The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

224 THE HEALTH BULLETIN.postponed to the next meeting. Debateon the fee-bill will at any timebring a large attendance, while hardlya corporal's guard may be musteredto hear a paper.No objection can possibly be offeredto the consideration of business affairs,to the question of cooperativecollections or to conferences for beneficentlegislation; but these matterscan never be paramount. Somehow Ifeel that it is abhorrent to look uponour society as a trades-union or a protectiveassociation. We are not in theprofession to keep somebody out or tosecure laws for our own aggrandizement.We need cooperation, truly, butonly with those who are striving forthe same ideals as we are: we needprotection, but chiefly to protect ourselvesagainst ignorance in our ownranks. This can be done solely byteaching each other and learning fromeach other. The public part and thebusiness side of the profession willtake care of themselves, if we butstrive every day to know more thanwe did the day before. And rememberthat in medicine, knowledge, notmoney, means fame; and that famewill bring fortune, if rightly directed.This is the reverse of a trade or abusiness, where money means fameand special knowledge counts for solittle.The value of membership in a medicalsociety is exactly what each individualmember himself sets upon it.Those who go the oftenest, pay thestrictest attention and do their bestwork get the most out of it; whilethose who absent themselves, takesmall interest in the proceedings andnever engage in them get very littleout of it. I have heard men say thatthey got nothing out of any societymeeting, that they could read it up athome, that they never saw one moredollar come to them by virtue of theirmembership. Such remarks make mefeel sad and hopeless. I should thinkthe social contact would appeal tothose men, if nothing else. It is a finething to rub elbows and swap jokeswath your colleagues. We do not enjoythis as much or as often as weshould. There is no reason why weshould not be as hearty and well-metas men in other departments of theworld's work. But we are much improvedover ten years ago. The pettyjealousies and unjust bickerings arefast disappearing,—are almost gone.And it is the medical society that hasdone it. Show me the man who neverattends his local meeting and I willpoint out to you a man who ispracticallyunknown to his professionalbrethren. He is aloof and alone. Morethan this, he is not keeping abreast ofhis profession. He is tested by hiswork (or lack of it) in the society.There are some doctors who arealways too busy to learn how to do itbetter.The surest way to show one's interestin a society is to attend its meetingsregularly. Whatever else onemay or may not do, being present isthe essential thing. No church, lodgeor club ever succeeded unless its memberswere enthusiastic in att- 'dance.That is the spirit to infuse here. Itwould be a splendid sight to find atleast two-thirds of our membersin their seats at each session duringthe coming year. Shall not all ofus take the pledge that nothing exceptextraordinary circumstances willkeep us away from the regularly appointedhours? It will mean perhapsa sacrifice of comfort to many, a strainon the memory of some and a fanciedsmaller purse to others; but nothingis done without sacrifice and we mayafford it once a month.I crave your indulgence and askyour support for the program which isherewith submitted. I thank you fromthe bottom of my heart for the honorof presiding over your deliberationsfor 1913. Be assured that I feel veryclose to you all as brothers of thesame household of faith.i