Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1925-07-09
Editors Letter Box
Worthy Of Its Hire
itor of the kennebec Journal,

Editor of the Kennebec Journal,
Dear Sir:
When person, whose presence Is
a blessing in the community, whose
intellectual and spiritual qualities
are an inspiration, asks in perfect
candor for information on a sub
ject, 1t is both a pleasure and "A
privilege to answer. Such a person
asked the following question in your
letter box, yesterday. where did
surgery get the right to soar the
price as it has?" May a layman,
who has had the privilege Of many
years close observation of this most
humane, and. therefore, most Christ
like, profession answer this question
through your columns?
Thank you.
Let US consider. for a moment, the
great law Of compensation. If a
physical function becomes impaired,
the other organs Of the body increase
their efforts-to make compensation.
If we speak ill of our neighbor we
compensate by watching him stride
valiantly on toward Heaven, while
we lose precious time disentangling
ourselves from our lf-degradation.
So too, If people employ a profess
sional man for the color Of his eyes
or the charm of his persifage rather
than his character and knowledge,
they must make the compensation
for an aborted sense of values-in
other words they get, .''let down.
Now to the question, Where did
surgery get the right to soar the
price as it has?" Briefly, yet most
comprehensively, the answer is, by
the right of it's service to humanity.
If we can place monetary value on,
human life then modern surgery is
priceless. This is the answer given
by the thousands of sufferers, who
come from all over the world to the
Mayo clinic and gladly pay, not fifty,
not one hundred, not five hundred
dollars but ten percent of their en-
tire income, for the services of these
famous surgeons. The point that the
layman fails to understand is that
the surgeons or physicians fee not
only pays for his time and visible
expenses of this most expensive pro-
fession but it must also pay it's pro-
portlonate share of the knowledge
and skill acquired by an education
costing, before cent of money can
be earned with it, at the most con-
serVative estimate, around fifteen
thousand dollars.
There is no great outcry at the fee
of a lawyer who, inspired to great
.eloquence by the subtle stimulus OF
public admiration. wreSts from the
jury the freedom of his client. Why
then the critical attitude toward the
physician? He fights his battles in
lonely places with no shouts of ac-
claim to quicken his spirit. He looks,
not into the faces of a susceptible
humanity, but into the stark, unre-
lenting vsage of Death. To the
days work he gives his skill, his en-
durance and generally at an early
age. his life.
The beautiful instance of Dr. Hills
generosity, related in the letter of
yesterday, was wholly typical of him
and of the profession he so finely
served. There is no other class of
men who give so much of their time
and strength to charity, nor who
would gladly give it all. Unfortun-
ately, as the world is today, the pro-
fession must yield an income, 1t
must feed and clothe and educate
its children which costs just as mucn
for them as it does for US. And then
we sometimes add to these difficult
ties by asking him to stand aside,
run round and try all the fads, ex-
pecting him to wait patiently for us,
SO that. should Death cast it's envious
glance in our direction, we can ske-
daddle back and find him, protective
and armed to the teeth in our de-
Tense with the most recent thera-
peutic discoveries and surgical meth
DDS
No, we all know, in our heart Of
hearts, that the profession that has
robbed yellow fever, smallpox, diph-
liberia. typhoid fever, pneumonia,
childbirth and surgery of their ter
rors, that labors increasingly against
its own financial interests. for the
benefit of mankind, is worthy of its
hire.
The writer, having lived in a home
where both DIR. H. H. Hill and DR..
Robert Martin were the family ply
sicians as long as they lived, knows,
that could they return in our midst
today, they would be the first to
stand with heads uncovered before
the wonders of modern medicine and
surgery.
From a Champion of the Down
trodden.