The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-09-19
AN ERRONEOUS CONTENTION.
(Chicago Chronicle.


Judge Baldwin Of Connecticut having
succeeded in getting the lawyers and
preachers all tangled up in his thesis
upon the right of man to die, the medi-
cal gents are now taking a turn at the
bellows. And, naturally enough, the
medicine men are nightly and righte-
ously indignant at the idea that any
person should claim the right to depart
this life so long as he has money enough
to hire a doctor. That is not exactly
the way they put it, but that is what it
amounts to.
Nor can we blame the Aesculapians.
Every man to his trade. 1t is the trade
of the medical gent to heal the sick
| to administer calomel, quinine, ipecac,
jalap, aloes, gentian, rhubarb and other
articles, to any one who is out Of health
and who possesses 80 good and lawful
money Of the United States to pay for
the articles mentioned. To intimate,
| therefore, that man is entitled to
seek the shining shore while he has the
| 81 aforementioned wherewith to sample
the pharmacopoeia is justly to excite
the wrath and apprehension of the
gentlemen whom we daily see scurry-
| ing along the streets accompanied by
shiny little handbags and a strong smell
of iodoform. 1t is an attack upon an
industry-not an infant industry ex-
actily, though in some cases it is, but
an American industry which, like all
| other American industries, is entitled
to due and proper protection. The Re-
publican party ought to attend to 1t.
There are considerations, however,
which require weighing before we as
sent unreservedly to the contention of
the medical brethren. If the payment
OF ~ and the accompanying adminis-
tration Of hydrarg. chlor. mite, grs. II,
or some similar medicament invariably
resulted in prolonging the stay of the
sufferer in this vale of tears we should
be forced to admit not that the proceed
ing was always advisable, but that the
medical gent had earned his money.
But will even the faculty themselves
contend that this is the case? Have
we not all heard of instances similar
to that Of the late Master John Smith,
thus set forth in verse:
Four doctors tackled Johnny Smith
They blistered and they bled him;
With squills and anti-bilious pills
And ipecac they fed him.
They stirred him up with calomel
| And tried to move his liver A
But all in vain: his little soul
| Was waited DER the river.
Will anyone maintain that the case
of Johnny Smith is singular? And If
such instances are frequent-and we
know that they are-how shall the
medical gent sustain his contention that
he is entitled to alleviate suffering and
rake In 81 bills so long as the moan
ing sufferer has the cash around the
premises?
1t won't do. Now If the Chinese
system were established in this coun-
try the case would be different. Ac-
cording to that system the doctor who
takes money from a patient who
subsequently dies has his own head
chopped off. This system we conceive
would make things right. 1t would
possibly reduce the mortality among
the general population and 1t would GER
tainly decrease the visible supply of
doctors with great rapidity. But for
that very reason we doubt whether
the medical associations would approve
of 1t.
Therefore we shall have to struggle
along as we are. But in the meantime
we shall maintain that the citizen who
chooses to expire with 50 bill in his
pocket is exercising a constitutional
privilege the medical gents to the
contrary Notwithstanding.