The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-03-30

trast, the Common Herd Fares.
An English jour- alist visiting THE coun.
try a few years ago SAID Of New York that
It was "a market where ell desirable wares
are certain to bring fair reward for the
trouble and expense Of producing them
While this is as true today Hs it was then,
there are critics who find fault with the
scale OF prices and give point 20 the old say
ing that it is impossible to satisfy every.
body.
A reporter has investigated the subject
of professional incomes focovcd in this
city, and in the course of this Investigation
has discovered thHt, if the figures cited by
President Harper are accrphte, his COLLEGE
professors are doing quite 10 we'll as tue
average lawyer, doctor and clergyman in
New York. he states that in 81 colleges
having from 90 to go students, the salaries
of the most highly paid professors average
about 81 800, and that in colleges havig =
more than $50 students the average Is
S1,9l6
The avera-e business man who makes s
per cent on his invested capital thinks that
he is getting n very fair return for it. The
capital of the professional man is his edu-
cation, SO that President lIarper's professor
receives an income about equivalent to that
Many doctors and lawyers have confessed
to the reporter that they would be glad to
feel sure of realizing that profit Us the re
suit of years labor.
During the last 81 or 40 years the rate OF
com pensatun for the heaviest cases Of work
In the three learned professions has greatly
increased. Before the war the lawyer who
received fee Of 5000, 81, 600 or -, 900 was
regarded as II specially lucky fellow. To
day it is n common thing for well known
members of the <bar to charge aud obtain
such sums for n particular service.
During the famous Erie litigati ion,
brought about by the transactions of Fisk
and Gould, David Dudley Field, their coun-
sci, is said to have received Il retainer Of
100000. At no time during the period
when that eminent jurisc0Lsult was at the
summit of his fame and in the midst of an
active practice did he derive less than $lOO,
600 per annum from his professional labors.
Mr. Evarts' income was quite as large, and
Mr. Choate, his partner, il today in receipt
of one that cannot be much less While
these eases are exceptional, there are, il ls
estimated, between 800 aud 400 lawyers
here whose average annual earnings viii
exceed $4,000.
Against these, which may be classified 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 Il support
for themselves and their families, The law
is crowded profession, and for the n4au
who enters it without briefs or friends an
Improbable one. According to an estimate
given the reporter by u member in lonl
practice, the average Income OF the New
| Inv IL hut n
| The same conditions are to be observed il
the medical profession. There, too, mel
of the highest attainments and reputation
are earning yearly sums that half centur.
ago would have been regarded as fortune
A list submitted to the reporter of physi
clans whose incomes exceed S&0O0O con
tained, among others, such names as Dr
| Loomis, DR.. Flint, DR.. Sayre, Dr. Satterlee
| DIR. Stimson, DR.. Markoo, DIR. Peters, DIR
McBurney, DIR. Hamilton, DR.. Delafleld an,
DR.. Weir. The list of those whose income
are in the neighborhood of $4,000 embrace
the names of nearly 200 practitioners.
Doctors like Loomis, flint and Sayre holt
the same relation to the practice of medi
cine that lawyers like Choate, Evarts, Car
ter and Field hold to the practice of law
They are the major gods" Of their pro
fession, and their remuneration is grad
uated according to the public appreciaticl
of their preeminent skin and talent. }
physician who has been associated with d.
Loomis in many important cases is of tn
opinion that his profession yields him q
much as 10000 or S70, coo year. In forme
times, when doctor had more bushes
than he could attend to, he turned some O
it over to an assistant. Although that i
still done, the most popular of the leadin
physicians correct the excess by increasin
their charges or by adopting the role &
consulting physicians.
A quarter of a century back s.. 80 was til
usual fee for visit. Now it is in some in
stances 50, in other $40 and in still other a.
When physician who has abandoned tn
practice of visiting his patients and becom
; consulting physician makes an eXceptio
under special circumstances he charges fo
visit thus made as much AS nc would (,
a consultation. Doctors of the grade
Sayre, Stimson, Flint, Loomis and NJ
Burney, when acting as consulting phys
clans, receive as high as $50, $40 and Sl0O.
In the third or lowest grade of the pr
, fession the incomes taper down from S3,
to few hundreds This of course is Il
most numerous grade and has the prime
pie of the survival of the ilttest as illu
trated by experiences that are often po.
lively narrowing. AT the time when Il
passion for painting placques was most i
tensely developed in this city, cynic o
served that, "Of placques and doctors the
is no end" He alluded to the multitu,
Of 'sawbones" yearly graduated in spite
the fact that New York has had for yea
more doctors than il knows what To
with. BY the profession the opinion is I
most unanimously entertained that q
best correction of the evil is to raise d
standard Of qualification. Reduce 3
quantity and improve the quality Of 1
aunnlv -New York News