THE CONSTANT THREAT OF PROPRIETARY MEDICINES.
In this connection I cannot refrain from alluding to one of the greatest dangers of drugs, and that is, their indiscriminate use by the laity. The fakers that pretend to find sovereign remedies for every disease, through the medium of the newspaper and the periodical, of the postal card and the circular, inflame the minds of the people and induct them into indiscriminate drugging. One can generally, by taking up a paper in any locality and scanning its columns even carelessly, see the wonderful vogue of these fakes and crimes. Such falsely praised substances as Peruna, Kilmer’s Swamp Root, Duffy’s Malt Whiskey, and the whole brood of wretched specifics, serve to illustrate the great danger to which we are subjected. But the worst of it all is that through the carelessness of physicians, and sometimes through their criminal pretentions, habits are formed for certain drugs, such as cocaine, opium and its products, chloral and alcohol, which enslave their victims, weaken their vitality, and invite disease. I think I do not exaggerate it when I say that the drug habit, no matter how induced, is a menace to the American people. No matter how slight the ailment or how easily controlled, the first advice and the first act is to “take something,” no matter what, or whoever may recommend it, for every imaginable ailment. The effect of this continual drugging upon the human body is more easily imagined than described. The nerves and stomachs of our people are gradually succumbing to the bombardment of pills, pellets and powders. For the sake of gain every possible influence is brought to bear upon the American people to increase the consumption of drugs. The danger is so imminent and so acute that it is hoped that through the means of education a public sentiment may yet be awakened in this country which will protect our people against all these nefarious concoctions. I would not for a moment in any way curtail the right of citizens to consult accredited physicians, no matter to what so-called school they might belong; but it is the duty of the State, as an additional safeguard, to the health and life of our people, to see to it that no one sets himself up as a physician unless he has qualified himself in the fundamental principles of anatomy, hygiene and physiology, to understand the human body and its operations. We are too prone to tolerate physicians who tell you that the blood which supplies the brain passes into the cranium altogether through the canal of the spinal cord. Charlatanry, quackery, and ignorance in the practice of medicine should be rigidly suppressed. The people of the nation who have freedom of choice should not be left helpless victims of avarice and ignorance.
DANGERS OF STIMULANTS.
In addition to drugs, as commonly considered, the people of our country are also subjected to imminent dangers in the use of stimuli, which have no food value and which induce activities that are beyond the power of the system to sustain. I refer especially to such beverages as tea, coffee, and alcoholic drinks and the manufactured articles containing their active principles, such as coca cola and all the great army of “olas,” and to tobacco, as an illustration of additional dangers to which we are likely to succumb. In spite of the fragrance of the coffee, and the aroma of the tea, and the flavor of the rum, and the dreams of the pipe, I am inclined to the belief that it was a sad day for humanity when these things were first brought to the attention of man. In so far as intellectual development is concerned, I find the nations of antiquity, and especially the powerful nations of Greece and Rome, developed to be leaders in architecture, masters of painting and sculpture, and geniuses in poetry and expression, without the aid of any of the stimuli which the artist, the poet and the writer are supposed to depend upon today.
It would indeed be a happy day for the community if all of these stimuli, as appetizing as some of them are, could be relegated to the scrap heap, and the art of their use forever lost. (Applause.) Meanwhile, we all understand that this Utopian condition is at present impossible, and hence we must content ourselves with education and with legal control to prevent the abuse of these bodies and to eliminate the injury which they have done. Temperance may always be practiced, even where prohibition fails. It is therefore the duty of every one concerned with the public health to urge the extremest moderation in the use of tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcoholic beverages, in the hope that the injuries which have already been wrought may be avoided in the future, and temperate indulgence take the place of unbridled consumption until the day of final elimination arrives.
SUMPTUARY LAWS.
In the interest, therefore, of the public health and the lengthening of life and increasing the efficiency of man, we must bring ourselves to the point of acknowledging that the State should control things which in themselves are injurious and unnecessary must be established. In other words, the individual’s rights, so dear to every lover of freedom, the cardinal principle of democracy, must give way to the public good. No one has any right to practice any habit, or induce others to do so, which in itself is likely to prove injurious to humanity. I would leave to the individual the largest freedom in everything that is good, and restrict his activities to the lowest minimum in everything that is bad. I would not make of man a machine, nor would I desire that he should live in an environment which in any way would tend to affect his evolution and progress injuriously, and so I preach what seems to me the only solution of all these evils—education, temperance, legal restriction of abuse, and leave the rest to the manly part of humanity.
If I can in my life just put one nail in the coffin of quackery and false medicine, I will not have lived in vain; if by my voice I can get one man or woman interested in a healthy way of living, my work will not be in vain; if I can save one infant from premature death, my life will be well spent.
I believe when you conserve a man physically you conserve him mentally and morally, and then sin and sorrow and suffering will pass. There are only two learned professions in the world that are necessary—one is agriculture and the other is teaching. If you feed men right and teach them right, there will be no law breaking, and hence we will need no lawyers; there will be no sickness, so we will need no physicians; and when you have a country that is so happy as to have no law breakers or sick people, you will not need anybody’s help to get you into heaven, so we can do away with the ministers. (Laughter.)
THE PROLONGATION OF LIFE.