Changes

The legislative committee sent one of its members to meet with Pope in Salem, to determine why he intentionally tried to stall the bill. The member magnanimously offered to name the medical bill “Pope’s Bill” and told him:

After the OSMA offered Pope two hundred dollars and told him who else they planned to give money to, the bill began moving swiftly through the legislature. Within a few days of the committee’s meeting with Pope, Pope was selected to serve on a special legislative committee to review the legislation. Pope’s committee acted quickly and offered a few amendments. The only meaningful amendment created an exemption from licensing for any physician who practiced in state at the time the law went into effect.<ref><i>The Journal of the House of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon for the Fifteenth Regular Session 1889, 15th House</i>, 1889, 305.</ref> Pope’s amendment provided broader protection for any physician than what the original bill offered. Under the original bill, Oregon physicians who had practiced in Oregon could have obtained licenses, but the licenses would have stated whether the doctor had attended medical school. Pope’s amendment ensured that physicians who were practicing without a diploma, such as himself, would not be listed any differently than other doctors in their community; the county clerk’s registry would indicate only that Pope and his ilk were simply practicing physicians and surgeons. The local registry would not state whether a physician went to medical school.