The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-05-21
Condemn Friedman?

Just because Doctor Friedman,
the German physician, who claims
that he has discovered cure for tu-
bercuosis, has disposed of a portion
of his rights to the cure" for a mon
ey consideration, many papers have
loudly condemned the man and no
paper could show more disgust than
has The Burlington Free Press,
which, among other things, says,
"They may talk about Americans be-
ing mercenary, but this young Ger
man, il he is not actually a fraud, is
the most commercial benefactor of
mankind that history has known"
The professional mans code will
bring the man into contempt, accord
ing to the contemporary.
Isn't this a little bit overdone? Is
it wrong for man to profit in a
reasonable manner from his discov-
cries, whether they be in the domain
of useful commercial commodities or
in the field of medicine? There have
been other benefactors of mankind
who have not been so much abused
for looking to the future of them
selves and those who are dependent
upon them Edison has brought some
boons to the world and that he Is a
rich man is not to his discredit. The
discredit of richness comes when it
is not earned. If Friedman has dis
covered a cure for tuberculosis the
world may well afford to pay for it.
If he is a fakir, his offence will not
come from charging for something
which he alleged he had brought forth
by patient time serving in the labora-
tory, but in imposing on the people
and taking their money under false
pretenses.
The everyday doctor isn't a con-
tinual Christmas tree. Those who
go to him have to pay for his servic-
es. for he and his family have to
live. And it is no more than just
that the pawn INT should be in keep
ing with the service that he renders.
What a service it would be to man
kind were the cure for the white
plague to be foundl Doctor Fried
mann by his simple act of getting
some money for himself, provided
his cure is a cure. is doing nothing
criminal nor anything that the world
should frown upon. The discoverer
of a new surgical method that cuts
down the percentage of mortality,
charges in proportion to the increas-
ed value of his service, and there is
no complaint
There is too much talk about pro
fessional ethics in this. There is
too much blind worship of something
that isn't based on common sense.
II the German doctor we're so to dis.
pose of his remedy that IL couldn't
be obtained except by the rich, IL
would be another matter. but such
disposition cannot be made. for IL it
is a cure it would be bought out of
the strongest vaults that man can
build just because mans demand for
it would be greater than his power
to build vaults.
OF the merits Of the Friedman
cure, that belongs to another pro-
vince. The Messenger can pretend
to no knowledge of e. IT may affect
its best cure by being thrown away:
that win have to be decided by those
who are competent. and even after
an accepted decision is given there
will be those who will dissent. He
may be q. fakir or may not be, but
the final judgment Of him must be on
his cure itself, and not on how he
deals with II IN the commercial mar.
ket. The cure viii be the same whet
her be gets paid for Il OF not, and
the world wants the cure.-St Al
bans Messenger.