Evening star., 1922-03-19
BY THOMAS r.. MARSHALL.
Former Vice President Of the
United States.

United States.
A DAGE holds. sway over the
~ minds Of men from age
n to age merely because one
adage Is Immediately sue
ceeded by another as soon as 1t
a spring. but 1t is likely to pro-
duce fall-now that the eight
eenth amendment Is working.
straws may show which way the
wind is blowing. but all straws
are not storm-tossed. Some stacks
are protected against the wind. 1t
, is OF slight moment where the
vagrant straw may go. but it is
highly important to see to it that
the rest of the stack does not
follow in Its train.
The sneers and criticism of
certain American surgeons touch
Ing the work of DR.. LorenA ia
nous Austrian. may be regarded
as straws blown by the winds of
destiny out of the medical pro-
fession and through American
life. These straws are not the
first to be blown from that source.
AS friendly critic, l would sug-
gest that the profession take
cognizance of them as detrimental
to its high ideals.
X Y X +
Every now and then I find a
doctor or surgeon mourning
over what he deplores to be the
manifest tendency of the Ameri-
can people to regard his profess
sion with doubt and suspicion.
This he naturally and properly
resents. as he feels that his fra
ternity has done everything pos
sible to deserve the respect and
confidence of the public. 1t has
constantly raised the standards
of study and practice and has
diligently sought to keep out dis
reputable members.
My father was what was commonly
known as an old-fashioned coun-
try doctor. His type has about
passed from the life Of the nation.
He looked on himself as one called
to a divine mission. He believed
that all which God had given him
and all that he had added by study
and experience were to be devoted
TO the alleviation o. suffering. He
did not consider that he was
either in trade or in business. The
making of money was incidental
to the granting OF relief. He never
thought of asking messenger
who knocked at his door whether
the man who needed his services
could or would pay. Like the dis
ciples of old, without purse or
script he went about the consum-
nation of what he believed to be
his divinely ordained mission. He
may have lacked the Eraces and
refinement which mark modern
professional life. but he felt him
self a member of dignified and
learned profession and he conduct
ed himself in accordance with its
finest traditions.
= i: = X
When I came to the bar / was so
deeply impressed with the idea of
the call upon the soul of man who
took upon himself the discharge
of a mission which he thought
labeled him a son of God that
never, save one, in the course of
in opposition to the interests oe a
physician or surgeon. AS the story
indicates the blowing of a danger
Gus wind. 1t is worth relating. The
practitioner I opposed was wholly
ignorant of the human anatomy.
He had. however. become possessed
Of a set of surgical instruments.
Called in to attend boy suffering
from an overdose of Indiana Gu
cumbers. he proceeded to operate.
He thought he had discovered
case Of appendicitis. So ignorant
was he that he made incision on
the left side Of the abdomen. The
life of the boy was saved only
by the skill of another surgeon.
Did the medical fraternity dis
avow this practitioner as skilled
and learned man? Did it hold him
up to the contempt and fear OF
the community that he deserved?
I regret to say it did not. I took
the inh of making public In court