First, to enact a law which would make it a felony for a newspaper to print a fraudulent patent medicine advertisement, or a fake medical cure. A national board of competent authority should be constituted to determine the question of fraud.
Second, to amend the law which permits the registration of a fancy name for a combination of drugs, without at the same time giving the formula.
The mothers of the race must recognize that it is not only a question of economy, but a vital issue in health preservation, to regard all advertised remedies and medical "cures" as absolutely dangerous and worthless, and consequently not to be used at all. There is no safe exception to this rule. The records teem with evidence condemning the whole discreditable business. Almost without exception, every advertised remedy and cure has been, when actually investigated, found fraudulent and worthless. The great majority of these concerns are owned and run by individuals, who have had no medical experience, and no training to fit them to advise patients in any sense. It is a money-making scheme pure and simple, and anyone who asks further proof is not open to conviction.
I believe the truthful and the just interpretation of the success of the patent medicine business is to be found in the ignorance of the people,--not the kind of ignorance that reflects upon their intelligence, but real, honest ignorance regarding the true character and merit of the patent medicine business. It would be an unwarranted reflection upon the intelligence and acumen of the American people to assert that they would wittingly support a fraudulent proposition, especially a proposition whose success meant their own physical degeneration. The reflection is rather an indictment of the inefficiency of those in authority.
We must not deny that there exists in the minds of the lowly a feeling that what is printed is true. This is as it should be; it is an instinct and it is fundamental. We must remember, too, that there are thousands and thousands of homes, into which absolutely no literature of any kind ever penetrates except the weekly, and it may be stray copies of the daily newspaper. These people are primitive and credulous. They have ailing members in the family, and they have not always accessible medical service, or they may be too poor to avail themselves of such service as exists. When, therefore, they see glaring promises of relief and "cures" for whatever may ail them, in the oft-read paper, week after week, it is an easy step to become enrolled as a victim. These people believe in their newspaper. They have no reason to question the truth of its contents. They unconsciously put their trust and dependence upon those in authority, those who should see to it that the instinct of truth and honesty is reflected in the justice and protection which is meted out to the helpless and the poor. Is it any wonder, therefore, that we have victims, when the only voice that comes to them from the great world beyond is a tissue of false promises and fraudulent pretensions? The law is a cumbersome vehicle to move. It cannot be driven by inspiration--no matter how crucial the incentive may be that creates the inspiration,--it moves only by the potential force of a great conviction, the voice of the people. It seems a pity to waste time in the education of all the people before their voice shall be raised to demand protection, when the authorities know now of the wrong that is being perpetrated and could right it without the waste of this precious time.