The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-27
Some Unwritten History About
Dir. s. j. Crumbine.
Health Board Head Got Start
Selling Patent Medicine.
A CONSUMPTION CURE.
Still Engages in Fighting the
Great White Plague.
Now He's an Advocate of Fresh
Air and Sunshine.

DIR. S. J. Crumbine. secretary of the
state board of health. who has been
in the public eye in the west for the
past few years on account of the ac-
tive and successful campaign he has
led for pure food, pure drugs,
hygiene, sanitation and prevention of
tuberculosis, made his first fight on
the white plague over a quarter of
century ago, and along entirely differ
ent lines from his present line of at
tack. The first time he entered the
lists against this dread disease the doc
tor appeared in the guise of dis
tributor of Piso's Cure for Con-
sumption. This sounds impossible in
the light of his present method of
lighting the disease but it is none the
less true.
Dr. Crumbine's father was union
soldier and died in Libby prison when
the doctor was a little boy. The
widow had to work hard for a living
on the rocky little farm in Pennsyl-
vania and her boy and girl grew up
as best they could, working hard all
the time to make both ends meet.
The doctor picked up a little edu-
cation at odd times and in strange
ways. Finally he became possessed
with the desire to enter a medical col
Iege. He was clerking in a drug
store at the time and gave up his work
to enter a medical school in Cincin-
natl. He had rented a garret and
started in to work his way through
school. 1t was hard shedding from
the very start and it got harder.
Finally he reached point where he
could not pay the rent for his garret
and the landlord threatened to throw
him out in the snow. He talked past
that individual but hunger rose in
his path and would not be denied.
One day he got desperate. He
hadn't a cent with which to buy his
next meal and it looked as though ne
would have to give up his school ana
find some work to keep MN from
starving In his extremity he met
patent medicine man who offered him
S35 if he would distribute samples
of Piso's cure over the city and the
little pamphlets that told of the won
sderfuI virtues of the medicine.
It hurt the pride of the young
medical student terribly to accept
such an offer. and from patent
medicine man of all others, but neeuS
must when hunger and hope of a
diploma drives. SO he consented to the
hateful task. He stood on the street
corners and handed out the cure" to
the passing throngs of people When-
ever a student from the medical school
appeared the doctor would dodge into
a, doorway until his fellow student had
passed. The job was done at last and
the money earned that week carried
the young man through the rest of his
school term. He came west With MS
diploma, a few books and instruments
and grew up with the country
Governor Hoch said last fall at the
first tuberculosis meeting held in KAN
sas that DR. Crumbine was the head
and front of the movement in this
state to wage war on the most ter
rible disease of the century and paid
a high tribute to the doctors work for
Kansas.
DIR. Crumbine fights tuberculosis
along the most practical and modern
lines Fresh air, sunlight, exercise,
diet and sanitation are his weapons
He is now planning for the best tuber-
cuIosis exhibit in the country for
Kansas. But he distributed patent
medicine in Cincinnati thirty years
ago that had not been labeled by any
pure drug Inspector IF 1 had the
same powers in Ohio then that 1 have
now in Kansas" he said today while
laughing over his hard experience, L
would have that young fellow ar
rested for violating all the pure food
and drug and good health laws OF
the statute books. And he couldn't
have gone through with his school
nor come to Kansas as a doctor; IL
would have been hard on the young
man" Here the doctor looked
thoughtful. and he sat studying over
his past experiences when the news
naper man went away.
Kansas would also have been the
loser if that young medical student
had not secured his sheepskin and fol-
lowed Horace Greeley's advice.