PRESERVING HISTORY
Physician Drumming for Business in Hot Springs
BY : RAY HANLEY
The competition for patients has taken many forms over the years - some legitimate and some quite unscrupulous . In Hot Springs , Arkansas , an early and accepted practice was for physicians to enter arrangements to become the “ house doctor ” for hotels . Suspect of the financial arrangements between the doctors and hotels , one critic described the system saying , “ The enterprising physician , who has more financiering ability than medical skill , first selects a hotel for which the hotel staff will refer to the doctor any patient who might need a doctor ’ s attention .”
The smaller hotels and boarding houses used a different approach , employing an “ inside man ” to hang out in the lobbies and dining areas and listen for visitors discussing ailments they had . The “ inside man ” would then pose as a patient saying he was likewise afflicted but had “ just been cured of it by Dr . A .” or “ I was nearly dead with it when I came to Hot Springs and have been completely restored to health under treatment of Dr . A .”
By 1900 , the chase for patients shifted to agents intercepting potential patients traveling to or arriving at the Hot Springs train depots . This practice came to be called “ drumming ”, borrowed from the more honest name for traveling salesmen , “ drumming for business .” They would board Hot Springs-bound trains in Little Rock or other cities , intercept spa citybound travelers , and steer them to their doctor employers .
As the Hot Springs visitors experienced more and more of the drummers ’ attention , they began to complain to the city , who responded with passing an ordinance declaring “ drumming , running , or soliciting strangers or visitors a misdemeanor subject to a fine of at least $ 10 but no more than $ 25 .” But the ordinance had little effect , so the city regrouped and responded with a new ordinance that required the drummers to wear metal badges that identified themselves as agents for physicians . The lull in abuses was temporary , but competition drove the agents to work harder for commissions by offering free rides , medical treatments , and meals to disembarking passengers .
Frustrations continued and the city took a few extra steps to regulate the drummers by requiring them to stay in a designated area at the train station , but this proved unenforceable and arriving passengers still faced a gauntlet when they stepped off the train . One passenger noted the scene as being “ one of unparalleled confusion ,” with “ perspiring , excited crowds of hotel , boarding house , and doctor ’ s runners , hackmen and porters .”
Finally , the federal government , who controlled the bathhouses and the thermal hot springs , stepped in and warned that any bathhouse or hotel that employed drummers would have their use of the springs shut off . In 1904 , President Theodore Roosevelt signed a regulation governing the behavior of
1910 postcard highlighting the abuses of doctor “ drummers ” and what confronted the arriving visitor who came to alleviate their ailments .
Hot Springs physicians , and the Arkansas Medical Society was asked to review licensed doctors who prescribed the baths and thermal waters .
By 1916 , the city of Hot Springs sought to outlaw the practice completely . Calling on the Garland County Medical Society under the leadership of Dr . Albert Tribble , the county society worked with the city and federal officials to deny access to the hot springs for patients of drummer physicians , which helped to officially end the practice of drumming . As one observer commented , “ the purchase and sale of invalids … no longer exists in Hot Springs .” ■
Sources :
“ Invalids for Sale in Hot Springs ” by Tom Dillard . Arkansas Democrat Gazette , July 2019
“ The American Spa , Hot Springs , Arkansas ” by Dee Brown
FALL 2022 | VOLUME 119 | NUMBER 2 57