Aug. 15. 1911 



to favor any business speculation, especial- 

 ly where it touches on the health and well 

 being of the people of our nation. 



CUTICURA AND SOME OTHER THINGS; A 

 CORRECTION. 



Dear Mr. Boot: — In your health notes for March 1 

 you speak of a spot on your back that you thought 

 was eczema. For nearly 30 years prior to Februa- 

 ry, 1910, 1 was troubled with a spot on the inside of 

 my left leg, near the groin. It grew till about three 

 inches in diameter, and at times itched intolera- 

 bly. I used cuticura soap, but to no avail. In Feb- 

 ruary, 1910, I had a violent spell of sickness which 

 liisted into March. When I got well I found the 

 itching spot on my leg was entirely gone, and I 

 have not had the least indication of it since. No- 

 thing at all was done to cure it during my sick- 

 ness. In fact, the doctor never knew of it, as I did 

 not tell him. 



Electropoise and Oxydonor are the most con- 

 temptible things that were ever sent out to gull the 

 public. 



Peru, 111., March 28. E. H. Whitaker. 



Well, friend W., from the above it would 



51 



appear that a "violent spell of sickness" 

 sometiiBes does a body good; and 1 want to 

 exi)ress a hearty amen to your closing sen- 

 tence concerning Electropoise and Oxydo- 

 nor. For some reason or other I have not 

 yet been able to get our State, or, V>etter 

 still, the United States, to take hold of this 

 thing. 



liy the way, several of our subscribers 

 have called my attention to a mistake that 

 the printers made when I spoke of 50 cents 

 a box for the Cuticura ointment. What I 

 said, or meant to say, was that this 50-cent 

 box contained not much more than a fable- 

 spoonful. By a blunder, when it got into 

 l)rint it read teaspoonful . To come right 

 down to fact, the box contains about Jive 

 level tablespoonfuls. (iod knows I did not 

 mean to be unfair with the Cuticura people, 

 especially as the spot on my back has never 

 reappeared; in fact, it is a hard matter now 

 to find even the scar of it. 



Tr®DlIO^®D°fflDD©i 



THE EXPRESS COMPANIES AND THE LIQUOR- 

 TRAFFIC IN PROHIBITION TERRITORY. 



I have just clipped the following from the 

 Chicago Advance: 



Approximately 20,000,000 gallons of liquors annu- 

 ally are shipped by express, principally from mail- 

 order houses, direct to consumers in prohibitive 

 States. This .startling fact was developed in an in- 

 quiry conducted by the interstate-commerce com- 

 mission into proposed changes in express classifica- 

 tions which resulted in an advance of rates on pack- 

 ages containing liquor. Jacksonville, Fla., prob- 

 ably the largest shipping-point for liquor in the 

 South, sends out between three and four thousand 

 packages of one or two gallons daily, and Norfolk. 

 Va., Cairo, 111., Emporia, Va., Louisville, Ky., Ports- 

 mouth, Va., Roanoke, ^'a., and Savannah, Ga., ship 

 more than 100,000 gallons each annually. 



I also clip the following from the Freight- 

 payer and Consumer: 



The decision of the Supreme Court, that this traf- 

 fic was interstate, and superior to interference by 

 the State governments, gave the industry a tremen- 

 dous impetus, and established the express compan- 

 ies as the carriers of practically the whole of this 

 traffic. 



The movement is more active in the South than 

 in other sections of the country, partly because of 

 the extent of the prohibition territory there, and 

 partly because of the large quantities of very cheap 

 whisky manufactured and shipped there for the 

 consumption of the negro population." 



I hardly need remind our friends that 

 there is already a nation-wide i)rotest against 

 the exorbitant charges we are obliged to pay 

 the express companies, and because they 

 are blocking parcels post, which would, of 

 course, break down their schetlule for carry- 

 ing stuft". Well, this is bad enough; but 

 when it transpires that we can not enforce 

 prohibition just because the express com- 

 panies of the United States have disco\ ered 

 that there is "big business" in going into 

 the liquor-traffic, the last straw is being add- 

 ed to the load the hard-working people have 

 been carrying. Several times in my life, 

 while remonstrating with friends of "mine 

 who have "acquired the appetite," I have 



been told they had got to have the drink, as 

 they could not live without it. People in 

 such circumstances generally have very lit- 

 tle means to supply the demands of appetite. 

 Oftentimes — in fact, almost always — there 

 is a poor wife and mother and a lot of hun- 

 gry children dependent on this unfortunate 

 slave of drink. Well, in addition to the 

 high price consumers have to pay on liquors, 

 in the way of licenses, government tax, etc. 

 (it is a tremendous one too) , as you will no- 

 tice in the above clipping, the express peo- 

 ple have advanced their rates for carrying 

 liquors. I have before reminded you that, 

 when we go down to our Florida home, a 

 great lot of express packages of all sorts and 

 sizes are dum])ed off at every little railroad 

 station. I have since been told that these 

 packages are liquors from dealers here in the 

 North. A large portion of these exjiress 

 packages are called for by colored i)eoi)le, 

 and our last clipping explains it. We have 

 a United States law forbitlding the sale of 

 intoxicating liquors to Indians, because un- 

 der its influence they become crazy drunk 

 and commit crime. Now, why in the world 

 should there not be a law made to keep the 

 same liquors out of the hands of the colored 

 people — especially the lazy and dissolute? 

 They have committed crime, and are com- 

 mitting crimes, mostly under the influence 

 of licjuor, that a respectable magazine would 

 hardly want to name in ])rint — crimes that 

 our American Indians have never been 

 guilty of so far as I can discover. Now, 

 after we by hard work, and by the expendi- 

 ture of much money, have made many 

 counties, towns, cities, and States dry terri- 

 tory, why in the world should these express 

 companies continue robbing our hard-work- 

 ing people? why should they be permitted 

 to undo our temj^erance work, and bring 

 the results to naught because they are going 



