Show COUNTRY DOCTOR one of of the finest figures in country life is that of the country doctor every town in lie united states has or has had a medical who has endeared himself to the whole community by a life of unselfish devotion to the health and welfare of the community the old fashioned type 0 of country doctor is passing like the saddlebags in which he used to carry his medicines and instruments or the two wheeled pig gig which half a century ago was still the traditional vehicle for the rural physician the type is vanishing before the march of progress the country doctor of today covers a larzer larger t territory ir because the automobile and good roads malce make it possible for him to do so his contacts being broader are less intimate he has had better training than the old tr type whom he superseded but it isa question whet whether t er the average country do doctor tor of today has any more horse sense than the best of the old breed had he may perform an operation more skillfully but he is seldom the recipient of the confidence of the whole r region the man to whom people in any kind of trouble used to turn to instinctively for advice or comfort young medical graduates today tend to go to the cities to practice for one thing they do not have to know so much if they find themselves in difficulties there are specialists at hand whom they can call in or consult the country doctor must know how to meet any emergency which may arise and meet it then too to the young physician the ci city ty looks like a more profitable place in which to practice ae his profession rural eural and small town doctors are doing pretty well ell however according to a survey of the profession recently made in the rural regions of northwestern regions of new york the average annual earnings of several hundred such physicians were found to be about that is a pretty good income for a small town and considering how much budh less it costs to live well in a small town than in a city it probably is true that the best type of modern rural physician is doing about as well as the general run ran of his city cousins the great disadvantage of rural practice is that the doctor has to be on the job 24 hours a day in the city he can limit his office hours and refer those who demand emergency service to the hospitals but the S spirit P rit 11 which actuated the old fashioned physician the nit spirit of self sacrificing service still survive in many regions and there are plenty of young men mem today willing to give their lives to that sort of service |