The Eugenic Marriage Volume III Part 12

Only a sensitive woman can realize how hard it is to bring one's self to undergo the ordeal of examination and treatment by a physician.

Every letter sent out by this concern was signed, "Mrs. C. B. M." All literature, every booklet, and every advertis.e.m.e.nt was ingeniously and seductively "built up" to convey by implication the impression that the business was conducted by a woman, and hence the inference followed in the minds of the simple, trusting victims, that they were writing their secrets, to be read by one of their own s.e.x, and that this woman was professionally qualified and temperamentally capable of giving competent advice and adequate treatment.

Nothing was further from the truth. It was simply a trick, a fraudulent, venal imposition. Mrs. C. B. M. herself admitted that she had absolutely nothing to do with the conduct of the business, nor did her previous experience in any way fit her to give advice in such matters. Her husband established the business under the name of the ---- Medicine Company, and continued under this name until after his marriage, when it was reorganized and incorporated in his wife's name. Benefiting by the experience of similar concerns, he then used his wife's name simply as a business a.s.set. How capably and efficiently he utilized this opportunity is shown in the beguiling literature he sent out as the above quotation amply demonstrates.

Think of a man writing, "I am a woman with all a woman's hopes and fears,"--and then proceeding to play, with consummate skill, upon the sensibility and credulity of a sick and neurasthenic woman. It is a round-about way to reach the public pocketbook, but experience has taught these harpies that it is an eminently successful method. Mr. M.

himself admitted that the gross receipts from the business were in excess of $100,000 a year, and that 200,000 people were taking treatment from this concern at one time.

Mention has been made of a certain famous compound--which has been characterized by a well-known authority on drug addictions as "a dangerous drug used largely by drinkers." For 23 years after the death of the woman founder, ---- and ----, the owners of the concern, advertised, inviting women to "write to L. P. for advice in regard to their complaints, and being a woman"--though a dead one--"it was easy, for her ailing sisters to pour into her ears every detail of their suffering."

The advertis.e.m.e.nt as generally printed runs:

No physician in the world has had such a training, or has such an amount of information at hand to a.s.sist in the treatment of all kinds of female ills.

This, therefore, is the reason why Mrs. L---- P----, in her laboratory at ----, Ma.s.s., is able to do more for the ailing women of America than the family physician. Any woman, therefore, is responsible for her own suffering who will not take the trouble to write to Mrs. P---- for advice.

Does any woman need any further evidence of the fraudulent intent of such concerns? Keep in mind also that this particular remedy is exclusively recommended for "the diseases of women," and contains enough alcohol to render its users victims of the alcoholic habit.

MEDICINE CONCERN RUN BY WOMEN

Dr. D---- runs a mail order business in another town in Indiana. Her specialty is "diseases of women." The business is really owned by W. M.

G----, a dealer in teas, coffees, etc. In the advertis.e.m.e.nts of the concern Dr. D---- emphasizes the fact that she is "a woman--a wife--a mother--a successful physician--a specialist on diseases of women." In many places in the literature of the company the "vast experience" of Dr. D---- is intentionally elaborated.

"Her vast experience as a physician is only one of the qualifications she possesses...."

"Her training and vast experience as a physician enables her to do more for suffering women than any woman can who is not a physician...."

"During several years of active life as a general pract.i.tioner she acquired a vast amount of valuable experience that very few ever possess...."

These three quotations emphatically a.s.sert that Dr. D. has had "vast"

experience "as a general pract.i.tioner." Where did she get this experience as a general pract.i.tioner? Inasmuch as she graduated as a physician in 1907 and was licensed to practice in 1908, and as the "---- D---- Company" was chartered in 1908 and began active business then, we ask again, where did she get her "vast experience?"

The following letter, sent by Dr. D---- to one of her prospective patients, gives a general idea of how the "game" is worked. These letters are "form" letters, printed by the thousand, though they are intended to convey the impression that they are personal--the patient's name being inserted. It will be observed that Dr. D---- has acquired the specious and oily art of the quack, and the seductive diction of those who live by their wits:

Dear Friend: Since it is your misfortune to be afflicted, I am glad you wrote to me, because I sincerely believe that I can completely cure you if you take my treatment now. Realizing the serious nature of your condition, I at once arranged to give your case my prompt personal attention.

After years of success in curing practically every form of woman's ills, I am devoting my life to my sister women. Being a woman and a mother, I know your every ache and pain and sympathize with you as only a woman can. As a physician, as a specialist in diseases of women I know the causes of your trouble and the most scientific method of curing you quickly.

Since you have in me a sympathetic friend as well as a physician I trust you will read carefully my plan for your complete recovery.

A careful diagnosis of your case shows you have Female Weakness.

I have mailed a copy of my book, "Diseases of Women and Home Medical Guide." Be sure to read a description of your condition on pages 25-47.

As requested I have mailed you a free trial of my successful treatment. It is bound to help you and you should take it at once according to my directions enclosed herewith. The free medicines will last you for three days and are suited to your condition, but you should not expect them to cure you. Some of the ingredients contained in the remedies you need are very costly and I cannot afford to give you enough of these medicines to completely cure you.

Your case seems to be of long standing and you really should have a Complete Course of Treatment at once if you are to be completely cured. As I want to do everything possible for you I have prepared a Special Course of Treatment for you and am sending it, postage paid, in the same package with the free remedies.

Please remember that the free remedies are yours to take at once without charge or obligation, but if you use the Special Treatment I shall expect you to send me $3 for it. You need not feel under obligation to me to accept the Special Course, but I know it is just what you need and need NOW, so I feel sure your good judgment will cause you to accept it at your earliest convenience. By sending now I save you some time and ...

Dr. G. M. B., of ----, Mo., advertises to cure deafness, catarrh, asthma and head noises. He offers to send two months' medicine free to prove his ability to cure. In reply to inquiry he practically informs every applicant that his case is so bad that there is no use of sending the two months' treatment. In order to effect a cure in "your case" it is necessary for you to take the regular treatment. He accepts the chance that the literature and the testimonials accompanying his letter will influence the victim to bite. Inasmuch as he admits that his income is about $5,000 per month and that he gets three hundred letters every day, it may be a.s.sumed that he knows his business.

It is not necessary to go into details regarding his methods. The following summary of his business was made by the district attorney who investigated it:

I find that the business is being conducted through the post office at ----, Mo., under the names of Dr. ---- Remedy Company and Dr. J. M. B----, and is a scheme and device for obtaining money through the mails by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, and I therefore recommend that a fraud order be issued prohibiting the delivery of mail and the payment of money orders to such addresses.

A certain "pure" malt whiskey is advertised as:

"A reliable all-round household remedy."

"It should be in every family medicine chest."

"It is manufactured for the purpose of supplying the profession and public in general with a reliable tonic and stimulant."

"It is a recognized specific to enrich the blood and build body and muscle, and in the prevention and relief of coughs, colds and stomach troubles it has no equal."

Previous to the pa.s.sage of the Pure Food and Drug Act it was advertised in the following terms:

BEST SPRING TONIC.

DOCTORS OF ALL SCHOOLS AGREE THAT THE BEST TONIC-STIMULANT TO BUILD UP THE SYSTEM, RUN DOWN AND WEAKENED BY THE LONG STRAIN OF WINTER, AND TO DRIVE OUT SPRING FEVER AND MALARIA IS ----'S MALT WHISKEY.

As a tonic and stimulant it is the greatest strength-giver known to science. It destroys disease germs and by its building and healing properties restores tissues in a gradual, healthy, natural manner. It is a wonderful specific in the treatment and cure of consumption, pneumonia, grippe, bronchitis, coughs, colds, malaria, low fevers, stomach troubles, and all wasting, weakened, diseased conditions, if taken in time.

It is recognized as the world's leading medicine everywhere.

By a decision of the Supreme Court of the State of New York this "pure"

malt whiskey has been declared a liquor. It is simply a sweetened whisky. To advertise it as a CURE for consumption or as a cure for any disease was malicious, and should be punishable by a long term in prison. It would be possible to take every statement of the above advertis.e.m.e.nt and prove each one to be false.

This "pure" malt whiskey is a favorite "booze" of so-called temperance people. Since it is advertised as a medicine, they can get drunk from its use and still be "temperance" advocates. One of the favorite methods of advertising the product was to draw the public's attention to the fact that

CLERGYMEN ENDORSE MALT WHISKY

DISTINGUISHED DIVINES AND TEMPERANCE WORKERS WHO HAVE spent their lives in uplifting their fallen brethren and placing their feet upon the solid rock use and recommend ----'s pure malt whisky. Honored and respected preachers of the gospel and advocates of temperance, without regard to creed or prejudice, make frank and outspoken statements of what ----'s pure malt whisky has done for them.

Then follow the testimonials and the photographs of three aged and inert-looking preachers.

It made an impressive advertis.e.m.e.nt, as most nostrum "ads" are, because, unfortunately, the art of the liar is best expressed in the superlative degree. His word-pictures are therefore more lurid, more diversified, more romantic. But when they are investigated and the facts brought to light the advertis.e.m.e.nt falls to pieces. For example, compare the actual facts relative to the three "distinguished divines" with the fiction in the following advertis.e.m.e.nt:

The Rev.---- D----, over 82 years of age, practised medicine for many years, when he moved west. He became a minister and did preach for ten years in the State of Wyoming. He then retired from the pulpit and opened a marriage bureau. He received $10.00 when he gave his testimonial "to get his picture taken."

The Rev. ---- H---- occupied the pulpit of the Church of Eternal Hope of B----, Pa. He retired to enter politics a number of years ago, and is now a deputy Internal Revenue collector. He is a spiritualist. He owned race horses and was a patron of the turf.

The Rev. McL---- lived in G----, Mich. There are 893 people in the township and it is not even on the railroad line. Mr.

McL---- was allowed to resign from the fellowship after being called to trial for endorsing ----'s pure malt whisky.

If these three gentlemen were brought on the stage of any city vaudeville theater and introduced as distinguished divines it would be regarded as a joke--which it really is. If we relegate our "distinguished divines" to marriage bureaus, or the race track, or to the Internal Revenue service, or to preach to flocks in townships of less than one thousand and not on the railroad, the outlook for the ministerial profession is far from encouraging. To tell us that these men spent their lives "in uplifting their fallen brethren" is imposing upon the good nature of one's audience. It is simply one more evidence added to the long list already noted that one does not readily acquire the habit of expecting to read the truth in a patent medicine advertis.e.m.e.nt. Rather the reverse. We examine them in expectant curiosity to note their unique and devilish ability to tell picturesque falsehoods.

Certain famous pills are advertised extensively in Great Britain and in the United States. It is claimed by the manufacturers that they are "composed entirely of medicinal herbs" and that they will "cure"