Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1917-09-21
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A SQUARE DEAL.

in relation to the right of that branch OF the
healing profession known as chyropractics to
practice their art or profession in this state, and
at the present time it appears as if the medical
trust, for we must admit that it is little less, APP
pears to have the upper hand and to be determined
to put those using other methods to their own out
of business
AS The Record views the matter, it is about like
this The recognized doctors, known as the allo-
paths are all the time making it harder and harder
for new men to get into their ranks, by the extern
sion of the course of study, the limiting of the
list of recognized medical schools to two or three,
by the manipulation of state boards, etc. with the
apparent purpose of maintaining a scarcity of men
in the profession and the ability to charge cor
respondingly high prices for services. This would
represent the extreme view on the part Of those
opposed to these methods of limitation. The other
Interpretation would be that the recognized doc
tors were acting in perfectly good faith and with
the sole purpose of safeguarding the public ag-
ainst imposters, incompetents and the vendors of
nostrums. Between these two extreme viewpoints
we believe there is a common ground on which
all honest people, whether doctors not, find
room to stand. First, it must be recognized that
if it were not for the protection afforded by the
laws and the medical boards, we would be overrun
with smooth quacks whose only qualification for
the practice of medicine would be their adroit use
of the gift of gab We have all experienced in
the past lot of this sort of abuse of the public
confidence 1t must, therefore be admitted that
protection for the public along the lines mentioned
is necessary On the other hand, there al
ways people Tin the medical profession and all
other walks of life) who are ready to take advan-
tage of any opportunity under the laws to gain
an unfair advantage, and go so far to the extreme
that the public through their lawmakers must in
tervene for protection and the square deal
In the matter of quacks and dispensers of nos
trums there is no excuse or palliation for the Of
tense Human life and the public health are in
serious jeopardy, and they should be put out of
commission soon as found But it does not fol-
low that the aopathic doctors have corner on
all knowledge connected with the healing of human
ills and in the specific of the chropractors, if
they should do no good, we have never heard of
them doing any harm, except perhaps to the peck
ct books of the patients possibly of the doctors
who are done out of fee for an operation that is
avoided.
That there is some virtue in chiropractcs in
certain cases, thaat many people have received
material benefit from its practice there is no de-
nying On the other hand, chiropractics is
only one very small limb of the healing art, and
is in no respect cure for all the ills of human
ity When the followers of this cult or art adver-
tse it as such they do more than anyone else to
iniure their own cause. But if under certain con-
ditons people receive great benefit from this sort
of treatment they ought to have the privilege of
obtaining it.
And right here we want to say that it is not
the big men in the medical profession who are
fighting chiropractics so bitterly. We have even
been told of a number of instances of leading men
in the medical profession in this state recommend
ing this treatment to patients whose trouble was
apparently located in the spinal column and who
failed to respond to other treatment. 1t is the
little narrow, two-by-four stripe of doctors who
are making the big howl about the chiropractors
and they are doing it because they fear that some
one else is going to divert dollar now and then
from them When this becomes apparent to the
public and the lawmakers, it will be the means of
injuring their cause and lessening their grip upon
the purse-strings of the people of the state.
There is a certain amount of efficacy in chiro-
practices and the human family is entitled to enjoy
the benefits of it, in cases where it is required
1t could with profit be added to the regular cur
riculum of the medical colleges, or it can be used
as at present as sort of special or side line This
is a day Of specalsm, in the medical profession as
we'll as in other lines We have the men who spec
ialize in surgery, in pulmanory diseases, in eye
ear, nose and throat diseases, in diseases of the
skin, in mental diseases, etc. and why not in Chiro
practices? And is it necessary for a man in order
to adjust the vertebrae of the spine to have first
pursued a complete course in materia medica?
This editorial is prompted by the various com
ments of the press of the state and not by any
local application. But cannot help feeling that
the fight against chropractors is prompted more
by jealousy of the patronage they have received
from the public than by a sense of the public safe
ty and welfare.
NOT 70 no low lof