Principles of Political EconomyPerry, Arthur Latham
General
Principles of Political Economy
Perry, Arthur Latham
Economics
(3) In the last place here, we must now look at the Demand for the
personal services of Professional laborers. These are persons, who
have done something more with reference to their life-work than serve
an apprenticeship to a trade, or acquire some mechanical skill in
connection with some kind of machinery. An Education rather than an
Apprenticeship is implied in Professional laborers. Knowledge of the
bodies and of the minds of men; acquaintance with some one section at
least of the general laws that pervade the universe; some confidence
(the more the better) in God, who created and governs the world; are
all requisite to a reasonable success on the part of Professional
laborers. The Demand for their services, and of course also the Return
made to them for such services, will largely depend on such superior
knowledge and confidence acquired by such persons, and involved in
their services. Clergymen, physicians, lawyers, statesmen, literators,
actors, teachers, and scientific experts, may serve as our chief
examples of Professional laborers.
(a) "All that a man hath will he give for his life." When men fall
sick, or those fall sick who are dear to them, they send for the
doctor. Scarcely any trait of human nature is more universal than
this. And the trait puts honor on human nature, because it implies a
relatively high estimate of the worth of life in the mind of the
patient, and also a relatively high confidence in a certain class of
one's fellow-men. As Society progresses, and as Christianity deepens
the sense of the worth of the individual life, and knits a stronger
tie of confidence between man and man, a change is slowly coming over
the relations between physicians and their patients; people do not
wait to fall sick before they send for the doctor, so much as they
formerly did; some individuals and families are establishing
connections with a medical adviser, who studies their constitutions
and habits of life beforehand, guides them in general sanitation, and
thus both he and they are better ready for curatives in times of
illness. Gladstone has long had such an attendant, with the best of
results as he thinks, and strongly commended such action to John
Bright, but too late to save the latter from what was thought to be
premature death in consequence of imprudent and ill-advised handling
of his health. In a few cases in England and the United States an
annual salary is paid a physician for general care of the family's
health, whether sickness befall or not, instead of the more usual fees
on consultation and attendance. Dr. Munn of New York receives such an
annual salary from Mr. Jay Gould. But in whatever way medical services
are paid for, the Demand for them is constant and intense. The motive
to buy them is immediate and personal, not mediate and remote, as in
the case of capitalists and laborers of the second class.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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