The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-21

shade" He asked that the jail sentence he stricken out. Furthermore he was not certain that the board had the mower to inflict jail sentences upon the | wretched patent medicine manufactur- l CTS. He also asked permission to omit | the word patent from his proposed ordinance. thus making it include any medicines. of whatever nature, that might be left at the doors of the city.
 Mrs. Henry Herz, president of the i Mothers' club, was the first speaker and it was she that marshaled the sneakers that succeeded her up to the firing line in front of the long table at which sat the committee. Mrs. Herz laid considerable emphasis upon the 1 fact that the patent medicine samples are distributed for the most part in those sections of the city where the mothers were poor and ignorant and so busy that they could not give that 1 attention to their children that they i should. They are women, most of them 1 she explained. that have to work very hard and with little to eat. Headaches with them are of very frequent occur ence and it is little wonder that when they find A sample of Sure cure for headache" left at their very doors that | they give it a try and then endure the regrettable after-effects. in many cases becoming dope-fiends. But the worst 1 feature of the practice. she said, was not with the gNwn-ups but with the ! children.
 Prodded by Chairman Kenpa for spe- cific instances, Mrs. Herz said she had i read of one young woman in Logans- port. Ind, who had died, so the doc tors were apt to suspect, from the use of patent pills. She did not know whether the pills in question. had been left at her door or not She said that children are apt to eat anything, es- peclally pills that are sugar coated and perfumed and colored to make pleas Ing appearance.
 The position as champion that the Mothers club has placed itself in was well shown when the chairman asked Mrs. Herz if her club had received any complaints from the poor of the city
 ,No we have not" she said. Prob ably they do not know Of the existence of our club"
 Professor Kent, who teaches biblical ] literature at the college and divinity school, was the next speaker, He urged the ordinance as an ounce of pre- vention Those who are most hurt are those who are least aware Of the dan ger, he said. The only defence of the practice that he saw was from busl- ness standpoint. He gave the Ladies Home Journal a pat on the back for 1 It's efforts against patent medicines ana when ripple of laughter went around l the committee board at that he said: We may smile, but we know If that magazine had been wrong in what It has said. 1t would to-day have scores of suits for islander pending against 1t. advise you to read It's articles, gem tlemen.' He characterized the patent medicine habit as one of the greatest evils of America to-day. Before he closed he gave the newspapers of New England gentle rap by intimating that they had to accept patent medi- l tllle HuS lp tfldblt lHtill lt hrtP selves above water financially. Prof. Kent ended by reading an article en- titled The Door -step Evll' from the current number of the Yale Medical Journal
 Professor William Bailey teaches statistics at Yale. No one would have suspected 1t from what he said last evening in his very serious manner. The professor said In part: Last year the patent medicine business amounted 10 $75 900. It Is therefore very serious matter. In all s1,00o,000 was spent in advertising the business dur ing tho year Probably one to one and quarter millions of this sum was spent in house house distribution of samples" The professor said 1t was the usual custom to place household medicines on high shelf, so that the children could not get at them, but here are men who come about with medicines, giving them out at every door, and the children were following the men about to be able to get as many packages of them as possible He told of West Virginia woman who took some headache powders and in an hour was dead. Another case was In Altoona, P, where prize collie did the same The professor urged sys- | tenn similar 10 that in Rochester at | present where all manufacturers who want to have their samples distributed l must have their goods analysed by the ' health inspector, and have them passed by him.
 l Health Inspector Frank w. Wright said nearly all the doctors of the city, i..l f.x,.t .3 | the samples distributed had lead to ! trouble. He asked that the system of ] censorship proposed by Professor Bail | ey be puq in practice. and said that he thought the manufacturers should be expected to pay for the analyses.
 Dr. Mcintosh followed with long description of the various kinds of pat ent medicines. which he divided into three classes, and of their injurious re- suits.
 Mrs. Elizabeth Sheldon Tillinehast was sure that many of the pills had more alcohol in them than most intox- icating drinks.
 Mrs E I. Atwater said that If dyna mite and gunpowder were getting to the children, the city would do some thing and why should it not in the case of the patent medicines, some Of which killed instantly. One of the | committeeman wanted 10 know if any of Y the pills killed on signt. She spoke of one little boy who had become a morphine fiend of the first magnitude from a beginning with these pills left | at the doors.
 Mrs. William A. Granville was pre- sent to represent the Consumers league. She said five different kinds of patent discoveries had been left at her | door last week. Many of them were su- gar coated and very attractlvely got ten up. Among them was face beau tifier and a herb for tea. Neither of | inc latter were sugar-coated.
 Alderman Berman himself closed the oratory with citations from the statutes showing the ordinance he proposed would come within the province of the hoard of aldermen to pass.
 Building Code Hearing.
 Building Inspector Austin then ap- peared before the committee in favor of 1 series of ordinances which he had ar,~, in to cover crying needs i, tho