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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1960)
'SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 19G0 HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON PAGE THREE 'Golden Age Of Quackery' Is Newest Holbrook Book By FLORENCE JENKINS vitamins can never take the place of Hostetfr's or I'inkhamV are the words penned by author Stewart H. Holbrook in iiis auto graph of "one of the six Author Copies" of The Golden Age of Quackery which he presented to! ii on our most recent trip to Port land. The book, containing 1L parts, complete witli acknowledgements, Bibliography, index and epilogue is a-i entertaining compilation of in dividual case histories of lath and 20lh century nostrums, pain-killers and cure-alls. Because all of his published works are well authenti cated, the histories may be ac cepted as entirely factual. Interest in the subject matter, according to the author, began more than 15 years ago when, through Ihe lato Henry L. Menc ken, he met Samuel Hopkins Ad ams who died a year ago last No vember just under the age of 88 years. An energetic reporter around the turn of Ihe century, Mr. Adams wrote a series of magazine articles exposing a vast number of pseudo cures of the day. His publicity on Ihe frauds in that field led lo the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act which was signed in l'JOfi by President Theo dore Roosevelt and became law on January 1 of Ihe lollowing year. While Mr. Holbrook was doing research for this book, Mr. Adams is reported to have said to him: "The foundation of the original food and Drug Act and of supple mentary legislation is based on the old admonition, 'He that hath eyes to see, let him see.' The laws were passed to give the public a chance to know, not to save fools fiom their folly." That may have been Mr. Adams' way of saying! that you can't legislate judgment into a people any more than you can legislate morals. Both Lydia Estes Pinkham and David Hostetter were born in 1819. The former lived 61 years and the latter 6J years, neither selling any records of longevity to substantiate STEWART H. HOLBROOK, dean of Pacific Northwest auth ors and Mrs. Holbrook live in Portland with their two daugh ters, Sibyl Morningstar Holbrook and Bonnie Stewart Hol brook. Credit is given the daughters in his new book, The Golden Age of Quackery, for assistance in preparing the index. claims of their bottled patent med icines. Lydia Pinkham, whose face be came the best known woman's face in Amerca, was a schoolteacher when she was married at the age of 24 to Isaac Pinkham. Three sons and a daughter were born to the union and, upon their mother's death in 1883, continued what had become a thriving business. Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Com pound was depression-born. A well- ec'ucaled woman, Mrs. Pinkham subscribed to the theories of Dr. Jacob -fiigelow of Harvard Medi cal School who proposed that many disorders, if lelt to the natural re-! cuperative powers of the patient, ivould disappear more rapidly than from dosage with drugs. At the same time, she brewed home rem edies for herself and family as was the custom of the day. The formula which became her Vegetable Compound came into the family when her husband had co make good on a note for $25 he had signed for a friend. The only reimbursement from the friend was a formula which ne aescrmea vaguely enough as a "cure for the weaknesses of females." M r s. Pinkham added and substracted Hike any good cook) from the orig inal recipe and the resultant for mula was the "finest remedy of her experience" and she gave it away' by the gallon until the na tionwide panic of 1873 wiped out he already slim fortunes of the family. In the nick of time, along enme two strangers "in a hand some carriage" seeking to buy nine of the compound which, with understandable embarrass ment (because the money was sorely needed) she sold at $5 for six bottles. Advertising in the newspapers followed and it is estimated that more than 40 million dollars has been spent to run her picture and message in the last 85 years. Hers was probably the first face to ap pear in an advertisement on page one of any newspaper in the na tion. Her son, Dan Pinkham, paid n i: $80 to run his mother's picture as at, advertisement on the front page of the Boston Herald. The results were so overwhelming that, after a family conlerencc, young Dan Pinkham went back to the Herald with the offer of a $1,000 mortgage ou the Pinkham home as security for a like amount of front page advertising. Dan Pinkham was probably one of the first really successful ad-; vcrtising managers in this country and, one afler another, patent medicines were to succeed or fail depending upon their advertising. The Pinkham Vegetable Com pound formula was not patented! because exclusive rights to the pat ent would expire at the end of 17i years. Pitcher's Original Castoria or.e of the early American patent medicines, had gone into public domain and become lost to the founders at the expiration of the patent. Instead, Mrs. Pinkham reg istered her trade-mark, which was her portrait, under the copyright law. Imitators could copy the for mula but they could not use her portrait. It is said that many a small town newspaper ran that cut over obituaries of Queen Victoria, Car ry Nation and even the ill-famed Lizzie Borden. The Lynn, Massachusetts, labor atory -grew and no small part of the organization was devoted to wording of advertising and the an swering of the voluminous mail. Apparently based on a fairly sound knowledge of herbs, the compound has withstood all attacks and ex poses. Dr. Hosteller's remedy, on the other hand, made a lot of money for three generations which fol lowed him and passed into oblivion after the sale of the company in 1934. - Hosteller's Celebrated Stomach Bitters was a prescription of Dr. Jacob Hostetter, a reputable phy sician of Lancaster County, Penn sylvania, who used it in cases of colic, constipation and "Intcrmil tenls," the term for a type of fever of that era. On retirement from practice, in 1853, he is said to have given consent to his son Da vid to manufacture and sell the remedy. It was the son who brought the formula to fame. Born in 1819, he went to California with the 49ers and, failing lo make his fortune there, returned to market Ihe patent medicine based on his father's formula. The Bitters were widely used by the Union Army during the Civil War, partly due, of course, to the percentage of al cohol. For many years, the nos trum ran to approximately 47 per cent alcohol and Author Holbrook recalls duck hunting trips in Ore gon when a bottle of Hostetter's served as a ' substitute for the whiskey which in those days "all duck hunters held to be as nec essary as powder and shot." The author states that David Hostetter's death was occasioned by kidney trouble an ailment (he Bitters did not claim to cure. The Pure Food and Drug Act brought a lowering of the alcoholic content to 25 per cent by volume and a change in the text of the label. The name, however, was still painted on fences and barns across the land. That, and news paper advertising spurred its sales, according, to the author. Despite the demise of the com pany, the name will continue to live through one of the paintings of Mr. Otis which is owned and displayed in a Klamath Falls res idence. "Someone Has Been Here Before Us, Merriwether," depicts Mr. Lewis and Mr. Clark finding at the end of the Oregon Trail, Hosteller's Bitters emblazoned on boulder. Similarity of authorship might account for Ihe Hostetter's chapter The Golden Age of Quackery being titled Dr. Hostetter Was Here. The book covers the field from Ihe sarsaparillas, the celeries and the perunas through the manhood- restoratives, electronic devices and the short-lived medical diploma factories in the Midwest. We're only sorry we didn't te Ihe author about the Sagebrush Hair Tonic fad in and about Sho shone, Idaho. The sign on the oh dilapidated barn of a factory wa fading but still visible during ou; high school days and we know Mr Holbrook would have traced to il beginnings the slogan which rea' "Did you ever see a baldheadc Indian?" Ornamental Crop Course To Be Held Oregon horticulturists will havi a chance to review trends and nev ideas' in production and manage ment of nursery and greenhouse ornamentals ' at a special shor: course Feb. 2 and 3 at Oregon State College. The short course is designed for landscape gardeners, nurserymen, florists, bulb growers, and holI growers, according (o A. N. Rob erts, OSC horticulturist. A general session will be held each morning, with special sessions for each in terest group in the afternoons, he said. A registration fee of $3 per per son will be charged those attend ing, Roberts added. The short course will open February 2 at !l a.m. in the OSC Home Economics auditorium. One main speaker will be Neil W. Sluart, plant physiologist with the ornamentals section of the USDA Agricultural Research Serv ice, Beltsville, Md. He will dis cuss present use of chemicals for control of- plant growth, and out line future possibilities in this area. He will also tell about recent developments in forcing irises and lilies. In another presentation, Brian O Mulligan of the University of Wash ington arboretum will describe the arboretum and discuss new and unusual ornamental plants being tested for possible use by North west nurserymen and landscape gardeners. Other out-of-state speakers at the short course include Fred Bode of the Southern California Geranium Gardens, Gardena, Calif.; Jack F Schneider, president of the Cali fornia Association of Nurserymen, Fresno, Calif.; C. F. Doucette USDA entomologist from Sumner, Wash.; and C. J. Gould of the Western Washington experiment station, Puyallup, Wash. A special banquet for the group is scheduled for the night of Feb ruary 2. Speaker will be Frank P. McWhorter, USDA plant palhol ogist at OSC, who will give an il luslrated talk on Oriental orna mentals. Floor Polish Held Safe Many falls in the home these wet winter days may be traced to ihe floor underfoot, say extension home management specialists at Oregon State College. The once popular notion that a highly polished floor is dangerous is no longer true. The brighter the i-hine, the safer Ihe floor, special ists advise. A high gloss shows that the wax has been thoroughly bulled to give a hard, safe walk ing surface. Polishing waxes used on wood, linoleum and vinyl floors- should be thoroughly buffed, preferably with an electric polisher, to give a hard dry finish. If floors aren't buffed enough, they get tacky and smeary. These floors are unsafe, say OSC home economists, because wet heels are likely to skid easily on them. - I THE COVER This shot was made last fall in the Great Northern yards here when Herald and News photographer Wes Guderian saw these wheels all lined up in the sunlight and saw the possibilities for an outstanding picture. At this rate a lot of potential rolling stock is represented. CLEAN POTS NKW YORK (UPI) Frozen ods are being packed in plastic ouches that you can boil in wa .t. The advantage is that you ?an serve a wide range of dishes vithout dirtying a pot. Farmers! Ranchers! Stockmen! SEE JUCK for your Truck! JUCKELAND MOTORS, Inc. Your International D.alat 11th t Klamath Ph. 2-2S81 Now Is th Tim to Immunize Yout Stock VccinM,Mxllc3iMf anal Supplies for Cttlo,Horso, Shoop Hogs and Poultry Out LIVESTOCK DEPARTMENT it d.tign.d ta Sava and Sarva. VACCINE AND LIVESTOCK SPRAY Your One Stop Shopping Canter Wa Giva 2C Graan Stampi MERRILL PHARMACY Merrill, Ore. Ph. 2451 DOUBLE UP On protection against BLACKLEG and SHIPPING FEVER in B VACCINE Gives long time immunity to blackleg. Seasonal protection against shipping fever. One injection due" the job . . cakrt normally protect rd - in M day. 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