The Great American Fraud / The Patent Medicine Evil

St. Paul, Mich.

New Albany, Ind.

Pittsburg, Pa.

ent at Wabash Coll

sey, Clinton, la.

iladelphia, Pa.

ee, Leoni, Midi.

n, of South Bend,

h, Rockdale, N.

an, Dayton, O.

n, New York City

, St. Louis, Mo

St. Louis, Mo.

Oriskany Falls, N.

ler, Akron, 0.;

hmann, St. Louis,

ls, Philadelphia,

on, Huntington, W.

tisements 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 c

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That D

ften 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 vict

depravity and the like. She employed every possible means to obtain the drug, attempting even to bribe the nurse, and, this

late 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

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ATE'S NEW P

in-laden

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 thousan

. 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

ng she was stricken with a violent headache and took a headache powder that had been thrown in

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 sam

ormula?" asked

d sugar of milk," repl

daches with that?" said the

e sample man didn't wait for the result. He hasn't been back to

ping teaspoonful of Bromo-Seltzer means about ten grains of acetanilid. The United States Pharmacopeia dose is four grains; five grains

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 "r

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. Whether these powders are made by a Dr. W. C. Davis,

in the open field, for many of those which are supposed to be sold only in prescriptions

ne 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

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esses)-Dose: One Antikamnia ta

eadache-Dose: Two Antikamni

-Dose: One or two Antikamnia and

to all institutions which treat drug addictions, and is recogn

ical" and "patent," depend for their results

nge

o-Se

rim

-Hea

mo

ace

rs Dr. Davis's H

hal

e Headac

wd

adelphia 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 seve

and it appeared that the patient had never even b

ician 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 pr

ess the following significa

ton, died rather suddenly Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock from an overdose of Antikamnia, which she took for a severe headache from which

tands 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

heir indiscriminate use. Normal people do not knowingly take opium or its derivatives except with the sanction of a physician, and there is even spreading a

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," designed for the drugging of helpl

rub woman to buy a ticket for some "association" ball, say to her: "How ca

lithely; "just wan teaspoonful of Winslow'

e typical result of this practice is described by a Detroit physician

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

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e 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

r's ignorance, or worse, in later life, and have tried to do my duty by sendi

ends and criminals may not 'M

lo-American Drug Company, of New York,' which

will tend to decrease the profit, as it requires that a poison label be

"Kopp's Baby Friend," which has a considerable sale in the middle west and in central New Yo

ointed, skin cool and clammy, heart and respiration slow. I treated the case as one of

e responsible proprietor of this particular business of drug

he 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

wder and Crown Catarrh Powder are the ones most in demand. All of them a

le difference. The habitués know. In one respect, however, the labels help

rh powders we've got, read the labels and pick out the one that's got the

im that the small amount of cocain contained is harmless. F

ain is now considered to be the most valuable addition to

ss. Here is a Birney "testimonial" to the opposite effect, obtained "without solicitation or payment" (I h

am Thompson, of

S CATAR

strong man. Now he is without

go Tri

pson) three years ago, and the longing for the d

hen I increased the quantity until I b

, a 14-year-old boy, who was a slave to the Birney brand of cocain. He h

te," 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,

mate 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 i

G ON THE

Collier's Weekl

nsumptives 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 wh

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y 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 t

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ICAL

m and Pru

ntains, 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

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should be less interested in recovering my money than in getting ba

Postoffice Department obligingly transmits me a dose of this poison through the mails from A. C

ave gotten this impression you most likely have misunderstood what we claim.... We can, however, sa

ir own advertising very closely, for around my sample bottle (by courtesy

nchitis... or consumption that can not be cured spe

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 logica

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. 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

medy occurred in Morocco, Ind., the victim

veral convulsions, and spasms followed for another twelve hours at intervals. It then sank into a coma and die

left within its reach. Had the bottle been properly labeled with sku

t does not extend to their advertising. The result is a rather painful discrepancy. G. G. Green runs hotels in California and manufactures q

me cases are beyond cure. However, we suggest that you

eases of the throat and lungs." Consumption is

, 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 contain

ly False

ay 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, for

ill Ozomulsion

al resistance of the body, etc. (Goes into a long exploitation in

l it cure

asses to an instructive, entertaining and valuable dis

l Ozomulsion cu

m that it will c

ate that Ozomulsion will cure con

seem

ulsion cure

rly stages o

tisement make any qualifications

that

seen that adver

to my k

o wro

Richardson)-I don

, will Ozomulsion

ot testimonia

nvestigated any of

irect statement of your advertising, do you b

ve in a great ma

or Five

um puts out a "Special Cure Offer" that will snatch you from the jaws of death, on the blanket plan, for $6, and guarantees the

ottle of

ottle of

e of Coltsfoo

tube of

f lazy Li

ay Porous

suffering." Whatever ails you-that's what Dr. T. A. Sloram cures. For $10 you get almost twice the amount, plus the guarantee.

elieved. 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 i

e 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 h

rows C

loroform, 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

e 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 Pr

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n in this matter, yet the "consumption cure" may be found disporting itself in the pages of t

ir admiring encomiums in 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," forti

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 a

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

Radiatized Flu

eart Dis

rand Dro

r's Epile

t's Epil

y's Epil

e's Epil

Bye's Ca

s Canc

Pink Pills f

ralysis and are a compound of g

ey, but in many cases they throw away their only chan

its methods that it deserves some special attention. In some of the New York p

restored to health and strength, and the ability to resume his usual pursuits, by an easily obtained and inexpensive treatment which any drugg

icine 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, ther

ing to sell. When you are benefited, however, if you feel disposed and able to send me a contribution to assist me in

0 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

," 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 ridicu

ill 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 followers of light finance, might imagine them filching their gain with the c

UNDAMENT

Collier's Weekl

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

gain 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 de

er Acco

ce. 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

ourse, 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 sw

ek with patent-medicine fakes. Take, for instance, the Christian Endeavor World, which is the undenominational organ of a large, powerful and useful organization, unselfishly w

-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 medicines. We have taken a great deal of pains to make particular inquiries of our subscriber

den Rule

oleman, Busi

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

y and R

tinct 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

Cance

mmer's Fema

ls," somewhat disguised here, but in other

Century, leading off with an interesting editorial e

o be thoroughly reliable. During the past year we have refused thousands of dollars' worth of advertising which other religious journals are running, but which is rated 'objectionable' by the

-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

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ot a cure, as they would have the public believe, bu

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, ascribi

Rew

ar 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

r 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 newsp

rtal Mrs

e might be supposed to suffer in the perpetration of an obvious and public fraud is presumably salved by the large profits of the business. The great majority of the gulls who "write to Mrs.

ance. "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 o

rs," 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

rrespondence 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 D

loitations, 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

depress

produce

rate-saf

ty 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

thical and which the u

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n, pneumonia, grip, bronchitis, coughs, colds, malaria, l

, bronchitis, consumption, malaria, dyspepsia, depr

uses the following statement: "It is the enthusiastic conviction of many (physicians) that its effect is truly

micide

eir 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 latt

dical profession, through its own

very intelligent physician knows that there is no sure cure for dropsy. The alternative implication is that the advertiser hopes to get his profit by d

d on a par with the worst of the "religious" journals. They offer their reading space for s

sue we shall publish a 300-word report i

advertisements as original reading matter

oofs that any nostrum can not in its nature perform the wonders that it bo

evidence of thos

What is the value of these testimonials? Are they genuine? Are they honest? Are they, in the

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, 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

ed Testi

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 expe

ionally 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.

nued use of your testimonial will be agreeable to you. We ar

rug Manufactu

r C

ial, the writer being a young New Orleans man, who answered an advertisement in a

llent 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 flatly. She then inquired whether or not I was a member of any soci

very angry. Now, when a female is both very large and very angry, the best thing for a smal

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tions D

y 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

y 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 th

ctored." 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 pretence

tals 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 Whiske

timonial from

lishly 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 peo

l used as a reference

o the extensively advertised nostrums in great numbers are

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

ls for a M

t 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, b

. 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 standa

mportant paper in a Western city. The publisher was boasting that he had so established the editorial and new

d, "that I couldn't read at this tab

wift'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 dau

the advertise

ate, confidential and highly corporeal letters to the ghost of Lydia E. Pinkha

observed. "I'm too young-only 25, you know. Call me

"What Men Like in a Girl." For loathsome and gratuitous indecency, for leering appeal to their basest passions, this advertisement

an to his host, "what d

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 o

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 pub

ONSPIRACY AGAINST THE

Collier's Weekl

ress the People's

uence and unbr

Motto of the

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 pa

cines 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-Repres

did not Pri

te, 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 been on prison reform, on Sabbath o

as 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

elusion. 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 exceptio

al 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 quack doctor in New York, who did merely an office business, was raid

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the Fixed

ht on the silence of th

g. 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

ontracts for advertising. They are the regular printed form used by Hood, Ayer and Munyon in

m 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 remarkab

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 motiv

ate, one by the J. C. Ayer Company

le-Claus

n 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 doll

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

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n of great wealth, conceived that it would 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

ruous, 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

-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

rs. Change a few words, without altering the spirit in the least, and a body of ministers might adopt it. In this laboriously complete stat

he Mone

port 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

ittee, total exp

enses 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,

GE

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 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

eney's

gned 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

nteed 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 absolute

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SEE (A) (B) (C)-THAT MUZZLES

he 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 sh

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 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 d

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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 t

h Dr. Pierce "would not wish to have published b

Reconcile The

liam Allen White, Editor of

nk J.

r S

18-Editor.] 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 tha

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 differen

uld 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 co

elivered before the Pro

er

nk J.

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

llars. 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

ith 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 winte

that I am justified in adding this paragraph to our contract, not for the purpose of controlling the Pres

version of the situation? A

rely

J. C

GE

GE

e Newsp

slation 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 legis

uld 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, introdu

the frank na?veté of his son, which he did not "wish to have

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HENEY CALLS "SHIFTING

enator 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 t

"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 thro

he main point is, it's not safe;

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 ar

Club for L

ers 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 Legi

Ohio, Feb

bli

- M

ntl

laws, it will force us to discontinue advertising in your state. Your pr

efer you to the contract

pect

Medicine

py 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 pe

lature, 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

heney'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,

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 princ

ade 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 t

here 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'

pearing in the Cleveland papers. It is detrimental to the dru

publicity, and if you feel you can do so, we would like to have you wire the business managers of the Cleveland papers to

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.

s Club for

s he described it to his fellows. Is it pleasant reading for self-respecting newspaper men-the exultant air of those last sentences, a

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 u

pps-McRae Pre

Cooper, Clev

ent cut-rate articles which appeared in the Cleveland Press with him, and to-day received the following telegram from him from Ci

hing will appear in the Cleveland

urs

. Carl

bove quoted, at the nineteenth annual meetin

he 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

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

he ownership and active management all lie with one man. The editorial conscience and the business manager's enterprise lie under one hat. Wi

lf-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, chaste

hine 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

Abstracts from Various Articl

ULIAR

s advertised that they had concluded to take the public into their confidence, and th

e," was the cry. "We have nothing to hide. He

ingredient, and the formula winds up, "etc." All good, old-fashioned, we

er heard of a drug called "etc.," a

cocain!-just the simple, death-dealing cocain!

E CONCERNS AND

rrespondence 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

by Mark Sullivan in the Ladies'

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ders sent to "Patent Medicine" concerns are

e letters are regarded and held. (The advertisem

. Let me now give you, from the printed lists of these 'letter brokers' some idea of the way in which these 'sac

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 reg

five 'doctors' and 'institutes' is emphasized becau

man in a "patent medicine" concern told me were "

which in their context any woman can naturally imagine would be of the

his cont

of patent medicine concerns that turn into cold cash the

ers; 9,000 Narcotic Letters; 52,000 Consumption Letters; 3,000 Cancer Letters, and even 65,000 Deaf Letters. Of diseases of the most privat

To The Ame

oman 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 wom

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 trouble

EATE

e to the wall a nostrum agent said that It failed because "it wasn't a good repeater." When these m

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,

CINES AND T

f securing from well-known people testimonials indorsing and praising nostrums. Mr. Sullivan learned that thre

these brokers and made arrangements for the delivery of one hundred signed testimonials from members of congress, gov

ontract 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

xperience in treating female ills with her Vegetable Compound, she encouraged the women of America to write to her for advice in rega

or has such an amount of information at hand to a

more for the ailing women, of America than the family physician.' Any woman, therefore, is resp

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nial is actually obtained is

t 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 senat

stimonials are a fraud on the purch

y 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 thes

e cents a name to firms in other lines of business for the purpose of sending circulars. As a fact, often the trouble i

reated!"-Statement of a man who spent two years in the employ of a large patent medicine concern, as told