We should have a list of the most
influential
men that control them, or that can influence them.
Adams-Great-American-Fraud
to be sent to them during the life of this con- tract, and to supply missing copies upon request.
Change in make-up of paper or consolidation with another paper entitles the Munyons H. H. Remedy Co. to select newposition at above rate' or cancel contract, us preferred by them.
First --It is agreed in case any law or laws are enacted, either State cr National, harmful to the interests of the Munyon's H. H. Remedy Co. that this contract may be canceled by them from date of such enact-
ment, and the insertions madepaidforpro rata with the contractprice. Second--// is agreed that the Munyon's H. H. Remedy Co, may can-
cel this contract pro rata in case advertisements are published in this - paper in which their products are offered', with a view to substitution or other harmful motive j also, in case any matter otherwise detrimental to the Munyon's If. H. Remedy Co. 's interests is permitted to appear in the
reading colu7nns, or elsewhere in this paper. Guaranteed average circulation for past twelve months
Acceptedfor _
By _ . . . -. Form of Contract (C).
organization of the bureau to carry it into effect--that, too, has been kept carefully concealed from the generally unthinking newspapers, who are all unconsciously mere individual cogs in the patent-medicine lobbying ma- chine. At one of the meetings of the association, Dr. E,. V. Pierce of Buffalo arose and said (I quote him verbatim) : . . . "I would move you that the report of the Committee on Legislation be made a special order to be taken up immediately . . . that it be considenred in execu-
_ ^^,v,-^^^ y^^
? 134
CAN MR. CHENEY RECONCILE THESE STATEMENTS?
Letter addressed to Mr. William Allen White, Editor of the Ga- zette, Emporia, Kan.
BY FRANK J. CHENEY. Dear Sir:
I have read with a great deal of interest, to-day, an article in Collier's illustrating therein the contract between your paper and
ourselves. [See p. 13
Mr. S. Hopkins Adams endeav- believe I have a plan whereby we
ored very hard (as I understand) will have no difficulty whatever
to find me, but I am sorry to say with these people. I haA^e used it
as a safety guard to protect him-
self, in case any State did pass a
law prohibiting the sale of our ders. . . . There has been goods.
His argument surely falls flat
when he takes into consideration would come up, so I had this the conduct of the North Dakota clause in my contract added. Legislature, because every news-
paper in that State that we adver-
tise in had contracts containing tract I make: 'It is hereby agreed that clause. Why we should be that should your State, or the compelled to pay for from one to
two years' advertising or more, in
a State where we could not sell any law that would interfere
our goods, is more than I can un- with or restrict the sale of pro- derstand. As before stated, it is
merely a precautionary paragraph prietary medicines, this contract
to meet conditions such as now shall become void. ' . . . In the
Extract from a speech delivered before the Proprietary Associa- tion of America.
BY FRANK J. CHENEY.
"We have had a good deal of difficulty in the last few years with the different legislatures of
-- the different states. Editor. ^
. . .
I
that I was not at home. I really
believe that I could have explained in my business for two years, and that clause of the contract to his I know it is a practical thing. entire satisfaction, and thereby
saved him the humiliation of
making an erratic statement. years, have made contracts with
This is the first intimation between fifteen and sixteen thou- that I have ever had that that
clause was put into the contract sand newspapers, and never had
to control the Press in any way, but one man refuse to sign the or the editorial columns of the contract, and by saying to him
Press. IbelievethatifMr. Adams
was making contracts now, and that I could not sign a contract
making three-year contracts, the without this clause in it he read-
same as we are, taking into con- ily signed it. My point is merely sideration the conditions of the
different legislatures, he would be to shift the r^ponsibility. We
desirous of this same paragraph to-day have the responsibility of
. . . I, insideofthelasttwo
the whole matter upon our shoul-
constant fear that something
This is what I have in every con-
United States Government, pass
? tising.
135
exist in North Dakota. We Avere State of Illinois a few years ago
compelled to withdraw from that they wanted to assess me three State because we would not pub-
lish our formula, and^ therefore, hundred dollars. I thought I under this contract, we are not had a better plan than this, so compelled to continue our adver-
I wrote to about forty papery To illustrate: There are 739 and merely said: 'Please look at publications in your State--619 your contract with me and take
of these are dailies and weeklies. note that if this law passes you
Out of this number we are adver-
tising in over 500, at an annual
expenditure of $8,000 per year and my contracts cease. ' The
(estimated). We make a three- next week every one of them had year contract with all of them, an article. . . . I have carried and, therefore, our liabilities in
your State are $24,000, providing, this through and know it is a suc- of course, all these contracts were cess, I know the papers will ac- made at the same date. Should
these contracts all be made this cept it. Here is a thing that costs fall and your State should pass a IS nothing. We are guaranteed
law this winter (three months
later) prohibiting the sale of our
goods, there would be virtually a ing: It throws the responsibility loss to us of $24,000. Therefore, on the newspapers.
for a business precaution to guard
against just such conditions, we
add the red paragraph referred to I have this printed in red type, in Collier's.
I make this statement to you,
as I am credited with being the
originator of the paragraph, and take, and the newspaper man can I believe that I am justified in not say to me, *I did not see it. '
adding this paragraph to our He did see it and knows what he contract, not for the purpose of
controlling the Press, but, as be- is doing. It seems to me it is a fore stated, as a business precau- point worth every man's attention.
tion which any man should take who expects to pay his bills.
, . . I think this is pretty near
Will you kindly give me your a sure thing. " version of the situation? Await-
ing an early reply, I am,
Sincerely yours, FRANKJ. CHENEY.
tive session, and that every person not a member of the organization be asked to retire, so that it may be read and considered in executive ses- sion. There are matters and suggestions in reference to our future action, and measures to be taken which are advised therein, that we would not wish to have published broadcast over the country for very good reasons. "
Now what were the "matters and suggestions" which Dr. Pierce ''would not wish to have published broadcast over the country for very good reasons 1"
and I must stop doing business,
against the $75,000 loss for noth-
I have my contracts printed and
right square across the contract, so there can be absolutely no mis-
. . .
? 136
Valuable Newspaper Aid,
Dr. Pierce's son, Dr. V. Mott Pierce, was chairman of the Committee on Legislation. He was the author of the "matters and suggestions'' which must be considered in the dark. "Never before," said he, "in the history of the Proprietary Association were there so many bills in different state legislatures that were vital to our interests. This was due, we think, to an effort on the part of different state boards of health, who have of late years held national meetings, to make an organized effort to establish what are known as ^pure . food laws. ' " Then the younger Pierce stated explicitly the agency responsible for the defeat of this public health legislation: "We must not forget to place the honor where due for our uniform success in defeating class legislation directed against our legitimate pursuits. The American Newspaper Publishers' Association has rendered us valued aid through their secretary's office in New York, and we can hardly overestimate the power brought to bear at Washington by individual newspapers. " . . . (On another occasion. Dr. Pierce, speaking of two bills in the Illinois Legislature, said: "Two things oper- ated to bring these bills to the danger line. In the first place, the Chicago papers were almost wholly without influence in the Legislature. . . . Had it not been for the active co-operation of the state outside of Chicago there is absolute certainty that the bill would have passed. . . . I think that a great many members do not appreciate the power that we can bring to bear on legislation through the press,") But this power, in young Dr. Pierce's opinion, must be organized and systematized. "If it is not presumptuous on the part of your chairman," he said modestly,
"to outline a policy which experience seems to dictate for the future, it would be briefly as follows"--^liere the younger Pierce explains the "mat- ters and suggestions" which must not be "published broadcast over the country. " The first was "the organization of a Legislative Bureau, with its offices in New York or Chicago. Second, a secretary, to be appointed hj the Chairman of the Committee on Legislation, who will receive a stated salary, sufficiently large to be in keeping with such person's ability, and to compensate him for the giving of all his time to this work. " "The benefits of such a working bureau to the Proprietary Association," said Dr. Pierce, "can be foreseen : First, a systematic plan to acquire early knowledge of pending or threatened legislation could be taken up. In the past we have relied too much on newspaper managers to acquaint us of such bills coming up. . , , Another plan would be to have the regulation formula bill, for instance, introduced by some friendly legisla- tor, and have it referred to his own commitee, where he could hold it until all danger of such another bill being introduced were over, and the
Legislature had adjourned. "
Little wonder Dr. Pierce wanted a secret session to cover up the frank naivete of his son, which he did not "wish to have published broadcast over the country, for very good reasons. "
In discussing this plan for a legislative bureau, another member told \vhgit in his estimation was needed. "The trouble," said he--I quote from the minutes--"the trouble we will have in attempting to buy legislation-- supposing we should attempt it--is that we will never know what we are buying until we get through. We may have paid the wrong man, and the bill is passed and we are out. It is not a safe proposition, if we consider it legitimate, which we do not. "
? ^*i'**i^'i^tt^iisa. 4*iiv-. >>. -
337
THE TELKORAM 18 THE OFFICIAL NIWS'APKR OF THE CITY or RAU CLAItt
Ptrauaazs or
9^ <Stygrast, Bails anB >>mi-Wethldi
Bailg s^ BnUg Jfrw ^rtst
Senator Jazses K. Noble,
Senate Chamber, State Capitol,
fladiEOn, Vis. KyJ>ear Senator:-
April 26, 1905.
ITe are receirlng dally, from many of our Patent Medicine patrons, consiunlcatlcns that are very urgent in asking ub to do our utmost to prevail tjpon you to ? withdraw your rsTised till, -srtiich, if it is passed, will probably he the means of depriving The Telegram (C)f a very literal patronage it now receives through advertising con- tracts aade with Proprietary Jfedlcine Iiouses.
If the writer thought for one Eonient, that the passage of your medicine 1)111, was somsthinf the people really warjted, or were at all anxious that such a lair be enacted, he would give you his per- sonal word that no effort on the part of The Telegram would be in evidence to opfcse the n^asurHj but on the other hand it is our firm belief that the people of Wisconsin DO rOT CAHX 0i;3 WKIT, whether
the bill becomes a law, or not; and under such circuaistaroes, why you should find it agreeable tc proceed along any line that would create unpleasant results for The Teleg'-ar. -. and deprive it of a legit- imate Income, is a conundnin ve h^ve triad hard to solve, but cannot.
All the Dru^rists of Eau Claire are unaniisously opposed to the pasf-age of any bill which is liable to cause the patent med- icine peojae to withdraw their business froE the State of Wisconsin; we s=iy all, one, . "Ir, Poberg, is not, and it is needless to refer to the reascn this gentleman refused to aign the statement left with the Senate Comffiittoe by our Ur. E. R. Welch at the time S. 109 was up for hearing last winter; the remainder of the Kau Claire Drug- gists, to a ra:-. n, are heartily opj^osed to these measures and it is only natural th-at they ahoula b<<, for why should they endorse any action tha. t aeprives thea of "a revenue that rightly belongs to then?
If YOi; irant the Patent . \:edicine people to print on their packages, in plain English, what such packages contain, then be fair ana pass a law which will cosipell YOU to writs your prescrip- tions 3C thrit tho'-e who ta<e theia can convince themselves JUST WHAT YOtr HA"'? : ADVl? Fi) THHI TO TA? T. . You knoWit Is a poor rule that won't worl- both ways'.
I think I callto raind that you menticned at one time,
that the passage of such a bill would not cause the withdrawaJ of
any advertising from the newspanersjlet us say, that there is no
Question about this, fcr if your aedicine bill is passed it is our
belief. The Telegram wil" '. ose hundreds of dol":ar3 annually and
we are going to -isk you * ain to consider the welfare of some of
those who perhaps are tartlally ac>'Ountable fcr the title it is
possible to prefix to your name.
Diet. G. c. ? . Very respectfully, , ^:
: , TKLEGRAL^ PPBLISRIFG CO. g-. a^:^^^
EXAMPLE OF WHAT MR. CHENEY CALLS -'SHIFTING THE RESPONSIBILITY. "
This letter was sent by the publishers of one of the leading newspapers of Wisconsin to Senator Noble of that state. It illustrates the method adopted by the patent-medicine makers to compel the newspapers in each state to do their lobbying for them. Senator Noble introduced a bill requir- ing patent-medicine manufacturers to state on their labels the' percentage of various poisons which every bottle might contain. Senator Noble and a few others fought valiantly for their bill throughout the whole of the last session of the Wisconsin Legislature, but were defeated by the united action of the newspaper publishers, who, as this letter- shows, exerted pressure of
every kind, including threats, to compel members of the Legislatul-e to vote against the bill.
138
True, It is not legitimate, but the main point is, it's not safe; that's the thing to be considered.
The patent-medicine man continued to elaborate on the plans proposed by Dr. Pierce: "It would not be a safe proposition at all. What this association should have . . . is a regularly established bureau. . . ? We should have all possible information on tap, and we should have a list of the members of the legislature of every state.
We should have a list of the most influential men that control them, or that can influence them. . . . For instance, if in the state of Ohio a bill comes up that is adverse to us, turn to the books, find out Avho are the members of the legislature there, who are the publishers of the papers in the state, where they are located, which are the Eepublican and which the Democratic papers.
. . . It will take mone}^. Ijut if the money is rightly spent, it will be the best investment ever made. "
The Trust's Club for Legislators.
That is about as compreliensive, as frankly impudent a scheme of controlling legislation as it is possible to imagine. The plan was put in the form of a resolution, and the resolution was passed. And so the Proprietary Association of America maintains a lawyer in Chicago, and a permanent secretary, office and staff. In every state it maintains an agent whose- business it is to watch during the session of the Legislature each day's batch of new bills, and whenever a bill affecting patent medi- cines shows its head, to telegraph the bill, verbatim, to headquarters. There some scores of printed copies of the bill are made, and a copy is sent to every member of the association--to the Peruna people, to Dr. Pierce at Buffalo, to Kilmer at Birmingham, to Cheney at Toledo, to the
Pinkham people at Lynn, and to all the others. Thereon each manufac- turer looks up the list of papers in the threatened state with which he has the contracts described above. And to each newspaper he sends a per- emptory telegram calling the publisher's attention to the obligations of his contract, and commanding him to go to work to defeat the anti-patent- medicine bill. In practice, this organization works with smooth perfection and well-oiled accuracy to defeat the public health legislation which is introduced by boards of health in over a score of states every year. To illustrate, let me describe as typical the history of the public health bills which were introduced and defeated in Massachusetts last year. I have already mentioned them as showing how the newspapers, obeying that part of their contract which requires them to print nothing harmful to patent medicines, refused to print any account of the exposures which were made by several members of the Legislature during the debate of the bill. I wish here to describe their obedience to that other clause of the
contract, in living up to which they printed scores of bitterly partisan editorials against the public health bill, and against it's authors per- sonally; threatened with political death those members of the Legislature who were disposed to vote in favor of it, and even, in the persons of the ed- itors and owners, went up to the State House and lobbied personally against the bill. And since I have already told of Mr. Cheney's author- ship of the scheme, I will here reproduce, as typical of all the others
(all the other large patent-medicine concerns sent similar letters and telegrams), the letter which Mr. Cheney himself, on the 14th day of Feb- ruary, sent to all the newspapers in Massachusetts with which he has lob- bying contracts--practically every newspaper in the state
>>
? ? "Publishers "
Mass.
,
139
"Toledo. Ohio. Feb. 14. 1905.
"Gentlemen :
"Should House bills Nos. 829, 30, 607, 724. or Senate bill IS^o.
185 become laws, it will force us to discontinue advertisins: in your state. Your prompt attention regarding this bill we believe would be of mutual benefit,
"We would respectfully refer you to the contract which we havewithyou. Respectfully,
"Cheney Medicine Company. "
Xow here is the fruit which that letter bore: a strong editorial against the anti-patent-medicine bill, denouncing it and its author in the most vituperative language, a marked copy of which was sent to every member of the Massachusetts Legislature. But this was not all that this one zealous publisher did; he sent telegrams to a number of members, and a personal letter to the representative of his district calling on that member not only to vote, but to use his influence against the bill, on the pain of forfeiting the paper's favor.
Now this seems to me a shameful thing--that a INIassachusetts news- paper, of apparent dignity and outward hign standing, should jump to the cracking of the whip of a nostrum-maker in Ohio; that honest and well- meaning members of the Massachusetts Legislature, whom all the money of Rockefeller could not buy, who obey only the one thing which they look on as the expression of public opinion of their constituents, the united voice of the press of their district--that these men should unknowingly cast their votes at the dictate of a nostrum-maker in Ohio, who, if he should deliver his command personally and directly, instead of through a newspaper supine enough to let him control it for a hundred dollars a year, would be scorned ana flouted.
Any self-respecting newspaper must be humiliated by the attitude of the patent-medicine association. They don't ASK the newspapers to do it--they ORDER it done. Read again Mr. Cheney's account of his plan, note the half-contemptuous attitude toward the newspapers. x\nd read again Mr. Cheney's curt letter to the Massachusetts papers; observe the threat, just sufficiently veiled to make it more of a threat; and the for- mal order from a superior to a clerk: "We would respectfully refer you to the contract we have with you. "
And the threat is not an empty one. The newspaper which refuses to aid the patent-medicine people is marked. Some time ago Dr. V. Mott Pierce of Buffalo was chairman of what is called the "Committee on Leg- islation" of the Proprietary Association of America. He was giving his annual report to the association. "We are happy to say," said he, "that though over a dozen bills were before the different State Legislatures last winter and spring, yet we have succeeded in defeating all the bills which were prejudicial to proprietary interests without the use of money, and through the vigorous co-operation and aid of the publishers. January 2-^ your committee sent out letters to the principal publications in New York asking their aid against this measure. It is hardly necessary to state that the publishers of New York responded generously against these
harmful measures. The only small exception was the Evening Star of
"
? 140
Poughkeepsie, N, Y. , the publisher of which, in a very discourteous letter, refused to assist us in any way. "
Is it to be doubted that Dr. Pierce reported this exception to his fellow patent-medicine men, that they might make 'note of the offending paper, and bear it in mind when they made their contracts the following year? There are other cases which show what happens to the newspaper which offends the patent-medicine men. I am fortunate enough to be able to describe the following incident in the language of the man' who wielded the, club, as he told the story with much pride to his fellow patent-medicine men at their annual meeting:
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Proprietary Association," said Mr. Cooper, "I desire to present to you a situation which I think it is incumbent on manufacturers generally to pay some attention to--namely, the publication of sensational drug news which appears from time to time in the leading papers of the country. . . . There are, no doubt, many of you in the room, at least a dozen, who are familiar with the sensational articles that appeared in the Cleveland Press. Gentlemen, this is a question that appeals to you as a matter of business. . . . The Cleveland Press indulged in a tirade against the so-called 'drug trust. '
, . (the "drug trust" is the same organization of patent-medicine men--including Pierce, Pinkham, Peruna, Kilmer and all the well-known ones--which I have referred to as the patent-medicine association. Its official name is the Proprietary Association of America. ) "I sent out the followinglettertofifteenmanufacturers"(ofpatentmedicines) :
" ' Gentlemen--Inclosed we hand you a copy of matter which is appearing in the Cleveland papers. It is detrimental to the drug business to have this matter agitated in a sensational way. In behalf of the trade we would ask you to use your influence with the papers in Cleveland to discontinue this unnecessary publicity, and if you feel you can do so, we would like to have you wire the business managers of the Cleveland papers to discontinue their sensational drug articles, as it is proving very injurious to your business. Respectfully, E. R. Cooper. '
"Because of that letter which we sent outj the Cleveland Press received inside of forty-eight hours telegrams from six manufacturers canceling thousands of dollars' worth of advertising and causing a consequent dearth of sensational matter along drug lines. It resulted in a loss to one paper alone of over eighteen thousand dollars in advertising. Gentlemen, when you touch a man's pocket, you touch him where he lives; that principle is true of the newspaper editor or the retail druggist, and goes through all business. "
The Trust's Club for Newspapers.
That is the account of how the patent-medicine man used his club on the newspaper head, told in the patent-medicine man's own words, as he described it to his fellows. Is it pleasant reading for self-respecting newspaper men--the exultant air of those last sentences, and the worldly wisdom: "When you touch a man's pocket you touch him where he lives; that principle is true of the newspaper editor. . . . " ?
But the worst of this incident has not yet been told. There remains the account of how the offending newspaper, in the language of the bully, "ate dirt. " The Cleveland Press is one of a syndicate of newspapers, all
141
under Mr, McRae's ownership--but I will use ]\Ir. Cooper's OAvn words: '"We not only reached the Cleveland Press by the movement taken up in that way, but went further, for the Cleveland Press is one of a syndicate fif newspapers known as the Scripps-McRae League, from whom this ex-
planation is self-explanatory:
" 'Office Scripps-McRae Press Associatiox. "'Mr. E. R. Cooper, Cleveland, Ohio:
" 'Mr. McRae arrived in Xew York the latter part of last week after a three months' trip to Egypt. I took up the matter of the recent cut-rate articles which appeared in the Cleveland Press with him, and to-day received the following telegram from him from Cincinnati: "Scripps-McRae papers will contain no more such as Cleveland Press published concerning the medicine trust 1^1. A. McRae. " I am sure that in the future nothing will appear in the Cleveland Press detrimental to your interests.
" 'Yours truly, F. J. Carlisle. ' "
This incident was told, in the exact words above quoted, at the nine- teenth annual meeting of the Proprietary Association of America.
I could, if space permitted, quote many other telegrams and letters from the Kilmer's SAvamp Root makers, from the Piso's Cure people, from all the large patent-medicine manufacturers. The same thing that hapoened in Massachusetts happened last year in New Hampshire, in Wisconsin, in Utah, in more than fifteen states. In Wisconsin the response by the news- papers to the command of the patent-medicine people was even more humiliating than in Massachusetts. Not only did individual newspapers work against the formula bill ; there is a "Wisconsin Press Association," which includes the owners and editors of most of the newspapers of the state. That association held a meeting and passed resolutions, "that we are opposed to said bill . . . providing that hereafter all patent medi- cine sold in this state shall have the formulse thereof printed on their labels," and "Resolved, That the association appoint a committee of five publishers to oppose the passage of the measure. " And in this same state the larger dailies in the cities took it on themselves to drum uu the smaller country papers and get them to write editorials opposed to the formula bill. Nor was even this the measure of their activity in response to the command of the patent medicine association, I am able to give the letter
which is here reproduced [see page 83], It was sent by the publisher of one of the largest daily papers in Wisconsin to the state senator who introduced the bill. In one western state, a board of health officer made a number of analyses of patent medicines, and tried to have the analyses made public, that the people of his state might be warned. "Only one newspaper in the state," he says in a personal letter, "was willing to print results of these analyses, and this paper refused them after two publica- tion in which a list of about ten was published. This paper was the
, the editorial manager of which is in sympathy with the effort to restrict the sale of harmful nostrums. The business management in- terfered for the reason that $5,000 in patent-medicine advertising was with- drawn in a week. "
In New Hampshire--but space forbids. Happily, there is a little silver inthesituation. ThelegislatureofNorthDakotalastyearpassed,andthe governor signed a bill requiring that patent-medicine bottles shall have
--
? ? 142
printed on their labels the percentage of alcohol or of morphin or various other poisons which the medicine contains. That was the first success in a fight which the public health authorities have waged in twenty states eaclTyear for twenty years. In North Dakota the patent-medicine people conducted the fight with their usual weapons, the ones described above. But the newspapers, be it said to their everlasting credit, refused to fall in line to the threats of the patent-medicine association. And I account for that fact in this way: North Dakota is wholly a "country" community. It has no city of over 20,000, and but one over 5,000. The press of the state, therefore, consists of very small papers, weeklies, in which the ownership and active management all lie with one man. The editorial conscience and the business manager's enterprise lie under one hat. With them the patent-medicine scheme was not so successful as with the more elaborately organized newspapers of older and more populous states.
Just now is the North Dakota editor's time of trial. The^ law went into effect July 1. The patent-medicine association, at their annual meeting in May, voted to withdraw all their advertising from all the papers in that state. This loss of revenue, they argued self-righteously, would be a warning to the newspapers of other states. Likewise it would be a lesson to the newspapers of North Dakota. At the next session of the legislature they will seek to have the label bill repealed, and they count on the newspapers, chastened by a lean year, to help them. For the independence they have shown in the past, and for the courage they will be called on to show in the future, therefore, let the newspapers of North Dakota know that they have the respect and admiration of all decent people.
"What is to be done about it? " is the question that follows exposure of organized rascality. In few cases is the remedy so plain as here. For the past, the newspapers, in spite of these plain contracts of silence, must be acquitted of any grave complicity. The very existence of the machine that uses and directs them has been a carefully guarded secret. For the futvire, be it understood that any newspaper which carries a patent-med- icine advertisement knows what it is doing. The obligations of the con- tract are now public property. And one thing more, Avhen next a member of a state legislature arises and states, as I have so often heard: "Gentle- men, this label bill seems right to me, but I can not support it; the united press of my district is opposed to it"--when that happens, let every one understand the wires that have moved "the united press of my district,"
? [The folloiviny aiticlt is reproduced, hy permission, from Collier's Weekly, Nov. 17, 1906. 1
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. "
What Becomes of Letters Written "In Confidence" to "Patent Medicine" Firms and Quacks.
WHENyou write to a patent-medicine house or a quack doctor,
whose advertisements solicit letters of inquiry about health, the reply in nine cases out of ten will address you in an intimate personal way, as "Dear Friend," or "Esteemed friend. " And the reply will be marked, in conspicuous let- ters, "Strictly confidential," even, in some cases, "Sacredly
confidential. " Every art is used to make the dupe believe his letters are kept safely locked in hidden archives, where the things he has said about his health, his affairs, and his person are carefully guarded from any eyes but the so-called "doctor's. "
CHICAGO BROKERAGE COMPANY
riAlLORDERLETTERS 4Wvv)^^\ BOUGHT,
4i7 DEARBORN ST. , CHICAGO, ILL.
SOLD. RENTED. V^^^^^^fe^ C. A davis, naneger.
We want to buy all kinds of lettersj-eceived in answer to newspaper'" advertisements^ If
Now the truth about what really happens to these letters is eloquently told by the documents reproduced herewith. When the patent-medicine man, or the quack, has, in the language of their shops, "jollied" the dupe along with false hopes and lying promises until even he becomes suspicious, and he can no longer be induced to send another dollar for another bottle of medicine, then his letter is sold to some other quack who pretends to cure the same disease. That quack coaxes as much money as he can from the victim, and then turns him over to a third; and so the dupe is passed along, in many cases, for several years.
To facilitate this exchange of letters among the quacks there are five or six so-called letter-brokers. They are really clearing-houses where patent- medicine frauds and quack doctors exchange, sell, and rent letters. On
Vandewater street. New York, is a big warehouse owned by one of these let- ter-brokers,FrankB. S^vett. Inthatwarehouseareoversevenmillionlet-
your
i
MEDICAL
MEDICAL. 5,<<O0. Dr. Stevens & Co. , Co-^ lumbus, Ohio. Nervous debiliTy,
MEDICAL. 2,000. L. West, Avon. N. ~f: Mervous debility, first replies. 1
ters. It is quite possible that if you, any time Avithin the past five years, have written a letter to a quack doctor, your letter is somewhere in that warehouse, and men familiar with the business could find it. Probably your letter has been sold over and over again, and rented and re-rented to every quack who plays on the victims of 3'our particular ailment.
One of the largest of these letter-brokers is the Guild Company of 132 Nassau street. New York. They issue a large circular describing the letters they have for sale. A portion of the list is printed on the next page. The part here produced is only a Aery small portion, and that the less unprint- able part of the circular.
If you liave ever been foolish enough to icrite to any of the quacks and frauds m that list, you may Jcnoio that your letter is noio for sale. You
may knoio that all the things you have
said about your health and your
LETTERS FOR REm
a>>,0(>>Jas. Wm. Kida medical file cards, repre- senting ail kinds of diseases (will sort) 1904-
180,0(X) men's matrimonial, 35. 000 women's '04, 1st. 200,000 agents and canvassers,
50,000 Dr. Pierce OJder blanks, '02, '03. 20,0(X) OzomuLson order blanks, ?
Change in make-up of paper or consolidation with another paper entitles the Munyons H. H. Remedy Co. to select newposition at above rate' or cancel contract, us preferred by them.
First --It is agreed in case any law or laws are enacted, either State cr National, harmful to the interests of the Munyon's H. H. Remedy Co. that this contract may be canceled by them from date of such enact-
ment, and the insertions madepaidforpro rata with the contractprice. Second--// is agreed that the Munyon's H. H. Remedy Co, may can-
cel this contract pro rata in case advertisements are published in this - paper in which their products are offered', with a view to substitution or other harmful motive j also, in case any matter otherwise detrimental to the Munyon's If. H. Remedy Co. 's interests is permitted to appear in the
reading colu7nns, or elsewhere in this paper. Guaranteed average circulation for past twelve months
Acceptedfor _
By _ . . . -. Form of Contract (C).
organization of the bureau to carry it into effect--that, too, has been kept carefully concealed from the generally unthinking newspapers, who are all unconsciously mere individual cogs in the patent-medicine lobbying ma- chine. At one of the meetings of the association, Dr. E,. V. Pierce of Buffalo arose and said (I quote him verbatim) : . . . "I would move you that the report of the Committee on Legislation be made a special order to be taken up immediately . . . that it be considenred in execu-
_ ^^,v,-^^^ y^^
? 134
CAN MR. CHENEY RECONCILE THESE STATEMENTS?
Letter addressed to Mr. William Allen White, Editor of the Ga- zette, Emporia, Kan.
BY FRANK J. CHENEY. Dear Sir:
I have read with a great deal of interest, to-day, an article in Collier's illustrating therein the contract between your paper and
ourselves. [See p. 13
Mr. S. Hopkins Adams endeav- believe I have a plan whereby we
ored very hard (as I understand) will have no difficulty whatever
to find me, but I am sorry to say with these people. I haA^e used it
as a safety guard to protect him-
self, in case any State did pass a
law prohibiting the sale of our ders. . . . There has been goods.
His argument surely falls flat
when he takes into consideration would come up, so I had this the conduct of the North Dakota clause in my contract added. Legislature, because every news-
paper in that State that we adver-
tise in had contracts containing tract I make: 'It is hereby agreed that clause. Why we should be that should your State, or the compelled to pay for from one to
two years' advertising or more, in
a State where we could not sell any law that would interfere
our goods, is more than I can un- with or restrict the sale of pro- derstand. As before stated, it is
merely a precautionary paragraph prietary medicines, this contract
to meet conditions such as now shall become void. ' . . . In the
Extract from a speech delivered before the Proprietary Associa- tion of America.
BY FRANK J. CHENEY.
"We have had a good deal of difficulty in the last few years with the different legislatures of
-- the different states. Editor. ^
. . .
I
that I was not at home. I really
believe that I could have explained in my business for two years, and that clause of the contract to his I know it is a practical thing. entire satisfaction, and thereby
saved him the humiliation of
making an erratic statement. years, have made contracts with
This is the first intimation between fifteen and sixteen thou- that I have ever had that that
clause was put into the contract sand newspapers, and never had
to control the Press in any way, but one man refuse to sign the or the editorial columns of the contract, and by saying to him
Press. IbelievethatifMr. Adams
was making contracts now, and that I could not sign a contract
making three-year contracts, the without this clause in it he read-
same as we are, taking into con- ily signed it. My point is merely sideration the conditions of the
different legislatures, he would be to shift the r^ponsibility. We
desirous of this same paragraph to-day have the responsibility of
. . . I, insideofthelasttwo
the whole matter upon our shoul-
constant fear that something
This is what I have in every con-
United States Government, pass
? tising.
135
exist in North Dakota. We Avere State of Illinois a few years ago
compelled to withdraw from that they wanted to assess me three State because we would not pub-
lish our formula, and^ therefore, hundred dollars. I thought I under this contract, we are not had a better plan than this, so compelled to continue our adver-
I wrote to about forty papery To illustrate: There are 739 and merely said: 'Please look at publications in your State--619 your contract with me and take
of these are dailies and weeklies. note that if this law passes you
Out of this number we are adver-
tising in over 500, at an annual
expenditure of $8,000 per year and my contracts cease. ' The
(estimated). We make a three- next week every one of them had year contract with all of them, an article. . . . I have carried and, therefore, our liabilities in
your State are $24,000, providing, this through and know it is a suc- of course, all these contracts were cess, I know the papers will ac- made at the same date. Should
these contracts all be made this cept it. Here is a thing that costs fall and your State should pass a IS nothing. We are guaranteed
law this winter (three months
later) prohibiting the sale of our
goods, there would be virtually a ing: It throws the responsibility loss to us of $24,000. Therefore, on the newspapers.
for a business precaution to guard
against just such conditions, we
add the red paragraph referred to I have this printed in red type, in Collier's.
I make this statement to you,
as I am credited with being the
originator of the paragraph, and take, and the newspaper man can I believe that I am justified in not say to me, *I did not see it. '
adding this paragraph to our He did see it and knows what he contract, not for the purpose of
controlling the Press, but, as be- is doing. It seems to me it is a fore stated, as a business precau- point worth every man's attention.
tion which any man should take who expects to pay his bills.
, . . I think this is pretty near
Will you kindly give me your a sure thing. " version of the situation? Await-
ing an early reply, I am,
Sincerely yours, FRANKJ. CHENEY.
tive session, and that every person not a member of the organization be asked to retire, so that it may be read and considered in executive ses- sion. There are matters and suggestions in reference to our future action, and measures to be taken which are advised therein, that we would not wish to have published broadcast over the country for very good reasons. "
Now what were the "matters and suggestions" which Dr. Pierce ''would not wish to have published broadcast over the country for very good reasons 1"
and I must stop doing business,
against the $75,000 loss for noth-
I have my contracts printed and
right square across the contract, so there can be absolutely no mis-
. . .
? 136
Valuable Newspaper Aid,
Dr. Pierce's son, Dr. V. Mott Pierce, was chairman of the Committee on Legislation. He was the author of the "matters and suggestions'' which must be considered in the dark. "Never before," said he, "in the history of the Proprietary Association were there so many bills in different state legislatures that were vital to our interests. This was due, we think, to an effort on the part of different state boards of health, who have of late years held national meetings, to make an organized effort to establish what are known as ^pure . food laws. ' " Then the younger Pierce stated explicitly the agency responsible for the defeat of this public health legislation: "We must not forget to place the honor where due for our uniform success in defeating class legislation directed against our legitimate pursuits. The American Newspaper Publishers' Association has rendered us valued aid through their secretary's office in New York, and we can hardly overestimate the power brought to bear at Washington by individual newspapers. " . . . (On another occasion. Dr. Pierce, speaking of two bills in the Illinois Legislature, said: "Two things oper- ated to bring these bills to the danger line. In the first place, the Chicago papers were almost wholly without influence in the Legislature. . . . Had it not been for the active co-operation of the state outside of Chicago there is absolute certainty that the bill would have passed. . . . I think that a great many members do not appreciate the power that we can bring to bear on legislation through the press,") But this power, in young Dr. Pierce's opinion, must be organized and systematized. "If it is not presumptuous on the part of your chairman," he said modestly,
"to outline a policy which experience seems to dictate for the future, it would be briefly as follows"--^liere the younger Pierce explains the "mat- ters and suggestions" which must not be "published broadcast over the country. " The first was "the organization of a Legislative Bureau, with its offices in New York or Chicago. Second, a secretary, to be appointed hj the Chairman of the Committee on Legislation, who will receive a stated salary, sufficiently large to be in keeping with such person's ability, and to compensate him for the giving of all his time to this work. " "The benefits of such a working bureau to the Proprietary Association," said Dr. Pierce, "can be foreseen : First, a systematic plan to acquire early knowledge of pending or threatened legislation could be taken up. In the past we have relied too much on newspaper managers to acquaint us of such bills coming up. . , , Another plan would be to have the regulation formula bill, for instance, introduced by some friendly legisla- tor, and have it referred to his own commitee, where he could hold it until all danger of such another bill being introduced were over, and the
Legislature had adjourned. "
Little wonder Dr. Pierce wanted a secret session to cover up the frank naivete of his son, which he did not "wish to have published broadcast over the country, for very good reasons. "
In discussing this plan for a legislative bureau, another member told \vhgit in his estimation was needed. "The trouble," said he--I quote from the minutes--"the trouble we will have in attempting to buy legislation-- supposing we should attempt it--is that we will never know what we are buying until we get through. We may have paid the wrong man, and the bill is passed and we are out. It is not a safe proposition, if we consider it legitimate, which we do not. "
? ^*i'**i^'i^tt^iisa. 4*iiv-. >>. -
337
THE TELKORAM 18 THE OFFICIAL NIWS'APKR OF THE CITY or RAU CLAItt
Ptrauaazs or
9^ <Stygrast, Bails anB >>mi-Wethldi
Bailg s^ BnUg Jfrw ^rtst
Senator Jazses K. Noble,
Senate Chamber, State Capitol,
fladiEOn, Vis. KyJ>ear Senator:-
April 26, 1905.
ITe are receirlng dally, from many of our Patent Medicine patrons, consiunlcatlcns that are very urgent in asking ub to do our utmost to prevail tjpon you to ? withdraw your rsTised till, -srtiich, if it is passed, will probably he the means of depriving The Telegram (C)f a very literal patronage it now receives through advertising con- tracts aade with Proprietary Jfedlcine Iiouses.
If the writer thought for one Eonient, that the passage of your medicine 1)111, was somsthinf the people really warjted, or were at all anxious that such a lair be enacted, he would give you his per- sonal word that no effort on the part of The Telegram would be in evidence to opfcse the n^asurHj but on the other hand it is our firm belief that the people of Wisconsin DO rOT CAHX 0i;3 WKIT, whether
the bill becomes a law, or not; and under such circuaistaroes, why you should find it agreeable tc proceed along any line that would create unpleasant results for The Teleg'-ar. -. and deprive it of a legit- imate Income, is a conundnin ve h^ve triad hard to solve, but cannot.
All the Dru^rists of Eau Claire are unaniisously opposed to the pasf-age of any bill which is liable to cause the patent med- icine peojae to withdraw their business froE the State of Wisconsin; we s=iy all, one, . "Ir, Poberg, is not, and it is needless to refer to the reascn this gentleman refused to aign the statement left with the Senate Comffiittoe by our Ur. E. R. Welch at the time S. 109 was up for hearing last winter; the remainder of the Kau Claire Drug- gists, to a ra:-. n, are heartily opj^osed to these measures and it is only natural th-at they ahoula b<<, for why should they endorse any action tha. t aeprives thea of "a revenue that rightly belongs to then?
If YOi; irant the Patent . \:edicine people to print on their packages, in plain English, what such packages contain, then be fair ana pass a law which will cosipell YOU to writs your prescrip- tions 3C thrit tho'-e who ta<e theia can convince themselves JUST WHAT YOtr HA"'? : ADVl? Fi) THHI TO TA? T. . You knoWit Is a poor rule that won't worl- both ways'.
I think I callto raind that you menticned at one time,
that the passage of such a bill would not cause the withdrawaJ of
any advertising from the newspanersjlet us say, that there is no
Question about this, fcr if your aedicine bill is passed it is our
belief. The Telegram wil" '. ose hundreds of dol":ar3 annually and
we are going to -isk you * ain to consider the welfare of some of
those who perhaps are tartlally ac>'Ountable fcr the title it is
possible to prefix to your name.
Diet. G. c. ? . Very respectfully, , ^:
: , TKLEGRAL^ PPBLISRIFG CO. g-. a^:^^^
EXAMPLE OF WHAT MR. CHENEY CALLS -'SHIFTING THE RESPONSIBILITY. "
This letter was sent by the publishers of one of the leading newspapers of Wisconsin to Senator Noble of that state. It illustrates the method adopted by the patent-medicine makers to compel the newspapers in each state to do their lobbying for them. Senator Noble introduced a bill requir- ing patent-medicine manufacturers to state on their labels the' percentage of various poisons which every bottle might contain. Senator Noble and a few others fought valiantly for their bill throughout the whole of the last session of the Wisconsin Legislature, but were defeated by the united action of the newspaper publishers, who, as this letter- shows, exerted pressure of
every kind, including threats, to compel members of the Legislatul-e to vote against the bill.
138
True, It is not legitimate, but the main point is, it's not safe; that's the thing to be considered.
The patent-medicine man continued to elaborate on the plans proposed by Dr. Pierce: "It would not be a safe proposition at all. What this association should have . . . is a regularly established bureau. . . ? We should have all possible information on tap, and we should have a list of the members of the legislature of every state.
We should have a list of the most influential men that control them, or that can influence them. . . . For instance, if in the state of Ohio a bill comes up that is adverse to us, turn to the books, find out Avho are the members of the legislature there, who are the publishers of the papers in the state, where they are located, which are the Eepublican and which the Democratic papers.
. . . It will take mone}^. Ijut if the money is rightly spent, it will be the best investment ever made. "
The Trust's Club for Legislators.
That is about as compreliensive, as frankly impudent a scheme of controlling legislation as it is possible to imagine. The plan was put in the form of a resolution, and the resolution was passed. And so the Proprietary Association of America maintains a lawyer in Chicago, and a permanent secretary, office and staff. In every state it maintains an agent whose- business it is to watch during the session of the Legislature each day's batch of new bills, and whenever a bill affecting patent medi- cines shows its head, to telegraph the bill, verbatim, to headquarters. There some scores of printed copies of the bill are made, and a copy is sent to every member of the association--to the Peruna people, to Dr. Pierce at Buffalo, to Kilmer at Birmingham, to Cheney at Toledo, to the
Pinkham people at Lynn, and to all the others. Thereon each manufac- turer looks up the list of papers in the threatened state with which he has the contracts described above. And to each newspaper he sends a per- emptory telegram calling the publisher's attention to the obligations of his contract, and commanding him to go to work to defeat the anti-patent- medicine bill. In practice, this organization works with smooth perfection and well-oiled accuracy to defeat the public health legislation which is introduced by boards of health in over a score of states every year. To illustrate, let me describe as typical the history of the public health bills which were introduced and defeated in Massachusetts last year. I have already mentioned them as showing how the newspapers, obeying that part of their contract which requires them to print nothing harmful to patent medicines, refused to print any account of the exposures which were made by several members of the Legislature during the debate of the bill. I wish here to describe their obedience to that other clause of the
contract, in living up to which they printed scores of bitterly partisan editorials against the public health bill, and against it's authors per- sonally; threatened with political death those members of the Legislature who were disposed to vote in favor of it, and even, in the persons of the ed- itors and owners, went up to the State House and lobbied personally against the bill. And since I have already told of Mr. Cheney's author- ship of the scheme, I will here reproduce, as typical of all the others
(all the other large patent-medicine concerns sent similar letters and telegrams), the letter which Mr. Cheney himself, on the 14th day of Feb- ruary, sent to all the newspapers in Massachusetts with which he has lob- bying contracts--practically every newspaper in the state
>>
? ? "Publishers "
Mass.
,
139
"Toledo. Ohio. Feb. 14. 1905.
"Gentlemen :
"Should House bills Nos. 829, 30, 607, 724. or Senate bill IS^o.
185 become laws, it will force us to discontinue advertisins: in your state. Your prompt attention regarding this bill we believe would be of mutual benefit,
"We would respectfully refer you to the contract which we havewithyou. Respectfully,
"Cheney Medicine Company. "
Xow here is the fruit which that letter bore: a strong editorial against the anti-patent-medicine bill, denouncing it and its author in the most vituperative language, a marked copy of which was sent to every member of the Massachusetts Legislature. But this was not all that this one zealous publisher did; he sent telegrams to a number of members, and a personal letter to the representative of his district calling on that member not only to vote, but to use his influence against the bill, on the pain of forfeiting the paper's favor.
Now this seems to me a shameful thing--that a INIassachusetts news- paper, of apparent dignity and outward hign standing, should jump to the cracking of the whip of a nostrum-maker in Ohio; that honest and well- meaning members of the Massachusetts Legislature, whom all the money of Rockefeller could not buy, who obey only the one thing which they look on as the expression of public opinion of their constituents, the united voice of the press of their district--that these men should unknowingly cast their votes at the dictate of a nostrum-maker in Ohio, who, if he should deliver his command personally and directly, instead of through a newspaper supine enough to let him control it for a hundred dollars a year, would be scorned ana flouted.
Any self-respecting newspaper must be humiliated by the attitude of the patent-medicine association. They don't ASK the newspapers to do it--they ORDER it done. Read again Mr. Cheney's account of his plan, note the half-contemptuous attitude toward the newspapers. x\nd read again Mr. Cheney's curt letter to the Massachusetts papers; observe the threat, just sufficiently veiled to make it more of a threat; and the for- mal order from a superior to a clerk: "We would respectfully refer you to the contract we have with you. "
And the threat is not an empty one. The newspaper which refuses to aid the patent-medicine people is marked. Some time ago Dr. V. Mott Pierce of Buffalo was chairman of what is called the "Committee on Leg- islation" of the Proprietary Association of America. He was giving his annual report to the association. "We are happy to say," said he, "that though over a dozen bills were before the different State Legislatures last winter and spring, yet we have succeeded in defeating all the bills which were prejudicial to proprietary interests without the use of money, and through the vigorous co-operation and aid of the publishers. January 2-^ your committee sent out letters to the principal publications in New York asking their aid against this measure. It is hardly necessary to state that the publishers of New York responded generously against these
harmful measures. The only small exception was the Evening Star of
"
? 140
Poughkeepsie, N, Y. , the publisher of which, in a very discourteous letter, refused to assist us in any way. "
Is it to be doubted that Dr. Pierce reported this exception to his fellow patent-medicine men, that they might make 'note of the offending paper, and bear it in mind when they made their contracts the following year? There are other cases which show what happens to the newspaper which offends the patent-medicine men. I am fortunate enough to be able to describe the following incident in the language of the man' who wielded the, club, as he told the story with much pride to his fellow patent-medicine men at their annual meeting:
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Proprietary Association," said Mr. Cooper, "I desire to present to you a situation which I think it is incumbent on manufacturers generally to pay some attention to--namely, the publication of sensational drug news which appears from time to time in the leading papers of the country. . . . There are, no doubt, many of you in the room, at least a dozen, who are familiar with the sensational articles that appeared in the Cleveland Press. Gentlemen, this is a question that appeals to you as a matter of business. . . . The Cleveland Press indulged in a tirade against the so-called 'drug trust. '
, . (the "drug trust" is the same organization of patent-medicine men--including Pierce, Pinkham, Peruna, Kilmer and all the well-known ones--which I have referred to as the patent-medicine association. Its official name is the Proprietary Association of America. ) "I sent out the followinglettertofifteenmanufacturers"(ofpatentmedicines) :
" ' Gentlemen--Inclosed we hand you a copy of matter which is appearing in the Cleveland papers. It is detrimental to the drug business to have this matter agitated in a sensational way. In behalf of the trade we would ask you to use your influence with the papers in Cleveland to discontinue this unnecessary publicity, and if you feel you can do so, we would like to have you wire the business managers of the Cleveland papers to discontinue their sensational drug articles, as it is proving very injurious to your business. Respectfully, E. R. Cooper. '
"Because of that letter which we sent outj the Cleveland Press received inside of forty-eight hours telegrams from six manufacturers canceling thousands of dollars' worth of advertising and causing a consequent dearth of sensational matter along drug lines. It resulted in a loss to one paper alone of over eighteen thousand dollars in advertising. Gentlemen, when you touch a man's pocket, you touch him where he lives; that principle is true of the newspaper editor or the retail druggist, and goes through all business. "
The Trust's Club for Newspapers.
That is the account of how the patent-medicine man used his club on the newspaper head, told in the patent-medicine man's own words, as he described it to his fellows. Is it pleasant reading for self-respecting newspaper men--the exultant air of those last sentences, and the worldly wisdom: "When you touch a man's pocket you touch him where he lives; that principle is true of the newspaper editor. . . . " ?
But the worst of this incident has not yet been told. There remains the account of how the offending newspaper, in the language of the bully, "ate dirt. " The Cleveland Press is one of a syndicate of newspapers, all
141
under Mr, McRae's ownership--but I will use ]\Ir. Cooper's OAvn words: '"We not only reached the Cleveland Press by the movement taken up in that way, but went further, for the Cleveland Press is one of a syndicate fif newspapers known as the Scripps-McRae League, from whom this ex-
planation is self-explanatory:
" 'Office Scripps-McRae Press Associatiox. "'Mr. E. R. Cooper, Cleveland, Ohio:
" 'Mr. McRae arrived in Xew York the latter part of last week after a three months' trip to Egypt. I took up the matter of the recent cut-rate articles which appeared in the Cleveland Press with him, and to-day received the following telegram from him from Cincinnati: "Scripps-McRae papers will contain no more such as Cleveland Press published concerning the medicine trust 1^1. A. McRae. " I am sure that in the future nothing will appear in the Cleveland Press detrimental to your interests.
" 'Yours truly, F. J. Carlisle. ' "
This incident was told, in the exact words above quoted, at the nine- teenth annual meeting of the Proprietary Association of America.
I could, if space permitted, quote many other telegrams and letters from the Kilmer's SAvamp Root makers, from the Piso's Cure people, from all the large patent-medicine manufacturers. The same thing that hapoened in Massachusetts happened last year in New Hampshire, in Wisconsin, in Utah, in more than fifteen states. In Wisconsin the response by the news- papers to the command of the patent-medicine people was even more humiliating than in Massachusetts. Not only did individual newspapers work against the formula bill ; there is a "Wisconsin Press Association," which includes the owners and editors of most of the newspapers of the state. That association held a meeting and passed resolutions, "that we are opposed to said bill . . . providing that hereafter all patent medi- cine sold in this state shall have the formulse thereof printed on their labels," and "Resolved, That the association appoint a committee of five publishers to oppose the passage of the measure. " And in this same state the larger dailies in the cities took it on themselves to drum uu the smaller country papers and get them to write editorials opposed to the formula bill. Nor was even this the measure of their activity in response to the command of the patent medicine association, I am able to give the letter
which is here reproduced [see page 83], It was sent by the publisher of one of the largest daily papers in Wisconsin to the state senator who introduced the bill. In one western state, a board of health officer made a number of analyses of patent medicines, and tried to have the analyses made public, that the people of his state might be warned. "Only one newspaper in the state," he says in a personal letter, "was willing to print results of these analyses, and this paper refused them after two publica- tion in which a list of about ten was published. This paper was the
, the editorial manager of which is in sympathy with the effort to restrict the sale of harmful nostrums. The business management in- terfered for the reason that $5,000 in patent-medicine advertising was with- drawn in a week. "
In New Hampshire--but space forbids. Happily, there is a little silver inthesituation. ThelegislatureofNorthDakotalastyearpassed,andthe governor signed a bill requiring that patent-medicine bottles shall have
--
? ? 142
printed on their labels the percentage of alcohol or of morphin or various other poisons which the medicine contains. That was the first success in a fight which the public health authorities have waged in twenty states eaclTyear for twenty years. In North Dakota the patent-medicine people conducted the fight with their usual weapons, the ones described above. But the newspapers, be it said to their everlasting credit, refused to fall in line to the threats of the patent-medicine association. And I account for that fact in this way: North Dakota is wholly a "country" community. It has no city of over 20,000, and but one over 5,000. The press of the state, therefore, consists of very small papers, weeklies, in which the ownership and active management all lie with one man. The editorial conscience and the business manager's enterprise lie under one hat. With them the patent-medicine scheme was not so successful as with the more elaborately organized newspapers of older and more populous states.
Just now is the North Dakota editor's time of trial. The^ law went into effect July 1. The patent-medicine association, at their annual meeting in May, voted to withdraw all their advertising from all the papers in that state. This loss of revenue, they argued self-righteously, would be a warning to the newspapers of other states. Likewise it would be a lesson to the newspapers of North Dakota. At the next session of the legislature they will seek to have the label bill repealed, and they count on the newspapers, chastened by a lean year, to help them. For the independence they have shown in the past, and for the courage they will be called on to show in the future, therefore, let the newspapers of North Dakota know that they have the respect and admiration of all decent people.
"What is to be done about it? " is the question that follows exposure of organized rascality. In few cases is the remedy so plain as here. For the past, the newspapers, in spite of these plain contracts of silence, must be acquitted of any grave complicity. The very existence of the machine that uses and directs them has been a carefully guarded secret. For the futvire, be it understood that any newspaper which carries a patent-med- icine advertisement knows what it is doing. The obligations of the con- tract are now public property. And one thing more, Avhen next a member of a state legislature arises and states, as I have so often heard: "Gentle- men, this label bill seems right to me, but I can not support it; the united press of my district is opposed to it"--when that happens, let every one understand the wires that have moved "the united press of my district,"
? [The folloiviny aiticlt is reproduced, hy permission, from Collier's Weekly, Nov. 17, 1906. 1
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. "
What Becomes of Letters Written "In Confidence" to "Patent Medicine" Firms and Quacks.
WHENyou write to a patent-medicine house or a quack doctor,
whose advertisements solicit letters of inquiry about health, the reply in nine cases out of ten will address you in an intimate personal way, as "Dear Friend," or "Esteemed friend. " And the reply will be marked, in conspicuous let- ters, "Strictly confidential," even, in some cases, "Sacredly
confidential. " Every art is used to make the dupe believe his letters are kept safely locked in hidden archives, where the things he has said about his health, his affairs, and his person are carefully guarded from any eyes but the so-called "doctor's. "
CHICAGO BROKERAGE COMPANY
riAlLORDERLETTERS 4Wvv)^^\ BOUGHT,
4i7 DEARBORN ST. , CHICAGO, ILL.
SOLD. RENTED. V^^^^^^fe^ C. A davis, naneger.
We want to buy all kinds of lettersj-eceived in answer to newspaper'" advertisements^ If
Now the truth about what really happens to these letters is eloquently told by the documents reproduced herewith. When the patent-medicine man, or the quack, has, in the language of their shops, "jollied" the dupe along with false hopes and lying promises until even he becomes suspicious, and he can no longer be induced to send another dollar for another bottle of medicine, then his letter is sold to some other quack who pretends to cure the same disease. That quack coaxes as much money as he can from the victim, and then turns him over to a third; and so the dupe is passed along, in many cases, for several years.
To facilitate this exchange of letters among the quacks there are five or six so-called letter-brokers. They are really clearing-houses where patent- medicine frauds and quack doctors exchange, sell, and rent letters. On
Vandewater street. New York, is a big warehouse owned by one of these let- ter-brokers,FrankB. S^vett. Inthatwarehouseareoversevenmillionlet-
your
i
MEDICAL
MEDICAL. 5,<<O0. Dr. Stevens & Co. , Co-^ lumbus, Ohio. Nervous debiliTy,
MEDICAL. 2,000. L. West, Avon. N. ~f: Mervous debility, first replies. 1
ters. It is quite possible that if you, any time Avithin the past five years, have written a letter to a quack doctor, your letter is somewhere in that warehouse, and men familiar with the business could find it. Probably your letter has been sold over and over again, and rented and re-rented to every quack who plays on the victims of 3'our particular ailment.
One of the largest of these letter-brokers is the Guild Company of 132 Nassau street. New York. They issue a large circular describing the letters they have for sale. A portion of the list is printed on the next page. The part here produced is only a Aery small portion, and that the less unprint- able part of the circular.
If you liave ever been foolish enough to icrite to any of the quacks and frauds m that list, you may Jcnoio that your letter is noio for sale. You
may knoio that all the things you have
said about your health and your
LETTERS FOR REm
a>>,0(>>Jas. Wm. Kida medical file cards, repre- senting ail kinds of diseases (will sort) 1904-
180,0(X) men's matrimonial, 35. 000 women's '04, 1st. 200,000 agents and canvassers,
50,000 Dr. Pierce OJder blanks, '02, '03. 20,0(X) OzomuLson order blanks, ?
