Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

37,S
THE CHARLOTTE MEDICAL JOURNAL.
knows the simplest principles of law. Not- count— Drs. Sitnmons and McConuack. :
ing the crooked work of the Program Com- The provisions of this document gave uiul- i
mittee, I at once telegraphed Dr. Arch tiple offices and despotic power to the chief i
Dixon' of Henderson, Ky., who had been factor in reorganization, who, strange to;
assigned No. 17, and asked for his place on say, was formerly an advertising newspaper ,
the program, which he kindly gave me. specialist and is a "regular" by virtue of a 1
The Executive Committee then promptly diploma obtained by "arrangement." 1 he
convened and excluded my paper alto- two men who wrote the Constitution and
oether My friends immediately got to- Bv- Laws hold the only high-salaried offices :
gether and asked me to read the paper of the A. M. A. Their combined salaries!
independently. I consented, with the amount to $17, 310.0.T per annum. One of ,
proviso that I should change the title tlicin holds three offices. Editor, Secretary!
to "Despotism in American Medicine." and (Wneral Manager, and has the power 'i
I then asked the Chairman of the Commit- and temperament of a Czar. He was at ,
tee of Arrangements if there was any objec- one time Chairman of the Council of Phar-s
tion to my friends' plans and he replied macy and Chemistry, thus holding foui .:
that there was not. My friends engaged offices'.
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and paid for a room at the Southern Hotel, The Constitution and By-Laws of the A. .
the Association headquarters, and the paper M. A. was irregularly adopted, as shown t
was announced. When the time set—3 by Dr. W. H. Sanders, ( Medical Record, t
p_ m.— arrived, my friends were informed June loth, July 1st and 1/th, 190d. ) Som;»
rhat they could not have the room, as all of the State machines, following the ex-«
the rooms were under the control of the ample of the parent Association, threw lega.^
Committee of Arrangements. A room was restrictions to the winds and re-organizec J
finally engaged at the Planters' Hotel and with total disregard to membership rights J
the address delivered. I submit to the pro- All protest was smothered by exclusiorj
fession the following questions, viz: from the Journal of the A. M. A., which isj
1st. Am I right in contending that free controlled by the Czar and his machine. }
speech and liberty of opinion is denied the Power is always corruptive, and growsl
rank and file of the A. M. A.? by what it feeds on, hence it was but nat i
2nd Is the A M. A., as at present con- ural that the machine which now controli'
ducted, a despotism?
the A.M. A. should have grown more anci
3rd, Is the Mississippi Vallev Associa- more despotic as time went on. Abuse o
tion, of which I am one of the oldest mem- power was to have been expected and ha: I
bers, a free and independent association, or occurred. Members—even whole societieij
a satellite of the A. M. A.? —have been robbed of their rights. Oik,-
4th. Is there anvthing in my contentions man, Dr. H. B. Young, of Burlington t
which I have not a right to advance as a Iowa, was declared ineligible to read i|
member of the A. M. A. and a free born paper and illegally expelled from the A. M
American citizen? A. in 1901, because he opposed the plans oj
.5th. Is the A. M. A. "American?" the machine in Iowa. "Harmony" in thi.j
6th. Is there anything in rav contentions A. M. A., it seems, consists in submissioiii
to which any fair-minded man could not to the will of the machine. " Unification 'C
listen, or which is not conducive to the best apparently means submission to one mai.i
interests of everybody save the political power.
machine which runs the A. M. A.? The Secretary General-Editor-Manage|
ABSTRACT OF PAPER REJECTED BY THE M. of the A. M. A. has abused his power. H|
V. A. OCT. 12th, 1909, AT ST. LOUIS has abrogated the rights of members an.j
MEETING.
has persecuted those whose policies difTerej
The average American doctor is either from those of his machine. Hehastriedti
too busy or too indifferent to safeguard his injure the private business and credit cj
own interests, hence he has ever been the members of the A. M. A. He has prosbo
dumping ground for the gold brick in- tuted the Journal to his private animositi€,l
dustry. The most colossal gold brick ever and to vulgar, every day politics. He ha.j
handed him was the scheme of reorganiza- dealt partially with the friends of the mal
tion of the A. M. A. in 1902. This was chine and opposed representation of m
speciously fair and full of promise, on the rank and file. He has published ofTensiv|
surface, but served to conceal the designs advertisements without rebuke. He ha,.
of a cabal of self-seeking politicians whose used his position for the political prefe:j
chief ambition was power, place and politi- ment of himself and satellites. As mattei^
cal prestige for themselves. . stand, the rank and file have no medium d?
The Constitution and By-Laws under protest or criticism. In all of his overtactJil
which the A. M. A. is now operating, was the Czar of the A. M. A. has had the su]|
written by two men—the third did not port of the machine which he constructe(jb
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