The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-01-17
MEDICAL MAJOR GODS
THEY RIVAL THEIR BROTHERS OF LE-
GAL FAME IN FANCY FEES.


iored by tho Elect In Their Respective
Professions In New York-How, In Con.
t-ast, the Common Herd Fares.
All English jour- ,list visiting this coun
try few years ago said Of New York that
It was "a market where all desirable wares
ere certain to bring fair reward for the
trouble and expense Of producing them"
While this Is as true today as 1t was then,
there are critics who find fault with the
scale Of prices and give point to the old say.
iug that 1t Is impossible to satisfy every.
body.
A reporter has investigated the subject
of professional incomes received in this
,ty, and in the course of this investigation
has discovered that, II the figures cited by
President Harper are accurate, his college
professors are doing quite as well as the
average lawyer, doctor and clergyman IN
New York. lie states that In CT college,
having from 60 to $50 students, the salaries
Of the most highly paid professors average
about 81 900, and that in colleges having
more than $50 students the average is
si,9l6.
The average business man who makes
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 Ilarper's professor
receives an income about equivalent to that
derived from S25, 900 invested at per cent.
Many doctors and lawyers have confessed
to the reporter that they would be glad to
feel sure of realizing that profit az the re
suit of a years labor.
During the last % or 40 years the rate Of
compensation for the heaviest cases of work
In haf lam nd ha 10
increased. Before the war the lawyer who
received fee of 5000. &, 900 or 5000 was
regarded as u specially lucky fellow. To
day it is common thing for well known
members OF the bar to charge and obtain
such sums for II particular service.
During the famous Erie litigation,
brought about by the transactions OF Fisk
and Gould. David Dudley Field, their coun.
sci, Is said to have received a retainer OF
100000 At no time during the period
when that eminent jurisconsult was at the
summit of his fame and In the midst of an
active practice did he derive less than $780,
0O0 per annum from his professional labors.
Mr.. Evarts' income was quite as large, and
Mr.. Choate, his partner, is today in receipt
Of one that cannot be much less While
these cases arc exceptional, there are, 1t Is
estimated, between 300 and 400 lawyers
here whose average annual earnings will
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 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 n member in long
practice, the average income of the New
York lawyer Is between 5000 and 81 900.
The same conditions are to be observed in
the medical profession. There, too. men
of the highest attainments and reputation
are earning yearly sums that half century
ago would have been regarded as fortune.
A list submitted to the reporter of physi-
clans whose incomes exceed $50 600 con-
tanned, among others, such names as DIR.
Loomis, Dr. Flint, DR.. Sayre, DR.. Satterlee,
DIR. Stimson, DIR. Markoo, DIR. Peters, DR..
McBurney, DR.. Hamilton, DIR. Delafield and
DR.. Weir. The list of those whose incomes
are in the neighborhood of $4,000 embraces
the names of nearly 200 practitioners.
Doctors like LOOMS, Flint and Sayre hold
the same relation to the practice of medi-
cine that lawyers like Choate, Evarts, Car
| " Y.
They are the major gods" of their pro
fession, and their remuneration is grad
uated according to the public appreciation
of their pre-eminent skill and talent. A
physician who has been associated with DIR.
Loomis in many important cases is Of the
opinion that his profession yields him as
much as $50, 600 or $40, 600 year. In former
times, when a doctor had more business
than he could attend to, he turned some OF
it over to an assistant. Although that Is
still done, the most popular Of the leading
physicians correct the excess by increasing
their charges or by adopting the role OF
consulting physicians.
A quarter ola century back s.. SO was the
usual fee for visit. Now it is in some in
stances s., in other $40 and In still other so
When a physician who has abandoned the
practice of visiting his patients and become
a consulting physician makes an exception
under special circumstances, he charges fol
visit thus made as much as he would fol
consultation. Doctors of the grade OF
Sayre, Stimson, Flint, Loomis and Nc
Burney, when acting as consulting physi
clans, receive as high as $50, SIS and 500.
In the third or lowest grade of the pro
fession the incomes taper down from IS, OOt
to few hundreds. This of course is tn,
most numerous grade and has the princi
Pile of the survival of the fittest as illus
trated by experiences that are often posi-
lively narrowing. At the time when tn,
passion for painting PLAQUES was most in
tensely developed in this city, cynic oh
served that, "Of placques and doctors Their
is no end" He alluded to the multitud,
of "sawbones" yearly graduated in spite o
the fact that New York has had for year
more doctors than it knows what to d,
, with. By the profession the opinion is al
most unanimously entertained that tn
best correction of the evil is to raise tn
, standard of qualification. Reduce tn
quantity and improve the quality of tn
suppjy.-New York News.