In the case of our fraternal societies the examiner’s fees are pitifully low, so low that a busy man cannot do the work save at a great loss of time. There are some extenuating circumstances in the case of the co-operative societies. In the case of both old line and co-operative insurance, however, only the overcrowded and generally poverty-stricken condition of the medical profession can possibly explain the fact that good men are to be had so cheaply. Railroad and manufacturing corporations have no difficulty in securing doctors to look after their interests at a rate so low as to reflect on the respectability of the profession at large. There are, for example, instances in which doctors are rendering for $300 a year services that should bring several thousand dollars at very ordinary fees. In addition to this direct cheapening of professional values, the company or corporation surgeon is expected to go on the stand as an expert and prevaricate in the interests of his employers. As a corollary, he is 190expected to testify against the interests of the poor fellow who, perhaps, as the result of the company’s wilful neglect, has only the wreck of a once vigorous manhood with which to oppose the company’s immense capital. And this the doctor does in an uncomfortable proportion of cases. When the charge is made that he “prevaricates” it is correct. It would be pitiful, indeed, if the expert opinions rendered by some corporation doctors were the result of ignorance. The corporation expert does not always prevaricate. The truth may be the best card to play. He had better not let the corporation catch him telling the truth, however, when said truth is prejudicial to its interests. There is an ax, my brethren, an ax that is ever ready. Speaking of corporation surgeons reminds me of the fact that practice in the neighborhood of our large factories is rather poor picking for everybody. There is plenty of work to be done, and there would be considerable income derived therefrom, but the corporation surgeon gets it all, and receives a mere pittance therefor. The corporation claims to employ a surgeon for humanity’s sake. This is pure hypocrisy—the doctor is employed for its own protection. Every doctor knows of cases in which, by the co-operation of the claim agent and the surgeon, an injured employee has been induced to sign away his manifest rights. He is usually denied the right to select his own surgeon. To the non-partisan medical observer, the bitter opposition of the average juryman to corporations is in no wise remarkable. It will be argued that there are plenty of honest corporation 191doctors. Grant you that, but it is hard to see how they hold their jobs.