Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-30
NOW MY IDEA is THIS!
Daily Talks With Thinking Philadephans Subjects They
KnOv Best =
KnOW Best

like $500 students. This shows clearly. I
think. that the physicians OF the country
erably faster than they are being supplied.
Another matter of which want to speak
in this connection is the vast host OF
empires which has sprung up within the
last-fcw years all over the country. Ihey
represent many more or less illeRitimate
branches of medicine and are usually per-
sons with no standard of preliminary edu.
cation. no training of any consequence ana
no ideals, who have taken advantage OF this
situation. introduced themselves into the
field'of medicine and claim. all the honors
and the rights Of the medical profession and
of the men who have cOnscientiously anu
vigorously taken a severe and difficult course
of highly technical training.
Physicians Badly Needed
"The educated physician has many great
fields in which to practice. and this Is espc
cially the case In the rural districts. We
recently received at our college a letter
written from one of the smaller of the coun-
ties of PENNSYLVANIA and signed by the
Justice of the Peace. the forest ranger and
the taxidermist. asking MS to send them q
physician who would become resident OF
their community and setting forth their
great need
This situation can be multiplied BY
thousands all over the country in the rural
districts, and 1t was recently reported
officially that more than seventy towns in
towns in Connecticut were without physi-
clans Of any kind.
The Solution
II am not sure that the best solution of
this difficulty. which. If it Is not now con-
sidered formidable by the public, might
easily become SO, Is added facilities for the
medical colleges. and ] must not be under
stood as representing that all medical col
leges are in the position of ours in the num-
Der Of applicants received each year, which
we cannot take.
''The best solution as it seems to me
lies in the hands of the puhkc itself. and
that is to make the meulcal pybfesson more
attractive to young men by better compen-
sation and increased advantages for study.
In the matter of compensation, ] am not
speaking Of the specialist who generally
gets all he is worth. hut the general prac-
Immense demands are made upon his time
skill and labor and the recompense is rarely
sufficient to make the medical profession
attractive to the young men who must be
our physicians Of tomorrow.
Instances are also found where the
public ts responsible in another way. Take
the case Of the medical school Of BOwdoin
College in Maine. 1t was a school serving
useful purpose for 1t was educating the
country physicians of its own State. When
great that the college could no longer carry
the school. the Legislature was appealed to
for an appropriation. 1t was granted, but
was vetoed by the Governor. and as the
people OF Maine did not insist upon it. the
school was closed. after 100 years of useful
work. The people of this State were Ger.
| tanly short sighted in putting out OF bust :
ness the plant which gave them their phy /.
| sicians. which they could not hope to get
| from the big cities.
IF the public wants Its health interests
taken care Of it must support the medical
profession, the members of which have made
terrific sacrifices to establish and maintain
n high standard of medical education: and
the same public must not look so lcniently
upon the fellow who wants to sneak in the
back door and sit down with the doctor"