Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-11-29
PATENT MEDICINES.
Reasons Why Many Popular Remedies are Now Being
Attacked-Summary of Facts.


in it,
Some may-nOne can wholly over
look the question of remuneration-but
| most of those engaged in these profess
sions have a deep feeling Of moral re-
| spOnsibility.
Some doctors lack this sense. They
perform criminal operations, and, gen.
orally, co disreputable things behind
| the cloak of responsibility they fancy
their diploma and their degree give to
them. In the end they are eliminated,
| though the process of elimination has
not gone on long enough to have weed
ed them all out. There are many Of
| them moving in society. maintaining
| every semblance of respectfully until
the inevitable exposure comes.
Suppose the manufacturer OF pa
tent" medicine lacks the sense Of his
| moral obligation. He can't hide his
crime, and he is Immediately found
out. The pOstofiice department prop
erly bans his goods, exposure and fall
ure follows at once.
| The moral sense compels good COM
mercial methods. and sooner or later
| the commercial laws themselves punish
] the lack of the sense of the moral OBJ
| legation.
| There is another aspect still that
ought to be considered. If the system
Of medication the people have long
| used Che patent" medicine system) is
| torn down, what is to replace it? Is
the proposed system better. Does it
cost more, and If it does, are the peo-
pie prepared for the extra expense?
And is it enough better to justify add
| ed expense?
1t would be replaced by various
SCHOOLS of medicine" practised by
physicians. The "home remedies"
would absolutely disappear.
No one gives the physician more
credit than the medicine manufacture
| or; no one has greater realization of
| the nobility and the general purity of
| the medical profession. No one knows
| better than the manufacturer that
| there are times when the services of a
| physician are absolutely essential to
| life.
| Neither does any one know better
| than the practitioner Of medicine that
| it is not necessary to call in physl-
| clan for every ailment, for every case
of INDIGESTION. severe headache, cough
or cold, case of constipation, or of
GROUP, or Of many other of the ills that
every family constantly faces.
| Ready-to-use remedies, as good or
| better than the average physician can
| prescribe, are obtainablc, and the doc
tor who devOtes his time and thoughts
to relieving humanity rather than to
politics is the last man to sweepingly
condemn them.
| Unfortunately. the medical profess
sion has its full share of political doc
tors. who constantly keep a noble pro-
fession embroiled, and who, for their
| own selfish interests, commit the whole
profession to policies with which the
doctor with whom humanity comes
first has little sympathy.
+, The propositions on which medicines
are being fought are two: that all
| patent medicines are frauds and
that no medicine should be taken at
| any time or under any circumstances
except on prescription of a physician.
| The fraud proposition is Iisproven
by the fact that patent medicines
have been used for years. and approved
by the people who have used them.
The second proposition contemplate
taking away by legislation the medi-
cines that make possible the home
treatment of patients. without the IN
PREVENTION of a physician and the con-
sequent payment of a physicians fee.
| 1t means that were the system de-
sired in vogue a physician would have
| to be called every time any member of
the family suffered from indigestion. .
| severe headache a cough or a cold, or
the baby had the Group.
| How would this effect the npOplpp A
trifle more than one-half of the people
of the United States, at the time the
last federal census was taken. lived
outside of incorporated towns. To call
a doctor means a drive, frequently at
night, to the home of the nearest doc
tor. which may be one. five or 10 miles.
And when the doctors home is reached
ne may be out five or 10 miles in the
other direction. This happens too often
now in the rural districts. Why COM
pei the long drive and the possible when
home remedies, such as it is supposed
to abolish, might have given the re-
lief
person could not drive to drug
store and get simple or temporary
remedy. The proposition is that no
medicine shall be taken except on a
| physician prescription. mat lets OUT
the druggist who could sell nothing in
the medicine line but on doctors pre-
scriptions.
This question of distance affects over
half the pcople-nearly 80 per cent. of
them.
In 1900 there were 15,964,000 families
i'm the United States. Nearly SO per
cent of these families had in 1900 aver
age incomes of less than $500 a year, or
less than $50 per head, for the 1854 900
families average five persons each.
These are the families in which there
is the most sickness, for they produce
more than the average number Of chill
dren the men and women toll hardest
and are in greater need Of medication
than those more favored with the
worlds goods. Their food is not as
wholesome or as plentiful; everything
combines to make them medicine
taking class.
They have the family remedies.
Take them away and the expense of