608 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 15 



raent of money by people not connected with the 

 policy of the business. But while there are a few 

 profitable magazines, as a whole they are not big 

 money-makers. Magazines have probably lost more 

 money in the aggregate for publishers than they 

 have made. 



There may be a suggestion in the a'bove record 

 for people who are now being tempted to put their 

 money into debentures (note.s) issued by the straw 

 man invented by E. (!. Lewis. 



THE BOYS WHO WANTED A PONY. 



A letter from a home where Gleanings 

 goes, from a boy nine years old, reads as 

 follows: 



Mr. A. I. Boot: — I have been wondering if the big- 

 gest bee-man in the LTnited States wouldn't help the 

 two littlest ones. . 



Molina, (.'olo., Aug. 14. 



The printed circular that goes along with 

 the letter explains that a periodical called 

 The Farmer's Wife agrees to give a Shet- 

 land pony to the boy or girl who sends them 

 the largest number of subscribers before a 

 certain date. The proprietors of the period- 

 ical say they have a farm of 400 acres where 

 they raise these Shetland ponies. They 

 have already given away 18 to the boys and 

 girls who have secured the largest list of 

 subscribers. Now, this boy of nine years is 

 very ehthusiastic; yes, he and his brother, 

 only seven, are almost wild over the idea of 

 getting that pony, and ask if Uncle Amos 

 can not consistently lend a helping hand. 

 I confess it made me feel sad to be obliged 

 to say that I could not. The trouble is right 

 here: A lot of boys and giils will go to work 

 getting subscribers so that they may secure 

 that beautiful little pony; and while the suc- 

 cessful one will, no doubt, be \ery hajipy, 

 there will be a hundred others — yes, perhaps 

 a good many hundred — who w ill be terribly 

 disappointed because somebody else is just 

 a little ahead of them; and that is always 

 the way it works with almost any contest 

 where a valuable prize is offered to just one 

 person, when a great number have worked 

 equally hard for the prize. And this kind 

 of work seems to be a kindof steppingstone, 

 not only to the prize business, but (to call 

 things by their right name) to the lotiery 

 business. It develops an unhealthy craze 

 for getting things in that kind of way. I 

 know that such plans often succeed in giv- 

 ing certain periodicals a large circulation; 

 but when people subscribe for a magazine 

 because of the prize, and not because of the 

 intrinsic value of the periodical itself, such 

 subscribers are very likely to prove only 

 transient. May God help us to be careful 

 about setting a good example, and only a 

 good example, before our children. 



ROBBING SICK PEOPLE; ELECTROPOISB, OX- 

 YDONER, AND OTHER "HUMBUG TOYS." 



Something like twenty years ago Glean- 

 ings began to expose the ]ireposterous 

 claims of Electropoise. Our older readers 



will remember all about it. A little later 

 the same thing came up under the name of 

 "Oxydonor;" and in spite of the warnings 

 we held up in almost every issue, many 

 good people paid $25.00 for a senseless toy 

 that did not cost the manufacturer 25 cents. 

 They claimed at the same time that they 

 had testimonials from a hundred ministers 

 of the gospel; and the good ]iastor of our 

 church obtained permission for me to speak 

 before a conference of ministers, at which 

 time I gave them a vehement protest in re- 

 gard to permitting swindlers to use their 

 names. So many people, however, insisted 

 that Oxydonor possessed real virtue that I 

 made some bitter enemies among some of 

 my good friends, and I am afraid that some 

 of them are enemies still. When Glean- 

 ings seemed unable to stem the tide I ap- 

 pealed to the Bural New-Yorker. They 

 invited Dr. Sauche or one of his representa- 

 tives to bring his trappings to their office; 

 and the result was they promptly denounced 

 him and his so-called invention. After the 

 Rural and Gleanings together protested 

 with all the influence they could bring to 

 bear,* most respectable periodicals refused 

 to advertise Oxydonor any longer; and I 

 had been congratulating myself that this 

 form of robbing sick people had finally 

 gone out of fashion; but the following clip- 

 ping from the Eural Neiu -Yorker intimates 

 that this old doctor (?) is still at it where, er 

 he can find victims. I have appealed to 

 the Postrffice Department at Washington 

 several limes, but they do not seem to be 

 able or willing to put liim in the penitenti- 

 ary, where he belongs. See the following 

 from the Rural: 



I wish you would do what you can to warn people through 

 your paper against a m< st pernicious medical fraud called 

 Dr. Sauche. of Oxydonor fame. Have you heard of him; This 

 device which he calls •Oxydonor"' (oxyfren-siver i. and for 

 which he gets *l4.«n. coosisis of a little metal band to bo 

 buckled around the pttient's ankle, ard connected by a cord 

 with a small metal disk which is to be immerstd in a basin of 

 water for half an hour at a time. The device might cost, per- 

 haps. 2.j cents to manufattin e. and he makes his deluded pat- 

 rons believe that it will chiirt'e their whole systems with a 

 vast quantit.v of oxygen, aid cu'e any disease, however long 

 standing, or liitrnetable. or even fatal. It would seem as 

 though a moment's consideration would show even ignorant 

 persons that 'he o.oly way oxygen could possibly enter the 

 systeiri wo. Id be through Itie lungs; but I know positively 

 that this tauc^e has swindltd thousands of very poo^ and 

 very sick people o t of S14 Ou apiece for a perfectly worthless 

 device. I Iiave an idea that he is advertising through the 

 country papers mainly now, through fear of the pure-food 

 and drugs law. If you can warn your readers against him 

 yon will be putting them under still greater obligation to 

 your paper. His address was Chicago. 111., at last accounts. 



Ohio. Ax M. D.. 



There seems to be little to add to what this phy- 

 sician has said abi)ve. Our own experience con- 

 firms what he says about the purchase of the fake 

 b.v poor and sick lieople. In one or two cases re- 

 ported to us we insisted on a refund of the mone.v, 

 and it was returned, no doubt, under fear of expos- 

 ure. 



From the above it v^ould appear that he 

 has reduced the price from ?'25.00 down to 

 $14.00; but 14 cents would be more appro- 

 priate, esi)ecially when it is some poor wash- 

 woman who scrapes up the money from her 

 hard earnings. 



*So many inquiries came in that we were obliged 

 to print circulars at different times, explaining the 

 fraud; and we have some of those circulars still 

 that we send out whenever the matter bobs up 

 again. 



