Arizona republican., 1921-03-31
By Frederic ]. Haskin

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 30. Small towns and rural districts in all parts of the country are worried over a shortage which the city dwell- CT can scarcely comprehend. This is the shortage of doctors.
 In the cities and large industrial towns about every square has doc tors brass sign. Whole office build ings are given over to medical men. And if you still doubted that doctors constitute a fair quota of the popu
 lation, a glance at a classified city
 directory would show you exactly how many columns of doctors stand ready to tide you over any attack of germs.
 But go out in the country. or even to remote town, and you might have
 to send 25 miles or more for a doc tor in case of an emergency. And
 there would be no ambulance to take
 you to hospital on short notice. This is a difficulty so serious that
 the neglected communities are trying to do something about it. It is widely advertised that in Massachusetts doctorless towns are offering bonuses
 to young medical graduates who will come to practice for them. Similar inducements are held out in other states. In some cases. a house has been offered to the doctor, a weighty argument in a time when houses are | if anything more scarce than country doctors. In almost every case noted | the community seems to be able to
 assure the physician that he will have | plenty to do and that he should make | $2,000 or more a year.
 Some of the doctorless towns have
 conducted their drive for doctors with success. Others are still hunting. It | generally takes more than a house | arlA Q s,f y-sQ frA1 1frraa
 a doctor to the country nowadays. l The fact is. it costs so much money, time and work to become a doctor
 now that the graduate feels that he
 deserves a large reward. It is not 1 so long since two years was the
 length of the medical course and a high school diploma was not always required of the medical student
 From that point, the medical colleges
 have been steadily raising their
 standards until now first class uni | versity demands either an A. R de-
 gree before the student can begin his medical course, or, as is more gen. orally the case, two years of pre- medical college work is required. This gives the student Latin. chemis try, biology, and other regular col lege subjects which will lay the best foundation for medical work.
 Doctors Hard to Make
 The medical course which follows
 this college preparation is four years,
 and after that the doctor very often spends two years as an interne in a
 hospital. The graduate is therefore 25 years old at least. before he can
 begin his career. He represents an
 investment of S4,600, Columbia uni
 versity figures About S12O0 of this
 he has paid in tuition. and the rest the college has estimated.
 Every branch of medicine con stantly shows more problems to be
 solved by men who can give some time to research. Then there is a ] demand for even more expert service than the graduate practitioner can , give, and so the young doctor often combines practice with further study to become a specialist. Neither of ) these lines of work leads him far l afield. He stays close to his univer- l sity or goes to some other city where [ opportunities for study may be even
 more desirable.
 s Even if he decides to be a general !. practitioner, the graduate doctor still
 clings to the city. In the city he has f the benefit of consultation with other , doctors. There are medical societies } hospitals, clinics and libraries where he can keep in touch with progress. : In a rural district, unless it is neal P q city, he must forego these advan- tages, and there is added the further l trouble of transportation difficulties It costs around 10 cents a mile tC Q run an ordinary car on good road T 15 cents on a poor road. At this rate l. doctor who is called to a home T five miles out has to spend a dollar ? to get there and back. And five miles is accounted a short distance . in the country.
 To make such visits takes up z
 good deal of the doctors time
 Usually he discounts this loss. Btu : he does add a charge for distance tC z his fee when he has to travel beyond |, | certain fixed limits. This makes the a fee higher than it would be in a city
 md may cut down his income in tn !, long run because patients can afford d to send for doctor only in an eN- - 1 tremity Mostly. though, the smal d town or country doctor has all th' - pra ctice he can handle Even wiu
 the charge for distance upon the pa