Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-22
COUNCIL TO HEAR
PROFESSIONAL MEN
Relative to the Proposition to
Impose a Tax for Munich
pal Purposes.

City Council, in committee OF the whole,
newt "Wednesday night, will hear persons
interested i'm the epnding ordinance tax
inr professions Representatives OF the
state Dental Association were present
last night. expecting that the ordinance
wonld he discussed then. but consideration
was deferred They said they came not
~ opposc the ordinance, but To listen To
discussion !,
There - growing opposition among the
members of the medical profession to the
proposed tax The medical men feel that
because of the peculiar nature OF their
work in such tax should he imposed upon
them. In an interview today, DIR. W.
Tdwin Bird. secretary of the New Castle
County Medical society, said that no.
body outside the medical profession has
any idea of the amount of charity work
the medical men are constantly called on
a. 90. and do II willingly Continuing,
nr BIRD said
After n canvass of large number of
the practitioners of the city we have dis
covered that approximately one-third
a all tho work n physician here does rs
fnr charity. We see and treat n great num-
her from whom We never expect pay.
Also we see and treat great number
who should pay, agree 10 pay, but never
dn pay. These two groups total one-third
nf the work we do. on the average In
other words. the medical profession IS
asked "a MAINTAIN the health of onc-third
nf this community as a charity; onc-third
of the disease here is treated as public
henehcence. the health conditions of ono
third of this city are kept up as gift
from the medical profession.
And 10. and behold, along comes the
CITY Council and proposes 10 tax the pro
fcssion for the privilege Of doing thus
charity Talk about appreciation, under
standing. and gratitude, we wish every
councilman were a physician. He'd have
his eyes opened to something's he does
not know about. apparently.
In the first place, the state impoees
tax of $50 so per annum for the privilege
81 practicing medicine here, despite the
fact that Il y the recipient OF a charity
from the physicians totalling one-third OF
an the work We do. Delaware, | believe,
stands alone IA this tax. A few years ago
fur States had such tay-Delaware,
Virginia. south Carolina and Georgia.
Some time back Virginia and Georgia
became ashamed Of it, and rcpea,ed IT
and | am under the impression that
south Carolina did likewise ieaving Della
ware a. the lone State that has the gall
to tax her phvsicians annually for the
prtvlege Of practiclng. IN other words
Tor the right 10 treat the poor people
free.
The medical profession is the only
profession that is called upon to spend |
one-thrrd nf its energies, one-thIrd Of its |
time. unc-third oi Us skill, and One-third |
n ts overhead expense for charity, and |
We contend. hv AL that is fair and just. |
that the State tax y q disgrace 20 Della |
war;. making her appear almost a mig |
gardly pauper instead of her true posi- |
tlon one ol the very richest States in |
the lnlon And this proposed oity tax |
seven worse, for the amount raised would |
10 negligible. ! know OF absolutely no |
city that has such tax.
~ see by the press that some Of the |
LAWYERS approve 81 this tax that rs il IT has |
a. he. The lawyers can readily paw |
taxes No profession gets better fees, |
and no profession collects larger per-
eontage OF It's bills than the lawyers
Show me the LAWYER in Wilmington that
does one-third of all his work for nothing:
show me the lawyer who donates to the
poor of this city one-third of his time and
one-third of his training, and one-third
" his ability. You cant do It; there isn't
such a lawyer here
TO show the difference between the
Aftt WIS ktis tNtn tfDHi poor
people, and the fees the doctors get,
let me cite a case Of my own. man was
hurt al work had an operation done some
two years ago. hut was never able to
work again because of his injured foot.
4 few months back he was referred TO me
to have the foot amputated, so that, with
a mechanical foot, he could get back to
work. Because he was q poor man, /
charged him only 5000 for the ampuJa-
ton which Included the operation and
three weeks after-treatment As n matter
of fact, he has paid me only one-hah of
this sum. Now. the lawyer who pre-
scntcd hrs papers 90 the Accident Com
mission charged him $4,000 for this |
relatively snght service, and got the whole |
5000. They generally get theirs, you
Will notice.
There are some people in this city, as |
m all communities, who would gladly paw |
a lawyer $500 90 TO $4,000 TO keep them |
out of jail for three years who would |
kick like Texas steers at paying q doctor |
5000 90 $4,000 10 keep them out of hell |
for lifetime 10 is such as these that |
make the practice of medicine a burden, |
sometimes
Finally To make a professional tax |
complete, II the physicians are TO be taxed |
for doing charity, We must include in the /
tayablcs all the ministers, for their aver
age financial return equals that OF the /
physicians Also, we must include the /
poor, under-paid teachers for they are in /
a professional occupation. And we must |
not leave out all the highly-traIned pro- /
fessional chemists and engineers of the /
du Pont and other companies. II we must |
have a professional tax, let us be thro- /
ourh with II. halfway measures viii |
surely defeat the bill
This Society protests against this BILL |
bocause we feel Il Is manifestly unjust |
We stand alone IN the amount Of charity /
We do, and we claim exemption from such |
taxes becatlga az thie charftvp