270 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1. 



himself /<'// on the floor, and evidently did at 

 the Congress; and the latter is a wise and 

 efficient committee man. 



I somewhat question, however, the wisdom 

 of hitching on to a pure-food law the matter 

 of patent medicines. If there is any combi- 

 nation of capital that will fight this law it will 

 be the gang of quack dosers; and I question 

 the wisdom of imperiling needed legislation 

 along the line of pure food, by hitching on to 

 it a drag that may prevent its passage. 



The suggestion made by Bro. Abbott, in his 

 last paragraph, is most excellent, and the only 

 way to make it effective is for our subscribers, 

 at once, before they forget it, to write to their 

 members of Congress. We may be sure that 

 the glucose-mixers and the patent-medicine 

 men will not only be putting up capital, but 

 will be sending in scores of protests. 



It is a great gratification to me to know 

 that our Ohio Mr. Blackburn is permanent 

 president. We Buckeyes know what good 

 work he has done in the interests of pure food. 

 The quacks and the food adulterators have 

 been leaving no stone unturned to put him 

 out of office; and the worst part of it is, they 

 have secured the influence of some reputable 

 daily papers (which see filthy lucre — from 

 their "ads ") to fight him. But he knows he 

 is right, and is standing by his duties like the 

 fearless soldier that he is. Certainly we bee- 

 keepers will hold up his hands in this great 

 fight. Write to Food Commissioner Black- 

 burn, and tell him to give the adulterators 

 more " hot shot." 



I confess it is a little comforting to know 

 that the Dairy and Food Commissioner of the 

 State of Ohio has got down to the business of 

 exposing injurious and fraudulent patent 

 medicines. A bulletin has just been publish- 

 ed, entitled, "Address Delivered before the 

 Ohio Editorial Association." I wish every 

 father and mother and every one else in the 

 land could read it; and I presume it can be 

 had by addressing Jos. E. Blackburn, Dairy 

 and Food Commissioner, Columbus, O. Now, 

 I can not copy as much as I should like to 

 do from this bulletin. But just let me give 

 you a paragraph : 



Several month.s ago one of my chemists mentioned 

 the name of a well known catarrh cure, and stated 

 that in a certain Massachusetts town it began to be 

 generally used among the employees in a large cotton- 

 mill. The label stated that it contained cocaine. In 

 a short time the pensons using the preparation learn- 

 ed that it was the cocaine that gave the temporary 

 relief sought for, and they began buying it directly at 

 the drugstores. In a few months, nearly the entire 

 working population of the town was completely de- 

 moralized from its use. 



From the above you get a glimpse of the 

 reason why medicine-venders can offer free 

 samples of their stuff and pay the postage. 

 One free sample bottle may get a whole town 

 to patronizing them. How much better is it 



than offering schoolboys intoxicating liquors 

 free of charge in the shape of beer or summer 

 drinks? Let me give one more case that illus- 

 trates how these drugs will capture a person, 

 body and soul, when he once gets started : 



One incident occurs to me that will illu.strate the 

 persistency with which these fiends will pvirsue the 

 obiect of their enslavement. A woman in Wheeling, 

 West Virginia, happily married, and the mother of 

 two children, became addicted to the use of chloral. 

 Her husband notified the druggists not to supply her. 

 She came to Bellaire, and secured a prescription for it. 

 I filled it myself. She returned in a few hours to have 

 it refilled, telling me that she had accidentally spilled 

 it. The next morning she came again, and .said that 

 she had dropped the bottle and broken it. I again 

 filled it; but my suspicions were arou.sed, and I tele- 

 phoned the physician who had written the prescrip- 

 tion. He said he knew nothing about the ca'e except 

 that he had prescribed it for her at her reque.st, to 

 allay some nervous pain. The next time she called I 

 took the bottle, destroyed the label, refused to refill it, 

 and would not allow her to have a copy of the pre- 

 scription. .She became frantic; she offered the entire 

 contents of her purse for one dose, but I refused. 

 She then begged, appealed, and finally wept, and, 

 becoming desperate, attempted to disrobe in the .store. 

 The interview ended by mv forcibly putting her out 

 of the store and ordering her never to come back. I 

 afterward heard that she abandoned her family, and 

 entered upon a life of dissolution and dissipation. 



Now, then, dear readers, I do not know but 

 I shall have to take some of m^^ own medicine. 

 Some of vou may remember that, when I was 

 in Atlanta, Ga , I bought a bottle of Perry 

 Davis' pain-killer, and actually gave it quite a 

 write-up because it gave me relief, and cost 

 only 20 cents a bottle. See the following: 



" The sale rf soothing syrups, and all medicines 

 designed for the u.se of children, which contain opium 

 and its preparations, should be prohibited " I copy a 

 part of the list published by the Board of Health as 

 containnie opium : 



" Piso's Cure for Consumption." 



"Jaynes' Expectorant." 



" Perry Davis' Pain K'ller." 



"Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup." 



" Coe's Cough Balsam." 



I should be very glad indeed to take back 

 or contradict what I said in favor of the pain- 

 killer; but thousands of that journal were sent 

 off broadcast, and a great part of those who 

 read my recommendation, and perhaps bought 

 the pain-killer, will- never see it at all. You 

 see how it behooves us to be careful about 

 recommending medicines to our friends. Of 

 course, the manufacturers of these prepara- 

 tions, and a good many of the druggists, are 

 waging w^ar hot and heavy on the Ohio Food 

 Commissioner. The pamphlet I allude to was 

 published mainly in order that he might give 

 his reasons for the course he had taken. The 

 Ayer Co., I believe, have been waging war in 

 the shape of suits at law, more than almost 

 any one else. Now, then, shall the patent- 

 medicine men, the opium and cocaine venders, 

 with their great wealth, choke out or "snow 

 under" this effort that our State of Ohio is 

 making to save our people from the terrible 

 effects of these deadly drugs? For my part I 

 begin to think I would rather be sick than be 

 cured with something that "comes out of a 

 bottle." Hold on a little. Let us put it this 

 way : If I am going to be cured by something 

 that comes out of a bottle, I want it adminis- 

 tered by somebody who is a personal friend of 

 mine, and one who would not give me poison- 

 ous drugs when I told him how I felt about it; 

 and that person shall h& our family physician . 



