The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-05-03
$I25, OOO, 900 Spent
 Annually On Healing
 Cults In United States
Equivalent to Twelve Per Cent of the Amount Spent on 142OOO Doctors of Medicine.

lax. equipment Is poor. and none makes adequate hospital clinical facilities available to its students, while faculties are largely com- posed of persons ignorant Of the established facts of medicine. At the completion of the regular course in one school, the report reveals, the student receives four diplomas and becomes Doctor of Chiropractic, Doctor of Naturo- pathy, doctor of Physiotheray and Master of Physical Culture.
 Why Do the Cults Exist? In explaining the prevalence Of healing cults Mir Reed stated that, The idea of healing the sick, and being doctor with all that title entails, is very attractive to many people, but this filed of economic endeavor Is closed to many by req son of the very high qualifications which the law requires of medical practitioners. HeaTng cults. there- fore, provide a shoft cut for those who lack time, money or mental capacity to attain the qualifications demanded of the medical profess sion"
 MT Reed gave some of the reh- sons why the public patronized healing cults ractltioners.
 l. Because of inattentlon by some medical practitioners to min or illnessesses and to ailments of the mind.
 9. Because doctors cannot cure all diseases and those who have failed to obtain help from regular doctors feel that little Is lost by trying the "irregulars."
 .. Because many people are still basically superstitious about dis ease and health. They know little about the body and its function- ing They regard medicine neith- CT as science nor art but as magic. To these the healing cult practi- tioner. with his simple explanation of disease, his confidence and his promise of cure, appears as a greater magician than the physI- clan whose very knowledge makes him hesitate to promise a cure.
 1. Because many patients are unaware of the limitations of the healing cult practitioners whom they concult. since they do not understand the meaning of D. O., D. C., N. D., and other titles 0f Lnc NdTiOuS pTuSbitiOhcIo luusSSihn- inately called doctor" The repu. tation of healing cult practitioners Is sustained by the fact that In acute disease so to 90 per cent of all patients get well under any treatment or none. And when T patient gets well his recovery is attributed to the virtues of the treatment.
 MT Reed pointed out the follow ing ways In which the situation with regard to the healing cults can be improved:
 The lay community's stock of knowledge regarding the human body and It's functIoning must be enlarged and more~ widely dissem- mated. As u result, for each sue ceedng generation. the limits within which credullty exists and unscientlflc practitioners can oper- ate will be narrowed.
 The passage by more states Of basic science laws may be expected to cut down the Inflow of poorly trained practitioners. These laws, already in existence In some states require that all applicants for li- censes to practice any branch of the healing art must first pnss an examination In the basic sciences. The state should see that healing practitioners, W h q tsoever their beliefs, are properly trained and that they possess an adequate knowledge of the human body and its functionlng and the discusses which afflict 1t.