QUACKERY. 453 



Even from the foregoing generalizations it must appear that 

 quackery is a seated evil, which the community, in self-defense, ought 

 promptly to weed out. Yet the roots, as we have seen, spread out so 

 variously, that past effort has been without effect, and the future will 

 do no better unless exceptional measures are applied. In this case, it 

 seems, diagnosis is easier than treatment, for the social physician is 

 blocked on every side. Surely, the requirements should be everywhere 

 approximately as high as the better states and countries have set, yet 

 every step towards restriction of practise, even to the safety-point, 

 meets with wrangling opposition. The cry of paternalism is raised, 

 and even the disinterested see in such measures only an attempt at 

 extending the alleged ' Medical Trust.' 



Quarantine is proper; government exposure of food adulteration is 

 only right; of course, the state should protect its citizens against 

 fraudulent investment schemes, and every enforcement of these safe- 

 guards calls out general praise. But it is ruinous paternalism to save 

 the unwary public from unconscious alcoholism, medical extortion and 

 dangerous malpractise ! 



Of the same caliber, it seems to me, is that other plea against state 

 interference, to the effect that variance from orthodox practise is not 

 enough to brand a method as quackery. It is urged that progress con- 

 sists in dissidence, and that the traditional school has no right to sit 

 in judgment. ' The prophet is never believed in his own country,' 

 you know. Such argument — and it is very common — sounds too much 

 like the prattle of those ' advanced thinkers ' who would do away with 

 the moral code on the ground that all standards are relative and 

 arbitrary. Further, the records fail to show a single instance where 

 scientific medicine has drawn profit from quackery, nor is the modern 

 broad and progressive attitude likely to cheat any honest radical of an 

 adequate hearing. 



Just so long, however, as this repugnance for state interference 

 with medical quackery obtains, it is folly to seek help in that quarter. 

 Existing postal laws and statutes on fraud are themselves sufficient to 

 blackeye quackery, and their total failure stands as a pathetic proof of 

 the scant likelihood of ending quackery through the toils of the law. 

 Mr. Andrews reports that a wellnigh insuperable obstacle to his vigor- 

 ous work is the difficulty of obtaining witnesses; persons are rather 

 diffident about exposing frauds of which they have been the stupid 

 victims. Besides, even in clear cases of fraud, it is often impossible to 

 lay hands on the real culprit; or, if caught, after paying his fine or 

 serving his sentence, the quack can start up the old business in another 

 section under another name; the salutary restraints of public opinion 

 play no part with him. After all, what boots it to crush a dozen or 

 even fifty out of the unnumbered swarm? The press will not em* 



