The Washington herald., 1906-11-16

New York. Nov. 15.-MOre than 125 dele
gates. representing various medical and
pharmaceutical organizations of New
York. Philadelphia. and cities Of the
South and Middle West, assembled in the
Hudson Theater, ia West Forty-fourth
street. this afternoon to form a national
body 10 fight against deleterious proprie-
tary me- Zines and quack medical insu-
tutions
Deputy States Attorney Eugene
O'Dunne, of Baltimore, suggested that
the organization be called the Public
Health Defense League and this name
was adopted.
Austen 9. Fox presided. President Nc
Gowan, Of the board Of aldermen. well
coEleG thc board 10 New York for Mayor
Mcclellan. who was unable TO be present.
Monsiguar Lavat, Of St Paul Catholic
Church, was spokesman for Bishop Far
RELY. He said anything the clergy and
laity 0 the Catholic Church in America
could do to help in the crusade would be
gladly done.
Thomas 5. Barlow. "a former assistant
district attorney OF Philadelphia. made q
short address while secondiug the resolu-
tion read by Delegate Robert r. Belcher
Among the delegation were many
women-Mrs. Charles Hughes. wife of the
gov,rnor-elect; .Irs. Elizabeth Grannis,
national president Of the Christian League
for the Promotion of Purity: Mrs Martha
II. Allen, head Of the department OF med
icsI temperance Of the ". =. T. L., who
made an address and Anthony Comst0ck.
o. the Anti-Vice Society. Philadelphia
was represented by seventeen delegates.
mostly prominent medical men and col
lege professors
Reporters Speech ADDIauded.
The longest speech, and the one that
caught the audience the most, was made
by Charles r Stuart. reporter for
Cleveland paper Mr.. Stuart told how
his city editor called him up one day and
told him 20 get after the quacks Of Cleve-
land regardless Of expense"
s'F'irst [ went 10 TWO big physicians of
Cleveland" began Mr. Stuart. and told
them TO go through me with dark Ian
tern. They said there was nothing the
1GGtter with me except "a little bronchial
affection due TO cigarettes. Then under
an assumed name I visited every big
quack in town
Il didn't give them a list Of fake symp-
toms, because even reputable physician.
now present, could be fooled daughter.
First, l called on one with whiskers;
they all have whiskers. you know: but
somehow or other this fellows whiskers
didn't gee with the whiskers in his
pictures He said 1 could be cured OF
stomach, liver, lung, kidney, and other
diseases which ! won't mention-al of
which he discovered / had-for $50. I bar
gained him down 10 S., and then he took
ne into q department with a name on
The door a yard long, stretched me on d
table, and while he began to massage me
he turned on lot Of fake machinery and
colored light which had the aurora bo-
reals faded. but say. never made
speech in my life before, and / don't
know whether I'm making good. (Cries
Of You arc-go on and laughter.
Well he next made me sit in a static
chair for three-Quarters of an hour
Suddenly 1 asked him for a guarantee
that 1 would be cured Of all the diseases
he had found.
Gets His Guarantee.
You're almost half cured now. said
the doctor; but when ] insisted that /
have a written guarantee, he handed me
one finally that said I would be cured Of
what do you think?-prostrate nephrius.
Now, If any doctor here can tell me
what PROSTATE nephritis' is. I'd be glad
to be interested. Laughter) I asked
him what it was, and he said that phrase
covers all the diseases Can you beat it?
also the private stores are the great
est system Of graft in existence
After my paper had sent me the rounds
of the city, we scourged them right and
left, and called them robbers. cheats and
everything else by name. BY that cru
sade We put out Of business, at least so
far as Cleveland was concerned. lrms
that had been spending $4,000 a year for
postage stamps alone and whose annual
business was over S6J0.000 If We had had
the help Of the post-office people We could
have closed another big quack, but even
when We submitted proof the Cleveland
pOst-Office people said, Oh he's a good
fellow. We've decided not 10 interfere
with him
Mr.. Stuart said no matter how the
weezlies and mOnthIies fought these evils.
because Of their natural character no spe-
Citic results had been obtained. He
argued for newspaper exposure and said
that if only one paper in each big town
fought for the right they could be put
out OF business.
Praises Anthony COmStOck.
Thomas W Barlow, of Philadelphia.
spoke principally Of the work done by An
thony Comstock for the promotion Of
sweetness and light in New York. At the
mention of Mr.. Comstock's name there
was some applause, one groan, and one
hiss Il noticed that bit of disaproba-
tion." said Mr.. Barlow, quickly. "and
while praising Mr.. Comstock, / am glad
10 say that I know him as Well as any
body in the country
Mr. Comstock later took the floor He
said he had fought vice for thirty-six
years. and had received only abuse in re-
turn. but that he would keep on fighting
the people that secure catalogues of
schools and seminaTieS in order to secure |
names Of young girls to whom were mail
ed obscene literature and pictures He has
confscated ffty-eight tons of matter, /
worse than the smallpox" he said. Mr.. |
ComstOck was listened to attentively by
the delegates from other cities.
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