The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-24
.ENGLAND'S LACK OF
 MODERATE PRICED HOSPITALS SHOWN N

cumstances is the thing that most 1rn- pressed the members Of the Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North Ameri- ca who just met in London. All of London's wonderful hospitals. where visitors have been watching operations by the great British surgeons, are charity hospitals. People who can afford to pay are barred and must either go to the inadequatAy equipped private nursing homes or be operated upon in their residences.
 Dr. Franklin H. Martin, of Chicago, general secretary of the congress, felt this condition keenly, as he had a touch of appendicitis during his visit to London and then learned that the hospitals he had been admirfng would not have received him had he been forced to go under the ky.ife.
 This method of conducting hospitals anazes us from North America" said DS Martin. "Palatia1 buildings, oc- eupying acres of the most valuable land in the capital of the world, are devoted. solely to non-paytng patients, excluding from their advantages the patient of moderate means and made prohibitive to patients of wealth. This works injustice both ways. With their large endowments, these hos
 pita1s can afford the most elaborate equipment Of operating rooms and laboratory diagnostic facilities. Yet patients of means are compelled to go to the imperfect1y equipped private hospitals or to nursing homes with their makeshift arrangement This must in turn have a pauperfzing effect on people of. small means who enter the hospitals as charity patients when they would gladly pay a small sum.
 'The injustice worked on the pay ing patient may be serious as nursing and private homes can not afford ex- pensive apparatus such as the latest x-ray machines and the like. Dr. Martin has only praise fors the British surgeons. He believes them for their profession than the Ameri- can. By this he means preliminary training and the necessity of each English surgeon being a fellow of the Royal College Of Surgeons, which Estandardizes requiremen ts.
 s9The averape English surgeon is more deliberate in the technical per formance of his work than the ssver- age American or FTenchman,'s pr. Martin declared.
 Whether a physician should adopt the cheery manner of bygone days or wear a look of basinesslilxe solemnity. is the controversy raised in the Lon- don press by Lord, Rosebery, who in 8 speech at Epson college said he would. rather a. thousand times be treated by a. third rate doctor with genial features than a first rate man of repe11ant countenance.
 "The old fashioned type, who en- tered rubbing his hands, poked the pa- tient in the ribs and started to tell him jokes." replies one physician, would have a hard time holding his practice these days"
 Another writer answers that the doctor 1k ed by the best modern pa ltient is the one who listens gravely and ends by saying, 1T know exactly what the trouble is, The main rea@ son why the grave doeton is liked IS because he is good listener, and patients love to do the talking when 1t comes to their troubles.
 A Nearly everyone prefers the doctor with the c1aur1ish manner, providins he has a good record of cures,'' con- fer who is as likely to kill you as not.''
 The call to the colors fos. the contin- enta1 reservists had immediate effect on London restaurants, hotels and boarding houses. London became al-
 The old fashioned English waiter s all but extinct. His passing has been : deeply regretted by the older genera tions of English. because of his rinteI- Hgent service, which he regarded as i one of the fine arts, and his respect ful demeanor. But he could not with stand the competition of the cheaper living foreigner
 While French and Italian servants have been attracted to London by the better pay, a large part Of the Ger mans have come over for the so1a purpose of learning English. Even street car conductors and taxi drivers in most Of the German cities are com pelled to know English, and the knowledge of foreign languages is an asset for any type of German wage earner. sdaA ssaE
 London business houses also are f11i- ed with German clerks, who Vvork for 1 little or nothing in order to learn Eng fish and master English business meth ods. Their leaving has largely dis organized business.
 The British Red Cross Society can call upon 6oQ00 persons, many Of them highly trained, to undertake fae1d am bu1ance and hospital work If there is a serious demand for their serv1ces | 1t is estimated that at least 95 per cent. of this numb err will obey the call.
 The society is the body officially rec ognfzed-by the war department, and
 acts under the direction of the ad- mira1ty and war office, in conjunction with the hospital staff. It's present
 organization and status is due to the
 lessons of the South African war.
 when various independent nursing so-
 cieties. some of them poorly manag-
 ed and all interfering with each oth- CTS movements, caused the authori- i ties no end of trouble. The result
 was that all societies were analgamat-
 ed and put under one head
 l The forms of aid of the society in-
 o1udes the provision and equipment of
 hospital ships and trains, hospitals
 and convaiescent homes, clothing,
 medical supplies, food and comforts
 for the soldier, such as pipes tobacco.
 chocolate playing cards and station
 ary.
 The travelling public paid the Brit
 ish railway companies $4s, ,60e 900 for
 excess baggage in 1913 and this not
 withstanding the fact that the Eng 1ishman boasts that he travels light
 compared with the average American.
 The only way that this great amour [
 can be explained is that the English
 man invariably sends his luggage in l