The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-10-06
Governor Johnson,s Surgeons.

Governor Johnson's Surgeons.
Rochester, Mimi, where Cover
nor Johnson struggled in vain for
life at the hospital of the Drs. Mayo,
had less than 1000 inhabitants in
the year 1900. 1t is about 60 miles
south of st. Paul and in ordinary
speech, a physician or surgeon To-
Gated in such place would be
called country doctor" Possibly
many persons in the East have
wondered why the Governor should
have gone to such small town for
his operation, and it may be worth
while to enlighten them. Here is
a case illustrating the fact that it
is not necessary for talented sur
geons to locate in large cities If
they are great enough to draw patti
ents to them, no matter now far
they may be from the centers of
population.
The Drs. Mayo, William and
Charles H., brothers, stand very high
in their profession. The elder has
the degree LII. d. from the Univer-
sity of Toronto and the University
of Maryland, and A. Nj. from the
University of Michigan, and F. h.
G. S. (Edinburg). He has always
been the president of the American
Medical association. The younger
has an A. NJ. from Northwest Uni
versity and has been president of
the Minnesota State Medical associa-
tion. This is doing very well for
country DOCTORS" who have never
practised except in their little home
town of Rochester, MINI.
They established their own hos
pital and to-day they draw patients
from a radius of 1000 miles. A
Baltimore surgeon of excellent
standing, who visited the Mayo es.
tablished a few years ago, is quoted
as saying concerning them:
"One of the reasons of their great
success in keeping themselves al
ways up-to-date is that they al
ways have from their earliest college
days made it point to spend three
months of every year abroad or
travelling in this country, visiting
the principal medical centers to get
new ideas and keep themselves
thoroughly up to the times. In this
way, while they have no medical
school attached to their hospital,
they constantly review the work of
others and so stimulate their own
efforts. They always have Is or 20
surgeons attending their operations
to witness their work, and to these
they extend the most courteous
treatment. These men have COM
pletely swept away the common idea
that medical man with great tall
ents has the best field for them in
large city, and they remain in
Rochester by preference. The rea-
son of this preference, as explained
by one of these men, is that they be-
lieve they can do more and better
work when relieved from all the
obligations and consultations which
would be required of them in a big
city, to say nothing of the social du-
ties which would be incumbent upon
them. AS it is now, they begin
their operating at $3.50 in the morn
ing and continue this until about
IL o'clock or later, and the afternoon
is devoted to looking over the results
of examinations made of patients
by their assistants. When the
days work is over they can go
home and go to bed, and be fresh
and ready for the next days work.
And they certainly do an enormous
amount of work, enough to kill the
best of surgeons in a large city,
their average being about 10 major
operations a day, and they often
only stop for lack of beds in which
to place the patients after opera
tions." .., ,
The Drs. Mayo are the sons of
DR.. William w. Mayo, an English
surgeon who served in the United
States army and who settled in
Rochester after his retirement from
army life. These facts are of sufi-
cient interest to place in the record
of Governor Johnson's case, since
they demonstrate that the Cover
nor of Minnesota had the very best
of professional attendance and care,
notwithstanding that small and
remote community has been the
place where he went for treatment.
Springfield Republican,