The Washington herald., 1911-01-29
VIEWS AND
INTERVIEWS
Best Public Service.

Best Public Service.
W. s. Baskerville. Of St. Louis. Mimi.
general agent of mail traffic Of the Great
Northern Railway, was seen at the RAJ
leigh last night. Mr.. Baskerville is here
in connection with business before the
Post-onice Department. and in speaking
Of this branch of the government said
that Of all divisions of the government it
was the most useful to the great masses
Of the people.
There is no branch Of the government
that renders such a practical, everyday
service to the people Of this country as
the postal service. It enters the home of
the humblest as we'll as the palace Of the
wealthy every day. The service is most
effective and absolutely necessary. Stop
the mail service for one hour. day and
the whole system Of the United States
will undergo the greatest Inconvenience
imaginable: the banks. the courts. BUSH
ness houses. the home, and every nook
and Granny will be affected. In other
words. we do not sufficiently appreciate
the great service which is rendered to the
people by the Post-office Department and
are prone to criticise it because it has a
deficit. Why should we find fault with a
department of the government which is
most efficient in every respect and COM
pares most favorably with the same serv-
ice Of foreign countries? The deficit is
small when the benefits derived from the
service are taken into consideration.
Did you ever consider the cost Of one
single Dreadnought and compare it with
the benefits derived every day from the
mail service? There is little if any criti-
cism with the shipbuilding programme
and yet it takes but one second to blow
one Of these SIS. 200 900 Dreadnoughts out
Of existence. The people of this country
do not give the Post-ofice Department
proper credit for its great work. Even
If there is a deficit. Congress should do
everything to improve the service. instead
of trying to curtail the privileges Of the
people who use the mails every day."
"Cure-Ans DebauchinE."
That patent medicine manufacturers are
debauching the medical profession and
playing on the natural fears Of the peo-
pie. and that physicians. through their
| laziness and ignorance, and druggists,
d
condition which permits manufacturers of
proprietary medicines to flourish. is
the declaration of DR.. G. Frank Lydston,
of Chicago. who was seen recently at
the New willard
1.-The American citizen arrogates to him
self the right to dose and be dosed," said
DR.. Lydston, land the patent medicine
manufacturer has grown fat on this. For
this condition there are three things to
blame: The desire of the druggist to
make a living, the lazness and ignorance
of physicians. who prefer to prescribe
proprietary remedies rather than expend
midnight oil studying therapeutics. and
the uncertainty Of therapeutics.
| The medicine manufacturers took ad-
vantage Of this weakness Of the American
public. and. when the business grew, ex-
tended operations by making cat's-paws
OF physicians and druggists. Doctors
tables were cluttered with remedies guar
anteeing a cure for every ailment.
THE physician no longer needed a
knowledge Of therapeutics" continued the
Chicago son Of Aesculapius. Whatever
the ailment, somewhere on his library
table would be found a sample Of some
proprietary medicine guaranteed to cure.
The physician has been the agent of
the patent medicine maker. and the drug
gist has been his slave, at least so far az
Chicago is concerned. Worst of all, how
ever is the druggist who writes adver-
tisements for medicines telling how many
cases he has cured through the specific
treatment. He has debauched and injured
the profession more than any other"
Other World of Eakim0.
Frank j. Lewis. Of Seattle. who has
mining interests in Alaska. and is at the
Arlington. in speaking of the customs and
belief of Eskimos. said last night: when