The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-04-01
Carpenters Aduice Alter Experience

 doctors betimes. who charged me from fifty cents to a dollar visit. and then concluded to come to Ber- lin and stay here until well. The doctor called at the hotel and put me to bed. He kept me there for a week. and I remained in my room under his treatment for a week longer. when 1 was thoroughly cured. During the whole time I had no more than two degrees of fever and at the close none of the weak ness that follows a case of grippe or influenza. I read novels and dictated to my stenographer while in as usual. The doctor classified nay case as pneumonia. and he may be right, but if so his skill was such that my whole illness left me with no more lack of energy than comes from a bad cold.
 Doctors At s2SS osiI.
 During my illness he made 2s calls. ranging in length from 10 minutes to perhaps half an hour, and at it's close I visited him once at his house. There was no surgical treatment whatever excepting the dab of Iodine with which he now and then swabbed my throat. Never theless, when the bill came. its was
 
 itemized at 2s visits at SEQ per visit. and a house consultation at s10 more. At the present exchange s470 would be over twenty million marks.
 Costly pr...n.o Q For 2 Q Doctors,
 The bill came to me as shock. I had liked the Professor Dr. .'Spezialarzt fur Innere Krankhe- iten." as his bill states, and at hts invitation had even visited his home in one of the most fashionable streets of Berlin. His apartment is beautifully furnished, the floors be- ing covered with Oriental rugs and the walls hung with paintings by the best German artists. l confess | might have anticipated the charge by the way he showed me his trea- sures, for he took me from paint ing to painting, adding as looked at each that 1t was present given him as a mark of gratitude by some one he had cured. l remember one snow scene. about as big as a dining table, which he called the "Pneu- monfa picture" It came from a patient, and l can see new that he was thinking, perhaps, Of another such painting from me A second was the "Mastoiditis pie ture," the reward for treating a boy who had caught a cold back of his ear And third. l think, had the mental label "Gastritfs" It was the same with the rugs on the floor- each represented some cheerful dis- ease which his skill had destroyed, and about the only sickness not rep I resented was housemaid's knee, but I can see why that Is omitted, as his speciality Is fur Innere Krank- neiten" meaning that he treats only diseases of the lungs, liver and iiehts, to which "housemaid's knee" may not belong.
 Gentle Protest Against 0verchargen.
 Indeed, this bill was so large that I felt I could not pay it without protest and I wrote the Professor pr. the following letter. asking him toA make out a new bill on the gi ound that the first was too high. This letter gives such an insight into present conditions here in Ger many that I may be pardoned Tor publishing 1t almost in full.
 Hotel Gaiserhof, Berlin. My dear Professor Dr.:
 q am surprised at your bill which I have duly received. In my experi ence with the most eminent men or ycrr profession all the world over I have met with nothing like IL. Your charges are four times those of the best doctors of London, seven times those of good doctors in cities of the United States, and more than twice the highest war prices or our specialists who have the best stand ing in your profession. Iney arc 50 excessive that l cannot hold my self-respect by paying this bill with out an objection, thing when | have never done in the past Twen- ty dollars a call seems to me out or all reason. None of your twenty three calls involved stay or as much as thirty minutes or any physical treatment other than pen ciiiing my throat. which. as you know, Is a two minutes 1oo.
 Seven Years, Rent For Doctors Visit.
 T am wondering if you realize how this account LOOKS to an .,, u prefudiced observer, who knows something as to present conditions in Germany l mean as to house rent. low cost of living. and of wages I am told you are paying TOT your beautiful Broom apartment on one of the finest corners or hurfur- stendamm just s3 a year. If this be true YOU are asking me for each of your calls enough to pay your mousse rent for more than seven years, ana for your whole service. comprising less than 12 hours. what, at the present rate of exchange, is enough to pay your house rent for llb years. In other WOrusr NncH yott t'te@' At.-'-e boy of eight has reached the age or 33 and has a son, and that son S3 years thereafter has another, and so on down through the one and tnree- quarters centuries your blood goes, the fifth in the line of descent can still be living with his family in your magnificent home at my ex- pense. Of course, times may change and rents may rise. l am speaking only of present conditions.
 Doctors Versus Cooks.
 And then, my dear Professor Dr.. let us look at the bill on the basis of the labor involved The best housemaids and cooks in Berlin are now receiving in marks what amounts to less than 10 cents week. Let usr suppose that, in your greatness of heart, you are especially liberal and are paying your cook 20 cents a week. You are asking me, for your half days work. as much as your cook will get for her 12 hours hard labor every day for more than 45 years. if she should be so fortu- nate as to live with you that long. Yeu are asking for that half day ~ times the monthly salary of the manager of a department of the big pest electric works in Germany. l have 1t from his own mouth. He has 5000 men under him, and is receiv- ing only $10 month. His. technical education Is, I venture, equal to yours Your bill would pay his sal ary for almost four years. You may eav vour cook has her board, but