The Patent Office issues to them trade-mark registration (generally speaking, the convenient term "patent medicine" is a misnomer, as very few are patented) without inquiry into the nature of the article thus
safeguarded
against imitation.
Adams-Great-American-Fraud
rul "^ iM
i ^ i
/
PonJ' J trai f i if' k\njirc1 . 1H
I' for '1 t
A "Pond's Extract" advertisement trading on the public alarm over the recent meningitis epidemic in New York City.
Cuticura may be a useful preparation, but in extravagance of advertising it rivals the most clamorous cure-all. Pond's Extract, one would naturally suppose, could afford to restrict itself to decent methods, but in the recent
? epidemic scare in New York it traded on the public alarm by putting forth "display" advertisements headed, in heavy black type, "Meningitis," a disease in which witch-hazel is about as effective as molasses. This is fairly comparable to Peruna's ghoulish exploitation, for profit, of the yellow- fever scourge in New Orleans, aided by various southern newspapers of standing, which published as news an "interview" with Dr. Hartman, president of the Peruna Company,
Drugs That Make Victims.
'\'\^ien one comes to the internal remedies, the proprietary medicines proper, they all belong to the tribe of Capricorn, under one of two heads, harmless frauds or deleterious drugs. For instance, the laxatives perform what they promise; but taken regularly, as thousands of people take them
(and, indeed, as the advertisements urge), they become an increasingly baneful necessity. Acetanilid will undoubtedly relieve headache of certain kinds; but acetanilid, as the basis of headache powders, is prone to remove the cause of the symptoms permanently by putting a complete stop to the heart action. Invariably, when taken steadily, it produces constitutional disturbances of insidious development which result fatally if the drug be not discontinued, and often it enslaves the devotee to its use. Cocain and opium stop pain; but the narcotics are not the safest drugs to put into the hands of the ignorant, particularly when their presence is concealed in the "cough remedies," "soothing syrups," and "catarrhal powders" of which they are the basis. Few outside of the rabid temperance advoeates will deny a place in medical practice to alcohol. But alcohol, fed daily and in increasing doses to women and children, makes not for health, but for drunkenness. Far better whiskey or gin unequivocally labeled than the alcohol-laden "bitters," "sarsaparillas" and "tonics" which exhilarate fatuous temperance advocates to the point of enthusiastic testimonials.
None of these "cures" really does cure any serious affection, although a majority of their users recover. But a majority, and a very large ma- jority, of the sick recover, anyway. Were it not so--were one illness out of fifty fatal--this earth would soon be depopulated.
As to Testimonials.
The ignorant drug-taker, returning to health from some disease which he has overcome by the natural resistant powers of his body, dips his pen in gratitude and writes his testimonial. The man who dies in spite of the patent medicine--or perhaps because of it--doesn't bear witness to what it did for him. We see recorded only the favorable results: the unfavorable lie silent. How could it be otherwise when the only avenues of publicity are
controlled by the advertisers? So, while many of the printed testimonials are genuine enough, they represent not the average evidence, but the most glowing opinions which the nostrum vender can obtain, and generally they are the expression of a low order of intelligence. Read in this light, they are unconvincing enough. But the innocent public regards them as the type,nottheexception. "IfthatcuredMrs. SmithofOshgoshitmaycure me," says the woman whose symptoms, real or imaginary, are so feelingly described under the picture. Lend ear to expert testimony from a certain prominent cure-all:
"They see my advertising. They read the testimonials. They are con- vinced. They have faith in Peruna. It gives them a gentle stimulant and so they get well,"
There it is in a nutshell; the faith cure. Not the stimulant, but the faith inspired by the advertisement and encouraged by the stimulant does the work--or seems to do it. If the public drugger can convince his pat-
? ron that she is well, she is well--for his purposes. In the case of such diseases as naturally tend to cure themselves, no greater harm is done than the parting of a fool and his money. With rheumatism, sciatica and that ilk, it means added pangs; with consumption, Bright's disease and other serious disorders, perhaps needless death. No onus of homicide is borne by the nostrum seller; probably the patient would have died anyway; there is no proof that the patent bottle \vas in any way responsible. Even if there were--and rare cases do occur where the responsibility can be brought home--there is no warning to others, because the newspapers ar. e too considerate of their advertisers to publish such injurious items.
The Magic "Red Clause. "
With a few honorable exceptions the press of the United States is at the beckandcallofthepatentmedicines. Notonlydothenewspapersmodify news possibly affecting these interests, but they sometimes become their active agents. F. J. Cheney, proprietor of Hall's Catarrh Cure, devised some years ago a method of making the press do his fighting against legis- lation compelling makers of remedies to publish their formulae, or to print on the labels the dangerous drugs contained in the medicine--a constantly recurring bugaboo of the nostrum-dealer. This scheme he unfolded at a meeting of the Proprietary Association of America, of which he is now president. Heexplainedthatheprintedinredlettersoneveryadvertising contract a clause providing that the contract should become void in the event of hostile legislation, and he boasted how he had used this |is a club in a case where an Illinois legislator had, as he put it, attempted to hold him for three hundred dollars on a strike bill.
"I thought I had a better plan than this," said Mr. Cheney to his associ- ates, "so I wrote to about forty papers and merely said: 'Please look at your contract with me aJid take note that if this law passes you and I muststopdoingbusiness. ' Thenextweekeveryoneofthemhadanarticle and Mr. Man had to go. "
So emphatically did this device recommend itself to the assemblage that many of the large firms took up the plan, and now the "red clause" is a familiar device in the trade. The reproduction printed on page 6 is a fac-simile of a contract between Mr. Cheney's firm and the Emporia Gazette, William Allen White's paper, which has since become one of the new^spapers to abjure the patent-medicine man and all his ways. Em- boldened by this easy coercion of the press, certain firms have since used the newspapers as a weapon against "price-cutting," by forcing them to re- fuse advertising of the stores which reduce rates on patent medicines. Ty- rannical masters, these heavy purchasers of advertising space.
To what length daily journalism will go at the instance of the business office was shown in the great advertising campaign of Paine's Celery Com- pound, some years ago. The nostrum's agent called at the office of a prominent Chicago newspaper and spread before its advertising manager a full-page advertisement, with blank spaces in the center.
"We want some good, strong testimonials to fill out with," he said,
"You can get all of those you want, can't you? " asked the newspaper manager.
"Canyoufreturnedtheother. "Showmefourorfivestrongonesfrom local politicians and you get the ad. "
Fake TestimonialSf
That day reporters were assigned to secure testimonials with photo- graphs which subsequently appeared in the full-page advertisement as promised. As for the men who permitted the use of their names for this
? purpose, several of them afterward admitted that they had never tasted the "Compound," but that they were willing to sign the testimonials for the joy of appearing in print as "prominent citizens. " Another Chicago news- paper compelled its political editor to tout for fake indorsements of a nostrum. Amanwithaninsideknowledgeofthepatent-medicinebusiness made some investigations into this phase of the matter, and he declares that such procurement of testimonials became so established as to have the force of a system, only two Chicago papers being free from it. To-day,
This Contract is Void if Patent Sheets uitfi Advertisements are Used. Three i^ears' Advertising Contract V
^
We herehy aire-u-^^ith CHENEY MEDlcme 'COfVIPANY; for the sum of /^
^^,? >^. . . . -:. r-^W. _ Slate of ^\^-)<-^^^^^^ . , . . . . . . ,^r,^^^;^A^
? ? --^^^'^fej^T^ Covnfy of
. . /. . . . . L^'- -T- DOLLARS,''ro insert- the advertisem. ent of t "HALL'S CATARRH^CURE," COfitainingmatter as per copy furnished iset in \ our regular reading matter tifpt-) to he pioblisliedeach issue of Paper and ^
to appear in regular readJng Diatter not to be preceded hy any pjaid notice, \ and on local or editorial page. Said adrertisemenitoherjhnfor three years with tlieprivft$ege of twelve changes annually. /^
Paymkji^s to bej^hdde se,mi-annucdly. Aduertis^-^nts tybi pitblished in
Daily . ^. ^^r^^^t^-r^^Z- -/--- (f^-fl Weekly . ^7^^^Z/J? 1^
Published- a,t^/. . . ,. :. . . ^^^-7rkt^d^li^". ^rd-esC. . ^=v:-';^^
U'e aUo agree to mail a copy of each issjie containing " Ad. " lO Cheney Medicine Co. , Toledo, Ohio,
Circu lation, Da. ihj. . ^. ^. . A. ^^^'^. . Circulation. Weekly. . ? T. . ^. . ^. ^d.
3t 8s mutiiaily agreed that this Contract is void, if any Saw is enacted by your State restricting or prohibiting the manufacture or saie of proprietary medicines.
Remarks -
. CHENEY MEDJCiMEIC
J^fame of Paper
Per. . _yL--->rl-----VUT. '! -:V>i^. Manager.
A CONTRACT CONTAINING THE RED CLAUSE.
The "Red Clause" is shown in heavy type, beginning with the words "It is mutually agreed . . . " The Gazette has recently decided to exclude all patent-medicine advertising from its columns.
he adds, a similar "deal" could be made with half a dozen of that city's dailies. It is disheartening'to note that in the case of one important and high-class daily, the Pittsburg Gazette, a trial rejection of all patent- medicine advertising received absolutely no support or encouragement from the public ; so the paper reverted to its old policy.
One might expect from the medical press freedom from such influences.
,
? "PATENT
BEFGPiE VSmQ. HORAb:
AFTER USmCr.
Don't DoseYourself wiifi secret "Patent IMmms. kmosI al! of
whiGfiareFrauds:iT)aHumbugs. WfiensiokGonsulfaDoGior*
, lake his Presoripliont it is the ooly Sensible Wayawa you'll fled iilGkaperinfheciid.
ECOmmWRb DRUG GO
A WINDOW i:XHIBIT IX A CHICAGO DRUG STORE.
II nil W Illllil I lllllilllllWllWlMIIIIIIIIIIMWIBIilMlllllHrlTlirimillllBIllBim^
? 8
The control is as complete, though exercised by a class of nostrums some- what differently exploited, but essentially the same. Only "ethical" prepa- rations are permitted in the representative medical press, that is, articles not advertised in the lay press. Yet this distinction is not strictly adhered to. ''Syrup of Figs," for instance, which makes widespread pretense in the dailies to be an extract of the fig, advertises in the medical journals for what it is, a preparation of senna. Antikamnia, an "ethical" proprietary compound, for a long time exploited itself to the profession by a campaign of ridiculous extravagance, and is to-day by the extent of its reckless use on the part of ignorant laymen a public menace. Recently an article an- nouncing a startling new drug discovery and signed by a physician was offered to a standard medical journal, which declined it on learning that thedrugwasaproprietarypreparation. Thecontributionwasreturnedto the editor with an offer of payment at advertising rates if it were printed as editorial reading matter, only to be rejected on the new basis. Subse- quently it appeared simultanously in more than twenty medical publica- tions as reading matter. There are to-day very few medical publica- tions which do not carry advertisements conceived in the same spirit and making much the same exhaustive claims as the ordinary quack "ads" of the daily press, and still fewer that are free from promises to "cure" diseases which are incurable by any medicine. Thus the medical press is as strongly enmeshed bv the "ethical" druggers as the lay press is bv Paine,^ "Dr>' Kilmer, Lyd'ia Pinkham, Dr. Hartman, "Hall"' of the "red clause," and the rest of the edifying band of life-savers, leaving no agency to refute the megaphone exploitaticn of the fraud. What opposition there is would naturally arise in the medical profession, but this is discounted by the proprietary interests.
The Doctors Are Investigating.
"You attack us because we cure your patients," is their charge. They assume always that the public has no grievance against them, or rather, they calmly ignore the public in the matter. In his address at the last convention of the Proprietary. Association, the retiring president, W. A. Tal- bot of Piso's Consumption Cure, turning his guns on the medical profes- sion, delivered this astonishing sentiment:
"No argument favoring the publication of our formulas was ever uttered which does not apply with equal force to your prescriptions. It is pardon- able in you to want to know these formulas, for they are good. But you must not ask us to reveal these valuable secrets, to do what you would notdoyourselves. Thepublicandourlaw-makersdonotwantyoursecrets nor ours, and it would he a damage to them to have them. '"
The physicians seem to have awakened, somewhat tardily, indeed, to counter-attack. The American Medical Association has organized a Coun- cil on Pharmacy and Chemistry to investigate and pass on the "ethical" preparations advertised to phj^sicians, with a view to listing those which are found to be reputable and useful. That this is regarded as a direct assault on the proprietary^ interests is suggested by the protests, eloquent to the verge of frenzy in some cases, emanating from those organs which tlie manufacturers control. Already lIic council has issued some painfully frank reports on products of imposingly scientific nomenclature; and more are to follow.
What One Druggist Is Doing.
Largely for trade reasons a few druggists have been tightiug the nos- trums, but without any considerable eliect. Indeed, it is surprising to see that people are so deeply impressed with the advertising claims put forth daily as to be impervious to warnings even from experts. A cut-rate
? store, the Economical Drug Company of Chicago, started on a campaign and displayed a sign in the Avindow reading:
PLEASE DO NOT ASK US
What IS
ANY OLD PATENT MEDICINE
Worth?
For you embarrass us, as our honest answer must he that
IT IS WORTHLESS
If you mean to ash at what price we sell it, that is an entirely different proposition.
When sick, consult a good physician. It is the only proper
course. Andyouwillfinditcheaperintheendthan eelf-medication tcith worthless "patent" nostrums.
This was followed up by the salesmen informing all applicants for the prominent Rostrums that they were wasting money. * Yet with all this that store was unable to get rid of its patent-medicine trade, and to-day nos- trums comprise one-third of its entire business. They comprise about two- thirds of that of the average small store.
Legislation is the most obvious remedy, pending the enlightenment of the generalpublicortheawakeningofthejournalisticconscience. Butlegisla- tion proceeds slowly and always against opposition, which may be measured in practical terms as $250,000,000 at stake on the other side. I note in the last report of the Proprietary Association's annual meeting the sig- nificant statement that "the heaviest expenses were incurred in legislative work. " Most of the legislation must be done by states, and we have seen in the case of the Hall Catarrh cure contract how readily this may be con- trolled.
Two government agencies, at least, lend themselves to the purposes of the patent-medi'cine makers.
The Patent Office issues to them trade-mark registration (generally speaking, the convenient term "patent medicine" is a misnomer, as very few are patented) without inquiry into the nature of the article thus safeguarded against imitation. The Post Office Depart- ment permits them the use of the mails. Except one particular line, the disgraceful "Weak Manhood" remedies, where excellent work has been done in throwing them out of the mails for fraud, the department has done nothing in the matter of patent remedies, and has no present intention of doing anything; yet I believe that such action, powerful as would be
? 10
the opposition developed, would be upheld by the courts on the same grounds tliat sustained the Post Office's position in the recent case of "Kobusto. "
A Post-Office Report.
Tliat the advertising and circular statements circulated through the mails were materially and substantially false, with the result of cheating and defrauding those into whose hands the statements came;
That, while the remedies did possess medicinal properties, these were not such as to carry out the cures promised;
That the advertiser kncAV he w^as deceiving:
That in the sale and distribution of his medicines* the complainant made no inquiry into the specific character of the disease in any individual casp. but supplied the same remedies and prescribed the same mode of treatment to all alike.
Should the department apply these principles to the patent-medicine field generally, a number of conspicuous nostrums would cease to be pat- rons of Uncle Sam's mail service.
Some states have made a good start in the matter of legislation, among them Michigan, which does not, however, enforce its recent strong law. Massachusetts, which has done more, through the admirable work of its State Board of Health, than any ether agency to educate the public on the patent-medicine question, is unable to get a law restricting this trade. In New Hampshire, too, the proprietary interests have proven too strong, and the Mallonee bill was destroyed by the almost united opposition of a "red-clause" press. North Dakota proved more independent. After Jan. 1, 1906, all medicines sold in that state, except on physician's prescriptions, which contain chloral, ergot, morphin, opium, cocain, bromin, iodin or any of their compounds or derivatives, or more than 5 per cent, of alcohol, must so state on the label. When this bill became a law, the Proprietary Association of America proceeded to blight the state by resolving that its members should offer no gcods for sale there.
Boards of health in various parts of the country are doing valuable edu- cational work, the North Dakota board having led in the legislation. The Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina beards have been active. The New York State board has kept its hands off patent medicines, but the Board of Pharmacy has made a cautious but promising beginning by compelling all makers of powders containing ebcain to put a poison label on their goods; and it proposes to extend this ruling gradually to other dangerous compositions.
Health Boards and Analyses.
It is somewhat surprising to find the Health Department of New York City, in many respects the foremost in the country, making no use of care- fully and rather expensively acquired knowledge which would serve to pro- tect the public. More than two years ago analyses were made by the chemists of the department w^hich showed dangerous quantities of cocain in a number of catarrh powders. These analyses have never been printed. Even
*thegeneralnatureoftheinformationhasbeenwithheld. Shouldanycitizen of New York going to the Health Department, have asked: "My wife is taking Birney's Catarrh Powder; is it true that it's a bad thing? " the officials, with the knoAvledge at hand that the drug in question is a maker of cocain fiends, would have blandly emulated the Sphinx, Outside criti- cism of an overworked, undermanned and generally efficient department is liable to error through ignorance of the problems involved in its admin- istration; yet one can not Ijut believe that some form of warning against what is wisely admittedly a public menace would have been a wiser form
? 11
of procedure than that which has heretofore been discovered by the formula, "policy of the department. "
Policies change and broaden under pressure of conditions. The Health Commissioner is now formulating a plan which, with the work of the chem- ists as a basis, shall check the trade in public poisons more or less con- cealed behind proprietary names.
It is impossible, even in a series of articles, to attempt more than an ex- emplary treatment of the patent-medicine fi-auds. The most degraded and degrading, the "lost vitality" and "blood disease" cures, reeking of terroriza- tion and blackmail, can not from their very nature be treated of in a lay journal. Many dangerous and health-destroying compounds v^dll escape through sheer ineonspieuousness. I can touch on only a few of those which may be regarded as typical: the alcohol stimulators, as represented by Peruna, Paine's Celery Compound and Dufly's Pure Malt \Yhiskey (adver- tised as an exclusively medical preparation) ; the catarrh powders, which breed coeain slaves, and the opium-containing soothing syrups, which stunt or kill helpless infants; the consumption cures, perhaps the most devilish of all, in that they destroy hope where hope is struggling against bitter odds for existence; the headache powders, which enslave so insidiously that the victim is ignorant of his own fate; the comparatively harmless fake as typified by that marvelous product of advertising- effrontery, Liquozone; and. finally, the system of exploitation and te-timoninl^ on which the whole vast system of bunco reats^ as on a flimsy but cunning! / constructed foundation.
? Reprinted from Collier^s Weeklt, Oct. 28, 1905.
II. PERUNA AND THE BRACERS.
A distinguished public health official and medical writer once made this jocular suggestion to me:
"Let us buy in large quantities the cheapest Italian vermouth^ poor gin nnd bitters. We will mix them in the proportion of three of vermouth to two of gin, with a dash of bitters, dilute and bottle them by the short quart, label them 'Smitli's Reviver and Blood Purifier; dose, one lo-ineglassful hefore each 7neaV; advertise them to cure erysipelas, bunions, dyspepsia, heat rash, fever and ague, and consumption; and to prevent loss of hair, smallpox, old age, sunstroke and near-sightedness, and make our everlasting fortunes selling them to the temperance trade. "
"That sounds to me very much like a cocktail," said I.
"So it is," he replied. "But it's just as much a medicine as Peruna and not as bad a drink. "
Peruna, or, as its owner. Dr. S. B. Hartman, of Columbus, Ohio (once a physician in good standing), prefers to write it, Pe-ru-na, is at present the most prominent proprietary nostrum in the country. It has taken the place once held by Greene's Nervura and by Paine's Celery Compound, and forthesamereasonwhichmadethempopular. Thenameofthatreasonis alcohol. * Peruna is a stimulant pure and simple, and it is the more dan- gerous in that it sails under the false colors of a benign purpose.
According to an authoritative statement given out in private circulation a few years ago by its proprietors, Peruna is a compound of seven drugs with cologne spirits. The formula, they assure me, has not been materially changed. None of the ^even drugs is of any great potency. Their total is less than one-half of 1 per cent, of the product. Medicinally they are too inconsiderable, in this proportion, to produce any effect. There remains to Peruna only water and cologne spirits, roughly in the proportion of three to one. Cologne spirits is the commercial term of alcohol.
What Peruna Is Made Of.
Any one wishing to make Peruna for home consumption may do so by mixing half a pint of cologne spirits, 190 proof, with a pint and a half of water, adding thereto a little cubebs for flavor and a little burned sugar for cojor. Manufactured in bulk, so a former Peruna agent estimates, its cost, including bottle and wrapper, is between fifteen and eighteen cents a bottle. . Its price is $1. 00. Because of this handsome margin of profit, and by way of making hay in the stolen sunshine of Peruna advertising, many imita- tions have sprung up to harrass the proprietors of the alcohol-and-water product. Pe-ru-vi-na, P-ru-na, Purina, Anurep (an obvious inversion) ; these, bottled and labeled to resemble Peruna, are self-confessed imitations. From what the Peruna people tell me, I gather that they are dangerous and damnable frauds, and that they cure nothing.
What does Peruna cure? Catarrh. That is the modest claim for it; nothing but catarrh. To be sure, a careful study of its literature will sug- gest its value as a tonic and a preventive of lassitude. But its reputation
* Dr. Ashbel P. Grinnell of New York City, who has made a statistical study of patent medicines, asserts as a provable fact that more alcohol is consumed in this country in patent medicines than is dispensed in a legal way by licensed liquor venders, barring the sale of ales and beer.
? 13
rests on catarrh. What is catarrh? Whatever ails joii. Xo matter what you've got, you will be not only enabled, but compelled, after reading- Dr. Hartman's Peruna bcok, 'The Ills of Life/' to diagnose your illness as catarrh and to realize that Peruna alone will save you. Pneumoni' is catarrh of the lungs; so is consumption. Dyspcnsia is catarrh of the stom- ach. Enteritis is catarrh of the intestine^. Appendicitis--surgeons, please note before operating--is catarrh of the appendix. Bright's disease is catarrhofthekidneys. Heartdiseaseiscatarrhoftheheart. Cankerseres are catarrh of the mouth. Measles is, perhaps, catarrh of the skin, since "a teaspoonful of JPeruna thrice daily or oftener is an effectual cure"
("The Ills of Life"). Similarly, malaria, one may guess, is catarrh of the mosquito that bit you. Other diseases not specifically placed in the catarrhal class, but yielding to Peruna. (in the book), are colic, mumps, convulsions, neuralgia, women's complaints and rheumatism. Yet "Peruna is not a cure-all," virtuously disclaims Dr. Hartman, and grasps at a golden opportunity by advertising his nostrum as a preventive against yellow fever! That alcohol and water, with a little coloring matter and one-half of 1 per cent, of mild drugs, will cure all or any of the ills listed above is tooridiculoustoneedrefutation. XordoesDr. Hartmanhimselfpersonally makethatclaimforhisproduct. Hestatedtomespecificallyandrepeat- edly that* no drug or combination of druss, with the possible exception of quinin for malaria, wnll cure disease. His claim is that the belief of the patient in Peruna, fostered as it is by the printed testimony, and aided by the '"gentle stimulation," produces good results. It is well established that incertainclassesofdiseasetheoppositeistrue. Aconsiderableproportion of tuberculosis cases show a history of the Peruna type of medicine taken in the early stages, with the result of diminishing the patient's resistant power, and much of the typhoid in the middle west is complicated by the victim's "keeping up" on this stimulus long after he should have been under a doctor's care. But it is not as a fraud on the sick alone that Peruna is baneful, but as the maker of drunkards also.
"It can be used any length of time without acquiring a drug habit," de- clares the Peruna book, and therein,, I regret to say, lies specifically and directly. The lie is ingeniously backed up by Dr. Hartman's argument that "nobody could get drunk on the prescribed doses of Peruna. "
Perhaps this is true, though I note three wineglassfuls in forty-five min- utes as a prescription, which might temporarily alter a prohibitionists's out- look on life. But what makes Peruna profitable to the maker and a curse to the community at large is the fact that the minimum dose first ceases to satisfy, then the moderate dose, and finally the maximimi dose; and the unsuspecting patron, who began with it as a medicine, goes on to use it as a beverage, and finally to be Qjislaved by it as a habit. A well-known authority on drug addictions writes me:
"A number of physicians have called my attention to the use of Peruna, bothprecedingandfollowingalcoholanddrugaddictions. LydiaPinkham's Compound is another dangerous drug used largely by drinkers; Paine's Celery Compound also. I^ have in the last two years met four cases of persons who drank Peruna in large quantities to intoxication. This was given to them originally as a tonic. They were treated under my care as simple alcoholics. "
The Government Forbids the Sale of Peruna to Indians.
Expert opinion on the non-medical side is represented in the government order to the Indian Department, reproduced on the following page, the kernel of which is this:
"In connection with this investigation, please give particular attention
.
? DEPARTMENT OF THE IXTERIOPw, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
WAj^HINGTOxV, D. C. . . August 10, 190-5.
To Indian Agents and
School Supei'inte')nlenf;< in eharge of Agende-^:
The attention of the OfTitHv has been called to the fact that many licensi'd traders are very ri-/gligent as to the way in which their storeB are kept. Some lack of order might V)e condoned, but it is reported that many stores are dirty even to illthiness. Sneh a condition of aflairs need not l>e toJcratc'd, and improvement in that respect ninst be insisted on.
The Office is not so inexperienced as to sn{:)pose tluat traders open stores among Indians li'om philanthropic motives. Nevertheless a trader has a. great inliuonce among the Indians with whom he has con- stant dealings arid who arf- often dep^-ndent npon him. and there are not a few instances in which the trader has exerted this inilnence for the welikre of Ms ciistora>>-rs as well as for his own profit.
A well-kept store, tidy \n a. ppe;irance, wlnjre th" goods, especially eatal>l(is. nre h;ind! ed in a eleanly wa}', with iliw regard to ordinary hygiene, and wliorc exact business metliods prevail is a civilizing inflii- enee among Indians, vylsilc disonlcr, >lovfnHncss, siipsluid ways, and dirt are demoralizing.
Yon will plciis,' examine into tlie way in which the traders under your snpcrvisioti conduet theii' stores, how tln-ir goods, particidarly edible g(K)ds, are handled, . storeti, and given <<)nt- and sef; to it that in these respects, as wcl! in respect of weights, prices, and account-keep- ing, the husinesH is properly eoiidiicted. If any trader, after due notice. fails to conie np to thetjc recjUTrenients yon will re|)Ort him to thil^ Office.
In connection vziih ihis irivestigation, please give oarticular attention to the proprietary medicines and other coniponnds which the traders keep in stock, with s}>ecial reference to the liability of their misuse by Indians on a(>connt of the alco. hol w-hicii they contain. The sale of Pernna, wldcl) is on the lists of several tiaders, is hereby absolutely prohibited. As a me<iicin<'. something else can be sulxstituted ; as an infoxicant, it has been fiaind too templing a. nd effective. Anything of the sort under another name which is found to lead to intoxication you will please repv)rt to this Office. When a compound of that sort gets a had name it is liabb' ivj be put on the market with, some sliglit change t'f form arid a ? *'-w nanie. Jamaica ginger and Ibivoring extracts of vanilla, lemon, and so forth, should be kept in only small quantities and in small hollies and slnjuid not be sold to Indians, or nt least only sparingly to those who it is known will us*' them only for legitimate purposes. ,
Of C(>urse. you will (Hiiitinue to give attention to the labeling of poison- ous drugs with skull and cross-bones as per Office circular of January
rj, 1905
(. . ^opies of this circular leiter are herewith to be lurnished the traders.
Yours, respectfully.
C. F. LARRABEE, Ading Chmmimoner.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT THINKS OF PERUNA.
Note, in the fifth paragraph, these sentences: "The sale of Peruna, which is on the list of sev- eral traders, ? . ? herehy absolutely prohibited. As a medicine' something else can be substituted : as an mtoxicant it has been found too tempting and effective. "
? ^'5
to the proprietary medicines and other compounds which the traders keep in stock, Avith special reference to the liability of their misuse by Indians onaccountofthealcoholwhichtheycontain. ThesaleofPeruna,whichis on the lists of several traders, is hereby absolutely prohibited. As a medi- cine, something else can be substituted; as an intoxicant, it has been found too tempting and effective. Anything of the sort, under another name, which is found to lead to intoxication, you will please report to this office. "[Signed] F. C. Larrabee, Acting Commissioner. "
Specific evidence of what Peruna can do will be found in the following report, verified by special investigation:
PiNEDALE, Wyo. , Oct. 4. --[Special. ) --"Two men suffering from delirium tremens and one dead is the result of a Peruna intoxication which took place here a few days ago. C. E. Armstrong, of this place, and a party of three others started out on a cainping trip to the Yellowstone country, taking with them several bottles of whisky and ten bottles of Peruna, which one of the members of the party was taking as a tonic. The trip lastedoveraweek. Thewhiskywasexhaustedandfortwodaystheparty was without liquor. At last some one suggested that they use Peruna, of which nine bottles remained. Before they stopped the whole remaining supply had been consumed and the four men were in a state of intoxication, the like of which they had never known before. Finally, one awoke with terrible cramps in his stomach and found his companions seemingly in an almostlifelesscondition. Sufferingterribleagony,hecrawledonhishands and knees to a ranch over a mile distant, the process taking him half a day. Aid was sent to his three companions. Armstrong was dead when the rescue party arrived. The other two men, still, unconscious, were brought totowninawagonandarestillinaweakandemaciatedcondition. Arm- strong's body was almost tied in a knot and could not be straightened for burial. "
Here is the testimony from a druggist in a "no license" town:
"Peruna is bought by all the druggists in this section by the gross. 1 have seen persons thoroughly intoxicated from taking Peruna. The com- mon remark in this place when a drunken party is particularly obstrep- erous is that he is on a 'Peruna drunk. ' It is a notorious fact that a great many do use Peruna to get the alcoholic effect, and they certainly do get it goodandstrong. Now,thereareotherso-calledremediesusedforthesame purpose, namely, Gensenica, Kidney Specific, Jamaica Ginger, Hostetter's Bitters, etc. "
So well recognized is this use of the nostrum that a number of the Southern newspapers advertise a cure for the "Peruna habit," which is probably worse than the habit, as is usually the case with these "cures. " In southern Ohio and in the mountain districts of West Virginia the "Peruna jag" is a standard form of intoxication.
Two Testimonials.
A testimonial-hunter in the employ of the Peruna company was referred byaMinnesotadruggisttoaprosperousfarmerintheneighborhood. The farmer gave Peruna a most enthusiastic "send-off;" he had been using it for several months and could say, etc. Then he took the agent to his barn and showed liim a heap of empty Peruna bottles. The agent counted them. There were seventy-four. The druggist added his testimonial. "That old boy has a 'still' on all the time since he discovered Peruna," said he.
i ^ i
/
PonJ' J trai f i if' k\njirc1 . 1H
I' for '1 t
A "Pond's Extract" advertisement trading on the public alarm over the recent meningitis epidemic in New York City.
Cuticura may be a useful preparation, but in extravagance of advertising it rivals the most clamorous cure-all. Pond's Extract, one would naturally suppose, could afford to restrict itself to decent methods, but in the recent
? epidemic scare in New York it traded on the public alarm by putting forth "display" advertisements headed, in heavy black type, "Meningitis," a disease in which witch-hazel is about as effective as molasses. This is fairly comparable to Peruna's ghoulish exploitation, for profit, of the yellow- fever scourge in New Orleans, aided by various southern newspapers of standing, which published as news an "interview" with Dr. Hartman, president of the Peruna Company,
Drugs That Make Victims.
'\'\^ien one comes to the internal remedies, the proprietary medicines proper, they all belong to the tribe of Capricorn, under one of two heads, harmless frauds or deleterious drugs. For instance, the laxatives perform what they promise; but taken regularly, as thousands of people take them
(and, indeed, as the advertisements urge), they become an increasingly baneful necessity. Acetanilid will undoubtedly relieve headache of certain kinds; but acetanilid, as the basis of headache powders, is prone to remove the cause of the symptoms permanently by putting a complete stop to the heart action. Invariably, when taken steadily, it produces constitutional disturbances of insidious development which result fatally if the drug be not discontinued, and often it enslaves the devotee to its use. Cocain and opium stop pain; but the narcotics are not the safest drugs to put into the hands of the ignorant, particularly when their presence is concealed in the "cough remedies," "soothing syrups," and "catarrhal powders" of which they are the basis. Few outside of the rabid temperance advoeates will deny a place in medical practice to alcohol. But alcohol, fed daily and in increasing doses to women and children, makes not for health, but for drunkenness. Far better whiskey or gin unequivocally labeled than the alcohol-laden "bitters," "sarsaparillas" and "tonics" which exhilarate fatuous temperance advocates to the point of enthusiastic testimonials.
None of these "cures" really does cure any serious affection, although a majority of their users recover. But a majority, and a very large ma- jority, of the sick recover, anyway. Were it not so--were one illness out of fifty fatal--this earth would soon be depopulated.
As to Testimonials.
The ignorant drug-taker, returning to health from some disease which he has overcome by the natural resistant powers of his body, dips his pen in gratitude and writes his testimonial. The man who dies in spite of the patent medicine--or perhaps because of it--doesn't bear witness to what it did for him. We see recorded only the favorable results: the unfavorable lie silent. How could it be otherwise when the only avenues of publicity are
controlled by the advertisers? So, while many of the printed testimonials are genuine enough, they represent not the average evidence, but the most glowing opinions which the nostrum vender can obtain, and generally they are the expression of a low order of intelligence. Read in this light, they are unconvincing enough. But the innocent public regards them as the type,nottheexception. "IfthatcuredMrs. SmithofOshgoshitmaycure me," says the woman whose symptoms, real or imaginary, are so feelingly described under the picture. Lend ear to expert testimony from a certain prominent cure-all:
"They see my advertising. They read the testimonials. They are con- vinced. They have faith in Peruna. It gives them a gentle stimulant and so they get well,"
There it is in a nutshell; the faith cure. Not the stimulant, but the faith inspired by the advertisement and encouraged by the stimulant does the work--or seems to do it. If the public drugger can convince his pat-
? ron that she is well, she is well--for his purposes. In the case of such diseases as naturally tend to cure themselves, no greater harm is done than the parting of a fool and his money. With rheumatism, sciatica and that ilk, it means added pangs; with consumption, Bright's disease and other serious disorders, perhaps needless death. No onus of homicide is borne by the nostrum seller; probably the patient would have died anyway; there is no proof that the patent bottle \vas in any way responsible. Even if there were--and rare cases do occur where the responsibility can be brought home--there is no warning to others, because the newspapers ar. e too considerate of their advertisers to publish such injurious items.
The Magic "Red Clause. "
With a few honorable exceptions the press of the United States is at the beckandcallofthepatentmedicines. Notonlydothenewspapersmodify news possibly affecting these interests, but they sometimes become their active agents. F. J. Cheney, proprietor of Hall's Catarrh Cure, devised some years ago a method of making the press do his fighting against legis- lation compelling makers of remedies to publish their formulae, or to print on the labels the dangerous drugs contained in the medicine--a constantly recurring bugaboo of the nostrum-dealer. This scheme he unfolded at a meeting of the Proprietary Association of America, of which he is now president. Heexplainedthatheprintedinredlettersoneveryadvertising contract a clause providing that the contract should become void in the event of hostile legislation, and he boasted how he had used this |is a club in a case where an Illinois legislator had, as he put it, attempted to hold him for three hundred dollars on a strike bill.
"I thought I had a better plan than this," said Mr. Cheney to his associ- ates, "so I wrote to about forty papers and merely said: 'Please look at your contract with me aJid take note that if this law passes you and I muststopdoingbusiness. ' Thenextweekeveryoneofthemhadanarticle and Mr. Man had to go. "
So emphatically did this device recommend itself to the assemblage that many of the large firms took up the plan, and now the "red clause" is a familiar device in the trade. The reproduction printed on page 6 is a fac-simile of a contract between Mr. Cheney's firm and the Emporia Gazette, William Allen White's paper, which has since become one of the new^spapers to abjure the patent-medicine man and all his ways. Em- boldened by this easy coercion of the press, certain firms have since used the newspapers as a weapon against "price-cutting," by forcing them to re- fuse advertising of the stores which reduce rates on patent medicines. Ty- rannical masters, these heavy purchasers of advertising space.
To what length daily journalism will go at the instance of the business office was shown in the great advertising campaign of Paine's Celery Com- pound, some years ago. The nostrum's agent called at the office of a prominent Chicago newspaper and spread before its advertising manager a full-page advertisement, with blank spaces in the center.
"We want some good, strong testimonials to fill out with," he said,
"You can get all of those you want, can't you? " asked the newspaper manager.
"Canyoufreturnedtheother. "Showmefourorfivestrongonesfrom local politicians and you get the ad. "
Fake TestimonialSf
That day reporters were assigned to secure testimonials with photo- graphs which subsequently appeared in the full-page advertisement as promised. As for the men who permitted the use of their names for this
? purpose, several of them afterward admitted that they had never tasted the "Compound," but that they were willing to sign the testimonials for the joy of appearing in print as "prominent citizens. " Another Chicago news- paper compelled its political editor to tout for fake indorsements of a nostrum. Amanwithaninsideknowledgeofthepatent-medicinebusiness made some investigations into this phase of the matter, and he declares that such procurement of testimonials became so established as to have the force of a system, only two Chicago papers being free from it. To-day,
This Contract is Void if Patent Sheets uitfi Advertisements are Used. Three i^ears' Advertising Contract V
^
We herehy aire-u-^^ith CHENEY MEDlcme 'COfVIPANY; for the sum of /^
^^,? >^. . . . -:. r-^W. _ Slate of ^\^-)<-^^^^^^ . , . . . . . . ,^r,^^^;^A^
? ? --^^^'^fej^T^ Covnfy of
. . /. . . . . L^'- -T- DOLLARS,''ro insert- the advertisem. ent of t "HALL'S CATARRH^CURE," COfitainingmatter as per copy furnished iset in \ our regular reading matter tifpt-) to he pioblisliedeach issue of Paper and ^
to appear in regular readJng Diatter not to be preceded hy any pjaid notice, \ and on local or editorial page. Said adrertisemenitoherjhnfor three years with tlieprivft$ege of twelve changes annually. /^
Paymkji^s to bej^hdde se,mi-annucdly. Aduertis^-^nts tybi pitblished in
Daily . ^. ^^r^^^t^-r^^Z- -/--- (f^-fl Weekly . ^7^^^Z/J? 1^
Published- a,t^/. . . ,. :. . . ^^^-7rkt^d^li^". ^rd-esC. . ^=v:-';^^
U'e aUo agree to mail a copy of each issjie containing " Ad. " lO Cheney Medicine Co. , Toledo, Ohio,
Circu lation, Da. ihj. . ^. ^. . A. ^^^'^. . Circulation. Weekly. . ? T. . ^. . ^. ^d.
3t 8s mutiiaily agreed that this Contract is void, if any Saw is enacted by your State restricting or prohibiting the manufacture or saie of proprietary medicines.
Remarks -
. CHENEY MEDJCiMEIC
J^fame of Paper
Per. . _yL--->rl-----VUT. '! -:V>i^. Manager.
A CONTRACT CONTAINING THE RED CLAUSE.
The "Red Clause" is shown in heavy type, beginning with the words "It is mutually agreed . . . " The Gazette has recently decided to exclude all patent-medicine advertising from its columns.
he adds, a similar "deal" could be made with half a dozen of that city's dailies. It is disheartening'to note that in the case of one important and high-class daily, the Pittsburg Gazette, a trial rejection of all patent- medicine advertising received absolutely no support or encouragement from the public ; so the paper reverted to its old policy.
One might expect from the medical press freedom from such influences.
,
? "PATENT
BEFGPiE VSmQ. HORAb:
AFTER USmCr.
Don't DoseYourself wiifi secret "Patent IMmms. kmosI al! of
whiGfiareFrauds:iT)aHumbugs. WfiensiokGonsulfaDoGior*
, lake his Presoripliont it is the ooly Sensible Wayawa you'll fled iilGkaperinfheciid.
ECOmmWRb DRUG GO
A WINDOW i:XHIBIT IX A CHICAGO DRUG STORE.
II nil W Illllil I lllllilllllWllWlMIIIIIIIIIIMWIBIilMlllllHrlTlirimillllBIllBim^
? 8
The control is as complete, though exercised by a class of nostrums some- what differently exploited, but essentially the same. Only "ethical" prepa- rations are permitted in the representative medical press, that is, articles not advertised in the lay press. Yet this distinction is not strictly adhered to. ''Syrup of Figs," for instance, which makes widespread pretense in the dailies to be an extract of the fig, advertises in the medical journals for what it is, a preparation of senna. Antikamnia, an "ethical" proprietary compound, for a long time exploited itself to the profession by a campaign of ridiculous extravagance, and is to-day by the extent of its reckless use on the part of ignorant laymen a public menace. Recently an article an- nouncing a startling new drug discovery and signed by a physician was offered to a standard medical journal, which declined it on learning that thedrugwasaproprietarypreparation. Thecontributionwasreturnedto the editor with an offer of payment at advertising rates if it were printed as editorial reading matter, only to be rejected on the new basis. Subse- quently it appeared simultanously in more than twenty medical publica- tions as reading matter. There are to-day very few medical publica- tions which do not carry advertisements conceived in the same spirit and making much the same exhaustive claims as the ordinary quack "ads" of the daily press, and still fewer that are free from promises to "cure" diseases which are incurable by any medicine. Thus the medical press is as strongly enmeshed bv the "ethical" druggers as the lay press is bv Paine,^ "Dr>' Kilmer, Lyd'ia Pinkham, Dr. Hartman, "Hall"' of the "red clause," and the rest of the edifying band of life-savers, leaving no agency to refute the megaphone exploitaticn of the fraud. What opposition there is would naturally arise in the medical profession, but this is discounted by the proprietary interests.
The Doctors Are Investigating.
"You attack us because we cure your patients," is their charge. They assume always that the public has no grievance against them, or rather, they calmly ignore the public in the matter. In his address at the last convention of the Proprietary. Association, the retiring president, W. A. Tal- bot of Piso's Consumption Cure, turning his guns on the medical profes- sion, delivered this astonishing sentiment:
"No argument favoring the publication of our formulas was ever uttered which does not apply with equal force to your prescriptions. It is pardon- able in you to want to know these formulas, for they are good. But you must not ask us to reveal these valuable secrets, to do what you would notdoyourselves. Thepublicandourlaw-makersdonotwantyoursecrets nor ours, and it would he a damage to them to have them. '"
The physicians seem to have awakened, somewhat tardily, indeed, to counter-attack. The American Medical Association has organized a Coun- cil on Pharmacy and Chemistry to investigate and pass on the "ethical" preparations advertised to phj^sicians, with a view to listing those which are found to be reputable and useful. That this is regarded as a direct assault on the proprietary^ interests is suggested by the protests, eloquent to the verge of frenzy in some cases, emanating from those organs which tlie manufacturers control. Already lIic council has issued some painfully frank reports on products of imposingly scientific nomenclature; and more are to follow.
What One Druggist Is Doing.
Largely for trade reasons a few druggists have been tightiug the nos- trums, but without any considerable eliect. Indeed, it is surprising to see that people are so deeply impressed with the advertising claims put forth daily as to be impervious to warnings even from experts. A cut-rate
? store, the Economical Drug Company of Chicago, started on a campaign and displayed a sign in the Avindow reading:
PLEASE DO NOT ASK US
What IS
ANY OLD PATENT MEDICINE
Worth?
For you embarrass us, as our honest answer must he that
IT IS WORTHLESS
If you mean to ash at what price we sell it, that is an entirely different proposition.
When sick, consult a good physician. It is the only proper
course. Andyouwillfinditcheaperintheendthan eelf-medication tcith worthless "patent" nostrums.
This was followed up by the salesmen informing all applicants for the prominent Rostrums that they were wasting money. * Yet with all this that store was unable to get rid of its patent-medicine trade, and to-day nos- trums comprise one-third of its entire business. They comprise about two- thirds of that of the average small store.
Legislation is the most obvious remedy, pending the enlightenment of the generalpublicortheawakeningofthejournalisticconscience. Butlegisla- tion proceeds slowly and always against opposition, which may be measured in practical terms as $250,000,000 at stake on the other side. I note in the last report of the Proprietary Association's annual meeting the sig- nificant statement that "the heaviest expenses were incurred in legislative work. " Most of the legislation must be done by states, and we have seen in the case of the Hall Catarrh cure contract how readily this may be con- trolled.
Two government agencies, at least, lend themselves to the purposes of the patent-medi'cine makers.
The Patent Office issues to them trade-mark registration (generally speaking, the convenient term "patent medicine" is a misnomer, as very few are patented) without inquiry into the nature of the article thus safeguarded against imitation. The Post Office Depart- ment permits them the use of the mails. Except one particular line, the disgraceful "Weak Manhood" remedies, where excellent work has been done in throwing them out of the mails for fraud, the department has done nothing in the matter of patent remedies, and has no present intention of doing anything; yet I believe that such action, powerful as would be
? 10
the opposition developed, would be upheld by the courts on the same grounds tliat sustained the Post Office's position in the recent case of "Kobusto. "
A Post-Office Report.
Tliat the advertising and circular statements circulated through the mails were materially and substantially false, with the result of cheating and defrauding those into whose hands the statements came;
That, while the remedies did possess medicinal properties, these were not such as to carry out the cures promised;
That the advertiser kncAV he w^as deceiving:
That in the sale and distribution of his medicines* the complainant made no inquiry into the specific character of the disease in any individual casp. but supplied the same remedies and prescribed the same mode of treatment to all alike.
Should the department apply these principles to the patent-medicine field generally, a number of conspicuous nostrums would cease to be pat- rons of Uncle Sam's mail service.
Some states have made a good start in the matter of legislation, among them Michigan, which does not, however, enforce its recent strong law. Massachusetts, which has done more, through the admirable work of its State Board of Health, than any ether agency to educate the public on the patent-medicine question, is unable to get a law restricting this trade. In New Hampshire, too, the proprietary interests have proven too strong, and the Mallonee bill was destroyed by the almost united opposition of a "red-clause" press. North Dakota proved more independent. After Jan. 1, 1906, all medicines sold in that state, except on physician's prescriptions, which contain chloral, ergot, morphin, opium, cocain, bromin, iodin or any of their compounds or derivatives, or more than 5 per cent, of alcohol, must so state on the label. When this bill became a law, the Proprietary Association of America proceeded to blight the state by resolving that its members should offer no gcods for sale there.
Boards of health in various parts of the country are doing valuable edu- cational work, the North Dakota board having led in the legislation. The Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina beards have been active. The New York State board has kept its hands off patent medicines, but the Board of Pharmacy has made a cautious but promising beginning by compelling all makers of powders containing ebcain to put a poison label on their goods; and it proposes to extend this ruling gradually to other dangerous compositions.
Health Boards and Analyses.
It is somewhat surprising to find the Health Department of New York City, in many respects the foremost in the country, making no use of care- fully and rather expensively acquired knowledge which would serve to pro- tect the public. More than two years ago analyses were made by the chemists of the department w^hich showed dangerous quantities of cocain in a number of catarrh powders. These analyses have never been printed. Even
*thegeneralnatureoftheinformationhasbeenwithheld. Shouldanycitizen of New York going to the Health Department, have asked: "My wife is taking Birney's Catarrh Powder; is it true that it's a bad thing? " the officials, with the knoAvledge at hand that the drug in question is a maker of cocain fiends, would have blandly emulated the Sphinx, Outside criti- cism of an overworked, undermanned and generally efficient department is liable to error through ignorance of the problems involved in its admin- istration; yet one can not Ijut believe that some form of warning against what is wisely admittedly a public menace would have been a wiser form
? 11
of procedure than that which has heretofore been discovered by the formula, "policy of the department. "
Policies change and broaden under pressure of conditions. The Health Commissioner is now formulating a plan which, with the work of the chem- ists as a basis, shall check the trade in public poisons more or less con- cealed behind proprietary names.
It is impossible, even in a series of articles, to attempt more than an ex- emplary treatment of the patent-medicine fi-auds. The most degraded and degrading, the "lost vitality" and "blood disease" cures, reeking of terroriza- tion and blackmail, can not from their very nature be treated of in a lay journal. Many dangerous and health-destroying compounds v^dll escape through sheer ineonspieuousness. I can touch on only a few of those which may be regarded as typical: the alcohol stimulators, as represented by Peruna, Paine's Celery Compound and Dufly's Pure Malt \Yhiskey (adver- tised as an exclusively medical preparation) ; the catarrh powders, which breed coeain slaves, and the opium-containing soothing syrups, which stunt or kill helpless infants; the consumption cures, perhaps the most devilish of all, in that they destroy hope where hope is struggling against bitter odds for existence; the headache powders, which enslave so insidiously that the victim is ignorant of his own fate; the comparatively harmless fake as typified by that marvelous product of advertising- effrontery, Liquozone; and. finally, the system of exploitation and te-timoninl^ on which the whole vast system of bunco reats^ as on a flimsy but cunning! / constructed foundation.
? Reprinted from Collier^s Weeklt, Oct. 28, 1905.
II. PERUNA AND THE BRACERS.
A distinguished public health official and medical writer once made this jocular suggestion to me:
"Let us buy in large quantities the cheapest Italian vermouth^ poor gin nnd bitters. We will mix them in the proportion of three of vermouth to two of gin, with a dash of bitters, dilute and bottle them by the short quart, label them 'Smitli's Reviver and Blood Purifier; dose, one lo-ineglassful hefore each 7neaV; advertise them to cure erysipelas, bunions, dyspepsia, heat rash, fever and ague, and consumption; and to prevent loss of hair, smallpox, old age, sunstroke and near-sightedness, and make our everlasting fortunes selling them to the temperance trade. "
"That sounds to me very much like a cocktail," said I.
"So it is," he replied. "But it's just as much a medicine as Peruna and not as bad a drink. "
Peruna, or, as its owner. Dr. S. B. Hartman, of Columbus, Ohio (once a physician in good standing), prefers to write it, Pe-ru-na, is at present the most prominent proprietary nostrum in the country. It has taken the place once held by Greene's Nervura and by Paine's Celery Compound, and forthesamereasonwhichmadethempopular. Thenameofthatreasonis alcohol. * Peruna is a stimulant pure and simple, and it is the more dan- gerous in that it sails under the false colors of a benign purpose.
According to an authoritative statement given out in private circulation a few years ago by its proprietors, Peruna is a compound of seven drugs with cologne spirits. The formula, they assure me, has not been materially changed. None of the ^even drugs is of any great potency. Their total is less than one-half of 1 per cent, of the product. Medicinally they are too inconsiderable, in this proportion, to produce any effect. There remains to Peruna only water and cologne spirits, roughly in the proportion of three to one. Cologne spirits is the commercial term of alcohol.
What Peruna Is Made Of.
Any one wishing to make Peruna for home consumption may do so by mixing half a pint of cologne spirits, 190 proof, with a pint and a half of water, adding thereto a little cubebs for flavor and a little burned sugar for cojor. Manufactured in bulk, so a former Peruna agent estimates, its cost, including bottle and wrapper, is between fifteen and eighteen cents a bottle. . Its price is $1. 00. Because of this handsome margin of profit, and by way of making hay in the stolen sunshine of Peruna advertising, many imita- tions have sprung up to harrass the proprietors of the alcohol-and-water product. Pe-ru-vi-na, P-ru-na, Purina, Anurep (an obvious inversion) ; these, bottled and labeled to resemble Peruna, are self-confessed imitations. From what the Peruna people tell me, I gather that they are dangerous and damnable frauds, and that they cure nothing.
What does Peruna cure? Catarrh. That is the modest claim for it; nothing but catarrh. To be sure, a careful study of its literature will sug- gest its value as a tonic and a preventive of lassitude. But its reputation
* Dr. Ashbel P. Grinnell of New York City, who has made a statistical study of patent medicines, asserts as a provable fact that more alcohol is consumed in this country in patent medicines than is dispensed in a legal way by licensed liquor venders, barring the sale of ales and beer.
? 13
rests on catarrh. What is catarrh? Whatever ails joii. Xo matter what you've got, you will be not only enabled, but compelled, after reading- Dr. Hartman's Peruna bcok, 'The Ills of Life/' to diagnose your illness as catarrh and to realize that Peruna alone will save you. Pneumoni' is catarrh of the lungs; so is consumption. Dyspcnsia is catarrh of the stom- ach. Enteritis is catarrh of the intestine^. Appendicitis--surgeons, please note before operating--is catarrh of the appendix. Bright's disease is catarrhofthekidneys. Heartdiseaseiscatarrhoftheheart. Cankerseres are catarrh of the mouth. Measles is, perhaps, catarrh of the skin, since "a teaspoonful of JPeruna thrice daily or oftener is an effectual cure"
("The Ills of Life"). Similarly, malaria, one may guess, is catarrh of the mosquito that bit you. Other diseases not specifically placed in the catarrhal class, but yielding to Peruna. (in the book), are colic, mumps, convulsions, neuralgia, women's complaints and rheumatism. Yet "Peruna is not a cure-all," virtuously disclaims Dr. Hartman, and grasps at a golden opportunity by advertising his nostrum as a preventive against yellow fever! That alcohol and water, with a little coloring matter and one-half of 1 per cent, of mild drugs, will cure all or any of the ills listed above is tooridiculoustoneedrefutation. XordoesDr. Hartmanhimselfpersonally makethatclaimforhisproduct. Hestatedtomespecificallyandrepeat- edly that* no drug or combination of druss, with the possible exception of quinin for malaria, wnll cure disease. His claim is that the belief of the patient in Peruna, fostered as it is by the printed testimony, and aided by the '"gentle stimulation," produces good results. It is well established that incertainclassesofdiseasetheoppositeistrue. Aconsiderableproportion of tuberculosis cases show a history of the Peruna type of medicine taken in the early stages, with the result of diminishing the patient's resistant power, and much of the typhoid in the middle west is complicated by the victim's "keeping up" on this stimulus long after he should have been under a doctor's care. But it is not as a fraud on the sick alone that Peruna is baneful, but as the maker of drunkards also.
"It can be used any length of time without acquiring a drug habit," de- clares the Peruna book, and therein,, I regret to say, lies specifically and directly. The lie is ingeniously backed up by Dr. Hartman's argument that "nobody could get drunk on the prescribed doses of Peruna. "
Perhaps this is true, though I note three wineglassfuls in forty-five min- utes as a prescription, which might temporarily alter a prohibitionists's out- look on life. But what makes Peruna profitable to the maker and a curse to the community at large is the fact that the minimum dose first ceases to satisfy, then the moderate dose, and finally the maximimi dose; and the unsuspecting patron, who began with it as a medicine, goes on to use it as a beverage, and finally to be Qjislaved by it as a habit. A well-known authority on drug addictions writes me:
"A number of physicians have called my attention to the use of Peruna, bothprecedingandfollowingalcoholanddrugaddictions. LydiaPinkham's Compound is another dangerous drug used largely by drinkers; Paine's Celery Compound also. I^ have in the last two years met four cases of persons who drank Peruna in large quantities to intoxication. This was given to them originally as a tonic. They were treated under my care as simple alcoholics. "
The Government Forbids the Sale of Peruna to Indians.
Expert opinion on the non-medical side is represented in the government order to the Indian Department, reproduced on the following page, the kernel of which is this:
"In connection with this investigation, please give particular attention
.
? DEPARTMENT OF THE IXTERIOPw, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
WAj^HINGTOxV, D. C. . . August 10, 190-5.
To Indian Agents and
School Supei'inte')nlenf;< in eharge of Agende-^:
The attention of the OfTitHv has been called to the fact that many licensi'd traders are very ri-/gligent as to the way in which their storeB are kept. Some lack of order might V)e condoned, but it is reported that many stores are dirty even to illthiness. Sneh a condition of aflairs need not l>e toJcratc'd, and improvement in that respect ninst be insisted on.
The Office is not so inexperienced as to sn{:)pose tluat traders open stores among Indians li'om philanthropic motives. Nevertheless a trader has a. great inliuonce among the Indians with whom he has con- stant dealings arid who arf- often dep^-ndent npon him. and there are not a few instances in which the trader has exerted this inilnence for the welikre of Ms ciistora>>-rs as well as for his own profit.
A well-kept store, tidy \n a. ppe;irance, wlnjre th" goods, especially eatal>l(is. nre h;ind! ed in a eleanly wa}', with iliw regard to ordinary hygiene, and wliorc exact business metliods prevail is a civilizing inflii- enee among Indians, vylsilc disonlcr, >lovfnHncss, siipsluid ways, and dirt are demoralizing.
Yon will plciis,' examine into tlie way in which the traders under your snpcrvisioti conduet theii' stores, how tln-ir goods, particidarly edible g(K)ds, are handled, . storeti, and given <<)nt- and sef; to it that in these respects, as wcl! in respect of weights, prices, and account-keep- ing, the husinesH is properly eoiidiicted. If any trader, after due notice. fails to conie np to thetjc recjUTrenients yon will re|)Ort him to thil^ Office.
In connection vziih ihis irivestigation, please give oarticular attention to the proprietary medicines and other coniponnds which the traders keep in stock, with s}>ecial reference to the liability of their misuse by Indians on a(>connt of the alco. hol w-hicii they contain. The sale of Pernna, wldcl) is on the lists of several tiaders, is hereby absolutely prohibited. As a me<iicin<'. something else can be sulxstituted ; as an infoxicant, it has been fiaind too templing a. nd effective. Anything of the sort under another name which is found to lead to intoxication you will please repv)rt to this Office. When a compound of that sort gets a had name it is liabb' ivj be put on the market with, some sliglit change t'f form arid a ? *'-w nanie. Jamaica ginger and Ibivoring extracts of vanilla, lemon, and so forth, should be kept in only small quantities and in small hollies and slnjuid not be sold to Indians, or nt least only sparingly to those who it is known will us*' them only for legitimate purposes. ,
Of C(>urse. you will (Hiiitinue to give attention to the labeling of poison- ous drugs with skull and cross-bones as per Office circular of January
rj, 1905
(. . ^opies of this circular leiter are herewith to be lurnished the traders.
Yours, respectfully.
C. F. LARRABEE, Ading Chmmimoner.
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT THINKS OF PERUNA.
Note, in the fifth paragraph, these sentences: "The sale of Peruna, which is on the list of sev- eral traders, ? . ? herehy absolutely prohibited. As a medicine' something else can be substituted : as an mtoxicant it has been found too tempting and effective. "
? ^'5
to the proprietary medicines and other compounds which the traders keep in stock, Avith special reference to the liability of their misuse by Indians onaccountofthealcoholwhichtheycontain. ThesaleofPeruna,whichis on the lists of several traders, is hereby absolutely prohibited. As a medi- cine, something else can be substituted; as an intoxicant, it has been found too tempting and effective. Anything of the sort, under another name, which is found to lead to intoxication, you will please report to this office. "[Signed] F. C. Larrabee, Acting Commissioner. "
Specific evidence of what Peruna can do will be found in the following report, verified by special investigation:
PiNEDALE, Wyo. , Oct. 4. --[Special. ) --"Two men suffering from delirium tremens and one dead is the result of a Peruna intoxication which took place here a few days ago. C. E. Armstrong, of this place, and a party of three others started out on a cainping trip to the Yellowstone country, taking with them several bottles of whisky and ten bottles of Peruna, which one of the members of the party was taking as a tonic. The trip lastedoveraweek. Thewhiskywasexhaustedandfortwodaystheparty was without liquor. At last some one suggested that they use Peruna, of which nine bottles remained. Before they stopped the whole remaining supply had been consumed and the four men were in a state of intoxication, the like of which they had never known before. Finally, one awoke with terrible cramps in his stomach and found his companions seemingly in an almostlifelesscondition. Sufferingterribleagony,hecrawledonhishands and knees to a ranch over a mile distant, the process taking him half a day. Aid was sent to his three companions. Armstrong was dead when the rescue party arrived. The other two men, still, unconscious, were brought totowninawagonandarestillinaweakandemaciatedcondition. Arm- strong's body was almost tied in a knot and could not be straightened for burial. "
Here is the testimony from a druggist in a "no license" town:
"Peruna is bought by all the druggists in this section by the gross. 1 have seen persons thoroughly intoxicated from taking Peruna. The com- mon remark in this place when a drunken party is particularly obstrep- erous is that he is on a 'Peruna drunk. ' It is a notorious fact that a great many do use Peruna to get the alcoholic effect, and they certainly do get it goodandstrong. Now,thereareotherso-calledremediesusedforthesame purpose, namely, Gensenica, Kidney Specific, Jamaica Ginger, Hostetter's Bitters, etc. "
So well recognized is this use of the nostrum that a number of the Southern newspapers advertise a cure for the "Peruna habit," which is probably worse than the habit, as is usually the case with these "cures. " In southern Ohio and in the mountain districts of West Virginia the "Peruna jag" is a standard form of intoxication.
Two Testimonials.
A testimonial-hunter in the employ of the Peruna company was referred byaMinnesotadruggisttoaprosperousfarmerintheneighborhood. The farmer gave Peruna a most enthusiastic "send-off;" he had been using it for several months and could say, etc. Then he took the agent to his barn and showed liim a heap of empty Peruna bottles. The agent counted them. There were seventy-four. The druggist added his testimonial. "That old boy has a 'still' on all the time since he discovered Peruna," said he.
