It has been estimated that three hundred millions of dollars are spent annually on patent medicines and fake medical cures in the United States. Three hundred million dollars fraudulently obtained every year, mostly from the poor, is surely a subject deserving of honest and careful consideration.

The pure food and drug act compelled the manufacturers of patent medicines to publish the formulæ of their remedies on their labels. This is a big step in the right direction. Many States have helped the propaganda in one way or another, but much remains to be done. When the formulæ were demanded it was discovered that all nostrums belonged to a certain class. For example it was found that the soothing syrups—which are fed to babies—all contained opium in some form, or an equally dangerous drug. The headache remedies were all dangerous, every one of them containing ingredients which affect the heart seriously. The so-called tonics owed their chief virtue to their stimulating effect, which was due to the alcohol they contained and which in many instances practically equaled ordinary whisky in quality, quantity, and effect.

It has been authoritatively stated 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.

Many so-called remedies were found to contain absolutely no medication at all. They were simply sugar, or starch, or some harmless substance. But they were being sold to cure anything from kidney disease to cancer. It was an astonishing revelation and in a way it showed how far men will go to attain financial success.

A well-known tonic was at the time of the investigation one of the most prominent proprietary nostrums in the country. The actual cost including bottle, label, contents, and packing is between fifteen and eighteen cents. It costs in the drug store $1.00 per bottle. It was found to contain alcohol and water and a pinch of burnt sugar for coloring purposes, and one-half of one per cent. of mild drugs. It was claimed that it would cure all or any of the diseases listed in the book, and that list practically includes all the ills of man. It is within the limits of truth to assert that this tonic, though advertised as a medicine, was largely in demand as a stimulant and intoxicant,—just as a certain famous malt whisky is to-day. Voluminous evidence is on record wherein it is shown that it was used in enormous quantities as a stimulant, in exactly the same way as ordinary whisky is used. The dose of any medicine is, as a rule, seldom over a tablespoonful three or four times a day. The average individual would imagine that there would be some risk attached to increasing the dose from a tablespoonful to the contents of a large size bottle. The only risk was that the patient got a more profound and maybe a more satisfying "jag." In "no license" towns this tonic was bought by the druggists in gross lots and used exclusively for its intoxicating properties. In southern Ohio, and in the mountain districts of West Virginia the "—— jag" was a standard form of intoxication. In many Southern newspapers there appeared regularly advertised cures for the "—— habit," brought on by the use of this preparation,—and no doubt the cure was a stronger percentage of liquor as this scheme was frequently worked to steal the patients from one remedy to another.

The following communication was sent out by the Department of the Interior, as a result of the alarming reports which were regularly reaching Washington regarding the prevalence of drunkenness among the Indians, despite the fact that "no liquor" was sold in these government reservations. The fact was that the Indians had discovered this pleasant tonic.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Indian Affairs.
Washington, D. C.
To Indian Agents and School Superintendents in charge of Agencies:

In connection with this investigation, please give particular attention 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 ——, 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....

Mr. S. H. Adams in "The Great American Fraud" writes as follows: "The other reason why this or some other of its class is often the agency of drunkenness instead of whisky is that the drinker of it 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. Several of the others of these well-known proprietary medicines depend for their popularity chiefly on their alcohol. One 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 had not 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 a certain 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."