THE PATENT MEDICINE EVIL--Continued
The ---- Consumption Cure--Personals to Consumptives--Nature's
Creation--Female Weakness Cures--Various Compounds and Malt
Whiskies.
FRAUDULENT TESTIMONIALS
It would indeed seem to be an act of supererogation to compile further
evidence of the infamy of this entire business: what additional proof is
necessary?
A certain Dr. H. of ----, Mich., published widely the following
advertisement:
"Gains 17 Pounds After Every One Gave Her Up.
"Miss I---- S---- had a terrible case of consumption, together with
catarrh and bronchitis. With this terrible complication, given up to
die, she took the H---- treatment. She is now cured."
Dear Doctor: I have been gaining rapidly. Have gained 17
pounds; weigh 150 pounds now and am getting quite strong, too.
I wish you could see me. You would be surprised. I look just
fine. Everybody says they never thought I would get well. I
can't thank you enough for it. I am feeling just fine, so I
will close.
Yours truly,
Miss I---- S----.
The above testimonial reads quite convincing and doubtless was the means
of influencing many other unfortunate victims to put themselves under
the "professional" care of Dr. H----. Investigation, however, revealed
the fact that this optimistic young lady died shortly after giving the
testimonial and that her death was, according to the transcript of her
certificate of death issued by the State of Wisconsin, due to
"consumption." The testimonial therefore cannot possibly have any value
under the circumstances. Unfortunately, however, this doctor does not
publish the death certificate with the testimonial, which latter he
continued to use after her death.
After an exhaustive inquiry into the personality and business of the
above mentioned M. D., the _Journal of the American Medical Association_
said:
First. The H---- consumption cure is chiefly owned and
controlled by men whose only qualification for treating disease
is that they are business men financially interested in other
medical fakes.
Second. The claims made in the advertisements, either directly
or by implication, that these "remedies" will "cure"
consumption are cruel and heartless falsehoods.
Third. The methods employed to capture victims, by means of
speciously worded circular letters disguised as personal
communications, are an imposition, if not an actual fraud, on
the ignorant and credulous.
Fourth. The drugs sent out by this concern as a "trial
treatment" are worthless as a cure for consumption.
Fifth. In printing endorsements of himself, which this M.D.
received from ministers of the gospel, he grossly abused the
confidence of men who did not know the use to which their
letters were to be put.
Sixth. The testimonials from physicians which he publishes have
been shown to emanate in some cases from men who themselves are
employed in exploiting medical fakes.
Seventh. The claim he makes of being a graduate of Edinburgh
University has been shown to be as false as the claims made for
the nostrum he exploits.
Can a much more disgraceful business than the various
"consumption cure" humbugs be imagined? Founded on fraud,
maintained by deceit, perpetuated by falsehood--the sick are
exploited to pay dividends on corporate quackery. How much
longer will this outrage on the unfortunate victims of the
White Plague be tolerated? If not for humanitarian reasons,
then for its own protection, at least, society should demand
that such cruel frauds be suppressed. Their existence is a
menace to public health and a disgrace to modern civilization.
Many fraudulent nostrums are advertised as blind advertisements in the
"Personal" columns of the daily press. The following recently appeared
in the "Personal" columns of papers all over the country:
PERSONAL--TO CONSUMPTIVES: I possess information which cost me
a fortune, and feel that I should let every consumptive know
about my experience. Mrs. R., Ohio.
To those who answered this advertisement was sent a letter written on
pale blue stationery, such as is used for social correspondence, with
the initials --. R. embossed, monogram style, in gilt on the paper and
envelope, signed "Mrs. --. R." It is asserted in this letter that the
writer has cured herself "in defiance of the world's scientists," by the
discovery of "a combination of certain roots and herbs." As a
consequence of having made this discovery, and after spending a fortune
in the quest of a cure according to the advertisement, we are informed
that "I am now devoting my life to saving others." According to further
information, her effort is apparently successful, because she "finds it
impossible to attend personally to the multitude of inquiries with which
she is favored." She finds it necessary, therefore, "to refer your
letter to my secretary, Mr. C----, from whom you will no doubt hear
soon." The secretary is very evidently on the job, "for in the next mail
there is delivered a letter from the ---- Company, signed H. W. C----,
Sec'y."
We can estimate the degree of Mrs. R.'s solicitude for the welfare of
the race when we learn that the same concern was engaged in exploiting a
syphilis "cure" in Chicago a few years ago. In all probability the cure
is the same for both diseases. It is difficult to tell of which disease
it was that Mrs. R. cured herself.
Among the testimonials published by this concern in its booklet are
quite a number in which the statement is made, frequently in glowing
terms, that the writer has been "cured" of consumption by ----. A few of
these were investigated and in every instance the writer died of
consumption. This mixture is, in the strongest terms that can be used, a
fake, a fraud, and is not a "cure" for consumption, as, of course, every
intelligent person knows.
TO CONSUMPTIVES.
The undersigned having been restored to health by simple means,
after suffering for several years with a severe lung affection,
and that dread disease Consumption, is anxious to make known to
his fellow sufferers the means of cure. To those who desire it,
he will cheerfully send (free of charge), a copy of the
prescription used, which they will find a sure cure for
Consumption, Asthma, Catarrh, Bronchitis, and all throat and
lung maladies. He hopes all sufferers will try his remedy, as
it is invaluable. Those desiring the prescription which will
cost them nothing, and may prove a blessing, will please
address Rev. ---- W., ----, N. Y.
A reply to this advertisement brought the information that the Rev.
W---- contracted tuberculosis while in charge of a church in Maine, and
after trying various treatments was finally cured by "a famous Dr.
C----, of Paris, France." It was now his intention to "devote his life"
to aid suffering humanity, in a spirit of thankfulness, by giving away,
free of all charge, a copy of the famous prescription.
Investigation proved that the Rev. E. A. W---- did not exist,
consequently he never had a church in Maine, nor did he contract
tuberculosis, or consult Dr. C----, of Paris. The individual who
conducted the business was really one C. A. A----, who, it is to be
inferred, conceived the whole fake. The scheme was a simple one. When
the prescription was received it was discovered that the ingredients
were not known to the drug trade and it was necessary to send to Mr.
A---- for a supply before it could be tested. The literature sent with
the prescription was of such a character that the average ignorant
sufferer from consumption, hoping against hope for a "cure," fell into
the trap and sent the money for a trial shipment.
"FEMALE WEAKNESS" CURES
Dr. D----'s "---- Compound": This nostrum is sold to relieve the pain of
child-birth. It is surely not necessary to state that it will not
relieve the pains of child-birth, nor will any drug or drugs ever do so.
The irresponsible group of quacks who claim to have solved the problem
of "painless child-birth" through the use of various "compound's" hardly
merit the consideration of ordinary individuals. It is almost impossible
to believe that a man would print over his name such a puerile or
fantastic story as the following. Dr. D---- asserts that the value of
his compound is proved because a certain woman patient tells how, after
losing her first child, she had a vision. A "white-robed angel"
appeared, who, after speaking to her in beautiful language, said, "Go,
sister, and seek freedom and peace in the use of ---- Compound and in
following the teachings of that book."
The book is entitled "Painless Child-Birth," it sells for $2.00 and it
simply extols, in unnecessary flowery language, the merits of the
compound.
If we heard such stories in every-day life we would smile credulously at
our informant and doubt his sanity, but in a patent medicine
advertisement we expect to read of miracles and we almost hope to be
told of impossible happenings. The more glaringly false and silly they
seem to be, the more they seem to exert their subtle hypnotic influence
on anyone whose physical or mental temperament lends itself to the
appeal.
This compound "speedily cures all derangements and irregularities of the
menstrual function, congestion, inflammation, ulceration and
displacement of the womb, and other things too numerous to mention." It
is claimed that it is made of the purest and most carefully selected
herbs which can be obtained. If, however, one picked up two handfuls of
dried leaves in the woods and put them in a package, the average man
could not distinguish between such rakings and "Dr. D----'s
---- Compound" at $1.00 a package.
The _Journal of the American Medical Association_ in commenting on this
fake, states:
---- Compound is, in short, but one more of the innumerable
cure-alls on the market in which discarded, unrecognized or
useless drugs are pressed into service and invested with
miraculous virtues. What shall be said of men who prey on
pregnant women? Who create in the mind of the expectant mother
the fear of untold agonies and then offer immunity to these
supposititious tortures at the price of their worthless
nostrums? Who, with the help of such publications as will
accept their lying advertisements, do more to encourage
abortion than even the professional abortionists themselves?
There seems to be but one remedy: Speed the time when in their
acceptance of advertising those publishers who fail to
recognize decency as a moral obligation may be forced by public
opinion to recognize its value as a business proposition.
The C. B. M. Remedy Company: In a small town in Indiana there is a
"lady" who has been spending a fortune in giving medical treatment
absolutely free to suffering women. The letters, literature, and
advertisements by implication lead one to suppose that a woman is in
charge of the business of this concern. The advertisements have a
picture of a lady giving away packages of medicine. The business was
conducted by one F. D. M. The name of his wife was simply used as an
advertising asset; the idea, of course, being that a woman would be more
willing to write to a business concern telling of her private illnesses
if she understood that she was confiding in a woman than she would if
under the impression that her letter would be read by a man. This is an
old scheme which was employed by others for many years with great
success.
M. himself is not a physician and is in no way qualified to give advice
to these women who write in response to the advertisements detailing
their symptoms and telling of their troubles. Investigation showed that
the medicine was compounded by the clerks and stenographers in the
employ of the company, and that all communications were answered by form
letters. It did not matter what ailed the patient, the treatment was the
same.
The claims made by this concern for their remedy, and they had only one,
were along the usual line--everything they could think about which has a
remote connection with the specialty in which they were
interested--leucorrhea, ulceration, displacement or falling of the womb,
profuse, scanty or painful periods, uterine or ovarian tumors or
growths, and piles from any cause, no matter of how long standing; also
pains in the back head and bowels, bearing down feelings, nervousness,
creeping feeling up the spine, melancholy, desire to cry, hot flushes,
weariness, uterine cancers in their earlier stages.
Analysis of the remedy showed it to be a combination of two weak,
commonly used drugs, one a very mild antiseptic and the other a mild
astringent. These were held together with cocoa butter into which a drop
of carbolic acid may have been put. There is nothing unusual in the
combination, nor has it any wonderful qualities which would justify the
claims made in behalf of it. The remedy contains nothing which could
under any circumstances effect the removal of cancers, fibroid growths,
or polypi, or which is capable of radically relieving laceration of the
womb due to child-birth.
The following is one of the specious appeals which this meretricious
concern sent to the ailing women of America:
Mrs. M. receives more mail than any other woman in the state.
How would you like to receive so much mail that it would be
necessary to use a grindstone in order to open the letters as
fast as they come in. This is the way Mrs. C. B. M. opens her
mail. She gets tons of mail, and to save time has the letters
opened by a large grindstone, which occupies a conspicuous
place in her office. No other person in Indiana receives so
much mail as she.
Mrs. M.'s aid and advice is as free to you as God's sunshine or
the air you breathe. She is always glad to lend her assistance
to every suffering woman, and she is a generous, good woman,
who has suffered herself as you suffer, and she wants to prove
to you that her common sense home treatment will cure you just
as surely as it cured her years ago in her humble cottage
before riches and fame came to her.
If you are a sufferer from any female trouble, no matter what
it is, send the coupon below to Mrs. C. B. M. at once.
I am a woman with all a woman's hopes and fears. I have known
what it is to be sick in body and mind. Sick in a way that I
couldn't bring myself to explain to a man, even though he were
my physician, and I am thankful beyond the power of words to
express that I have been given the power to extend to you, my
sisters, the priceless boon of relief from the burden of pain
and suffering.
I only pray that this little book may be the means of saving
some woman from years of such agony as only a woman can know.
I dedicate this book to you.
WOMEN'S DISEASES
I doubt if you can realize the full meaning of these two little
words. I, who come in contact with the pitiful wrecks of
womanhood wrought by female complaints, know, as I hope you
will never know, what shattered lives and broken hearts they
cause.
Only a sensitive woman can realize how hard it is to bring
one's self to undergo the ordeal of examination and treatment
by a physician.
Every letter sent out by this concern was signed, "Mrs. C. B. M." All
literature, every booklet, and every advertisement was ingeniously and
seductively "built up" to convey by implication the impression that the
business was conducted by a woman, and hence the inference followed in
the minds of the simple, trusting victims, that they were writing their
secrets, to be read by one of their own sex, and that this woman was
professionally qualified and temperamentally capable of giving competent
advice and adequate treatment.
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...."
"Her training and vast experience as a physician enables her to do more
for suffering women than any woman can who is not a physician...."
"During several years of active life as a general practitioner she
acquired a vast amount of valuable experience that very few ever
possess...."
These three quotations emphatically assert that Dr. D. has had "vast"
experience "as a general practitioner." Where did she get this
experience as a general practitioner? Inasmuch as she graduated as a
physician in 1907 and was licensed to practice in 1908, and as the
"---- D---- Company" was chartered in 1908 and began active business
then, we ask again, where did she get her "vast experience?"
The following letter, sent by Dr. D---- to one of her prospective
patients, gives a general idea of how the "game" is worked. These
letters are "form" letters, printed by the thousand, though they are
intended to convey the impression that they are personal--the patient's
name being inserted. It will be observed that Dr. D---- has acquired the
specious and oily art of the quack, and the seductive diction of those
who live by their wits:
Dear Friend: Since it is your misfortune to be afflicted, I am
glad you wrote to me, because I sincerely believe that I can
completely cure you if you take my treatment now. Realizing the
serious nature of your condition, I at once arranged to give
your case my prompt personal attention.
After years of success in curing practically every form of
woman's ills, I am devoting my life to my sister women. Being a
woman and a mother, I know your every ache and pain and
sympathize with you as only a woman can. As a physician, as a
specialist in diseases of women I know the causes of your
trouble and the most scientific method of curing you quickly.
Since you have in me a sympathetic friend as well as a
physician I trust you will read carefully my plan for your
complete recovery.
A careful diagnosis of your case shows you have Female
Weakness.
I have mailed a copy of my book, "Diseases of Women and Home
Medical Guide." Be sure to read a description of your condition
on pages 25-47.
As requested I have mailed you a free trial of my successful
treatment. It is bound to help you and you should take it at
once according to my directions enclosed herewith. The free
medicines will last you for three days and are suited to your
condition, but you should not expect them to cure you. Some of
the ingredients contained in the remedies you need are very
costly and I cannot afford to give you enough of these
medicines to completely cure you.
Your case seems to be of long standing and you really should
have a Complete Course of Treatment at once if you are to be
completely cured. As I want to do everything possible for you I
have prepared a Special Course of Treatment for you and am
sending it, postage paid, in the same package with the free
remedies.
Please remember that the free remedies are yours to take at
once without charge or obligation, but if you use the Special
Treatment I shall expect you to send me $3 for it. You need not
feel under obligation to me to accept the Special Course, but I
know it is just what you need and need NOW, so I feel sure your
good judgment will cause you to accept it at your earliest
convenience. By sending now I save you some time and ...
Dr. G. M. B., of ----, Mo., advertises to cure deafness, catarrh, asthma
and head noises. He offers to send two months' medicine free to prove
his ability to cure. In reply to inquiry he practically informs every
applicant that his case is so bad that there is no use of sending the
two months' treatment. In order to effect a cure in "your case" it is
necessary for you to take the regular treatment. He accepts the chance
that the literature and the testimonials accompanying his letter will
influence the victim to bite. Inasmuch as he admits that his income is
about $5,000 per month and that he gets three hundred letters every day,
it may be assumed that he knows his business.
It is not necessary to go into details regarding his methods. The
following summary of his business was made by the district attorney who
investigated it:
I find that the business is being conducted through the post
office at ----, Mo., under the names of Dr. ---- Remedy Company
and Dr. J. M. B----, and is a scheme and device for obtaining
money through the mails by means of false and fraudulent
pretenses, representations and promises, and I therefore
recommend that a fraud order be issued prohibiting the delivery
of mail and the payment of money orders to such addresses.
A certain "pure" malt whiskey is advertised as:
"A reliable all-round household remedy."
"It should be in every family medicine chest."
"It is manufactured for the purpose of supplying the profession and
public in general with a reliable tonic and stimulant."
"It is a recognized specific to enrich the blood and build body and
muscle, and in the prevention and relief of coughs, colds and stomach
troubles it has no equal."
Previous to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act it was advertised
in the following terms:
BEST SPRING TONIC.
DOCTORS OF ALL SCHOOLS AGREE THAT THE BEST TONIC-STIMULANT TO
BUILD UP THE SYSTEM, RUN DOWN AND WEAKENED BY THE LONG STRAIN
OF WINTER, AND TO DRIVE OUT SPRING FEVER AND MALARIA IS ----'S
MALT WHISKEY.
As a tonic and stimulant it is the greatest strength-giver
known to science. It destroys disease germs and by its building
and healing properties restores tissues in a gradual, healthy,
natural manner. It is a wonderful specific in the treatment and
cure of consumption, pneumonia, grippe, bronchitis, coughs,
colds, malaria, low fevers, stomach troubles, and all wasting,
weakened, diseased conditions, if taken in time.
It is recognized as the world's leading medicine everywhere.
By a decision of the Supreme Court of the State of New York this "pure"
malt whiskey has been declared a liquor. It is simply a sweetened
whisky. To advertise it as a CURE for consumption or as a cure for any
disease was malicious, and should be punishable by a long term in
prison. It would be possible to take every statement of the above
advertisement and prove each one to be false.
This "pure" malt whiskey is a favorite "booze" of so-called temperance
people. Since it is advertised as a medicine, they can get drunk from
its use and still be "temperance" advocates. One of the favorite methods
of advertising the product was to draw the public's attention to the
fact that
CLERGYMEN ENDORSE MALT WHISKY
DISTINGUISHED DIVINES AND TEMPERANCE WORKERS WHO HAVE spent
their lives in uplifting their fallen brethren and placing
their feet upon the solid rock use and recommend ----'s pure
malt whisky. Honored and respected preachers of the gospel and
advocates of temperance, without regard to creed or prejudice,
make frank and outspoken statements of what ----'s pure malt
whisky has done for them.
Then follow the testimonials and the photographs of three aged and
inert-looking preachers.
It made an impressive advertisement, as most nostrum "ads" are, because,
unfortunately, the art of the liar is best expressed in the superlative
degree. His word-pictures are therefore more lurid, more diversified,
more romantic. But when they are investigated and the facts brought to
light the advertisement falls to pieces. For example, compare the actual
facts relative to the three "distinguished divines" with the fiction in
the following advertisement:
The Rev.---- D----, over 82 years of age, practised medicine
for many years, when he moved west. He became a minister and
did preach for ten years in the State of Wyoming. He then
retired from the pulpit and opened a marriage bureau. He
received $10.00 when he gave his testimonial "to get his
picture taken."
The Rev. ---- H---- occupied the pulpit of the Church of
Eternal Hope of B----, Pa. He retired to enter politics a
number of years ago, and is now a deputy Internal Revenue
collector. He is a spiritualist. He owned race horses and was a
patron of the turf.
The Rev. McL---- lived in G----, Mich. There are 893 people in
the township and it is not even on the railroad line. Mr.
McL---- was allowed to resign from the fellowship after being
called to trial for endorsing ----'s pure malt whisky.
If these three gentlemen were brought on the stage of any city
vaudeville theater and introduced as distinguished divines it would be
regarded as a joke--which it really is. If we relegate our
"distinguished divines" to marriage bureaus, or the race track, or to
the Internal Revenue service, or to preach to flocks in townships of
less than one thousand and not on the railroad, the outlook for the
ministerial profession is far from encouraging. To tell us that these
men spent their lives "in uplifting their fallen brethren" is imposing
upon the good nature of one's audience. It is simply one more evidence
added to the long list already noted that one does not readily acquire
the habit of expecting to read the truth in a patent medicine
advertisement. Rather the reverse. We examine them in expectant
curiosity to note their unique and devilish ability to tell picturesque
falsehoods.
Certain famous pills are advertised extensively in Great Britain and in
the United States. It is claimed by the manufacturers that they are
"composed entirely of medicinal herbs" and that they will "cure"
constipation, pains in the back, cold chills, bad legs, maladies of
indiscretion, kidney and urinary disorders--and several other things.
These pills were analyzed by the British Medical Association's chemists,
who reported that they consisted of ginger, soap, and aloes. Where the
"medicinal herbs" were it was hard to say.
In large and lurid letters we are informed in the advertisements that
these pills are "worth a guinea ($5.00) a box." The retail price is 27
cents a box. The British Medical Association's chemist states that the
cost of these pills is one-quarter of a cent per box. Quite a fair
margin of profit considering the high cost of living these days!