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JAMA. 2008;299(16):1964.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A few days ago a famous American surgeon told a friend that it was a constant mortification to him that for his life-work he had not chosen business rather than medicine; and yet the annual income of this particular surgeon from practice is perhaps $100,000. Also a few days ago at the testimonial dinner to Robert Koch in New York City, a layman, Andrew Carnegie, who has gathered, who has given away, and who still has left more money than any other one individual, said that he would give all his worldly wealth for the immaterial wealth of many of the physicians there before him. It is distressingly evident that there is a vast difference between the standards of life of these two men. Their judgments seem irreconcilable. The famous surgeon's success and income for one year would more than satisfy many of us impecunious strugglers for a lifetime, and . . . [Full Text of this Article]