The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-06-14
The Great National Evil.
1--WE delieht in physics."-Paine.

I'VE delight In physics. "-k'Gtne.
Paine Ia tight. As nation we do de.
light In physics. Not the physics which
Webster defines as 1.-the science of ma
ture," but the patent kind, whose other
name Is legion. Death stares tts In the
face, or we think he does, and each one of
Us stares back at death; and up and
down. these front and back stairs travels
the retired physician who is alr,ost out of
sand, with his noetrum OF somebody else's,
warranted, in deep blown letters on the
bottle cure for every i'll. And that he
finds his reward witness the colossal for
tunes that have been constructed upon the
slender foundation of ian accidental dis.
cotefy while hunting for lost cows" or,
~ secret communicated by an aged Win.
nebago squaw." Meanwhile the profes.
sioDal doctor. scorher of quacks nd
quackery and strong in all sorts of "eth-
ics," struggles along in dignifed penufy,
es the front rank where he can charge q
round fee fot wise nod.
1t Is not our purpose to complain OF
this state of things. We are nation of
doeees, and attract dosers as naturally as
mosasses does flies. Whist We do CON-
plain of is that the dosers do not content
themselves with simply ministering tu the
National weakness, but insist on Outraging
the National taste, and trampling upon
that love for the beautiful in nature which
is implanted in every true American
chest. As the season of summer travel
approaches we record with sadness the
appalling fact there is no route 90 wild,
no mountain SO inaccessible. no ruin so
picturesque throughout the whole length
and breadth of this fair land that the
paint pot and the stencil-plate of the pat
ent-medicine fend has not disfgured it.
East, West, North, South-take what path
you will, the fiend has preceded you. The
everlasting hills their voices raise not as
of yore in praise and glOrificatiOn, but in
proclamation of the virtues of somebody's
!" Bitiers, -" Pills. or Liniment" The
sweet, sequestered wales no longer echo to
the football of the nymphs. but sound the
praises of patent tooth wash. The beet
ling crag and frowning precipice present
In brilliant htes the names and natures of
all sort of mixtures" Even ON the water
there is but temporary escape; for the
moment you approach q pier. the we'll
remembered words in staring capitals sa-
lutte yOnr vision.
The evil is mOnstrOus one and grows
apace. Yet it must cease some time. In
creasing as the nOstrums do in number
and the stencil-plates in size, the time is
not far distant when the whole round
world will be so thlckly covered with the
dire defacements that there will bc no
room for more. Sooner or later, there
fore, the evil must be suppressed. Why
not sooner! 1t is simply terrible that the
shattered invalid cannot leave his fireside
In search of health but he must be saluted
| NJ cA~p> vrvsAI 1nou
cal list of his ailments and symptoms
which the poor dumb rocks and fences
have been dragO0ned into parading before
injury to the National taste. There was
time in the days of sweet American sim
plicity when men and women stood nave
with upturned eyes an quivering lips be-
fore Niagara's torrent and barred their
,, heads before the majesty of Mount WASH
ington. But now the upturning eye, ar
rested in its flight by some preposterous
announcement of q panacea, is turned to
earth again, and the lips CULVER only with
irreveient sc0ffing at the Falls and the
mountain. 1t would be q sad loss to the
land should the National taste ard the Ma.
ti0nal love of nature be entirely destroyed !;
and they soon will he if the destructive
process is permitted to 60 on much longer
unchecked.
New York, to her honor; has taken a
step in the right direction in passing q
bill to prevent the DETACHMENT of natural
scenery; and if the other States of the
Union would follow in her wake meal
culable good might be accomplished. The
evil will not be wholly done away with,
however, until by State or National au.
thority an army of effaCers shall have
tracked the patent medicine fiend where
e'er his steps have trodden and obliterated
his works. Then, and not until then, will
travel resume its healthful influence upon
the worn-out frame, and the love of the
beautiful and picturesque in nature again
shed lis light upon the people.-Dstroit