"SPECIAL NOTICE—Many persons are making inquiries for the old-time ——. To such would say, that this formula is now put out under the name of ——, manufactured by —— Company, C——, Ohio. Write them and they will be pleased to send you a free booklet."
The old time —— was condemned by the United States Government as an intoxicant and stimulant, and cures were sold in various parts of the country for the —— "jag," yet in the new advertisement the following appears:
"—— is a remedy that should be kept in the house. Its virtue as a preventive to disease is the thing I wish chiefly to emphasize.
"When once the value of —— as a household remedy is understood no home would be without it. Cathartics, pills and powders would be discarded. Irritating tonics would be no longer taken. ALCOHOLIC DRINKS WOULD HAVE NO PLACE...."
If "alcoholic drinks would have no place" in the household, why should one want this "remedy," which has no medical value except as a stimulant? It is as if a drunken man should deliver a temperance lecture: it would really be funny if we did not know the tragedies that have gone before as a result of its use. That is an example of the type of argument which must be legislated against.
There are two specific points in this crusade against the patent medicine fraud which should be the objective issues of all concerted effort to crush the evil. These could be taken up by mothers in their eugenic clubs and developed until successfully legislated upon. It would be the greatest immediate contribution to constructive legislation that women's suffrage could bestow upon the race.
First, to enact a law which would make it a felony for a newspaper to print a fraudulent patent medicine advertisement, or a fake medical cure. A national board of competent authority should be constituted to determine the question of fraud.
Second, to amend the law which permits the registration of a fancy name for a combination of drugs, without at the same time giving the formula.
The mothers of the race must recognize that it is not only a question of economy, but a vital issue in health preservation, to regard all advertised remedies and medical "cures" as absolutely dangerous and worthless, and consequently not to be used at all. There is no safe exception to this rule. The records teem with evidence condemning the whole discreditable business. Almost without exception, every advertised remedy and cure has been, when actually investigated, found fraudulent and worthless. The great majority of these concerns are owned and run by individuals, who have had no medical experience, and no training to fit them to advise patients in any sense. It is a money-making scheme pure and simple, and anyone who asks further proof is not open to conviction.
I believe the truthful and the just interpretation of the success of the patent medicine business is to be found in the ignorance of the people,—not the kind of ignorance that reflects upon their intelligence, but real, honest ignorance regarding the true character and merit of the patent medicine business. It would be an unwarranted reflection upon the intelligence and acumen of the American people to assert that they would wittingly support a fraudulent proposition, especially a proposition whose success meant their own physical degeneration. The reflection is rather an indictment of the inefficiency of those in authority.