Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1893 — Fees of London Surgeons. [ARTICLE]

Fees of London Surgeons.

It is said that ex-President Harrison will feuild a handsome residence at Elkins, W Va., which he will use for a summer home. Stephen B. Elkins and other notable politicians have already built palatial homes at the little town, and it is supposed that Mr. Harrison’s temporary change of base is due to the influence of the ex-Secretary of War. > : ■» * The Chicago Record editorially states that the labor situation in that city is very much improved. Many factories that shut down two months cago have resumed operations. Others promise to follow soon. Building operations are beginning to go forward, the reduction in prices in many lines of necessary expense incident to the construction of houses making the opportunity especially favorable to those having money to invest in that way.

An electric train safe for the protection of railway express messengers, and annihilation of train robbers, has been perfected. The structure is large and roomy, and is lined with rubber and provided with a perforated bottom for purposes of ventilation. The outfit is connected with a dynamo, and when a messenger is in danger he is to step inside and —locking the doors — turn on the current and the robbers do the rest—and are “forever at rest.” “The man from Ohio” has a great and unconquerable desire to head the procession in any undertaking in which he may embark. As an office-seeker he has in the past been übiquitous and phenomenally successful. His latest exhibition of enterprise came to light on “Ohio Day” at the World’s Fair. In the determination to go on record as having excelled the attendance on “Pennsylvania Day” many patriotic “Buckeyes” are said to have dropped four instead of one ticket into the box for each admission.

Disciples of Isaak Walton will be interested in the information that six thousand salmon were taken in nets from the wharves at Port Angeles, Wash., by amateur and unprofessional fishermen-recently. The run of salmon in the streams entering the lower part of Puget Sound has been unprecedented. The streams at times have been positively choked with the fish, and in some cases the residents, along the banks have resorted to the use of dynamite and giant powder until the rapids became filled with dead salmon. The attention of the State Fish Commissioner was called to the outrage and it was promptly stopped. Ruth and Esther are the dears, or at least it so appears, who will furnish lots of news interspersed with statesmens’ views on tljife questions of the day. All will hope and some will pray, that the. darlings will ’ keep well so that reporters can not sell us with their gauzy fairy tales of their infant woes and wails. Let. ’em cry and let ’em laugh—spare, O spare us useless “chaff.” It’s all right to tell how Grover brings procrastinators over, prods Dan Voorhees in his zeal for the cause of quick repeal, and we’ll pardon them for telling a big yarn about the swelling on th,c Presidential jaw,but the line we’ll surely draw at the measles and infantum —but of this,o “desperandum ”

A movement that might well be imitat?d in all the remaining wilds of the United States has been carried to the point of practical success in Alaska, being an attempt to stock the country with reindeer. Of 170 of the animals brought from Siberia but eleven died while eighty-eight fawns were born Of which seveqtynine were living a few’ weeks ago. The purpose of the movement is to furnish a reliable supply of food for the natives and also provide animals for work purposes. While it may not be practical or advisable to introduce the reindeer into the remaining territory of the United States that is likely to remain uncultivated, there is no doubt that other wild animals could be successfully and profitably propagated if protected by game laws rigidly enforced. j The spirit of the Puritans still exists among men. Many reformers lack only the power and the opportunity to enact and enforce statutes that would equal the “blue laws” of the wooden nutmeg State in severity. Newberg, Ore., promises to rival Salem, Mass., in the days when people were hung for witchcraft.

The city council of this “greatest moral city on earth” has recently passed an ordinance forbidding any person under the age of 18 to wander about the town after 7p. m. between November and April, and after 8 p. m. during the rest of the year, unless they are provided with a written permit from parents oF guardians, or 'are accompanied b' them, the penalty provided being a fine of not less than $5 nor more than S2O. or imprisonment for not less than two nor more than twenty days. Some people will regard this as making progress back wards, but its rigid enforcement in all our towns and cities would have a tendency to better the morals and growing characters of the rising generation.

Law is a queer science. Technicalities frequently defeat justice. Criminals known to be guilty often escape through the messes of the net woven about them by the prosecution. A peculiar case illustrating this unsatisfactory condition occurred at Indianapolis last week. Contractor Rains was engaged in putting down a cement walk on the property of a Mr. Stumps. His men became involved in a quarrel with two expressmen passing by. Bricks and stones were thrown, and it was charged that the missiles hurled by the expressmen struck the fresh cement walk, doing considerable damage. The two men were arrested and charged with “destroying the property of Mr. Stumps.” At the trial their counsel held that the sidewalk had not been accepted by Stumps, and was therefore still the property of Contractor Rains. The court held the point well taken and, although there was no doubt of the guilt of the men, they were discharged because they were “not guilty as charged.”

Some testimony concerning surgeons’ fees in England was given in a suit which was tried in the London High Court a few days ago. Charles Keetley, the senior surgeon of the West London Hospital, sued Prof. Banister Fletcher for $2,000 for attendance upon the latter’s son, who was badly hurt in the terrible railroad disaster at Burgos some time ago. Prof. Fletcher paid SSOO into court, declaring that to be an adequate payment for the services rendered. Dr. Keetley is reported by the New York Evening Post as testifying in his own behalf that he thought $l5O a day was fair remuneration for his undivided attention and that he would charge no less for a day’s work in London. He received $75 a day whenever he attended court for an insurance company with which he T-as connected professionally. Alfred Cooper, F. R. C. S., consulting surgeon of the West London Hospital. said that in his opinion Dr. Keetley’s charges were moderate in the extreme. For himself he should charge $2,000 for a trip to Paris and $l5O to S2OO a day while he remained there. For going to Burgos he should charge $5,000. For bringing a patient home from Burgos and taking care of him doing a three days’ journey, he should charge $2,500. For devoting his whole time to a patient in London he should not consider S4O an hour excessive charge. Other surgeons gave similar testimony, and finally the jury decided that Mr. Keetley was entitled to $1,750, a verdict that gave him a substantial victor v.