Untitled article

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · February 12, 1891

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 6, No. 7

“A TEST,” says the Press, “is to be made in Erie County of the legal rights of doctors to advertise. The claim is set up that under an old statute they will thereby forfeit their diplomas. If such a law exists it is not in keeping with the spirit of the age. The physician whose study and experience have made him a specialist in any branch of surgical or medical science, so that he is able to treat the maladies of his fellow-men with greater skill than his fellow-physicians, should not be compelled by law to hide his light under a bushel. If he chooses to do so under the code of medical ethics, that is a matter for his own conscience. But the law should not be utilized to compel him not to advertise any more than to compel him to advertise. This is a free country.”

With such laws as this referred to by the Press, and with some that are proposed, what may we not expect? Is it not about time to call a halt and allow to the individual some freedom of choice, some chance to exercise private judgment, without violating a statute of the State?