The Great American Fraud / The Patent Medicine Evil

Commi

the list of several traders, is hereby absolutely prohibited. As a medicine som

Medicines" A

GE

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 Bitter

do will be found in the following rep

er 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 lifel

a druggist in a South

nken 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 certai

he "Teruna habit." which is probably worse than the habit, as is usually the case with these "cures." In sout

estim

"; 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-fo

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

get drunk drink Peruna when he can

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

, 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 c

m'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

atter with you," he said. "

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 un

cal Association: "A respected clergyman fell ill and the family physician was called. After exami

ther undoubtedly is suffering from ch

ther never drank a drop of liquor in his life, a

d at this present moment your father is drunk. How has h

ed. A few months ago a friend of his recommended Peruna to him, assuring him that it would build him

s 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

GE

OW DISPLAY AT

nd temperance workers" pictured below, and displays it with other well-known brands of Bourbon and rye

ne or

GE

PERANCE WORKERS" WHO ADV

eod 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. 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 thre

GE

. N. D

cher. 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 accommoda

M. N. H

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 spiritual

nt 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

use 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 N

ohol Per

ith 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 Per

es 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 "Fifty Members of Congress Send Letters of Indorsement to the Inventor of

s I ever saw, and since he has taken one bot

, N. C. Romul

Schley is a case in point. He

y has used Peruna, and, I believe, wi

f the family's friends. Admiral Schley seems to have appreciated that this use of his name wa

r 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 discontinu

n made without my knowledge or consent and

nd date of the paper was in which the inclose

yours, W.

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

Governmen

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 indors

LIQUO

Collier's Weekl

ng 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

res" Thirty-s

essor, 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

a, Gal

nemia, Go

, Hay Feve

ison, La

ubles, Le

ds, Malari

ion, Pil

Diseases,

atarrh,

iarrhea, Sk

andruff, Tu

ipelas, Tum

Throat

agious diseases-all the results of impure or poisoned blood. In nervous di

e human body, the germs which cause (or are all

ot a patent medicine concern.

dicine men, and their methods will not be employed by us

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 an

e 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 plann

Who Back

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

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

Garbled In

GE

S OF LI

t. SULPHUROUS ACID - About three-tenths of one pe

acid is also a corrosive poison. Liquozone is

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. A

certify that the fluid Liquozone handed to me for bacteriologic examination has shown bacteriologic and germicidal properties." At the same time he informed the Liquozone agent that the mixture would be worth

nal, 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 carele

h. 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 unde

letters quoted or sent to me, w

o possess great remedial value." The letter I have found to be genuine. But the hospital medical authorities say that they know

e Liquozone recipients of the letter forgot to mention that "Dr." Porter

cancer patients. Dr. Bliss writes me, under the flaming headline of

is not quoted (although he wrote it) as saying that his own personal experience with it had shown it

llier's and elsewhere Dr. Billings has been cited by the Liquozone people as one of those medical men who were prevented only by ethical considerat

Ill., Jul

or of Colli

nor have I expressed to any representative of the Liquozone Company,

Billin

y Liquozone," are cited Hull House, the Chicago Orphan Asylum, the H

ted 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 p

dence. 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 evide

c evidence." In a pamphlet issued by the company

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. S

ls a Great Ge

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 th

tising, 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

s the statement 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 appeal

ok Alike to

GE

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 for

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 "h

sisting 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 g

e 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 dos

LABORA

l and Bacteriolog

IFTH

YORK

er 21

ng given to each. The representative of the Liquozone people selected the twelve pigs for treatment. These animals were gi

ax sent by the Liquozone people. Four of these animals were treated for three hours with Liquozone as in

Liquozone. They all died in from forty-eight to seventy-two hours. Two out of three contro

animals were treated for eight hours with 5 c.c. of a 20 per cent, solution of Liquozole

tuberculosis wa

ve effect, but did, when given in pure form, lower the resistance of t

Labora

st J.

he fairness of the tests. He further declared that in his opinion the tests had pro

esistance of the body to an invading disease. That is, in the very germ diseases for which it is advocated, Liquozone ma

ernal germicides," and one of these comes in for mention here, not that it is in the least li

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 Li

dy; its advertisements are to be f

me Old

d 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 s

SUBTLE

Collier's Weekl

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 immedi

ption. 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:

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 he

ne 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 sai

adache. There was nothing on the label or in the printed matter inclosed with the preparation warning her of the dangerous characte

and heart disease, aggravated by poisoning by a

g Without

g of it and nothing of the susceptibility of the friends to whom they ad

ys keep Orangeine in my desk at school, and through its frequent

the county medical society. That a school teacher should be allowed to continue giving, however well meaning her foolhardiness may be, a harmful and

erstood 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 advertis

... take an Orangeine powder, lie down for thirty minu

ately before retiring. When wakeful, an Orangeine

n the day's work on in the morning-that is, ta

se: powder every four hours during the day for a week!-a pretty fair start on the Orangei

ow 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 w

GE

ilid Deat

ieve a headache or as a bracer a patent medicine containing acetanilid, without a doctor's prescription. This list does not includ

p, Louisville, Ky

d Mrs. Julia Ward,

City; Nov

, Scranton, Pa