FIFTEENTH OR NORTHEASTERN DISTRICT. Dr. W. H. Blythe, Mt. Pleasant, Councilor. BOWIE COUNTY MEDICAL Abell, G. C., Texarkana. Ball, S. C., New Boston. *Mann, R. H. T., Texarkana. McGee, J. R., New Boston. Middleton, B. C., Texarkana. *Smith, C. A., Texarkana. Smith, J. K., Texarkana. Tyson, W. S. (Pres.), New Boston. Wilder, J. H., Hooks. Womack, W. E., Texarkana. White, J. N., Texarkana. CAMP COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. Bates, J. K., Lafayette. Ellington, F. H. (Pres.), Pittsburg. *Henderson, C. F. (Sec.), Pittsburg. Johnson, C. E., Pine. Lacy, R. Y., Pittsburg. CASS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. Allen, J. C., Bloomburg. Davis, C. E., Linden. Ford, T. D., Linden. *Halbert, W. W. (Sec.), Hughes Springs. Hartzo, J. D., Bivins. Jenkins, H. L. D., Hughes Springs. Long, R. L., Atlanta. Lumpkins, R. D., Linden. Peebles, Felix, Bivins. Peebles, J. W., Avinger. Starnes, A. E. (Pres.), Hughes Sheppard, C. F., Bivins. Shaddix, J. W., Marietta. Stidham, Joseph, Hughes Springs. FRANKLIN COUNTY MEDICAL Boyd, E. S., Mount Vernon. Fleming, J. M., Mount Vernon. GREGG COUNTY MEDICAL Allison, T. J., Gladewater. HARRISON COUNTY MEDICAL Allen, G. W., Harleton. Hurst, Vesse R. (Sec.), Marshall. MARION COUNTY MEDICAL Armistead, R. L., Jefferson. Langworthy, Geo. L., Corpus Christi. MORRIS COUNTY MEDICAL Anthony, E. Y., Omaha. Seale, Chas. E. (Sec.), Daingerfield. Truitt, C. S., Daingerfield. Turner, L. Y., Daingerfield. TITUS COUNTY MEDICAL. *Blythe, W. H. (Sec.), Mt. Pleasant. Taylor, Fred O., Winfield. Taylor, John S. (Pres.), Cookville. WOOD COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY. Goldsmith, J. B., Quitman. Meadows, Wm. M., Como. *Puckett, James M., Mineola. Skeen, T. N., Winnsboro. Patten, A., Mineola. Hart, Sam. W., Mineola. DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION AND PUBLIC HEALTH OF TEXAS way between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Here lunch was served by our hosts, rendering it unnecessary for anyone to return to the city until the conclusion of the sessions for the day. The campus of the University is perhaps one of the most delightful in the country and the buildings are new and up to date in every particular. Because of the variety of uses of these buildings, every need of the Association could be exactly met; particularly is this true of the scientific exhibits, which were unusually good. The opening general meeting, which was held in the city of Minneapolis proper, was perhaps one of The Minneapolis Meeting of the American Medical Association was attended by 3,246 members, all told. Of these, 33 were from Texas. According to the report of Secretary Dr. Craig, Texas ranks twelfth in point of A. M. A. membership, with 1,014 members. In point of attendance at this particular meeting, Texas ranks seventeenth. While we should have registered a larger attendance, under the circumstances the proportion is fair. We regret to report that of the five delegates to which our Association is entitled, only three were present. Had it not been for a timely change in the rules of the House of Delegates, there would have been but two. The require-the most notable events of its kind of recent years. ment was that no alternate could sit in the House of Delegates except in the absence of his principal. This rule was changed so as to allow an alternate to serve in any vacancy upon appointment of the President or Secretary of his State Association. This change has been made permanent, and hereafter delegates and alternates will be elected as at present in regular order, and alternates may be certified to serve in the place of other alternates and principals who are absent. The following is the registration from Texas: Ellis, Jno. W., Lampasas; Becton, Joseph D., Greenville; Carrick, Manton M., Dallas; Cary, Edward H., Dallas; Cantrell, C. E., Greenville; Cunningham, S. P., San Antonio; Evans, E. O., San Antonio; Gilbert, Joe, Austin; Moody, Geo. H., San Antonio; Ogilvie, H. H., San Antonio; Russ, W. B., San Antonio; Taylor, Holman, Fort Worth; Venable, Charles S., San Antonio; Aynesworth, K. H., Waco; Baird, R. W., Dallas; Bourland, J. W., Dallas; Brown, W. L., El Paso; Colgin, Marchant W., Waco; Elles, Norma B., Houston; Folsom, A. I., Dallas; Graves, Marvin, L., Galveston; Harris, Chas. H., Fort Worth; Jester, Homer B., Corsicana; Killough, R. S., Amarillo; Marchman, O. M., Dallas; McReynolds, John O., Dallas; Newman, Alfred M., Canadian; Robinson, J. E., Temple; Rosser, Charles M., Dallas; Schuster, Michael P., El Paso; Spurlock, G. H., Kirbyville; Thompson, James E., Galveston; Walker, M. M., Wichita Falls; Weems, M. A., Columbia. The entertainment furnished was most cordial and entirely pleasing. While Minneapolis was the immediate host, St. Paul joined in most heartily, and the entire Northwest seemed to feel it an obligation that no one go away dissatisfied. Of course, we speak mainly of physicians, but we would not forget the cordiality of citizens generally. It would be difficult to imagine a situation more agreeable to the work of the Association. All sessions, except the opening general session, were held on the grounds and in the buildings of the University of Minnesota, nearly half Addresses were delivered by the incoming and retiring Presidents of the Association and by the President of the University of Minnesota, Dr. Geo. Edgar Vincent; the Mayor of Minneapolis, Wallace G. Nye, and the Governor of Minnesota, Hon. Adolph Olson Eberhart. We mention these addresses, particularly because of their value as expressions of representative men outside of the medical profession. Especially pleasing on this occasion was the spontaneous ovation extended Dr. Jacobi as the true representative of the ideal physician and as the grand old man of American medicine. The scientific sections were largely attended and are said to have been of unusual interest. In this connection, it may be mentioned that some important changes were made in the management of scientific sections. In the first place, a new section was created, contingent upon the retirement from the field of certain scientific societies, merging themselves into the section. This section is to be known as the "Section on Gastro-Enterology and Proctology." The number of papers to be read before the several sections was limited in definite terms, and it was further provided that no member could contribute to more than one section at any meeting. Perhaps the most important action taken in regard to the management of scientific sections was that the office of secretary be made more or less permanent. Hereafter secretaries will be elected for a term of three years each. In this manner it is thought to secure better supervision and survey of the field covered by the section, and a more comprehensive and representative program. In the House of Delegates some very important legislation was enacted. Of prime importance is the series of amendments to the constitution and by-laws affecting membership in the Association. The recommendations of the Judicial Council along this line (Journal A. M. A., June 21, 1913), were approved and enacted into law. It will be recalled that the subject was discussed by Dr. Simmons in the April JOURNAL, page 345. Essentially, the situation is as follows: All members of constituent State associations are by virtue of said membership, "members" of the American Medical Association. They are entitled as such to identically the same privilege they have heretofore been entitled to by virtue of being "members of the organization," that is, the right to elect delegates to the American Medical Association and to become contributing members, or "fellows,' as now designated. Those whe were formerly designated as "members," paying the required membership fee and subscription, will hereafter be known as "fellows." As heretofore, to be eligible to serve in the House of Delegates, a member must have been a "fellow," or contributing member, for the preceding two years. In fact, the alteration is in the nature of a distinction rather than a difference, the sole advantage being in the way of consistency and uniformity in the organization. An anomalous situation has been relieved; a situation equivalent, for instance, to a State citizenship which fails to carry with it national citizenship. In the matter of uniform regulation of membership, the recommendations of the Conference of State Secretaries held at Chicago last fall, were adopted, and it was virtually decided to hold another such conference this year, for the consideration of those questions which were deferred last year. It will be recalled that the secretaries at this conference recommended that State associations be urged to make their respective fiscal year coincide with the calendar year and that annual reports be required not later than March 31st. Whether State associations should be chartered by the A. M. A. and whether membership should be transferable from one State to another, were the main questions left for future consideration. Texas has already complied with the recommendations of the first Conference and will doubtless comply without question to those agreed upon in the future. The subject of national public health legislation received considerable attention, and it was upon this subject that the real fight of the session took place. The Council on Public Health and Instruction since. its organization several years ago, has had control of the subject of legislation. There has also been a committee known as the Committee on National Department of Health, headed by Dr. John B. Murphy of Chicago, which has been presumably working under the direction of the Council. There has been a very pronounced difference of opinion between the Com mittee and the Council on some very vital points at issue in the matter of national legislation, and the Council has received the support of the Board of Trustees. A minority of the committee in question submitted a report severely criticising the Council and the Board of Trustees, with full and ample specifications. The result of the contention was that the special committee was ordered discharged and the entire matter of legislation placed in the hands of the Council, with the one restriction that no special movement be undertaken in any State without the agreement of the local organization. The whole story is told on page 2,086 of the Journal A. M. A., June 28, 1913, and it is interesting reading. The question of commemorating the completion of the Panama Canal was finally and definitely settled by deciding on two lines of action. First, there will be held under the patronage of the American Medical Association a world-wide Congress on Tropical Medicine, at San Francisco during the Exposition. Second, a movement will be inaugurated immediately to erect at the entrance of the Canal a group of statuary in commemoration of the triumph of American Preventive Medicine and Sanitary Science, in which a bronze statue of Col. Wm. C. Gorgas shall figure prominently and upon which, in a suitable manner, recognition shall be made of the work done by Laveran, Ross, Finley, Reed, Agramonte, Carroll, Lazar and others who have contributed notably to preventive medicine. It is provided that this movement shall be financed by popular subscription. The civil engineers of the country will be urged to join in the movement to the extent of erecting a companion group on the other side of the entrance to the canal, in which Col. Geo. W. Goethals shall figure prominently. The American Medical Association will finance the work of the committee having this celebration in hand until it can support itself. Dr. Isadore Dyer of Louisiana is chairman of the committee, and Dr. Marvin L. Graves of Galveston a member. The House of Delegates by resolution called upon the Committee of Revision of the Pharmacopia to permit the Committee on Scope to select the articles to be included in the Pharmacopia, rather than the constitute the majority of the former, whereas the Executive Committee, on the grounds that physicians latter is made up mainly of pharmacists. It was urged in the resolution that the Pharmacopia should reflect the progress of therapeutics and that physicians logically, and in all fairness, should have the deciding voice in the matter. Doubtless this plea will meet with vigorous opposition from the the commercial interests in the drug business, if not from the profession of Pharmacy, and N. A. R. D. Notes is expected to devote considerable additional space to vicious criticism of the medical profession for this Notwithentirely reasonable and logical demand. standing the fact that it has been repeatedly demonstrated that many of the articles at present included in the Pharmacopia are worthless as therapeutic agents, and that others are much inferior to the principle drugs of their respective class, there is strong opposition to their omission from our books of reference and teaching. We presume it is figured that the more drugs the more business, but it is difficult to see how such a position can be maintained. It would certainly seem that the smaller the stock necessary for the druggist to keep, the greater the profit in the business he does transact; and it is hardly likely that a scientific arrangement of drugs would curtail their use among successful physicians. Incidentally, what the druggist knows about therapeutics is comparative to the knowledge ordinarily possessed by physicians of the art and science of compounding drugs. The druggist reads of the therapeutic action of drugs; the physician sees it at the bedside. The physician reads of drug compounding; the pharmacist compounds them behind the counter. "Politics in the House of Delegates."-We hear much of this complaint. For the most part, there is nothing to it. Occasionally, there is cause for complaint, but as a rule such occasions are overlooked. There are those who are born suspicious and antagonistic, and who lose none of their natural disposition in the raising; they may mean well and do harm. There are those who desire to attain personal ends and who use agitation of this character to further their interests; they are just as harmful as their talents will permit. The great majority of people who have to do with the formulating of policy and the making of laws, simply do not take sufficient interest or give sufficient time to the business in hand and are therefore easily mislead by either or both. of the two classes mentioned. No organization can be successful except certain of its members, official or otherwise, devote a great deal of time and attention to its affairs. Too frequently success is impeded by the disposition to criticise these. That such persons are engaging in "politics" is the favorite charge. The charge may or may not be true; the point we make is that it should not be accepted as true until after The Medical Association of Porto Rico was accepted actual investigation, the charges have been fully as a Constituent Association of the American Medical Association. Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, was elected president, and among the vice-presidents will be found for the first time in the history of the Asso ciation, a woman. Dr. Lillian H. South of Bowling proven. In law a man is innocent of crime until he is proven guilty. Too often in our own organization, he is considered guilty until he proves himself innocent; and it is not easy to refute insinuations. In the face of a personal idiosyncrasy or an unsupported insinuation, long years of devotion and efficient service too often goes for naught. Green, Kentucky, was accorded this distinguished We are moved to these remarks not by any incident honor, and very deservedly so. She is a scientist of in our own Association, but by our observation of the highest order and a stalwart worker in organized affairs in the House of Delegates of the American medicine. Mr. Samuel Hopkins Adams, noted for his fight against the Great American Fraud, and who, by the way, is the author of that most significant term, was elected to associate membership, and was extended quite an ovation when he appeared before the House on special invitation. The newspapers of the twin cities, with the exception of the Minneapolis Journal, failed to comment very extensively upon this incident. The latter publication, incidentally, was commended by resolution upon its fixed policy of refusing admission to its advertising columns of all patent, medicine and questionable medical advertising. The Association of State Secretaries and Editors held a two-evening session during the meeting, one of them being in the nature of an elegant banquet, at which a number of notable after-dinner speeches were made by noted speakers. The many problems of the secretary and the editor of State Journals were considered at length. The next meeting will be held in Atlantic City. Medical Association. Any legislative or elective body that has any life at all will develop a certain amount of politics, so-called. No one objects to that; in fact, it is a necessary element in the process of elimination and selection. The House of Delegates of the American Medical Association, according to our estimate, is one of the strongest bodies of its kind in existence, and it is not easy to divide it into "parties" permanently. Usually there is a new alignment on every question of importance that arises, each delegate voting according to his idea, or according to his instructions. Doubtless there is from time to time a uniting of forces for the accomplishment of certain definite purposes, but such coalitions are usually selflimiting and conducted with a reasonable degree of fairness. We have observed recently, however, a definite and well organized movement, which seems. to us to be inspired by anything but a worthy motive. The movement seems to be a reflection of the recent Lydston fiasco, of which we need say nothing at the present time. If our idea is correct in this, the proprietary and nostrum manufacturing interests and the impure food manufacturers of the country have gained a foothold in the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association. The idea is, to get rid of Simmons and do it at any cost. It makes no difference what Simmons has accomplished or how devoted he has been to the cause of organized medicine, he has offended in minor particulars and must pay the cost. That is, he must pay the cost unless State Associations continue to do as they have heretofore for the most part done, send their best and most level-headed men to the American Medical Association as delegates. President Jacobi, in his characteristic address to the House of Delegates, preaches a sermon along this line in a very few words. It is so appropriate that we quote it here, and we trust our readers will ponder its meaning and be moved thereby. He speaks first of those who criticise and are not present to correct. "Why are you absent from this one opportunity to meet your more punctual brethren and perform your obligation by proving your citizenship? Neglect is the road to extinction-through permitting the possibility of neglect on the part of those whom you have made your masters, aye, even the alleged conspiracies of whom some of you like to talk about mostly in private, sometimes in the market-place. If there be any cause for that it is your indifference. It is a wonder you have, after all, conscientious hard-working officers whose worth I have had, in my frequent contact with them, many reasons to admire. Your indifference may at least tempt your delegates and other officers to think little of their duties. You make them the aristocracy of our profession, but do not always succeed in making them what they would gladly be your willing servants, for that is what we are and should be." ** * "The House of Delegates, in the opinion of some, is possessed of more absolute power and autocratic possibilities than the Congress of the United States. It is for you and you alone in your States to select the person alities of your delegates and to outline their responsibilities. If my angry correspondents would pray less and watch more, and would interest themselves in their county and State societies and in the election of their various delegates, they would have less reason to complain of what some of them term the oligarchy of Chicago and the autocrasy of the House of Delegates." State Board of Medical Examiners to Exclude Class "C" Colleges. The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners at its June meeting, decided to in the future accept for examination only graduates of Class "A" and Class "B" Colleges, American Medical Association rating. This step has been in contemplation, we understand, for some time. It is merely carrying out the announced policy of the Board, to elevate the standards slowly but surely, and in such a manner as to work the least hardship on students and colleges coming within its jurisdiction. It is understood that several Texas schools are about to be rerated, having complied more exactly with A. M. A. standards. The subject of reciprocity has also received careful consideration by the Board, and it was decided to enter reciprocal relations with Arkansas and Oklahoma under both Rule 1 and 2; that is, not only to exchange licentiates on the basis of written examinations and the present standard of preliminary qualifications, but also on an equal basis "at the discretion of the Reciprocity Committee.” However, under Rule 2, it is required that an applicant have gilt edge reference and the endorsement of his State association. The following States are at present reciprocated with under Rule 1: Missouri, Maine, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Maryland, Wisconsin, Vermont, North Dakota, Virginia, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Kansas, Arkansas, Nevada and Utah. There were 148 applicants for license at the June meeting, five of whom were prominent Mexican physicians, doubtless refugees from their country, and it is understood that three of these occupied chairs in a Mexican Medical College and another was a member of the National Congress. Dr. S. L. Scothorne of Dallas, qualified at this time as successor to Dr. P. M. Peck of San Antonio, resigned. The next meeting will be held in Houston in November. Exploiting the Doctor.-We do not care to enter into a discussion of the problem at the present time, because of lack of space for a thorough consideration. We desire, however, to warn the profession against entering hastily into any combination wherein medical services are sold for an inadequate consideration. On the face of it, any proposition of this character can be made to look good and perfectly ethical, but there is usually an under-current which will ultimately work destruction to the physician in proportion to the profit yielded to the promoters. It is quite possible profit yielded to the promoters. that the claims of the promoters of such enterprises will double the income of certain physicians, but it cannot possibly double the income of any considerable proportion of the whole and do justice to their patrons, and it is to the whole profession that we speak. We leave it to the reader whether any enterprise which corners the practice of medicine for certain select individuals is ethical. The test of the whole matter is whether such a movement is an economic necessity. If so, it is entirely proper that such arrangements be made, provided the pay for the physician is fair and in proportion to the other expenses of the people served. For instance, in the more populous sections of our country there are people who are barely able to live on the best income available, and these people are for the most part, served by free clinics. It would be entirely proper to arrange for health insurance among these people at a very low rate. It would manifestly be unfair to apply the same rates to a class of people able to pay oragnizations of the type complained of secure their an adequate fee, and most of our health insurance business on the plea that the services of the physician will be secured through their respective organizations cheaper than they can secure it otherwise. When it is considered that the cost of operating such a scheme is considerable, it is clear that somebody is going to |