This is not the only instance of this kind that has taken place. One independently wealthy gentleman, for certain business reasons of his own, conceived the idea of inserting a trustworthy article exposing the patent medicine combine in the newspapers of the country, for which he was, of course, willing to pay the usual advertising rates. He gave the contract to a large advertising concern which began the crusade in Texas, the _intention_ being to cover the country working the States one after the other. What was the result? As soon as the system's attention was directed to the plan the mandate of "silence" was flashed to the newspapers and the propaganda died an unnatural death in Texas, whose borders it never crossed. The columns of the public press were tightly closed to it. Is it any wonder that it has been so difficult to pass a Public Health bill? I am hopeful, however, that the women will solve this problem. It would seem to be a subject in which they could become strenuously and eagerly interested. Women as voting factors, or as legislators, will never succeed in the subtle fights of ward politics, or in the coarser slugging battles of graft and patronage, but in the moral finesse, necessary to achieve success in public health and purity legislation they should prove to be enthusiasts. If the regeneration of the race is entangled in legislative procedure or political subtilties, its only salvation is to find emancipators whose heart strings are of finer and truer fiber than those in the breasts of men. We hope to find them in the mothers of the race. CHAPTER XXXIII THE PATENT MEDICINE EVIL--Continued The Patent Medicine Evil and the Duty of the Mothers of the Race--"Blood-Money"--The People Must be the Reformers--Mothers' Resolutions. THE PATENT MEDICINE EVIL AND THE DUTY OF THE MOTHERS OF THE RACE It may be emphatically asserted that the patent medicine evil and the fraudulent medical cure more directly concern the mothers of the race than any others. No matter who the ailing victim may be, some woman is deeply and sincerely interested in his, or her, recovery and welfare. If the proper influence is exerted at the right time, and if it is based upon adequate knowledge of the danger involved, it is certain that the sufferer will not become a victim of the fraudulent and dangerous advertised nostrum, or a fake medical course of treatment. If each mother, therefore, possessed an adequate knowledge of the patent medicine evil, and exerted the influence which would naturally result from the possession of such knowledge, we should soon see the end of the whole business.