New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-21
CharIatans and the Press.

correspondent it is stated, suggests Legislation
and legal inquistion TO protect the simple snu
unwary from the brazen arts OF medical cnarla'
tans" 10 which you demur, on the ground tnH
"braying in a mortar will not prevent some
peopie's acting like geese, and go on to say that
athe real evil has It's seat in popular ignorance
and credulity" and that " the least grain oil COM
mon sense should suffice to convince any one thar
a man who advertises Resurrection Pius 90
cure anything from a cancer to whooPing cough
or boasts Of his immense success IN some other
city, writes himself down an uneqHlvocal ham
bug" Now, inasmuch as we have heard those
who have an abundance Of good sense upon most
subjects and possess varied attainments stand up
for the worst forms of Charstanism, we are
convinced that it is not common sense
nor intelligence alone that guides 10 train T
in this matter. Would the Editor OF me
Tribune be understood 10 say that there are
none who possess the least grain OF common
sense" that patronize nostrum-venders and charla-
tans Would he maintain that the immense
patronage which sustains the quackery OF the DAY
is entirely from fools z Certainly not the thing
is impossible. The conclusion Is, then, that com
nonsense people who should know better, are by
some influence made to play the part OF fools.
What then is that mighty influence which so
debases the human mind, which draws SO rec
" upon the hard earnings Of the poor, and often
takes the last shilling from the afflicted and sor
rowing, whose poverty is most consPicuous-ln-
curing hunger, perhaps from the delusive hope
of alternating other illg-which In the aggregate
destroys more constitutions, ripens prematurely
the harvest for death, and in short does more 70
swell the catalogue Of human ills, physically, than
war or pestilence than famine or even intemPer.
ance For in all these the effects are visible and
all learn to shun them, while the effects oil nos
trums and the pill swallowing propensltles OF the
American People, are imperceptible, often giving
no signs even in their desdliest work. ask
again, What is it which thus holds the human
II - kr~A - kha ahG
makes victims to the greedy avarice OF money
catchers and brings all this misery upon the hu,
man race, and mostly where 1t is least ably borne
There is but answer, for there is but one pow
sufficient for this great work OF eyll, ana that
is the Newspaper Press. Most blindly most gno-
rantly, or most wckedly is this mighty engine
made to work out this great work OF human mis-
ery equal to any one of the host OF evils which II
is its province to correct This Is grave SUBJECT
upon which the public mind is not awakened,
and upon which the Press is silent, and WILL prooa-
bly, remain so, for interest and custom and power
are combined TO that end yet what have SAID is
true, though there may be bat few prepared to
believe it. and a less number who care about II,
while the interest of many will make It JesI
and the remainder will regard no council 1t being
democratic to do as they please.
The Tribune could never be made to serve the
interest of the lottery ticket vender, or dram sell
er; why need it support this greater EVIL. which
takes not only the peoples money, but their lives,
and which is fast become a masked form OF In
temperance? Is it right C. D. c.
Nse. York, Jan. 4, 1851
Remarks.
We very gladly give place to our cores
pondent's structures, because they enable
as to state some truth which the public
ought to comprehend, but seems not to-
1t seems to be understood by great many
that Newspaper Editor is sort of Moral
Autocrat, authorized to decide magisterial-
ly on the pursuits and purposes of citizens,
and to shut out from access to the public
all whose business does not square with his
crude ideas and hasty judgments. We
scout the doctrine and its defenders. An
Editor should exclude from his columns all
indecent advertisements, all that clearly
pander to immortality or tend to provoke
breach of the peace; but he has no moral
right to exclude from his columns announce
ments which are uncondemned by the gen.
eral sense of the community whenever
they fail to square with his ideas of pro-
Priety and public interest. That the line
between what he should and what he
should not exclude is often obscure and un-
certain we know; but we think the moral
sense of the community should have weight
in determining its precise location. The
Advertising columns of a Newspaper are
open to the public under certain general
regulations, as the rooms of a hotel are.
An Editor may believe the Catholic or the
Unitarian Church exceedingly prejudicial
to the public morals and welfare, but he is
not therefore authorized to exclude an
nouncements of the services of said Church
from his advertising columns. So of Medi-
cine and Quackery. 1t is very clear that
Quackeryis bad thing; but it is not quite
so easy to determine what is and what is
not Quackery. We confess our utter in
capacity for the task. If tce are to Off
ciate as arbiter, we must say that much
Medical inculcation and practice which
appears to emanate from the regular Fac
ulty seems to US Quackey, while very
many of the most valuable contributions to
the Healing Art have been made by men
stigmatized as Quacks. The Circulation
of the Blood was once Quackery, as Vac
cination to avert the Small Pox has since
been; while many preparations now in
common use among and highly esteemed
by the regulars have been 'quack medi-
cines' in their day. We have no doubt
that some of those now termed 'quack
medicines are excellent preparations, while
others probably more) are exceedingly
hurtful and mischievous. And we say