The Republican journal., 1901-10-03
LITERARY NEWS AND. NOTES

An old yet ever new subject, the re-
lation between Mothers and Daugh-
ters,' is freshly and sensibly treated by
Mrs. Florence Bell in the leading article
in The Living Age for September I.
Mrs. Bells views are modern, but not
extreme.
The Atlantic Monthly, always first
and foremost to come to the front in
any great national emergency, stopped
its presses and postponed its publica-
ton to pay brief but well-deserved
tribute to the latest it is to be hop
ed the last-presidential martyr, William
Mckinley. The glowing words and
sympathetic tribute of The Atlantic
will sink deep into the heart of every
true American man and woman.
A young man recently wrote to the
editor of The Ladies' Home Journal
asking: s'What have you to say, square
ly and fairly, to young man of twenty
nine who is about to marry?" In the
October Journal Mr.. Box uses page
for his answer. Its salient points are
these: that a man should make the
woman of his choice his chum, as we'll
as his wife; that he should show her the
highest consideration as we'll as love
her; that he should remember that he
owes his wife to her mother and treat
his mother-in-law with respect, at least;
that he should keep his wife informed
as to his income: that he should give
her a regular allowance and that he
should have his life insured in her favor
And above all, that when young man
marries he must remember that he
leaves a world of self and enters into a
world of another and self.
No surer index of the future has ever
been found than the intelligent study
of the past. What have been the pub
lie relations of medical societies hither-
to? Medical societies have urged the
passage OF quarantine bills, have led
the way in creating boards of health,
| and have inspired and written laws that
check the spread of contagious disease.
They have compelled the States-most
of them-to enact laws prescribing an
| increasingly high standard of education
for men who wish to practise medicine;
and, contrary to common belief, it is
the public which reaps the entire bene-
fit from these laws. In Ohio, in Ala
bama, in Colorado and in other States,
medical societies have effectually pun
ished public officials who were negli-
gent or careless in matters affecting
the public health. Medical societies
have asked, again and again, for the
passage of additional laws and ordi-
nances intended to ameliorate some of
the unfavorable conditions of civilized
existence. These demands have as yet
usually gone peacefully to sleep in the
legislative pigeon-hole, because the
looseness of medical organization did
not threaten the legislators with loss of
votes, and because councils, legisla-
lures, and Congress have been too busy
with politics" to find any time to
listen to a few troublesome doctors
asking the enactment of legislation
that would perhaps tend to lengthen
human life, but would not Immediately
increase the number of votes.
When the new plans become effective
the doctors will not expect to waste on
the same set of legislators a second re
| quest for laws in the interest of the
| preservation of public health. Doctors,
when they choose to act, are excellent
politicians because they come intimate
ly in contact with the masses, and be-
cause they rarely ask political favors
|
agitation and general agreement among
| physicians as to the necessity for com
plete organization springs from desire
on the part of the medical profession
| to accomplish in behalf of humanity
that beneficent work to which it's ideals
bind it and for which its education fits
| it.
1t will not be inappropriate to point
| out the manifest mission of medicine in
| the twentieth century. In the first
| place, physicians all over the world will
continue with increasing energy to pur-
sue their researches into the cause of
| disease, with the consequent effort to
! find new and improved means of pre-
vention and cure. In the second place,
the medical profession, when thorough
| ly organized, will teach the general
public the means that have been found
to reduce the amount of illness and to
increase the general longevity, and will
compel legislative bodies to give more
| heed to the ever-pressing necessities for
improved sanitary laws. 1t will demand
laws to check the adulteration of food,
and to prohibit the sale of patent medi-
cines containing poisonous drugs. 1t
will also insist that our quarantine
methods be made more effective, and
that health officers be given greater
authority. These and an almost indef-
mite number of other details of state
medicine will be authoritatively dealt
with by the organized medical profess
sion of the twentieth century. There
is every reason for the general public to
watch and encourage the efforts of the
profession of medicine during the years
to comedy DR.. P. NJ. Foshay in the
October Forum.
The strong eat well, sleep well, look we'll.
The weak don't Hoods SarSanarilla makes