Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1870 — A Broadside for Humbugs. [ARTICLE]

A Broadside for Humbugs.

Incompetence and assurance generally go hand in hand, and of all the tribe of pretentions knownothings with which society is afflicted, the unscientific “medicine men” who attempt to tamper with the health of the community are the most dangerous and the most Impudent. So much by way of Text. Now for a special and particular application. It appears that a mushroom growth of so-called “Bitters,” is springing up under different names in various localities, particularly in the Southern and Western States, which the venders have the hardihood to recommend to easy-going people upon whom they think they can Impose, as a substitute for Hostetter’s Stomach Bitters, long recognized by every class as the purest and best medicated stimulant and invigorant the world affords. The concoctions referred to being composed of worthless material, offer a larger margin for profit than that Celebrated Tonic, and hence the anxiety of dollar worshipping dealers to foist them upon the pnb’lc in its place. But “ forewarned is forearmed,” and all parties whom these distinguished (I) beings are endeavoring to coax and inveigle into substituting trash for a standard remedy, are hereby informed of the selfish and sordid motives which underlie the representations in question. The great popularity and vast sales of Hostetter’s Bitters cannot, of course, bi seriously Impared by these “tricks of trade.” but as the debilitated and suffering have a direct Interest in the matter, it Is only an act of common humanity to put them on their guard.