The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-11
DR. ". E. 3. DAVIS MAKES AN ADJ DRESS TO MEDICAL SOCIETY FAvoRINe CHARITY HOSPITAL, CITY WATER SUPPLY AND BET.
 TER SURGICAL FEES IN SOUTH.


 CITY WATER SUPPLY AND BET.
 TER SURGICAL FEES IN SOUTH.
 Following Is the address in part of Dr. W. D. B. Davis on the Medical Profess sion, and It's Duties to the Public" as delivered at the banquet to the Tri-state Medical association last Friday evening:
 Dr. Davis said in part:
 It has been said: This is the golden age for physicians. ."-"Every country Is bent on overwhelming them with honors and dignities." Tn the coronation of King Edward the medical profession out stripped all the rest in the reception of honors. physician has recently become the premier Of France. In the United States Dr. Wood. a medical man. Ion the high road to the command of the army Virchow, the greatest patholo- gist the world has ever known was nearly as great a statesman. He was the bane of Bismarcks life Tn the early part of the reign of Queen Victoria physicians had virtually no place in European society. Today we find doc tors being ennobled by nearly every one of the sovereigns of Europe 'It is as- tonishing that so many years, nay, even centuries should have elapsed before the medical profession came to be apprecia- ted at it's true worth" (New York Trib- une). The greatest and most powerful of the land are not exempt from human Ills, and when rendered helpless by sick ness or physical injury, they are compell- ed to yield obedience to the directions of the physician-no matter what his birth. Mark the responsibility of the physicians of the lamented Mckinley and those of King Edward-"The entire civilized world looked to them and their skill to avert the domestic and international crisis necessarily involved by the death of the executive of great power. be he Elm peror, King or President of a republic" Physicians have in some instances felt the responsibility so greatly that they took their own lives when mistakes in the treatment of their patients resulted fatally
 It affords me very great pleasure to welcome this association, composed as 1t is of all classes of the profession-the country as well as the city doctor-the general physician as well as the special ist. I have watched it's growth with in- tense interest I was identified with it In it's early history and have been a regu- lar attendant at it's meetings since. It was at it's third meeting first attended. Dr. Robert Battey being the president. was elected president to succeed Dr. Battey. The honor was doubly apprecia- ted for the fact that I was pr. Battey's choice as well as the unanimous choice of tie other members.
 welcome you to this city where I have spent the greater part of my professional life. You know much about it's great mineral wealth and of it's other industries, but there is much that I wish 1t were proper for me to tell you of our local profession. They are noble band of workers who have shown by their labors and sacrifices that their thoughts have not been entirely of themselves. There are old men in the profession who have kept pace with the rapid advances of our science, and their lives have been all that could be desired to inspire the younger members who have come from the great universities, with hospital ex- perience and endowed with much energy and great ambition, to the highest ideals and noblest lives. Of such you will all name with me Dr. J. B. Luckie, Dr. E. | H. Sholl and Dr. T. L. Robertson. could select a dozen from the profession of ths 1 city whose results in hospital or private | practice would compare favorably with | an equal number from any city in this country. It Is not generally known what a strong profession we have Dr. Jerome Cochran. the greatest medical organizer in America and the father of the Ala bama Medical association (under it's present constitution said that the Jeffer- son County Medical society had no rival in Alabama and I say in the south. This great profession has labored hard to induce the city of Birmingham to in- augurate everything institutional and sanitary for the welfare of it's people, and while 1t has been highly successful in many respects, in some, am sorry to say, it has failed. While we have hos pitals here, yet we have no truly charit- able institution for the care of all the sick of the poor class. St. Vincent's hos pital is a grand institution and reflects the greatest honor on It's promoters, yet it Is dependent on the income from its private rooms and ward beds for it's run ming expenses, and hence it Is necessarily forced to refuse the majority of the poor who need hospital care.
 The Hillman hospital has been run in limited way since its building at Smith, field was destroyed by fire, and has de- pended very largely on the income from it's private rooms and ward beds for it's running expenses. So while the city has been benefited by both they have not supplied what Is needed-a truly char ity hospital, where any reputable phys- clans certificate would admit the sick to it's wards-provided 1t is not a con- tagious or very chronic case. It is the duty of the medical profession and news- papers to use their influence to induce the city and county to appropriate sufficient funds to make the Hillman charity hos pital. not only in name but in fact. Such a hospital this city has not had since this hospital was conducted in it's per- manent quarters at Smith field several years ago. It will be a refection-yes, a disgrace, to this magic city of the south if we do not induce the city to make it as much, and beg of every one present, especially the newspaper men, to go out from here tonight and work to that end We need education badly along these lines Free schools are of no more iin- portance. The neglect of providing for hospital care for the poor of this com munity is as harmful as failure to take strong and active steps in regard to our typhoid fever infected water. Many