COMPETITION. Wiien
fees,
we
wrote some time ago an article on the
fession in India. that
aware
qnestion of
believe that we gave utterance to the voice of the Pro-
we
We still continue in that
there is
no
such
belief; yet we are thing as unanimity in the world, the general feeling of any body
high may be always be found individuals who come short of it. Men there are, we know, who, working at their profession chiefly, if not altogether, to accumulate gain, hesitate not to adopt the principles of trade, and endeavour to secure customers by supplying advice on a cheap scale. Such men doubtless know the value of the article they have to offer, and so far they may be said to act honestly towards their patients. They may, when placed in isolated positions, urge the specious argument, which we do not for a moment endorse, that by so doing they make their skill available to all,?to the poor as well as to the rich. We believe that they thus act falsely both to their profession and
and that however
of men, there will
to themselves ; and rich
paying
fees
that this system must end at last in the insufficient for them, but which cannot be
levied from the poor without extortion; while it condemns the recipients themselves, throughout their professional life, to a course
of
haggling worthy only of the petty pedlar. different, however, when the position
The case becomes
the Medical
pied by
man
is not
an
isolated one.
occu-
"When two
Physicians, belonging perhaps to the same service, practise place, the lowered fee can then no longer be urged as an evidence of philanthropy : it simply implies that its receiver is willing, from love of lucre, to endeavour to or
more
in the same
under-sell and
supplant
his brother.
It is true there is com-
in all trades, and tradesmen with a certain
degree of petition justice under-sell each other; there is likewise competition in all
SEPtoiBffit 1,
BRITISH-SOLDIERS AT 8,000 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL.
1866.3
professions, but it should be remembered it is or ought to be the Competition of skill, and not of wage. The one is desirable, and highly to be commended; the other is unworthy, and to be reprobated. We have not penned these linfes without a cause. We regret to say that ihstahces of the objectionable practice aboveinentioned have
come
to
our
notice.
It has been submitted to us, as
etiquette, whether such be
a
a
question
of
professional
line of action can, under any conditions,
justifiable.
We can find no colour to justify such behaviour, which involves a solecism of taste, and a sad deficiency of that dignified self-respect which is the medical man's best We think not.
passport
into the
palaces
of the
highborn
as
abodes of the middle and lover classes of
into the humbler
society. We have endeavoured to pen these remarks as litlle as possible in the spirit of personal denunciation. A sense of abstract professional honor has alone pricked us on to state, we hope clearly and unmistakeably, our views of conduct which, if generally pursued, would at once lower our high calling to the level of unquestionable meanness. Corruptio optimi est pessima.
26'?
fees,
we
wrote some time ago an article on the
fession in India. that
aware
qnestion of
believe that we gave utterance to the voice of the Pro-
we
We still continue in that
there is
no
such
belief; yet we are thing as unanimity in the world, the general feeling of any body
high may be always be found individuals who come short of it. Men there are, we know, who, working at their profession chiefly, if not altogether, to accumulate gain, hesitate not to adopt the principles of trade, and endeavour to secure customers by supplying advice on a cheap scale. Such men doubtless know the value of the article they have to offer, and so far they may be said to act honestly towards their patients. They may, when placed in isolated positions, urge the specious argument, which we do not for a moment endorse, that by so doing they make their skill available to all,?to the poor as well as to the rich. We believe that they thus act falsely both to their profession and
and that however
of men, there will
to themselves ; and rich
paying
fees
that this system must end at last in the insufficient for them, but which cannot be
levied from the poor without extortion; while it condemns the recipients themselves, throughout their professional life, to a course
of
haggling worthy only of the petty pedlar. different, however, when the position
The case becomes
the Medical
pied by
man
is not
an
isolated one.
occu-
"When two
Physicians, belonging perhaps to the same service, practise place, the lowered fee can then no longer be urged as an evidence of philanthropy : it simply implies that its receiver is willing, from love of lucre, to endeavour to or
more
in the same
under-sell and
supplant
his brother.
It is true there is com-
in all trades, and tradesmen with a certain
degree of petition justice under-sell each other; there is likewise competition in all
SEPtoiBffit 1,
BRITISH-SOLDIERS AT 8,000 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL.
1866.3
professions, but it should be remembered it is or ought to be the Competition of skill, and not of wage. The one is desirable, and highly to be commended; the other is unworthy, and to be reprobated. We have not penned these linfes without a cause. We regret to say that ihstahces of the objectionable practice aboveinentioned have
come
to
our
notice.
It has been submitted to us, as
etiquette, whether such be
a
a
question
of
professional
line of action can, under any conditions,
justifiable.
We can find no colour to justify such behaviour, which involves a solecism of taste, and a sad deficiency of that dignified self-respect which is the medical man's best We think not.
passport
into the
palaces
of the
highborn
as
abodes of the middle and lover classes of
into the humbler
society. We have endeavoured to pen these remarks as litlle as possible in the spirit of personal denunciation. A sense of abstract professional honor has alone pricked us on to state, we hope clearly and unmistakeably, our views of conduct which, if generally pursued, would at once lower our high calling to the level of unquestionable meanness. Corruptio optimi est pessima.
26'?
