Evening star., 1928-12-30
ing the Patent Fake Medicine and "Heah Cure Quacks

as to miSlead consumers Of their real or
curative properties The department.
fears that unless the public is warned
the fraudulent trade in so-called radio
active waters may develop again, just
as the fraudulent trade in other min
eral waters was one developed to the
point where people with strong imag1na-
tions would support their bottlers with
all sorts of testimonials asserting that
these supposed radioactive waters have
effected wonderful cures.
x * x X
IN these days one does not hear very
much about medicines advertised to
free the enslaved smoker from allegiance
to the unworthy cause of Lady Nico-
tine. The reason Is that probably
every one of the so-called cures has
turned out to be such an out-and-out
fraud that the Government has been
able in short order to produce sufficient
evidence to force the promoters out of
business. Yet some few years ago the
mail order business in such cures" was
pretty close to staggering in its pro-
portions. First rate, though unscrupu-
ious, advertising agencies were employed
for the ballyhoo One imaginative ad
writer managed to devise such an in
genious picture and copy layout for a
certain medicine" that it brought Ia
money thick and fast. The picture rep
resented a modern Gulliver stretched
out helpless on the ground while sundry
elves and sprites in the hire of Lady
Nicotine annoyed him by scampering
over and around his tightly bound self.
Take note If the following message to
unfortunate smokers has a familiar
ring: do you smoke pipe, cigars or
cigarettes? Do you chew tobacco ex-
cessively or are you snuffer? If you
are using tobacco excessively in any
form, then, in the name of all you hold
worthy in this life, wake up! Don't
wait until it is time to say good-by to
the world. Quit the tobacco habit now
and get taste of real joy and pleasure.
See the Illustration below, present.
ing to view the self treatment set
as rising sun of inspiration. Now's
your time to restore yourself to normal
health and contentment."
Perhaps the most brazen scheme of
recent years, and one which nevertheless
seemed to "get by" with flying colors
| for a good many months, was the
scientific height-increasing invention"
Himself only about feet tall, the
inventor had nerve enough to announce
| to the worlds poor afflicted short men
| that with his contrivance they might
increase their height from to 512
| inches. All tney nad TO 90, ne SAID, 10
achieve the desired result was to "sus-
pend their body by the neck with the
apparatus, thereby lossening up the
spinal cord" 1t hardly need be said
this promise did not help the afflicted
ones particularly. They raised such
hue and cry that Government authori-
ties squelched the promising inventor.
| These are but a few of the cases that
might be mentioned in connection with
Uncle Sans endeavors to force the un-
scrupulouS mail doctors" out of busi-
ness. The fact that in some instances
Government authorities seem to have
received the worst of the deal from the
courts does not by any means indi-
cate that Uncle Sam is being thwarted
consistently by the quacks. Time and
again they are able to reap big profits.
But sooner or later they are found out
and eliminated from the mails. Some
| time within the comparatively near fu-
ture one may well expect that the Gov
ernment will have the situation so we'll
in hand that the menace of the mail
order sharper will dwindle to insignif1-
| cant proportions.