Nothing was further from the truth. It was simply a trick, a fraudulent, venal imposition. Mrs. C. B. M. herself admitted that she had absolutely nothing to do with the conduct of the business, nor did her previous experience in any way fit her to give advice in such matters. Her husband established the business under the name of the —— Medicine Company, and continued under this name until after his marriage, when it was reorganized and incorporated in his wife's name. Benefiting by the experience of similar concerns, he then used his wife's name simply as a business asset. How capably and efficiently he utilized this opportunity is shown in the beguiling literature he sent out as the above quotation amply demonstrates.
Think of a man writing, "I am a woman with all a woman's hopes and fears,"—and then proceeding to play, with consummate skill, upon the sensibility and credulity of a sick and neurasthenic woman. It is a round-about way to reach the public pocketbook, but experience has taught these harpies that it is an eminently successful method. Mr. M. himself admitted that the gross receipts from the business were in excess of $100,000 a year, and that 200,000 people were taking treatment from this concern at one time.
Mention has been made of a certain famous compound—which has been characterized by a well-known authority on drug addictions as "a dangerous drug used largely by drinkers." For 23 years after the death of the woman founder, —— and ——, the owners of the concern, advertised, inviting women to "write to L. P. for advice in regard to their complaints, and being a woman"—though a dead one—"it was easy, for her ailing sisters to pour into her ears every detail of their suffering."
The advertisement as generally printed runs:
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. L—— P——, in her laboratory at ——, 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. P—— for advice.
Does any woman need any further evidence of the fraudulent intent of such concerns? Keep in mind also that this particular remedy is exclusively recommended for "the diseases of women," and contains enough alcohol to render its users victims of the alcoholic habit.
MEDICINE CONCERN RUN BY WOMEN
Dr. D—— runs a mail order business in another town in Indiana. Her specialty is "diseases of women." The business is really owned by W. M. G——, a dealer in teas, coffees, etc. In the advertisements of the concern Dr. D—— emphasizes the fact that she is "a woman—a wife—a mother—a successful physician—a specialist on diseases of women." In many places in the literature of the company the "vast experience" of Dr. D—— is intentionally elaborated.
"Her vast experience as a physician is only one of the qualifications she possesses...."