It is much easier to direct attention to faults than it is to suggest remedies therefor. In most of the points here made, the remedy suggests itself. In general, the remedy lies in an improvement of professional esprit de corps. With a betterment of this as a foundation, much can be done to improve the business aspect of medicine in its higher sense. The time will come when professional co-operation in the broadest sense will be absolutely necessary if we would survive.
A little of the proper spirit of trades unionism might not be a bad thing. So far as the strictly financial aspect of legitimate practice is concerned, the sooner we impress the public with the idea that we appreciate our own market value and insist on its appreciation by the public, the better it will be for the profession. Once let it be understood that ours is a business-like and financially sound profession, and the hoi polloi will give us the respect that is our due. The public should have frequent and pointed reminders that there is more than a philanthropic side to our labors. The doctor’s wife and children deserve quite as much consideration as the layman’s.
“I know that the world, the great big world,
From the peasant up to the king,
Has a different tale from the tale I tell,
And a different song to sing.
But for me—and I care not a single fig
If they say I am wrong or right—
I shall always go in for the weaker dog,
For the under dog in the fight.