Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-05-16
CHAPTER II.
Thinqs Beyond Price.

Things Beyond Price.
The dispensary was Woodman's
hobby. The old-fashioned drug store
in the rear extension which opened on
the side street, he had established
what he had laughingly called his
Life Line" a free dispensary where
any man needing medicine or a doc
tors advice could have it without
charge if unable to pay.
For ten years he had maintained
the work at his own expense, out Of
the profits of his store. The happiest
hours Of his life he had spent here
ministering to the wants of his neigh
bors. He had come to be more than
consulting physician at the dispen-
sary. He had become the friend and
counsellor of thousands.
The waiting room was crowded, and
the line extended into the street. On
the doctors entrance the shadows sud-
and called his name. He waved a
cheerful salutation and hurried to his
place beside the assistant.
For two hours Stuart saw him min
lister with patience and skill to the
friendless and the poor. For each a
cheerful word, and the warm grasp Of
his big hand with the prescription.
The young lawyer watched with curl
Gus interest the quickened step with
which each one left. The medicine
had begun to work before the pre-
scription was filled. Waves Of heal
ing from a beautiful spirit had enter
ed the soul, and dropping heads were
suddenly raised.
When the last applicant had gone,
Stuart turned to the doctor:
And what is the proposition which
the distinguished young head Of the
Chemical Trust has made you?"
THAT l sell my business to them at
their own valuation and come into the
Trust-or get OFF the earth"
And you wish my advice?"
Yes"
What figure did he name?"
More than it's cash value"
Then you will accept, of course?"
Il would if there were not some
things that can't be reckoned in terms
of dollars and cents. If 1 take stock
i'm the American Chemical Company
am a party to their methods, an heir
to their frauds"
Isn't fraud a rather harsh word,
doctor?"
No. It's the truth"
Stuart smiled good -naturedly.
Yet isn't the old regime of the small
manufacturer and the retailer DOOM
ed? Isn't combination the new order
of modern life? Will it pay you to
fight losing battle?"
The man who fights for the right
can't lose"
Unless they fight trusts" Stuart
said smilingly. "Bvens is not a man
of broad culture, but he is very
smooth young gentleman"
Hes a contemplate little scamp"
snapped the older man. when | took
him into my drug store six years ago,
he didn't have a change of clothes.
Now he's n millionaire. How did he
get it? He stole n formula had used
to relieve nervous headaches, mixed 1t
in water with a little poisonous col
oring matter, pushed it into the soda
fountain, made his first half million,
organized the American Chemical Com
pany and blossomed into a magnate.
And now this little soda fountain pip
threatens me with ruin unless l join
his gang and help him rob my neigh
bors. 1t happens that like my neigh
bors. And the more l see of this city,
the more thrilling it's life becomes, the
pOrtunity means one thing to me
quite another to Bivens. The world he
lives in is a small one. / live in Gods
big world. | belong to no class.
Millionaire on Murray Hill to his
equally lonely brother thief who crawls
into his lair by the river. And l don't
envy one more than another. My bus
mess is to heal the sick, not merely to
make money. Thousands of children
die at my very door every summer
who could he saved by a single pre-
scription If they could get it. That's
the thought that grips me when ! be-
gin To figure the profits in this trade.
I'm making fair living. | don't want
any more out of my neighbors. I've
shown YOU some of them tonight"
"rll never forget them" Stuart
broke in.
We used to cry over Uncle Toms
woes" the doctor continued. And
yet there are more than five million
white people in America today who
are the slaves of poverty, cruel and
pitless, who haven't enough clothes to
keep warm, enough food to eat, and
are utterly helpless and forsaken in
illness. The black slave always had
food and shelter, clothes and medicine.
My business is to heal the sick-mind