home -Journal_, January, 1906. - - -PATENT MEDICINES AND TESTIMONIALS. - -In the January, 1906, issue of the _Ladies' Home Journal_ Mark Sullivan -contributes an article on the business of securing from well-known -people testimonials indorsing and praising nostrums. Mr. Sullivan -learned that three men, rivals in trade, make a business of securing -these indorsements. They are known as "testimonlal-brokers." - -A representative of a patent medicine who was anxious to exploit his -preparation through the press approached one of these brokers and made -arrangements for the delivery of one hundred signed testimonials from -members of {094}congress, governors and men high in the Army and Navy. -The following is the memorandum of the agreement as drawn up by the -broker: - -"Confirming my talk with Mr. ------, I will undertake to obtain -testimonials from senators at $75 each, and from congressmen at $40, -on a prearranged contract.... A contract for not less than $5,000 would -meet my requirements In the testimonial line.... I can put your -matter in good shape shortly after congress meets if we come to an -agreement.... We can't get Roosevelt, but we can get men and women of -national reputation, and we can get their statements in convincing form -and language..." - -It was for this reason that years ago Mrs. Pinkham, at Lynn, Mass., -determined to step in and help her sex. Having had considerable -experience in treating female ills with her Vegetable Compound, she -encouraged the women of America to write to her for advice in regard to -their complaints, and being a woman, it was easy for help ailing sisters -to pour into her ears every detail of their suffering. - -No physician in the world has had such a training, or has such an amount -of information at hand to assist in the treatment of all kinds of female -ills. - -This, therefore, is the reason why Mrs. Pinkham, in her laboratory at -Lynn, Mass., Is able to do more for the ailing women, of America than -the family physician.' Any woman, therefore, is responsible for her own -suffering who will not take the trouble to write to Mrs. Pinkham for -advice. - -[IMAGE ==>] {094} - -The way in which the testimonial is actually obtained is thus described -by the broker: - -"The knowing how to approach each individual is my stock-in-trade. Only -a man of wide acquaintance of men and things could carry it out. Often -I employ women. Women know how to get around public men. For example, -I know that Senator A has a poverty-stricken cousin, who works as a -seamstress. I go to her and offer her twenty-five dollars to get the -senator's signature to a testimonial. But most of it I do through -newspaper correspondents here in Washington. Take the senator from -some southern state. That senator is very dependent on the Washington -correspondent of the leading newspaper in his state. By the dispatches -which that correspondent sends back the senator's career is made or -marred. So I go to that correspondent. I offer him $50 to get the -senator's testimonial. The senator may squirm, but he'll sign all right. -Then there are a number of easy-going congressmen who needn't be seen at -all. I can sign their names to anything, and they'll stand for it. And -there are always a lot of poverty-stricken, broken-down Army veterans -hanging around Washington. For a few dollars they'll go to their old -Army officers on a basis of old acquaintance sake and get testimonials." - -It goes without saying that such testimonials are a fraud on the -purchaser of the medicine thus exploited. - -"Not one in a thousand of these letters ever reaches the eyes of the -'doctor' to whom they are addressed. There wouldn't be hours enough in -the day to read them even if he had the desire. On the contrary, these -letters from women of a private and delicate nature are opened and read -by young men and girls; they go through not fewer than eight different -hands before they reach a reply; each in turn reads them, and if there -is anything 'spicy' you will see the heads of two or three girls get -together and enjoy (!) the 'spice.' Very often these 'spicy bits' are -taken home and shown to the friends and families of these girls and men! -Time and again have I seen this done; time and again have I been handed -over a letter by one of the young fellows with the remark: 'Read this, -isn't that rich?' only to read of the recital of some trouble into which -a young girl has fallen, or some mother's sacred story of her daughter's -all! - -"Then, to cap the climax of iniquity, with some of these houses these -names and addresses are sold at two, three or five cents a name to firms -in other lines of business for the purpose of sending circulars. As -a fact, often the trouble is not taken to copy off the names and -addresses, but the letters themselves, with all their private contents, -are sold! - -"This is the true story of the 'sacredly confidential' way in which -these private letters from women are treated!"--Statement of a man who -spent two years in the employ of a large patent medicine concern, as -told in "How the Private Confidences of Women Are Laughed At." Edward -Bok, _Ladies' Home Journal,_ November, 1904. - - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Great American Fraud, by Samuel Hopkins Adams - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT AMERICAN FRAUD *** - -***** This file should be named 44325-8.txt or 44325-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/3/2/44325/ - -Produced by David Widger - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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