The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-02-28
MEDICAL MAJOR GODS.
THEY RIVAL THEIR BROTHERS OF
LEGAL FAME IN FANCY FEES.
Some Enormous Incomes That Are
Enjoyed by the Elect in Their
Respective Professions in New
York-How, in Contrast, the Com
mon Herd Fares.

An English journalist visiting this
country a few years ago said of New
York that it was "a market where all
desirable wares are certain to bring
a fair reward for the trouble and ex-
pense of producing them" While this
is as true today as it was then, there
are critics who find fault with the scale
of prices and give point to the old
saying that it is impossible to satisfy
everybody.
A reporter has investigated the sub
ject of professional incomes received in
this city, and in the course of this in
vestigation has discovered that, if the
figures cited by President Harper are
accurate, his college professors are do
ing quite as well as the average law
yer. doctor and clergyman in New York.
He states that in SiXty-one colleges
having from SO to $50 students, the sal
aries of the most highly paid professors
average about $1,000, and that in col
leges having more than 25O students
the average is S1,916.
The average business man who makes
per cent. on his invested capital
thinks that he is getting a very fair
return for it. The capital of the pro-
fessional man is his education, so that
President Harpers professor receives
an income about equivalent to that de-
rived from $25, 900 invested at s per
cent. Many doctors and lawyers have
confessed to the reporter that they
would be glad to feel sure of realizing
that profit as the result of a years
labor
During the last thirty or forty wears
the rate OF compensation for the heav-
lest cases of work in the three learned
professions has greatly increased. Be
fore the war the lawyer who received
fee of $4,000, $4,000 or $1,000 was re-
garded as a specially lucky fellow.
foday 1t is common thing for we'll
known members of the bar to charge
and obtain such sums for a particular
service
During the famous Erie litigation.
brought about by the transactions of
Fisk and Gould, David Dudley Field.
their counsel, is said to have received
a retainer of 100000. At no time dur
ing the period when that eminent iuris-
was at the summit of his fame
and in the midst Of an active practice
did he derive less than 500. 900 per an
mum from his professional labors Mr..
Evarts' income was quite as large. and
Mr.. Choate, his partner, is to day in re-
celpt of one that cannot be much less.
While these cases are exceptional. there
are, 1T is estimated, between 800 and
400 lawyers here whose average annual
earnings will exceed $4,000.
Against these, which may be classi-
ned as cases of lawyers of exceptional
talents and opportunities, are to be
placed the cases of the thousands of
less fortunate ones, many of whom
barely manage to earn support for
themselves and their families. The law
IS crowded profession. and for the
man who enters it without briefs or
friends an improbable one. According
TO an estimate given the reporter by a
member in long practice, the average
income of the New York LAWYER is he
tween 5000 and $1,000
The same conditions are to he oh
served in the medical profession
fnere, too. men of the highest attain
nents and reputation are earning
yearly sums that half a. century ago
would have been regarded as a for |
-une A list submitted to the reporter
oI physicians whose incomes exceed
'zO'O0O contained, among others, such
names as DR.. LOOMS. DR. Flint. DIR.
sayre, DR.. Satterlee, DR.. Stimson. DR.. +
Markoo Dr. Peters, Dr. McBurney. DIR.
hamilton, DR.. Delafield and DR.. Wei,
The list Of those whose incomes are in /
he neighborhood of $4,000 embraces
Doctors like LOOMS, Flint and Savre I
lold the same relation to the practice
u medicine that lawyers like Choate. !
warts, Garter and Field hold to the
practice of law. They are the '.n1aior
gods of their profession, and their 70
nuneration is graduated according TO
ne pubic appreciation of their pre-
.inahent skill and talent. A physician I
VINO has been associated with DIR
.oonlis in many important cases is of +
ne opinion that his profession Yields
Inn as much as $50, O00 or $40 600
ear. In former times, when doctor
lad more business than he could at /
END to, he turned some of it over To (
n assistant. Although that is stiu T
zone, the most popular of the leading
MUSICIANS correct the excess by in +
lr re their charges or by adopting
ne role OF consulting physicians
A quarter of a century hack 50 IN
vas the usual fee for a visit Now it
IN some instances So, in others $40
nj IN still others $40 When a nhvsi-
ian who has abandoned the practice
visiting his patients and become a
onsulting physician makes an excen-
ION under special circumstances, he
iIaIges Tor a visit thus made as much
ors OF the grade of Sayre, Stimson
mt, LOOMS and McBurney, when
cthg as consulting physicians. r1a-
eve as high as $50, SIS and 500
IN the third or lowest grade of tho
rofession the incomes taper down
rom $4,000 to few hundreds. This If
curse is the most numerous grade ana
as the principle of the s11T1,,i1,a1
the f1ttest as Illustrated
experiences that are often nosi-
IVely narrowing. At the time wbar
ne passion for painting placdues was
lost intensely developed in this citv
cynlc observed that, "Of pIacoues
M doctors there is no end He al
aded to the multitude of "sawbonaS,,
early graduated in spite of the faet
lat New York has had for years more (.
octors than it knows what to do
nth. By the profession the opinion
almost unanimously entertained
'at the best correction of the evil IS
raise the standard of qualification
educe the quantity and improve the
uallty OF dhe supply.-New York
Young Mrs. Cyrus w. Field saws to
reporter of her new business ven
ire: Il am employed by the Sher-
an bank to solicit deposits among
dies of my acquaintance. l am nor
city charmed with the work, and 50 Z
r have been successful. / wish Won
ould emphatically deny that nv /.
ame viii be connected with any mil
lery firm. j don't know exactly how Z