The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-17
He USES THE LASH
Of HOT R|D|CULE
Attacking the Decision of
the Supreme Court.
1T is THE BIGGS CASE

and That This Decision Has
Not Settled the
Matter.
To the Editor: l am glad you publish
ed in full the decision of the Supreme
Court on the amendment to the medical
law of the State l can conceive of moth
ing more important to the people of our
State than the preservation of their lives
The writer is one who believes these
lives have been put in jeopardy by this
decision, and it is meet and proper the
persons thus affected should have an op-
portunity to judge for themselves
When the Supreme Court about a year
ago decided that osteopathis could prac-
tice here without an examination, the
writer expressed himself strongly in the
public prints. Because the Court decided
| the law insufficient to hold them? No,
but because it went farther and said even
though other States had excluded them if
the Legislature of North Carolina at
tempted such a thing it would declare
their acts unconstitutional
1t was a palpable attempt to intimidate
| the law-making power of the State.
Friends of Justice Clark vigorously COM
batted this idea. Time has passed, the
results are now a matter of history, and
who was right?
The law was amended, has been de-
clared unconstitutional, and the Legisla-
ture given a sharp lecture for ,presump-
ton.
Chief Justice Clark says the Court pass
ed on this matter once and "after this
decision moderation and wisdom would
have suggested that the matter rest
Listen to that, ye solons of the Old North
State. You lacked both moderation and
wisdom; now go hang your heads in
shame. Had not the oracle spoken? Peo-
pie who lack moderation are called ex-
tremists and fanatics and people who lack
wisdom are known as foolish, nonsensical.
senseless, silly and stupid. Isn't that
pleasing pen picture of the Legislature
of North Carolina?
The writer of the decision is shrewd
enough to realize that a decision carries
more weight, where the judges are thought
to be impartial, but he unconsciously.
shows his own bias when he approvinly
quotes a humorist thus: ''If the whole
materia medica was sunk to the bottom
of the sea it would be all the better for
mankind and all the worse for the fishes"
Taken as whole we may say that what
in the decision is true is not new, and
what is new is not true: the real issue at
stake is studiously avoided and the high
est arts of the sophist are brought into
play to mislead and delude the reader.
From 1857 to the present day the medi-
cal profession of this State in common
with their brothers elsewhere, have ask
ed for but one thing-competency on the
part of those protesting to treat diseases.
Let a man prove his competency, and the
regular physician cares absolutely moth
ing what ology or pathy he practices.
Competency-it is not only the principal
question at issue, it is the sole question
at issue; but the writer shuns it like the
devil does holy water. He is like a GER
tain fish which when pursued by his enc
mics squirts a dirty liquid in the water,
that hides him from pursuit. He seeks to
befog the issue and instead of discussing
the question of competency rings in the
old cry of monopoly, and makes petit
Jogging appeal to class hatred.
He uses the term "M. d. in most
contemptuous manner, and ridicules the
pretensions of the "Allopathy.' A regu
| lar physician should not be called an
"Allopathy,'' any more than Chief JUS
tice Clark should be called a communist
because he rails at monopoles 1t is used
only by people ignorant of the meaning Of
the word, or by those with mental
vision so distorted as to be unable to per-
ceive the truth.
He says "Those not M. DIS contend
| that the allopathic system of practice is
contrary to the discoveries of science and
| injurious to the public
This statement is not true. because there
is no such things as an "allopathic sys-
tenn of practice If he means by that
| term the system of regular physicians it Is
not true, because a regular physician can
practice osteopathy, mind cure or any
other path or ism that to his mind would
cure a patient. There are no limits to
what a regular physician may or may not
do in pactice as long as he does nothing
criminal.
Dunglison, our greatest medical lexico-
grapher, thus defines "Allopathy" "a
term often employed as a name for ration
al medication by those who do not un-
derstand the priniples of the latter"
Does our Chief Justice belong to that
class ''who do not understand" what they
so glibly discuss?
Mr. Editor, do not believe any unpre-
JUDGED observer can read this decision
without being struck by the vein OF big
otry and intolerance that runs through 1T
all. Words are given misleading inter
probation, fallacious statements are made
regarding the medical profession, and
even mercenary motives imputed to their
labors for the public veal Speaking of