Evening star., 1939-05-28
BY Sudduth

bodies, although not Of the elected House
Of Delegates.
He has written IA books and edited
five more. He contributes innumerable
articles to magazines. He writes a daily
newspaper health column. He is the
American correspondent for several for
eign medical publications, all without
the help of ghost writer.
DR.. Fishbein makes upwards Of 100
speeches year. He has a part in the
associations national hookup broadcasts.
He has made three films for THE March
of Time" and has had hand in several
others. He is professor Of clinical medi.
cine at Rush Medical College and lee.
turer on the economics and history Of
medicine at the University of Illinois
Medical School in Chicago.
On top of all this, he manages to see
all the new plays, to read an amazing
number of books, to play a good game
of golf, canny rubber of bridge and he
finds time to be gregarious, sociable
creature-able. he says, to call between
5000 and 10000 doctors by their first
names on sight.
Never In Actual Practice.
However, there is one thing for which
he never found time. That is the prac-
tice OF medicine as the layman UNDER
stands it. He never opened an office and
had waiting room full of patients.
This is sometimes brought up by his
critics. When they do it, Dr. Fishbein
feels they are hitting below the belt.
Il see more real medicine than so per
cent of the profession" he said. Il get
to all the big clinics and hospitals If a
surgeon is to perform new or difficult
operation, invariably see it. Further
more, in 1912 and 1918, the two years
before came to the A. NJ. A., did 1900
postmortems. I also completed half q
dozen research projects"
The Journal of the American Medical
Association is the index to the impor-
tance Of DR. Fishbeir's position. 1t is
the associations one money-maker. In
1887 the magazine earned net profit of
$4,000. Its gross revenue was $780,
900. An average weekly issue carries 48
pages of advertising at s408 the page,
and Will c. Brown, its business man.
ager, reported bit ruefully that in 1887,
while he accepted s840 900 worth of ad-
vertising, he was obliged to refuse hall
of what was offered.
Earnings of the Journal made it pos
sible for the association to absorb the
$780, loss of Hygeia, as we'll as deficit
Of about $4,000 for its specialized pub
locations. The Journal has contributed
substantially to the associations 81, 2,34o,-
900 investment account and to he prop
erty account. which now STANDS at ST.
100000, including the A. NJ A. Once
Building.
In the Journal, especially on DR..
Fishbeins editorial pages, the two func-
tions of the A. M. A. are brought to-
gether. The association was intended,
first of all. to be scientific body. en-
couraging the advancement of medicine
and acting as watchdog against i'm
posture, but it has also become a kind
of trade union interested in the eco
nomic well-being of its members. Some
critics assert that this secondary func-
tion now has far outstripped the asso-
cations original purpose. They say,
too, that it was DR.. Fishbein who trans
formed the A. M. A. from a mild aca-
demic body into powerful pressure
group.
Fight for Change in Policy.
This view has manifested itself in
some of the associations constituent
groups. The New York delegates to the
1898 convention waged long fight in
vain effort to induce the association to
hberalize its views on "sociaized medi-
cine"
The spearhead Of the attack. however,
has been in the work Of groups like the
American Foundation, the Committee on
the Cost of Medical Care and especially
the so-called Committee of 430. Headed
by such men as DR.. Hugh Cabot Of the
Mayo Clinic, DR.. Georgt R. Minot Of
Harvard and DR.. John P. Peters OF Yale,
the committee has declared that the
health of the people is the concern of
the Government. Its influence was
strong among those that induced Presi-
dent Roosevelt to call his National
Health Conference last year. and to send
to this Congress its recommendations for
an $850,000,000 public health program.
Perhaps because DR.. Fishbein at first
refused to give publicity to the commit
tee in the Journal and because he only
slowly changed his position from opposi-
ton to the presidential program to sup
port Of part of tin line with the con-
clusion reached at special session Of the
House Of Delegates-the medical liberals
look on him as their Enemy No. /.
To them he Is promoter and an ad-
vertising man, rather than q doctor.
There is no question that he has abilities
in these directions The Great Atlantic
& Pacific Tea Co. offered him $4,000 q
year, and that was by no means the only