The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-06-17
MAKE BIG MONEY
IN SMALL FEES
London Doctors Who Charg'
But Twelve Cents Per
Prescription.
PATIENTS ARE NUMEROUS
Many From the High Glass Mcdica'
Circles Arc Required to Make
Many Trips to the Stun
Districts Each Day.

cosscli's Journal: In the high class
( medical circles OF the west end of
. London, as in Harley street, there are
/ doctors who cannot be consulted for
/ live minutes with reference TO one of
! the smallest ailments which flesh is;
! heir to without u fee of 2 gulncas be-
| coming due to them. Triting attend
! &nce might cost 10 guineas, the small
est operation %, and proper attention
! and treatment through an illness could
| run into The hundreds without Il doubt.
| The sharp contrast is in the east end
/ and the other lower parts of the me-
/ uOpoliS, where there is what is known
/ as the sixpcnny doctor, an able medical
man who has universal fee for all
patients and all degrees of attendance.
II is sometimes siXpence, sometimes Il
shilling, but there are cases where
fourpencc only is the recognized re-
Enumeration.
These doctors are genuine M DIS
above all suspicioI, their skill is UNI
questioned, and often enough they give
quite as much laEorious attention to
a difficult case among their poor clients
for their meager siXpcnny reward us
their brother medicoS in the west end
would do FOR 100 guineas, and quite
likely, too with as beneficial results.
Nor are they so poor as some might
think.
Satisfied with Small Fees.
Sixpences make shillinss, then
pounds. then hundreds ANA then thou
sands-if there are sufficient OF them.
That is the simple logic OF the medical
man who takes shop in Il dirty, rough
looking street and sets himself up as
| Il siXpenny doctor.
II is usually shop that he engages
for his consulting room, surgery and
dispensary combined for his poor pa
TENTS have less hesitation in going
there than they would have to a private
house. Inside the door there is an ar
| rangement Of paneling and apertures
like those of a railway booking office.
which Is designed to preserve decOrum
and order among the uncouth patients
| when they are awaiting by the score
for their turn for attention.
practice like this may be built up
by the hard work of years or it may be
bought at big price. Five thousand
pounds might be asked for it and be
really cheap for the money. but now
and again circumstances bring one into
the doctors market at a reduction on
value.
Late one night sixpenny docto.
sought out friend who conducted a
| more high-class but less remuneratiNe
practice and said to him:
Sells Out CheapIy.
Look here, old chap, you have often
said you would like to buy my practice
If you could afford it, l want to clear
out at once-in fact, | want to sail from
England tomorrow morning. How
much, cash down. tonight?"
The other was surprised, and while
ne was bordering how many thousands
would be a fair offer the siXpenny doc
tor broke in with:
III take G20o cash. to be paid within
an hour Receipts last year We're
G1,10O."
All this seemed very strange, but the
one thing certain was that the practice
was there, and that 1t was worth TWEEN
ty times the money Forty-five pound
notes We're scraped together and handed
over, a formal transfer of the practice
was made and the keys of the surgery
shop passed on to the new doctor The
two then said goodby.
Next morning the purchaser was set
ting about his installation when a
neighboring doctor said:
1T Is pity you paid anything for
'Why?" was asked.
Because" was the reply your
friend had to leave the country this
morning, whether or no."
Was Involved in Poison Case
1t was related then that the man who
had gone had unwittingly and quite
innocenty got himself mixed up in a
poisoning case and the circumstances
were such that he would have had the
greatest difficulty In convincing a jury
that he was not seriously to blame, If
not more than that. So he fled, and
nothing more was heard of him.
Six hundred patients day to be
seen and advised! Such a record has
been achieved by siXpenny doctor,
and that means els day, while ex-
.,tEt.~
down to zero. Rent Is a mere trife.
there is no carriage to maintain-all
calls are made on foot or on bicycle
| and all fees are cash down."
The SiXpenny doctor has to harden
his heart on this point. because he
knows that If he were once to relax into
giving credit his income would quick
" fade away into nothing. Therefore.
he will see no patient, however i'll, I'M
less the sixpence is first Forthcoming,
for he knows that 1T can always be. He
walks down one of the streets of his
rounds and an old woman beseeches
him to enter her house and look at her
husband, who is on sickbed. She says
she will pay the fee at the week end.
not having a penny in the house just
now. The doctor glances through the
door, remarks upon nice new orna-
ment on a side table, and says there
Is time to pawn something before he
comes down the street again in an
hours time. When he does look in
later on his fee is ready, and there has
been no visit to the sign Of the three
balls.
Has an Army on His List.
OF course, 500 patients would be
more than one doctor could see in one
day in any circumstances. Sixty of
them would supply very hard days
work. which many medical men would
really regard as an impossibility. but
the siX-penny medico Is used to feats
of this kind. ard for variety and expe-
rience his practice is one of the finest
/ imaginable. All the work that he can
not do himself is done by assistants. of
and they are paid anything from to
guineas a week.
Yet, with all his experience and all
his success, the six-penny doctor, who
is still a man of as refined and edu-
Gated tastes as any other bankers aft
er practice where there are fewer
slulns and more social pleasures, and
when he has cured some thousands of
the poor and saved considerable sum
away to a substantial residence in
country town with the shiniest of brass
plates on the door,
There are moist eyes in the slums
that day, and next morning, with a
reckless extravaganza, complaints are
invented to serve as an excuse for q
visit of inspection to the new doctor.
The six-penny doctor has departed and
another reigns in his stead.
Getting Even.
From Pick-Me-Up: Pew Opener (con-
f1dentiy)-That woman I just seated is
NHre ~. =