$17.50 CAD
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Front has picture and biography of Grover Cleveland then a link to Hood's Sarsaparilla:
"...The purity of Gov. Cleveland's administration is symbolic of the purity produced by Hood's Sarsaparilla. Let all who wish to have pure blood, and enjoy good health, take this great medicine. 100 doses 1 dollar."
Reverse has information on the electoral vote Garfield vs. Hancock of 1880, and information for 1884.
To help with 'campaign excitement', one needs Hood's. "In fact, either political party, to ensure success, must take Hood's."
Cleveland did win in 1884.
Light horizontal crease bottom front that scrunches text a bit. Bit staining on back UR corner. Couple of small corner folds UR UL.
4-5/8" x 2-3/8"
Hood’s Sarsaparilla was big business in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – you can get an idea how big from pictures of the Lowell Massachusetts laboratory. Adverts for it were everywhere, and there were also spin-off products such as calendars and cookbooks.
Advertising pamphlets stated the mixture was “carefully prepared from Sarsaparilla, Dandelion, Mandrake, Dock, Pipsissewa, Juniper Berries, and other valuable vegetable remedies, in such a peculiar manner as to retain the full curative value of each ingredient used,” but analysis by the BMA, reported in Secret Remedies: What they cost and what they contain, showed that the mixture contained only “2.0 parts of vegetable extract per 100 fluid parts.” Instead, its popularity might have been down to it being nearly 20% alcohol.
Founded by Charles Ira Hood in 1875, C.I. Hood & Co. of Lowell, Massachusetts was among the largest patent medicine companies in the United States and offered a number of personal health products in addition to its well known Hood’s Sarsaparilla. The C.I. Hood and Company was a leader in the development of color lithography as an advertising tool, and produced all of its advertising in-house and owned twenty presses issuing a plethora of colorful trade cards, posters, calendars, cookbooks, pamphlets, and other ephemera all promoting the medicinal benefits of company products.
According to Richard Howe, “In 1876, Charles followed the lead of J.C. Ayer & Company and began to compound his own sarsaparilla medicine. In addition to sarsaparilla root, he mixed in dandelion, gentian, juniper berries and 18% alcohol. He claimed great success in curing a variety of disorders including “purifying the blood”, heart diseases, dropsy, rheumatism and scrofula. Within two years of launching his product he was on his way to great success. Charles Hood added to his success with Hood’s Tooth Powder, Vegetable Pills, Oil Ointment, Medicated Soap, Dyspeplets (for dyspepsia), TusSamo (for cough) and Hood’s Lotion.
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