The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-08-28
The Race For Being Gulled

There are few things more discour-
aging to the friend of humanity and its
progress than the apparent fondness OF
a large section of the human family
for being "gulled" There is hardly
any body, with wit enough 10 go in
when it rains, but knows that nothing
is gotten in this commercial world
without paying for it. Yet the prom
Use to give something for nothing is an
irresistible and never failing attraction.
made, thousands come blindly up at
the beck of the promiser; and even
when they have been swindled over
and over again, are quite as ready to
give an allegiance to the last new hum
bug as they were to the first. If the
victims came only from among the ig-
norant there would be nothing surprls-
ing about the matter; but they do not.
The wheel of fortune at the agricultur-
al show takes in. perhaps, nobody but
the weak and simple minded. But the
policy shops, the patent right swindles,
and the "hippodrome" horse races and
wrestling matches, reach classes that
are certainly well taught and are ordi-
narily looked upon as sharp and
shrewd. And the biggest charlatan OF
all, the quack, does his most thriving
trade with people of intelligence.
Let a long haired individual with a
broad -brimmed hat, an Indian name.
brass band and a peddler's wagon
set himself up at the street corner and
proclaim himself a wonderful physi-
clan, with panacea for all the ills
that flesh is heir to, and he will attract
hundreds of intelligent persons, who
will pay their money to q man they
never saw before for a compound cel-
corning which they know nothing be-
yond his beastful assertions. The
same persons who put no trust in the
advice OF a physician whom they have
known for years, and whose interest Ii
is to advise them fairly and for the
best, will swallow with avidity the adj
vice and the nostrum of any loud
voiced quack who forces himself upon
their attention. In some cases, no
doubt, it is because the quack promis-
es, having no responsibility, what the
educated physician with a reputation
at stake does not promise. But in the
vast majority of cases it seems as if the
impelling motive-the ruling passion
upon which the quack plays so success
fully-is the desire 10 be gulled.
How far society can or ought to go
in protecting its members from the
evil consequences of this craze is an
open question. So long as people in
sist upon being swilldled and resent
any invasion of their inherent right to
be swindled, the swindler will undoubt-
edly be on hand to crafty them; and,
as they are free agents, the law is
probably powerless to protect them
against their will. But it does seem as
though there should be better protec-
ton than there is for the weaker men,
bers of society. When an infamous
charlatan plies his wretched trade and
ieopardizes the health and life of his
victims there ought to be some means
OF reaching him promptly and cfiectu-
ally. not merely with line or imprison-
ment after the offense has been COM
mittcd, but with sure prevention of the
otfense
The liberty of the individual is a
sacred thing even when it is the liber-
ty to be swindled. But III securing the
welfare of the whole even that may be
curtailed with propriety.