The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-07-16
McKINLEY'S DOCTOR BILL.
The Government Appropria
$4,000 for Their Services.

The Government Appropriate
$4,000 for Their Services.
y special from Washington Wednes-
day says. There appears to be an un-
necessary amount of official mystery
surrounding the payment Of the sur
geons who attended the late President
Mckinley In the closing hours Of
the recent session Of Congress provi-
sion was inserted in the general deti-
cheney bill appropriating $4,000 to
compensate the Mckinley doctors.
1t was generally understood immedi-
ately after the death of President
Mckinley that Congress would be
asked to compensate the doctors who
attended the murdered President.
Not a word of protest went up from
the general public against such
pc p oSition, for the Government had
alreddy set up precedent after Lin
coin and Garfield were aSSaSSinated.
The universal love and sympathy ex-
pressed for Mckinley would have
naturally prevented any opposition to
the Government making a reasonable
return to the eminent physicians who
served the nations chief at Buffalo.
Under the circumstances it is not
easy to account for the profound Sec
recy which has attended every step
that has so far been taken to secure
the $3.50 so readily appropriated by
Congress. All efforts to ascertain how
the money is to be divided and how
much the various doctors are to re-
ceive are met with a mysterious shake
of the head, and the vague statement
that nothing is to be said on the sub
ject at present. 1t is an open secret
that the trustees of the Mckin-
ley estate, Senator Hanna, Secretary
Cortelyou and Judge Day, former
Secretary OF State. agreed that lib
eral compensation should be paid the
doctors who attended President Nc
kinley. That conclusion was reached,
Notwithstanding majority if not all
ly announced that they had no inten-
tion of making any claim either upon
the Mckinley estate or the Govern.
ment for services rendered at Buffalo
The trustees, however, concluded
that a reasonable allowance should be
paid to the doctors, and after much
correspondence and consultation with
those interested Sentor Allison, chair
man of the committee on appropria-
tionS in the Senate, was selected to
introduce an amendment to the def
cheney bill appropriating $4,000. a
provision was inserted excluding DR..
Rixey, of the navy, and the two army
surgeons who assisted the corps Of
civilian surgeons and attendants. The
names of the doctors were not in
cluded in the bill, nor is there any Of
fetal record obtainable as to how
many doctors are to be paid or the
amounts they are to receive respec-
lively. There WAS not one word
of debate on the subject in the Senate
and even Uncle Joe' Cannon, in
the House, moved concurrence with
out asking for or volunteering any eX-
PLANTATION of the item.
According to the last official bulle-
tin. issued just after the death of
President Mckinley, the following
doctors were in attendance: Harvey
d. Gaylord, Herman e.. MatSinger,
Matthew D. Mann, Herman Mynter,
Roswell Park, Eugene Wasden, Charles
G. Stockton, Edward G. Janeway, ".
w. johnson, Charles Cary, Harmanus
L. Baer, also T. NJ. Rixey, U. S. N:
William f. Kendall, and Edward L.
Munson, U. S. A.
The law provides that the Secretary
of the Treasury shall disburSe the
S45, 900 thus appropriated after the
claims for services have been filed and
approved. The claimants are allowed
ten months from the passage of the
Act in which these claims may be
filed. II none are presented the money
will be covered back into the treasury
as uneXpended. At the treasury de-
partment no traces of any claims on
account of medical services or atten-
dance in connection with the late
President Mckinley, can be located.
The files of the department do not,
at this writing, disclose any informa-
tion whatever bearing upon this sub
ject. Officials who usually are called
upon to supply Congress with informa-
tion bearing upon the appropriation
Of public money confess to having
some unofficial knowledge on the sub
ject, but there is no official data at
hand to show that any treasury esti-
mate was submitted in behalf of the
doctors. The trustees of the Mckin-
ley estate and other officials who as
sisted in securing this legislation
simply decline to discuss this subject or
any of its details.
There is no probability of criticism
or censure for those who have acted
in this manner, because it is general
ly believed that the whole country
will feel q personal pride in knowing
that the American people indirectly
SCliCiiUdGCO w VIII pSlIolVC UtIS Jul
geOnS who tried to save President
Mckinley'S life. It is because of the
mystery that has enveloped this sub
ject that curiosity has been aroused as
to how the distribution of the funds |
provided is to be made. 1t is under
stood that the compensation Of each
doctor in attendance will be regulated |
in accordance with each mans stand
ing. length Of service, etc. 1t is be-
liered the surgeon who performed the
operation will receive the highest
amount, and those who simply signed
an occasional bulletin will be allowed
sums of one hundred dollars for each
consultation.
Within the next two months a de-
tailed statement Of the account will
be made by the comptroller of the
treasury for if is understood that all