Individual Rights

Archibald McLellan

Some things are amusing per se, while others, serious in themselves, are rendered so by being brought into juxtaposition with each other. An example of the latter is seen in the two paragraphs of a press dispatch which recently appeared in a number of newspapers. We quote from the Boston Transcript as follows:—

"Atlantic City, N. J., October 5.—The State homoeopathic doctors in convention here yesterday adopted a scale of fees to be charged for operations. The fee for stomach operations shall not exceed $500, nor be less than $50.

A patient can have a finger cut off for $5, or a leg removed for $150.

"A committee was appointed to oppose in the State Legislature any attempt of the osteopaths to become a recognized medical body."

The fact that this action was taken in the State which has become known as the home of the trusts, detracts nothing from the unconscious humor of the proceedings. Much as we are amused by this aspect of the doings of the convention, we cannot afford to ignore the evident intention of the doctors who have established themselves within the protection of the law, to bar out all competitors, if such a thing were possible.

As a rule, an effort is made by those who seek restrictive medical legislation, to prove that it is demanded by the people for their safety, but in this case there is intimation that the public at large is asking that the monopoly of the "regulars" be not invaded. It seems to be a plain case of the "ins" trying to remain in by keeping the "outs" out.

There is no popular demand that a monopoly of the healing art be given to any one class, and it is useless for interested parties to pretend that there is such a demand. Every healing system must stand upon its own merits, and the right of every person to make his own choice in such matters should be so thoroughly recognized by this time as to make class legislation entirely out of the question.

Judge Clifford P. Smith, writing in the October number of The Christian Science Journal, summarizes the foundation upon which popular government rests, in the following words:—

"The first and most important consideration is that the American system of govenment is founded upon the individual and his independence. The constructive statesmen who brought this nation forth, conceived government or the State to exist 'merely as a legal entity, created and organized solely for the protection of the individual.' (Thorpe, Constitutional History of the United States, Vol. 1, p. 43.) 'In the revision and new definition of the State by Adams, Jefferson, and their associates, the individual was recognized as the center of the political system. . . The American Revolution deffered from all preceding revolutions in the history of the world, in its enthronement of the individual and its subordination of the State to him. For a proper understanding of the character of the American constitutions of government, this idea cannot be too well mastered." (Idem, p. 42.) In the United States, 'organized government has for its object the protection of the individual against undue interference on the part of others with his enjoyment of life and the beneficial employment of his faculties. . . The purposes of government will not be carried out in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Independence, unless all men are guaranteed equality before the law, that is, the equal right to protection under the law in the enjoyment of individual liberty, so far as it can be secured without depriving others of substantially the same degree of freedom and opportunity.' (McClain, Constitutional Law, pp. 289, 290.)

"The underlying basis is that men are endowed with rights, 'not by grace of emperors or kings, or by force of legislative or constitutional enactments, but by their Creator: and to secure them, not to grant them, governments are instituted among men.' (Powell v. Pennsylvania. 127 U. S. 678.)"

Archibald McLellan.

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