Evening star., 1923-12-08

Quackery in medicine or surgery is
no new thing. But the disclosures in
the fake diploma mill" investigation
at Hartford, Conn, are appalling in
their revelation of the extent to which
uuackery has been made an organized
business, operating widely on an in
terstate scale. in the view of the ma
tons editors.
This was a development, however
certain to appear with the rise OF
state regulation of medical practice
and the continued advance in its
standards of requirements, in the
| opinion of the New York World
which says: This is peculiarly a
matter in which states can enforce
their own laws and restrictions, un-
hindered by what other states do. If
Connecticut is waking up to the fact
so much the better. Nor is the les
son confined there or to this phase OF
state regulative activity. Its teach
ing has a much broader application"
The states duty to safeguard the peo-
ple according to the Newark News,
REQUIRES that due knowledge of the
healing art sought to be practiced.
and possession of the high moral
character which must accompany SO
grave responsibilities, shall be dem
onstrated adequately, not by paper
attests, but by rigid examinations"
Likewise, the Roanoke Norld-NewS S
agrees, this cruelty fraudulent bust
ness will continue until every state
in the Union falls in behind New York
state and requires all doctors apply
ing for license to take the same test.
which makes it necessary for them to
know anatomy; physiology, medicine,
surgery and pathology"
X X :: x
The Boston Traveller also calls at
tention .to the peril involved in care
lessly welcoming physicians upon
! transfer from a state which does not
| examine each candidate with scru-
pulous regard for the public safety,
and maintains "the lines must be
drawn tight against quacks, not only
the ones who are inadequately equip
ped mentally, but, above all, those
! who are unequal morally to the Sc
rious responsibility which rests upon
| all doctors of medicine" To which
! the Chattanooga Times adds, "All
states should require physicians to
| file with the county clerk sum
| mary of their experience ana or their
school training"
But behind the problem of elimi-
mating the fraud stands that OF pro-
viding city and country communities
with an adequate supply of trained
and honest physicians, as the Indian
| apolis Star sees it, suggesting that
"one thing needed, possibly, is means
| to enable students with inadequate
| incomes to defray the heavy expenses
! of medical education" but 'the
| hopeful sign is that we are progress
! ing from an age of proprietary med
! ical schools and rule of thumb medi-
cine into one of organized scientific
care of the community's health" The
Waterbury Republican claims "the
| Connecticut Electrical Medical Asso-
| citation is failing in its purpose If it
! does not interest itself in what its
members do to the extent of protect
| ing the profession against quaclls.
There is no basis for the charge of
professional jealousy If the profes-
| sion helps run down and punish the
offenders, because dignified pro-
| fession of men and women has a
right to be jealous of takers, OBJ
serves the Ohio State Journal, which
urges that "all the diploma buyers
, and the diploma sellers be sent to
| prison, that the world be warned
that the public and the medical pro-
| fession have no patience with the get
| rich quick idea when it processes To
| tinker with afflicted humanity and
\ toy with life as if it were a play
| thing" The Knoxville Sentinel con-
| ours in this opinion and feels that
| reputable physicians everywhere
would like nothing better than to do
a thorough job of housecleaning and
put the charlatans out of business