The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., May 21, 1910, Page 368, Image 4

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
IN DEFENSE OF PATENT MEDICINES.
A Smart, Lawyer-Like Letter From a Southern Advertising
Agency Handling Patent Medicine Business—Read This Leter
and Then Read Editor Poe’s Reply on Page 8.
Messrs. Editors: We have received
a copy of your issue of April 23rd
and note paragraph on page 11, last
paragraph in article on third column
headed: “You Will Die Eight Years
Before You Should.” This paragraph
reads as follows:
“The greatest disgrace of all
is that hundreds and hundreds
of church newspapers instead of
carrying life and healing as
their great Muster did, make
themselves agents of vicious
quacks and patent medicine
fakirs who rob the sick and dy
ing, often: deluding the suffering
with false hopes, until all chance
of recovery through proper
medical treatment is forever
gone."
We have always esteemed the ed
itor of The Progressive Farmer and
Gazette as a man of poise, common
sense and rectitude. We don’t think
it conceivable that such an utter
misreDresentatlon of the farta vmiM
be knowingly published in The Pro
gressive Farmer and Gazette. We
are well acquainted with the religious
press of America. The statement
that "Hundreds and hundreds of
church newspapers make themselves
agents of vicious quacks and patent
medicine fakirs, etc., is a false state
ment. Hundreds must mean at least
two hundred, added to hundreds
must mean at least two hundred
more, so that your statement must
mean at least four hundred religious
newspapers are guilty of the charge
made.
We are pretty well acquainted with
the rellgiouB newspapers in America
and can assure you that in the South,
which constitutes one-third of the
population of the United States, the
number of religious weeklies which
carry medical advertising of any kind
does not exceed fifty, and for the
United States the number could
hardly exceed one hundred. So that
on the fact of the statement admit
ting that every religious wekly is
guilty of the charge, if it carries any
medical advertising, you would still
be 250 papers short of your state
ment.
Vmr O nilKllalloe nrh rv mill _
mis-statement in figures is liable to
make a mis-statement also in facts.
That is exactly what you have done
in this article.
The Pare Food and Drugs Act,
passed several years ago by Congress
and now In operation, makes It ut
terly impossible for such a thing as
a patent medicine fakir to exist If
you will read the law, and if you will
study the workings of the law you
will find this to be the case. Where,
then, are the patent medicine faklra
and the vicious quacks, who employ
the religious newspaper weeklies as
their agents, in dealing out deaths
to the public as stated by you? Can
you not specify? Is it right for you
to Bet yourself up as a moral leader,
while, yourself, using mis-statements,
unsupported by facts, statements
which you do not believe yourself,
and on which you have no testimony
that is reliable, would it not be better
for you to investigate before you be
gin to attack the papers which are
representatives of the best thoughts
and highest aspirations of the coun
try? Admit that the religious weeklies
are not perfect, are you perfect, when
you can carry such a mis-statement
in your columns, and without the
slightest effort to find out whether
it is true or not? It is far worse
to carry a mis-statement, as regards
facts, than to carry a medical adver
tisement.
Now, we are writing this to you
to let you know that if you can
prove your statements against any
of the publications of our list, or
against any religious weeklies in the
country, we pledge ourselves not to
permit the advertising which you
can prove to be fakir advertising to
go into any publications with which
we are connected. We are willing
to sacrifice the income from any
such lines of advertising and we will
be glad to assist you in discovering
any information which can be had
which will substantiate the charges.
All that we ask you to do is that if
you cannot substantiate your charges
that, like a man, you come out be
fore the readers of your paper, and
admit that you have made mis-state
ments; that you hare made charges
against people who were innocent
and withdraw your charges.
We wish to call your attention also
to the fact that you have never re
turned the money which you charged
for patent medicine advertising sev
/who afiu, wiiou you, preeuma
bly, by your own standards, were
agents for vicious quacks and pat
ent medicine fakirs and assisted
them to rob the sick and dying, de
luding the suffering with false hopes
until all chance of recovery through
a proper medical treatment was for
ever gone. That was at a date when
there was no Pure Food and Drags
Act and when your statement might
have approximated to facts hi some
instances. In other wordB, when
your charge might have been true
against The Progressive Farmer. If
the crime was committed, then ought
not the money to be returned which
was paid you for such a perfidious
purpose? Ought you not to admit
that you have fattened on this very
line of criminal advertising and
ought you not to make restitution for
the evils of former days? When one
becomes an apostle of purity one
should repent so thoroughly as to
beauit of all of th« nroflts nt hla
wickedness. We are ready to receive
back for the advertisers, whom you
now so vigorously condemn, any
moneys which your conscience may
induce you to return and will take
pleasure in returning the money to
the advertisers.
Yours sincerely,
•
P• S.—If the editor of The Pro
gressive Farmer and Gazette will
consider a moment he will see that
if the statements which he makes
were true, he could take the
evidence which he is supposed to
have, and on which he bases such
broad and fearfully condemnatory
statements, to the agents of the
united States Government, turning
over the evidence to them, and
have the patent medicine fakirs en- '
tlrely put out of business. The Gov
ernment is spending many thousands
of dollars annually to discover just <
such patent medicine fakirs and to 1
put them out of business. It would
be such an easy thing for the editor i
of The Progressive Parmer and G&
zette to sweep all of them off of the
face of the earth by simply furnish
ing information to the proper au
thorities. If the editor of the The
Progressive Farmer and Gazette
hasn’t the address of the U. S. Gov
ernment we will be glad to furnish it.
Unless the henB have free range,
they will need a daily feed of green
stuff.
What’s The News?
The New York and Massachusetts
Legislatures have refused to ratify
the income tax.
The battleship Florida, the biggest
of the American Dreadnaughts thus
far, was launched last Thursday.
Joshua Levering was again elected
President of the Southern Baptist
Convention at the meeting in Balti
more.
There is much interest in the
charge that Senator Lorimer, of Il
linois, was elected by bribery. A full
investigation is being made.
The battleship Maine is to be rais
ed from Havana harbor. A commis
sion will probably determine whether
or not it was blown up by an external
explosion.
Mr. Roosevelt made a notable
speech at Berlin Thursday, a sig
nificant extract being used as “A
Thought for the Week” in this issue
of The Progressive Farmer and Ga
The Florida Senatorial primaries
resulted in a close vote between
United States Senator Taliaferro and
Governor Broward, who wants Talia
ferro’s place. A second 'primary will
have to be held.
President Roosevelt has been nam
ed as special ambassador to repre
sent the United States at the funeral
of King Edward next week. Mr.
Roosevelt will return to the United
States June 20th.
The Mississippi Democratic State
Executive Committee has refused
to order the proposed senatorial pri
mary election, and Mr. Percy will
hold his seat until the end of the
term for which he was elected.
The Government is now paying
four million dollars to dAscondonta
of the Cherokee Indians who in 1835
surrendered to the Government their
lands in Georgia, Tennessee, North
Carolina and Alabama. This amount
gives $133.19 to each of their de
scendants.
The Methodist Conference in ses
sion at Asheville, N. C., will probably
elect seven bishops; will refuse to
change the creed, and the committee
reports are against extending the
time limit for pastorates, and against
enlargement of women’s rights in the
church.
The new Socialist mayor of Mil
waukee starts off well. He has de
termined to make Milwaukee a
healthful city, and to this end has
gone to Chicago to get a health com
missioner, although he has to pay
twice what Chicago paid him. Get
ting officials of this type. Instead of
using the offices to reward political
followers, is highly commendable, no
matter what party gets the credit.
RAISING COWPEAS AND PEANUTS
3ood Preparation That Costs Too ,
Much Because of Poor Methods.
Messrs. Editors: Here is our way j
>f preparing land and method of cul
•ivation of cowpeas and peanuts:
iarly in spring after we get our corn
ind cotton planted, we start to break
ng our ground for peas and peanuts,
with our two-horse turning plows. In
rune we re-break land with one-horse
Plows, and harrow. Lay off rows and
jlant our peas on the ridge after har
rowing it before planting. (The
rows are laid off about 3 feet.) Plant- 1
ing is done with a Cole No. 7 com- I
bination planter, using a 15-inch 1
plate. We plant about one peck to i
the acre. ,
For a fertilizer we use 16 per cent
«
acid phosphate at the rate of 150 to
200 pounds per acre. A blind man
could find how far phosphate was
used on the land. We plant from
June 15th to July 15th for grain and
and hay.
We plant peas in corn, using about
one-half bushel to one bushel per
acre. Often the peas pay the cost of
making the corn, not counting the
nitrogen left in the soil by the peas.
Peas planted in drills are given one
or two workings with cultivator,
starting in about a week after peas
come up. 0$
Land for peanuts is broken as for
peas, and cultivated and fertilized
about the same, and planted from
May 15th to June 15th. By this
method we can kill the grass and
weeds to great extent before the crop
is planted. For peas the hoe is not
used at all, only one hoeing for pea
nuts. We plant the Spanish variety
only, because it is so much better
than any other peanut we know of.
J. E. GILBERT.
Jefferson Co., Miss.
Editorial Comment.—In this com
munication, which we are glad to get,
is an illustration of the manner in
which the Southern farmer is still
wedded to the one-horse plow. Our
correspondent breaks his land with a
two-horse plow, but re-plows it with
a one-horse plow. Why this one
horse plow? A disk harrow will do
better work, and with It three horses
and one man will do more work than
three men with one-horse plows. The
plow, one-horse or two-horse, is too
slow and expensive an Implement for
preparing the soil, except to first
break the land.
Our advertisers are guaranteed to 9
do as they promise. V'
WANTED.
*ndTf2>UPdU«criptfof°UthdOWn buck"- Give"***
PkESTON STOCK FARM. Ivy, Alabama.
Distributes Insecticides in
Dust Form on Tobacco,
Cotton and Potatoes
«* fast as you walk.
NO WATER TO HAUL.
Beetle (home power) dusts4 row. potatoes Spray
Calendar and Special Cotton Circular girs concise
nearesf dealer Mailed °° nQumt with name of
Leggett & Brother, New York.
Mexicao Jane Seed Corn
50 Carefully selected ears, and nubbed.
(1.00 for peck. »1 SOfor half bu.. $2 75 for bu
/.P. STILL & SON. ^ Senatobia. Mi...
SWEET POTATO PLANTS
THnnfnh^p0 ,O?;.1*9S0 "“P8* Hall,
triumph. Pumpkin Yams, etc.
Fobn Lightfcot, E. Chattanooga,Tenn.
COTTON SEED
. A limited quantity of Culpeper Early Big Boll
>otton Seed for sale, $1.00 per biTshel sacked.
. O. THOMAS. Jr. ^ - Starkville, Miss., R. 2.
FOR SALE
Genuine Tennessee Red Cob Corn
$1.50 per bushel, f. o. b.
Memphis, Tenn.
Tucker-Mo«by Seed Co.
44 So. Front St., Memphis, Tenn.
GEORGIA CARE SEED ROB "Atm
Produces a srrup which many prefer to
hat made ol Louisiana cane; makes"fifty pee
“ore th»n sorghum Best substitute
weevil cotton. The lead It produces
>ays the cost ol raising; a sure crop any year
*5" *00: *4 bu.. fetoVl^nwi
faL, SLOO.f. o. b. Raymond. Bliss. Address.
^ •••• ml r* « Syruo Fs rm
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