The evening times., 1895-12-13

| as much good amoung the poor people AS
twenty pbilantlropists.
| They are the phi, sioians 10 the EGor, ap-
| pointed 10 serve under The b'aitn officer.
| They are poorly paid, ard n laigc Fart of
| the work wi,bh they 10 in ministerng
| to The poverty 81 ricien part of tie CON-
munity is done in the name OF common
kindness and humanity.
| Each one has charge of a division of the
| city and of the suburbs. They areappointed
at the. princcly salary OF S32O year.
| They are obliged TO answer all calls for
| medical attendance. and are allowed no
| vacation or sick leave. unless enc cares 20
furnish substitute AT lis own expense.
The names OF lie physicians who min
| lister 10 the Needs of Tie poor OF Washing
| ton for medical attendance are: DIS. q.
| W. Birdsaii, Il. Z. Il. Thompson, ii. Is Coed
| all, John ". Shaw, {. V. fctIeys, J. i! an
DevcrcaaS, J. ID. Iiadiielu. S. l.. Hannon
G. W. Childs, }. r. Price, X. ID. Boss, }. Z.
Meredith, j. T. Cole, John a. DrawbauSh,
Joseph A. Mudd, Charles NJ. EmmoHs,
| Alien Walker, j y. " alson, NJ. A. Cusiis
and Ira W. DennlsUR.
| TIE last rcpost ol lne commissioner OF
| cnaritics does iiol meuti"n the work which
| has been done ana is constantly beng done
! by the physicians 10 tue poor, but this may
/ weiibe calrd Oh col the liosi iraCtica lforms
| of benevolent work wnIcn are being ear
Fled ON today.
i THEY ARE DOING GOOD.
A well-knCwn physician said the other
day:
Il DO not wish 10 Ia Ee any more credit TO
! the profession than Is as due, but | want to
| say empilat.Calty that II any one Is doing
good among tie poor oi Tins city, or any
othef ciiS ior that matter. IL Is Tue doCors>
| who go about practicine among The poor
! people vino are not able 10 pay Ior MeGic;il
services or 10 buy medicines.
For my part 1 slouiG Like 10 see the
whole corps OF physicians To the poor organ
ized i'll sIcn IL way anu with sdcu authority
from tie charitable soClrIics ihIt the money
given by tue weii-iv-uo people Tor the
USES OF charity might bu Gi>Dursed under
Their supervision. They have the best
ANA whit Is more. where. IL is delivered.
Most people wpuiI be surprised were they
10 know how much suffering there is among
tue paaE- -i,gnPir-ei VI ns,sn.ngton, not oniy
from sickness but from I.iCk OF food.
"A!nost always We ii;iu the family needs
food NOR. tuan At does Incdicinc,' s;i nj one
ot III. physicians 10 Chc poor to Times re-
porter Yesterday. Amt even II medicine is
need ,d. tic MEDICINE won't 10 much good
gi4,'ss ulers u Iopi t. 20 win IL"
This physician told of q number of cases
S.S'.s>fr.in.. poverty wh,ciI hau come To his
notic. within a lew days. One OF them
was in Il coguted iaiiiity in the southeast
part of the city.
"A ,i.id six months oil was sick and
they called me to see ii. saw at glance
thaU Ia. child needed not medicine, but
nourishment. The father of I he family was
siCi; with chronic tcart trouble and had not
been able to work for six months. The
niutncT. VITO was halt-starved, was trying
To support the family by doing some WASH
ing, bul she was so poorly fed that il was
impossible for her to properly nourish the
young 0oaIh and the consequence was that
botn wereaboulstarved. They Were worthy
enough cUiorcd people, bat trey wcrcslmpiy
uniprt4ttt;lic. There was not a particle of
coal or other fuel III the house. 1t was by
the assistance and generosity of several
physicians whom / knew that | was able
to get some infant foods to give the child.
Food was all IL needed
NO FOOD OR FUEL.
The doctor told OF another case on TWEEN
ty-lhTd street near the river. a white
woman and her son lived together. They
were III abject poverty, Tor the young icl-
low was able to DO only odd jobs of work
and earned only little. The woman was
SICK and there was neither food nor fuel
in the house. The attending physician
recognized in this ease also that only food
was needed.
ON NHt-iiila aycune. in the vicinity OF
T. street one uT the PHYSICIANS To the pour
found Il caiuFcd family OF twelve members.
They were Il man and .wi,c aid ten young
children. il was IN odd-h'ukius house they
lived ill.,, ard was Il poor protection from
severe weather.
They were evidently ''squattcrs' on the
land. and had constructed a sort of cabin
out nf u.d boxes ard matched il with
boards. In this case one of the children
was sick, and again the need ol food was
sadly evident.
The doctor who was telling the story
swore n little as he emphasized the iact
that it was not medicine that the family
needed, but a lew of the nccessaries of life
that so many people moi Il mile from the
house were amply able toprovide.
Il tell You, SIR" he said, Il can tell you
where practical charity is needed, and l
believe il the charitably disposed people
saw these things rs we physicians do they
would look ont that they not only give more,
bat that their money is well expended"
There is one woman in this town whose
picture ought To- be hung in the Capitol
said another OF the physicians to the re-
porter.
'If there were a few more Ike her there
would be less abjcct p'fverty and good
deal less call for a doctors care. She does
more for the cause of charity than any other
hundred OF them.
.'She goes right out among the poor
herself. too. She has given a landiDg e order
to one pbysician--;hat is. myself-to order
anything in The way of medicine or food
that is needed by the poor people l meet
in the course of my calls. She makes no
parade of her benevolencc, though. The
most benevolent people never do, you know
She is a woman in a thousand.
The scheme that | propose to the doc
tors who do this kind OF medical work is
that we get a dozen or SO OF people who
really wish TO do something for the poor
to agree to allow us TO order some little
delicaGies like iellies and things of that
kind that sick people need, and pay for
them when the bills for the things are
presented
Ii is the testimony of all the PHYSICIANS
to the poor that they have had the needs
OF city charities forced upon them as they
never felt tlem before they became prac-
titioncrs among the poor people. There is
n strong sentiment among them in favor
of trying to have a part of the moneys
given for Charitable work placed in their
hands for distribution. No one knows so
well as some OF these physicians where the
money is most needed. No one knows so
well as they where the worst poverty ex-
lists and where the most deserving poverty,
so to say, is TO lie found.
Under the present system or free med
icai attendance the physician is allowed |
To give no prescription costing more than |
Is ceEts. : This rule is rarely broken. A |
more expensive medicine may be needed |
ever So badly. but unless the case is an |
unusually severe one, the pres cription calls |
for nothing costing more than this amount. |
IT is A LABOR OF LOVE.
The physicians are called upon to endure |
something very muc. like hardships some. |
times. There are at least 10000 cases |