Montana labor news., 1938-04-07
YOUR DOLLAR
By ARTHUR KALLET and
ALEXANDER L. CROSBY

burn most of this money in the
kitchen stove, because most of the
medicines purchased do not do any
permanent good and many of them
do serious harm.
This is the opinion of DR.. Harold
Aaron, who has concluded a series of
articles on constipation in the No
vember issue of Consumers Union
Reports. There can be no doubt
that cathartics have contributed
0 to the ills and discomforts of
mankind than the condition they are
supposed to relieve" says DR.. Aaron.
He points out that constipation is due
to bad living and working conditions
and improper habits. The best treat
ment is to remove the causes instead
of buying a highly advertised patent
medicine that is supposed to work
miracles overnight.
Contrary to the common belief, DR..
Aaron says, Constipation in itself has
never caused any serious ailment."
Nor does a laxative assist in check
ing a cold or an attack of grippe.
Yet one person out of ten in the
United tates is taking eathartics or
laxatives (mild cathartics) habitual-
ly, and four out of five persons are
occasional users.
Spare the Child
Good news for the American boy
and the American girl is the recon-
mendation that children should
rarely be given laxatives, and that
castor oil, calomel, Epson salt and
Glauber's salt Sodium sulfate)
should not be taken by either chill
dren or adults except upon a doc
tors advice. For children, perhaps
the least harmful laxative is milk of
magnesia. Money can be saved in
buying this-or almost any laxative
if the consumer asks for the cheap
est product available which is OF
U. S, P. Omitted States Pharmaco-
poeia) quality. An unadvertised or
non-proprietary product is usually
cheaper and the U. S. P. label is suf-
ficient guarantee of quality.
Such remedies" as Pluto Water,
Sal-Hepatica and Crazy Water Crys-
tails contain sodium sulfate, which
DR.. Aaron describes as an "old-fash-
toned horse laxative" Also to be
avoided is any kind of cathartic OF
"liver" pill, since these are among
the major causes of the cathartic
habit and the aggravation of consti-
patton.
Phenolphthalein is a drug found in
more than $50 patent medicines, no
tably Ex-Lax, Feen-A-Mint, Cascar-
cts and Bran-O -Lax. It is irritating
to the intestines, and has caused
many cases of skin eruption and
even ulcers of the mouth.
What to Do About 1t
For the treatment of habitual con-
stipation, several kinds of laxatives
may be safely used by the average
person. OF the bulk-producing type,
agar Cor agar-agar) is the least OBJ
jectionable. Mineral oil is generally
effective, but there are some dis
advantages in its use. Milk of mag
nesia is the safest of the saline laxa-
tives; next best among the saline
cathartics is sodium phosphate. Cas-
cara sagrada may be advantageously
used, and the old-fashioned enema is
effective in many cases-but repeat
ed enemas or irrigations should be
avoided.
DR.. Aaron warns that even a rela-
lively safe laxative should be con-
sidered as nothing more than a
crutch, to be used only as a temper
airy aid in the correction of a weak
ness. The best plan is to decrease
the amount or the frequency of use
until the laxative may be dispensed
with altogether.
Labor in Typewriter Factories
Remington typewriters are being
manufactured largely by strike
breakers, recruited with the assist
ance of four well known strikebreak-
ing agencies" Consumers Union
notes in a survey of labor conditions
in the typewriter industry.
A low-priced portable typewriter
now being marketed in the United
States is the Hermes, a product of
Switzerland. The machine is not
made by union labor. The manu-
facturers give an explanation famil-
lar to American trade unionists: "The
relations btween ourselves and our
employees are SO cordial for more
than a century that our employees
would not feel any necessity to APP
pertain to trade unions"
The Consumers Union survey
showed that the Underwood type
writer, which is rated as accept
able is being manufactured by EN-
ployees affiliated with both the
American Federation of Labor and
the Committee for Industrial Or
~ganization. Since 1894 the Under
wood Elliott Fisher Co. has operated
under a contract with the Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, and
a local of the United Automobile
Workers of America has been
formed at the Hartford, Conn, plant.
HENRY FORD CHIEF ENEMY
OF CIVIL LIBERTY