Paternalism in America. There seems to be some mysterious connection existing between the end of the centuries of our era, and the minds and disposition of men-a something which causes a spirit of unrest among entire peoples, and urges them on to acts of folly and madness. The last century closed in the bloody saturnalia of the French Revolution, and unless all signs are deceptive, the present will go out in revolution and blood in the Old World, and perhaps on this hemisphere as well. There are everywhere abundant evidences that we are passing through a state of transition. All over the world there is disquiet and dissatisfaction at the existing order of things, and men seem to be groping blindly for something, they know not what, but are ready to adopt any and every idea that may be presented, whether foolish or wise-anything for a change.

This condition of things furnishes a boundless field for political demagoguery, and gives employment to professional agitators, who are everywhere presenting schemes, all of which are more or less smirched with socialismby which we mean a faith in paternalism, and in the power of governments, by edict of law, to change human nature and natural conditions. In Germany this is united with agrarianism, and the combination is strong enough to sway the policy of the Imperial Government. In France, it is going, on the one hand, with blind nihilism, anarchy, and hatred of all government, and on the other, with subversion of the Republic, and the restoration of royalty or imperialism. The Carmagnole is sung in the courts of "justice" to the shouts of "Vive l'armée." So, too, in Italy, in Spain, in Belgium, riots, suppressed only with the bayonet, show how deep is the spirit of popular unrest, and how nearly they are drifting into anarchy, revolution, and massacre.

play to the development of individuality in the citizen, and under State and Federal laws drafted in harmony with this fundamental principle, we have developed into one of the most powerful, freest, and richest nations of which history gives us any record, and all that is best and greatest in us is due to the individuality thus fostered. It has covered the continent from ocean to ocean, and from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, with one great throbbing, pulsating net-work of railways; it has covered our inland seas with fleets of commerce, and converted our rivers into great highways of trade; it has reared the factories and constructed the machine shops; it has builded our cities-yet, and in spite of, this mighty progress and marvelous success, the wonder of the whole world, at the end of barely a century of life as a country, our political fabric has become tainted with European socialism..

Political demagogues, ever hunting place, power, and riches without labor, have chosen the pernicious doctrines of paternalism as the bait to catch the masses. They clamor for governmental control of the railway, of the telegraph, and express business of the country, and appeal to the masses, the unthinking, unreasoning throng, for votes on this broad principle of confiscation of private rights, and death to the individuality which produced them.

As in national politics, so in State and Municipal affairs. We see States spending the money wrung from the people by taxation, in setting up vaccination farms, antitoxin institutes, and other institutions, which should be left entirely to individual enterprise, all for products for free distribution to the "dear people." We see cities doing the same thing-establishing bureaux for gratis distribution of antitoxin, free dispensaries, with free medicine, etc. The City of New York spent in free antitoxin alone, no less than sixty thousand dollars last year. All this is done under the pretence of the "public welfare," a shibboleth as baneful as it is false. What does the political trickster, who engineers such jobs, care for the public welfare? His sole aim and object (Continued on page 510).

is to "fix" himself in public office, and to make places for his political friends and hangers-on. He knows the weakness of the masses, the tendency of mankind to want something for nothing, and he plays upon it as a musician manipulates the keys of his instrument.

There is no more reason why a Government, whether Federal, State, or Municipal, should give away antitoxin, and establish institutes for its manufacture, than it should give free quinine and establish cinchona farms for growing the bark; or free calomel, and work mines for mercury with which to make it. The argument that secures the one, applies equally well, and even more strongly, to the others. The plea "for charity" is but poorly founded, for the charity that helps the shiftless does but rob the thrifty. It enters into competition with private individuals, destroys their business, and thus creates more want and misery. The free dispensary takes away from the struggling druggist, and the poorly paid physician, to give to those who are idle and thriftless (and too frequently those possessed of more wealth than doctor and druggist put together, and who save it by resorting to the "charity" institution instead of paying for medical service and medicines). Thus, like all paternalism, it defeats its own object.

The sole object of taxation is the support of those institutions rendered necessary by our form of Governmentthe executive, the legislative, and the judiciary, in their various ramifications. The taxes are collected at great expense, and disbursed at greater, since in addition to the necessary disbursement, some of the money must stick to the hands through which it comes-not

necessarily through dishonesty, but as pay for their services. The more dispensers of it there are, the greater the amount of the cost of its dispensing. If for this reason alone, we are unalterably opposed to the multiplication of offices, which is the natural result of paternalism in government.-National Druggist.

Dyspepsia.

Dr. G. A. Fuller, Worcester, Mass., has found Seng to be a valuable remedy in dyspepsia.

Some Practical Points About Heart Disease.

Don't feel called upon to give digitalis as soon as you hear a murmur over the heart. Study and treat the patient, not the murmur.

Don't conclude that every murmur indicates disease of the heart.

Don't forget that the pulse and general appearance of the patient often tell more than auscultation.

Don't neglect to note the character of the pulse when you feel it. Possibly you may look at the tongue to satisfy the patient; feel the pulse to instruct yourself.

Don't think every systolic murmur at the apex indicates mitral regurgitation; every systolic murmur at the aörtic interspace, aörtic stenosis. The former may be trivial, the latter may be due to atheroma of the arch of the aörta.

Don't say every sudden death is due to heart disease.

Don't forget that the most serious diseases of the heart may occasion no murmur. A bad muscle is worse than a leaky valve.

Don't examine the heart through heavy clothing.

Don't give positive opinions after one examination.-Philadelphia Med. Jour.

The Best Alterative.

After a somewhat extensive use of Iodia, Dr. H. T. Bondurant, Charleston, Mo., writes that he considers it the most prompt and reliable alterative we have. He finds it acts not only as an alterative, but also as a tonic, the latter property rendering it the more valuable, as there is usually more or less anemia attendant upon those diseases requiring alterative treatment.

The Klebs-Loeffler Tumble. The most humiliating come-down for the bacteriologist is seen in the attitude he is forced to sustain relative to the diagnostic value of the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus. This bacillus is now regarded as not at all diagnostic of diphtheria, and its presence is given no particular significance in this regard by any wellinformed man in London.-Amer. Med. Jour.