84 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



vance iu the standard which prevailed up to the time when the un- 

 favorable edict was issued, and earnestly hope that the next Legis- 

 lature will enact stronger, better and more far-reaching laws to stop 

 the objectionable trafhe. 



It is also declared that there is a distinct improvement as regards 

 drinking habits. This may be due to the fact that restaurants 

 and hotels are more than ever havens of rest and sociability, and 

 partially to the additional fact that the moderate drinker has a 

 wholesome fear of drugged, counterfeit and deleterious alcoholic 

 drinks. The standard of nearly all public resorts has unquestion- 

 ably been raised, and home-life is also being appreciated more fully. 

 The first-class drinking resorts are not lacking in point of attrac- 

 tions and liberal patronage, but, as already stated, the improve- 

 ment in conditions is self-conspicuous. 



THE PATENT MEDICINE PROBLEM. 



A notable feature of the year was the extraordinary attention 

 which the press accorded to the pure food question and expose of 

 the alleged ''patent medicine'' frauds. Leading magazines and jour- 

 nals teemed with highly interesting and somewhat sensational ac- 

 counts of how people were being imposed upon or poisoned by these 

 subtle poisons, whether introduced into the human system through 

 the medium of adulterated food products, or so-called "patent medi- 

 cines." The same journals cited examples of cases where patients 

 created enslaving appetites for alcohol through the protracted use 

 of certain so-called "medicines," and referred to the fact that a num- 

 ber of Southern papers were already advertising cures or remedies 

 for counteracting the evil done by medicines which contained exces- 

 sive amounts of alcohol. The charge is made that because of an al- 

 most criminal alliance of some newspapers with fraud and poison, on 

 account of liberal advertising patronage at high rates, these poisons 

 and nostrums reach the thinking classes, as well as those who are, 

 perhaps, more readily gulled. 



PATENT MEDICINES TO BE LICENSED. 



This office received numerous letters from anxious correspondents 

 who desired information relative to an order issued by the Com- 

 missioner of Internal Revenue of the United States, requiring drug- 

 gists and dealers generally who sold a certain class of patent medi- 

 cines to pay a revenue tax as liquor dealers. The official order 

 was issued by the United States authorities, and local revenue 

 collectors are empowered to supply information and take the action 

 that may be necessary to enforce the edict. 



Correspondents were promptly advised of the fact that the Dairy 

 and Food Commissioner had no jurisdiction in the matter. 



These so-called patent medicines, although enjoying a large sale, 

 in many instances were found upon analysis, to contain so small an 

 amount, if any, of the recognized or effective drugs or medicines, 

 and such abnormally large percentages of alcohol, as to make 

 their use as intoxicants not uncommon. Both male and female 

 "patients" become addicted to their use, and in the manner culti- 

 vate a craving for alcohol. Public sentiment has been aroused, 

 and a most successful ally was found in prominent magazines and 



