Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-30
GROVER TO DOCTORS.
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND DELIVERS
AN ADDRESS IN NEW YORK.
MANY PHYSICIANS PRESENT.
CARNEGIE HALL TAXED BEYOND IT'S
CAPACITY.
Occasion Was the Semi-CcntcnniaI
Celebration of the New York
Academy of Medicine-Re-
ccption Held After the
Meeting.
MANY PHYSICIANS PRESENT.
CARNEGIE HALL TAXED BEYOND IT'S
CAPACITY.

| New York, Jan. 29.-The occasion of the
| celebration of the Semi-centennial of the
| New York Academy of Medicine. at Car,
negie hall tonight. was made auspicious
| by the present of President Cleveland, who
| arrived in this city, in the early evening
| The president was invited to attend the
| celebration by DR.. Joseph D. Bryant, who
is president of the academy. and also Mr..
| Cleveland's private physician
| Carnegie hall was taxed beyond its ca
| pacity by the doctors and their guests long
| before the exercises of the evening were
| begun. On the stage and in the audience
We're many leading physicians from all over
| the United States. The feature of the en-
tertalnment of the evening was, of course,
the address of President Cleveland, which
excited considerable merriment and good
feeling. Other addresses were made by
president Bryant, DR.. S. s. Purple, of New
York, and DIR. Lewis A. Sayre.
Nh. Cleveland said, in.parts
IN confeSSing that | have no right to
even standing room within the inner circle
OF the profession. | have boldly and with
out the least authority determined to speak
to you as representative of the vast army
OF patients and laymen.
At the outset, desire TO remind you
that You. owe us much. Though largely in
the majority. and with plenty of m members rs
to spare, those who are we'll conducted
among us do not veX You with hurtful COM
peluCn. Instead of making life hard for
you by an observance of the laws of health
we assist you by indulging in all sorts of
Teeularities: ,Il We are 0bedient and sub
We are sick. and We sometimes pay your
bills even after recovery to health. which
We are always certain would have resulted
without your interference.
IN these circumstances, if, when in per-
feet health. we venture to assert ourselves
and tell you what is in our minds it is
not fair to liken us to Il certain person
who, when sick, Il saint would be- though
very differently inclined when we'll
We begin by conceding most, heartily
nd ytrith fl,n lT.a..t
learning and skill of those now constitute
ing the medical profession, and the Won
dertul advance That has been made through
their untiring labors and Investigations in
the alienation of human suffering and the
saving of human life. g.
1T may be this seems to YOU an ac-
be hardly worth making. You should
however, value it because it is sincerely
made by those who were not born yester-
day. but who hold In lasting and iterAier
memory the ministrations of the village
doctor of fifty years ago, and are now the
living monuments of his faithful care, He
too, alleviated suffering and saved human
life. We know that it was not given to
him to see the bright lights that now mark
the path of medicine and surgery, but you
cannot convince US that he CROPPED entirely
in the dark. We remember with abhor-
renee his ,every-ready lancet and the scars
OF his blood-letting, found in every house
hold,
we endure with complacency the recol-
iection OF the awful medicine case, contain-
: ing bottles. powders and pills, which, WI hat
ever might be thought of them now seemed
then to be sufficient for all emergencies
to say nothing of the tooth pulling tools
and other shiver-breeding instruments
sometimes exposed to view. If lie was ig-
norant of many of the remedies and appli-
ances now in use, he in large measure sup
piled the deficiency by hard headed judg
ment. we'll observed experience and care
ful nursing. Besides, it was in his favor
that he did not have to bother his head
with many the newly invented and re-
md 1nN-
He had no allotted hours for his patients.
but was always on duty; and we knew the
sound OF his gig as 1t ratified past in the
night. -
1our ways are better than his; but we
GeSirc you to regard this admission as all
the more valuable because it is carved out
or our loyalty to our old village doctor
Whc brought us through the diseases of
childhood without relapse who saved from
death our parents and our brothers and
our sisters in many hard combats with
Illness and who, when vanquished and
forced to surrender, was present in the
last scene to close the eyes of his dying
patient and sympathiZe with those who
We're present.
Il hasten to say we do not for a moment
suppose that advancement in the science
OF medicine and surgery has smothered
the faithfulnesS and tender consideration
which characterized the practitioner of
former days. If we seek charitable serv-
ice to the sick and suffering, noble ap-
probation of obligation to humanity and
self -abnegation in the discharge of pro-
16SSlOnaI duty we must look for them
among our physicians and surgeons of to-
DAY.
IF we have now arrived at an under
standing, you are, L hope prepared for a
suggestion quite in keeping with the eX-
tremely moderate and reasonable DISPOSE
ton that characterizes' the patient and
layman. You have invaded our benighted
contentment and led us out into broad
fields of scientific discovery. This has in
spired us with newborn spirit of wisdom
and criticism which demands that new and
larger fields be opened to our complacent
gaze. You have penetrated the places
where the germs of disease are hidden.
I'VE are quite certain you should be re-
quired to destroy the origin of disease and
ultimately usher in the day when the only
escape from the world will he through a
passage-way marked old age exit If
this has the appearance of eXacting too
much, or if business considerations present
obstacles to its accomplishments. l think
we ought, perhaps. to reduce our claims.
or at least. give our doctors time to find
other employment"
Following the exercises at Carnegie hall.
the president held a brief reception at the
Academy of Medicine. 1t was 1910 o'clock
when he arrived at the academy in Il car
riage, accompanied by Mr.. and Mrs. Bry-
ant and Secretary Lamont. The president
had been preceded by many members of the
academy and their wives After a few
of handshaking the president ac-
by Colonel Lamont and the re-
ception committee. proceeded to the Des-
brosses street ferry crossing which they
took the midnight train for Washington.