Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-11-23
trnu
PUBLISH
ToUTINo FOR DOCTORS.
Runners OF Quarantine D-r,
Tr1de and Earnin1 RI~ N..e


""neS OF Quarantine Drummin~ n,
ade and Earning Big Money.
1t Will surprise many people tn le.-r
that there are physicians practic;no IN
New York city who hire ..runners" A.
solicit business from stranoer. oo.,;s.
here. The custom nravo;I. oh:aaee
Mn' ns people coming in by sea. DIR.
...nn' at quarantine, recently said:
are runners for New York doc
,ors VINO board incoming ships as repu-
lariy as Quarantine officers board them
know OF two who live down here. 7
-ooh know what they make, but +
shouio not be surprised to learn that
they receive as high as four thousand
ooiiars or hive thousand dollars a wear
IN commissions Some of them. 7 have
hearo, get as much as half the fees
turned In to the medical man. / hear
tnat the doctors make a very rood
thlng OF it, and / know of one wbo
recently retired on a fortune of seven
ty-nve thousand dollars or one bnp-
dred thousand dollars. The meth.
Cd OF operation is very sim
pie. When a foreign ship comes in
TO port, whose crew were Skinned
ABROAD for the voyage. the captain. or
whoever hires them, is responsible for
their medical care when sick. To u,ee+
tins emergency there are what arc
called the wharf doctors. The WHAT
doctor, for certain fixed price. guar-
~antees to take medical charge of the
screw while the ship is in port. If the
sailors fall ill of ordinary diseases thew
treat them on board while the vassel
lies at her dock or is anchored in the
bay. II the sailor requires special at
tenflon, which can not be given on
shlpboard, the wharf doctor sends him
TO hospital and pays the charges. To
what hospital, or what relations the
doctors have with these hospitals, lam
unable to say. OF course all this an
plies to diseases such as are not taken
charge OF by quarantine authority"
1t is by these wharf doctors that the
runners are employed. The moment a
ship comes in they swarm out to her
on tugs and rowboats like SO MANY
sailor clearinghouse touts, and en-
deavor to strike bargain with the cap
tain. Those who have been long in the
business of course have a wide acouain-
t.nce among sea captains, and have
their regular customers With the cap
tains who have no acquaintance among
the runners it is usually a case of first
come first served. This naturally
makes competition very keen, and
there are now and then some lively
races Efforts to underbid are as lively
as are the efforts to get at the ear of the
captain first. Not very long ago there
was sharp cut in medical rates
owing to the introduction into
the field of new and very ac-
tive runner, who had the advantage |
of long semi-amphibious life at the |
Narrows, and who consequently had a |
long list of acquaintances among sea |
captains He not only began 'get- |
ting there" first, but he knocked a |
heavy margin off existing rates. Ships |
that had been doctored at fifteen dol |
lars a head for a stay of ordinary |
length in port found that they could |
get the same service under the new
conditions for ten dollars. That is
about the existing state of the wharf |
doctor market at present. Still they
make money. Such drugs as they |
have to serve out, or pretend to serve
ont. to poor Jack while he is in port,
afe n6tsbe highe6t priced articles of
the kind, and besides, there is always
the chance of there being no sick sail
ors on board a ship to look after. In
such case the wharf doctor simply pays
his runner his commission and pockets
what is left--N. Y. World.