The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-02-11
PROFESSIONAL
FOUNDATIONS
AVERAGE PROFESSIONAL MAN
CHARACTERIZED AS BUSINESS"
JOKE BY DR.. r. w. CHANDLER
IN CURRENT ISSUE OF THE
DENTAL BRIEF.

In an article on professional Found
atoms" by DR.. Frank w. Chandler of
this city, published in the February
number of The Dental Brief, the Fargo
dentist doesn't leave any doubt in the
mind of the reader as to his views on
commercialism among the profession.
He says in part:
In the last analysis, and putting aside
all cant and pretense. the professions
have an underlying stratum of com
mercialism. That word means what
we choose to have it mean. But in or
binary usage 'commercialism" means
the supplying of legitimate demands
and the creation of normal and healthy
desires that we may satisfy them
Emerson puts it: Taking things from
where they are plentiful to where they
are scarce.
We educate ourselves in dentistry
with a definite object in view, to supply
our services where they are needed, to
meet an existing need; which is divided
into two parts: The need of the public
and our own. The public needs dental
care; we need the public's money. We
expect to give more than we receive,
and the extent to which we do this
determines the ethics of our practice.
A successful professional man is one
who through his skill. his personality
and the environment with which he has
surrounded himself, has men a need /;
in other words has brought his profess
sional wares to market and disposed
of Them
The average professional man, med
ical or dental, as far as his business
ability Is concerned, is a standing
joke. We are fish for the bait of the
book agent. the mining stock shark and
thousand other questionable enter
prises; and were we to pay a little
more attention to the business side
OF life we would be in better standing
with the commercial world, and the
general public would have more con-
fidence in what we say and do.
The regard in which the profession
of dentistry is held liz determined
largely by the surroundings under
which we work our general appearance
and the company we keep. Again, we
spend one-third of our professional
lives in our offices. Nothing kills am
bition SO soon, nothing 80 retards a
man from attaining his ideals, as his
surroundings. A man who will work
in this age without modern electrical
appliances, modern conyeniences and
labor-saving devices, is a blood rela-
ton to the man who threshes his wheat
with fail. / have heard competent
workmen say that they could make just
as much money with this equipment as
they could with an expensive outfit II
that is not an acknowledgement of the
rankest commercialism, my ideas are
subject to correction. -
Acknowledgement of our success lies
at all times in the hands of the public,
not in the hands of the profession we
represent. 1t is an old and common
fallacy based on selfshness thai a man
can do as much work in a dirty. ILL
kept and poor appearing Office with
poor equipment and under surround
ings anything but ideal as he can in
an office with modern equipment sucn
as is now possible. &c
heard a member OF a society, moi
very long since, say he did not know
how much to charge for certain classes
of work. What a man in that state of
mind needs is a nurse. How many are
In like condition? They are towards,
they are afraid TO ask what is right.
and want to know what the other
fellow gets. and base their fees on
that. They have not self assurance to
stand alone. They want wall to lean
upon. If the colleges would create
chairs devoted to the business end of
our profession and have them held by
practical, successful dentists, the fees
could be increased and our entire pro-
fession would reap the beneft. Thus
broader ideas and better business
sense would result We would know
that a dollar has 100 cents and would
not be fooled out OF our hard learned
increment so easily. $50
our standing will be measured by
the good we do. and the knowledge
we spread, rather than by the prices
we get. or ought to get, or say we get
We owe ourselves and the public pari
Of our time for public good. for pro.
fessional standing, ike individual
standing. ii judged BY our efforts foa
the good and the byttsrment OF mgp-
kind.