1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



893 



such a law the millionaire manufacturers of 

 cigarettes manage to block the way just as 

 they are blocking the way of a pjarcels post, 

 reforms in the insurance business, meat 

 trust. Standard oil, etc. If we can keep 

 God-fearing men like our President at the 

 head of our nation, and get all good men 

 and women to stand by him, something is 

 going to be done. May God help us! 



Well, it is not the cigarette business that 

 I had especially in mind when I sat down to 

 write this paper. The druggists of Cleve- 

 land are continually evading or defying law 

 in selling stimulating drugs to men. women, 

 and children. Our asylums are being filled 

 with them. The only motive or incentive in 

 all this iniquitous business is to get money 

 — money, money, money. Now read this 

 quotation from the July number of the Phil- 

 adelphia Farm Journal. It is rather long. 

 I know; but it should be read over and over 

 by every man, woman, and child: 



A TWENTIETH-CENTURY CRIME AND ITS RESULT: BY 

 F. W. ST. JOHN, M. D. 



In the issue of Atnerican Medicine for January 13 

 there are published thirteen letters and two newspaper 

 clippings that should be read by every person inteiest- 

 ed in the welfare of the community. It would require 

 too much space to reproduce them he.-e, but the follow- 

 ing are the facts in the case: Mary Lee, the daughter 

 of a clergyman, was considered by her family physician. 

 Dr. Saunders, to be suffering from incipient tuberculo- 

 sis. By his advice she consulted Dr. McGee, a man of 

 wide experience in the treatment of lung trouble, who 

 confirmed the diagnosis of Dr. Saunderi, and who rec- 

 ommended Miss Lee to enter a sanitarium for treat- 

 ment. 



Being a personal friend of the Rev. Mr. Lee, and 

 knowing that his circumstances were such that he 

 could not well afford the expense connected with his 

 daughter's stay at the institution. Dr. McGee wrote to 

 Dr. Scott, the sanitarium physician, to receive Miss 

 Lee, give her the best room at his disposal, and send a 

 bill of one half the weekly charge to Mr- Lee and a bill 

 for one-half to himself, as he was verv anxious to do all 

 in his power for the daughter of his friend. After 

 some correspondence. Miss Lee was installed in a good 

 room at the sanitarium, and Mr. Lee received a weekly 

 bill for $8, the same amount being charged to Dr. Mc- 

 Gee, Mr. Lee believing that the one- half reduction was 

 made by the sanitarium physician. After a few weeks' 

 residence the girl improved in health, but thought that 

 the restrictions as to diet, open air, etc., were hard to 

 live up to. This belief she communicated to her mother. 



In the meantime, Mrs. Lee received a letter from a 

 charlatan in Chicago, who said that a mutual friend 

 had informed him that her daughter was at a sanita- 

 rium for treatment for tuberculosis.and that it was use- 

 less for her to remain there, as he had an infallible cure 

 for the cisease which could be taken in her own home, 

 without any restrictions as to diet or any thing else, 

 and at a cost of only JIO per month. He also intimated 

 that Dr. McGee was getting a bonus of from $2 to $4 

 per week from the $8 which was being paid to Dr. Scott. 

 The Rev. Mr. Lee objected to having any thing to do 

 with the Chicago man; but the mother and daughter 

 took the bait, and. as a result. Miss Lee returned home 

 and began the downward road to the grave. The medi- 

 cines sent her stimulated and buoyed her up. and she 

 believed herself to be recovering. This belief fhe ex- 

 pressed in a very thankful letter to the Chicago doc- 

 tor (?). Notwithstanding that she had several hem- 

 orrhages from the lungs and was losing in weight, the 

 scoundrel told her that this was an effort on the part of 

 Nature to rid her of the disease, and that she would 

 soon be all right. In a few weeks Mary Lee was dead. 



Three years later there appeared, along with the 

 Chicago man's advertisement in a newspaper, the last 

 hopeful letter written to him by Miss Lee, as a testi- 

 monial of the great benefit she had received from his 

 medicines. Near this letter, in another column of the 

 same paper, there appeared a statement to the effect 

 that a boy who had stolen fifty cents had been sentenced 

 to six weeks in jail at hard labor, as this was his first 

 offense. The Chicago rascal did not get even six days, 

 as he, in the eyes of the law, had committed no crime. 



This is only one page from the daily record of what 

 has for years been going on in this country. Is it a 

 wonder, then that the people are aroused? Is it a won- 

 der that, though entrenched behind their millions,these 

 humbugs are beginning to shake in their boots when 

 they see that in the name of humanity a relentless war 

 has been inaugurated against them? There is room for 

 every volunteer in this work; and not until many sacri- 

 fices have been made, and many hard battles fought, 

 will the hydra-headed monster of charlatanism down, 

 and down for good. 



There are several things in the above to 

 which I wish to call your attention. Rev. 

 Mr. Lee did the right and proper thing in 

 regard to the care of his daughter. He con- 

 sulted the family physician; and this physi- 

 cian, to make 6ure, called in another physi- 

 cian of wide reputation, a personal friend of 

 the minister and his family. This Dr. Mc- 

 Gee is certainly a good Christian man, and 

 an honest one, or he would not have under- 

 taken to pay half the expense. We get a 

 further glimpse of his Christian character 

 in that he did not let the minister know that 

 he took this money out of his own pocket. 

 Now, this Chicago charlatan had no scruple 

 about poisoning the minds of the minister's 

 family by suggesting that Dr. McGee got a 

 "rake-off " of from two to four dollars a 

 week out of eight dollars. It is strange that 

 people will listen to a quack, and believe 

 such silly stuff. And, by the way, there is 

 a tendency just now to jump at conclusions 

 or to listen to foolish gossip hinting that 

 many good innocent men are probably get- 

 ting a graft or bribe. Why, not long ago I 

 heard a minister of the gospel say that the 

 Anti- saloon League was about as big a graft 

 as we had in the country, and that nobody 

 knew what was done with the great sums of 

 money that were being subscribed. He said 

 that, too, in a crowd of good intelligent peo- 

 ple. If the saloon-keepers and liquor-deal- 

 ers should repeat such nonsense we cou d 

 forgive them; but anybody who knows any 

 thing about the Anti saloon League surely 

 ought to know that, like all other Christian 

 institutions and organizations, they keep an 

 accurate account of every penny that is 

 taken in and paid out, which is published 

 annually in black and white in the American 

 Issue. 



Do not jump at conclusions when some- 

 body suggests grafts. Examine into the 

 matter, and see if the man who talks graft 

 right and left has not an ax of his own to 

 grind. 



Well, the mother and daughter prevailed. 

 They listened to the Chicago quack, and took 

 his medicine. The girl felt so much better 

 that she wrote a letter of thanks to the 

 quack doctor. 



Here is another thing, which I almost 

 overlooked. She informed this quack doctor 

 that she was having hemorrhage of the 

 lungs, losing in weight, etc., supposing he 

 was, of course, interested like her own fam- 

 ily physician and the sanitarium people. 

 Did he care? Not at all. After her death 

 he kept right on for three years publishing 

 her letter that she sent in when she first 

 felt the effect of his stimulating drug. 

 Why, this is worse, if possible, than the 



