TO ALL FRIENDS OF TEMPERANCE THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES
[San Francisco]: R.H. McDonald & Co., circa 1870. Four-page newsletter, published by the patent medicine company owned by temperance advocate R.H. McDonald.
In this piece, McDonald claimed that intemperance was behind the 40,000 people in prison in the United States, and the 76,000 Americans receiving support as paupers at the time. Further, he warned that intemperance among women was increasing at an alarming rate: “In the upper circles of society, it is impossible to give a correct statement of its increase because the retired life of most women favors the indulgence of the vice in secret, especially during its early stages. But among the lower classes of our cities, we have no difficulty in estimating the inroads rum is making.”
Printed in black on a 17" x 11" sheet of newsprint, which is folded vertically (four panels). The final page is dedicated to advertising Dr. Walker’s Vinegar-Bitters, available through R.H. McDonald & Co., general agents and druggists in San Francisco and New York. The vinegar bitters were advertised as the only non-alcoholic vegetable medicine. Minor stain to the front panel, with some general toning and creasing from prior folds.
Scarce, OCLC locates only one copy, at The Huntington Library. Item #78807
Price: $400.00