PLAN No. 640. THE DOCTOR MADE MONEY

When I was a boy about ten years of age, I well remember the new doctor coming to the city. He received his furniture and appliances for office use, and showed them to us with great pride. He started in and worked very hard. His office was in a very unpretentious building in a small Iowa town, and, naturally, the first year his practice was limited, but everything he did he kept strict account, made his charges, and rendered his bills. He was not very insistent on pay at once, but he was anxious to render anyone service. No matter how far out in the country the patient lived, he would make every effort to reach them. As a matter of fact everybody knew that when they called him, he was always available and would be there at the earliest moment possible. He followed this practice for years, and saw to it that none of his bills outlawed, and while he had to wait for his money, he made a charge sufficiently large so that he could very well wait until they were able to pay him.

Five years passed and he had the reputation of being one of the busiest doctors in the community. At a certain time each year he made it known he was going away to take further instructions in medical work, and gradually he became quite proficient in operating and started a small hospital of his own where he could give the rural people the proper treatment.

The farms in that vicinity began to increase in value. The people whom he served a few years before, whom most doctors thought would be unable to pay, became prosperous, and most all of the bills that this man had rendered became an asset.

He not only obtained the experience and pleasure of rendering his patients assistance, but he believed in the country as well, and to-day he is one of the wealthiest men in that part of the country. He put his fees into farm land which has increased in value from fifty dollars per acre to three hundred dollars per acre. Any doctor can succeed in following this plan in the community where he may be practicing.