Page images
PDF
EPUB

Bureau of Public Health materially extended the authority and usefulness of this Bureau.

The increased interest on the part of the general public and the more attentive attitude of Congress indicate the early shaping of the policy which will recognize more fully the responsibility and economic interest of the government in public health matters. It will then be but a short step in so enlarging and increasing the Public Health service to the logical end, namely: the establishment of a Department of Public Health which will provide the effective machinery and exercise the necessary authority to accomplish its objects as the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, etc., are now accomplishing their respective objects.

In the attainment of this end the influence of the dental profession should be exerted with directness and wisdom so as to be not only effective in bringing about the main object but, also, for the recognition and extension of the important function of dentistry in contributing materially to the Improvement of the mental, moral and physical welfare of the race as well as to the comfort, health and longevity of the comparatively few who receive its beneficent ministrations.

Respectfully submitted,

M. F. FINLEY, Chairman.

VOTED that this report be accepted. VOTED that the Report of the Necrology Committee be laid on the table until some member of the Committee is present to read it.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION.

This is not a separate bill but an amendment to the Army Appropriation Bill.

We have not tried to create a precedent but to follow an established precedent.

We believe the Army Dental Corps should have a head for the reason that no Corps can reach a high degree of efficiency without a head and that head a member of the profession represented by the Corps.

The head of this Corps should have the rank of Colonel, because he will have under his supervision double the number of officers in a regiment which always has a Colonel at its head. Also he will have the supervision of the Oral Health of over one hundred thousand men.

In creating a Dental Reserve Corps it is your committee's desire to eliminate the contract status from the army; the Dental Corps being the only Corps having such men. The wording of the present law which created the Dental Corps (Act of Congress March 3, 1911) has been construed by the Chief in charge of militia affairs, Washington, D. C., in its application to the organized militia under the Dick Law and Volunteer troops to be raised under the last volunteer bill which

has been passed by the present Congress as follows:

All original appointments to the Dental Corps shall be as acting Dental Surgeon (Contract Dental Surgeon) and after three years service in a manner satisfactory to the Governor of the State or the commanding general, District of Columbia Militia, such appointees may be appointed and be commissioned as First Lieutenant in the Dental Corps. In other words, the way the law now stands the militia organization must be the same as the regular army which of course includes its medical personnel; this applies as well to volunteers, and dental surgeons must be appointed in the ratio of 1 to 1000 men. Dental surgeons entering in their professional capacity must serve in either the militia or volunteers under the existing law three years as contract dental surgeon before securing their commission as First Lieutenant. If disability occurs in line of duty while in this status of contract dental surgeon, or acting dental surgeon, they receive no retirement or are they or their wives entitled to a pension if disability occurs even in line of duty. They haven't even the protection of a private in their own regiment who draws $15 per month. This, Gentlemen, is in strict harmony with the recommendations advocated by the President and approved by the committee to which his address was referred. committee would urge that the Legislation Committee, to be elected at this meeting, be directed to use their best effort to secure this legislation at the earliest practical opportunity. We further recommend that when such Bill is introduced in Congress that it should receive the legal support of every member of this Association.

Our

C. B. GIFFORD
A. O. ROSS,
H. L. WHEELER,
Committee.

VOTED that this report be accepted and the recommendations adopted.

The General Secretary announced that New York now had, including dues received at registration booth, paid in over $1300, which would entitle this state, if these funds were added to amount already paid, to another delegate.

UNANIMOUSLY VOTED to seat Dr. H. C. Ferris, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in the House of Delegates.

REPORT OF RELIEF COMMITTEE. Your Committee submits the following report: The plan suggested by Dr. R. Ottolengui of getting up a Christmas seal similar to that used by the Red Cross, has been very successfully worked up by the New England members of your Commit

tee and Dr. Gaylord reports about $3600.00 as the result of his labors. The design for this seal was prepared by Dr. Chas. McManus, to whom your Committee is indebted not only for this artistic work, but for many useful suggestions.

Considering the late start, we think our New England members have done well in the sale of seals; but this much has been the fruits of much and the sacrifice of much time and considerable money, all of which they have cheerfully contributed to this cause.

Your Chairman had 3000 circular letters printed with pledge cards and these were divided with Dr. Chambers and mailed to the members of the State Societies in our respective territories. This letter solicited contributions to the Relief Fund and the pledge card was a promise of annual contributions as follows:

To the National Dental Association Relief Fund Committee:

I hereby agree to subscribe annually the sum of ($......) for the Benefit Insurance Fund of the National Dental Association.

This is done with the understanding that I am free to either discontinue my subscription, increase or reduce it at my pleasure.

Signed

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

From this source we have received annual pledges amounting to fifty-eight dollars.

Contributors were requested to make returns to our Treasurer, Dr. H. B. McFadden. In addition to these, Dr. Chambers had printed another circular letter with the pledge card, asking for contributions to be sent in to his office.

His report, which I submit herewith, shows that he mailed 2900 circular letters, besides 200 written appeals. It is with much regret that we must report the resignation of Dr. Chambers from the Committee. This he says is because of failing health, on which account his medical advisor has ordered him to lessen his work. Dr. Chambers has rendered our Committee valuable assistance; his work has always been promptly and efficiently done, his contributions to our cause have always been generous and his counsel wise. It is with sincere regret that we must lose him from our Committee.

We therefore request the appointment of another man to serve as alternate, but it is our desire to retain Dr. Chambers in our Committee.

E. S. GAYLORD,
L. G. NOEL,

W. T. CHAMBERS.
JAMES MCMANUS.

[blocks in formation]

UNANIMOUSLY VOTED that consent be given to Dr. Marshall to present the matter of transferring the balance of the California Relief Fund to the National Relief Fund.

VOTED that the Treasurer be authorized to consolidate the two funds into one fund, to be known as the National Relief Fund.

REPORT OF AMENDMENT COMMITTEE read, with regard to redistricting: District No. 1: Maine 1; New Hampshire 1; Vermont 1; Massachusetts 3; Rhode Island 2; Connecticut 3. 1063 members, 11 delegates.

District No. 2: New York 9 and New Jersey 2. 1421 members, 11 delegates. District No. 3: Pennsylvania 3; Delaware not reported; Maryland 1; West Virginia 1; and Ohio 8. 1699 members, 13 delegates.

District No. 4: Virginia 2; District of Columbia 1; National Capital 1; Army 1; Navy, delegate not seated; North Carolina not reported; South Carolina 2; Georgia 1; Florida 1; Alabama 2; Mississippi 2; Louisiana 2; Porto Rico 1. 849 members, 16 delegates.

District No. 5: Michigan 4; Indiana 4; Kentucky 3; Tennessee 2. About 1700 members, 13 delegates.

District No. 6: Wisconsin 1 and Illinois 10. 1759 members, 11 delegates. District No. 7: Iowa 4; Minnesota 3; Nebraska 3; South Dakota not reported; North Dakota 2; Wyoming 1; Montana 1. 1413 members, 14 delegates.

District No. 8: Missouri 4; Kansas 3; Colorado 2; Arkansas 1; Oklahoma 2; Texas 2; Arizano 1; New Mexico 1. 1471 members, 16 delegates.

District No. 9: Washington 2; Oregon 2; California 4; Southern California 2; Idaho not reported; Nevada not reported; Utah 1; Phillipine Islands, Alaska and Hawaiin Islands not reported. 987 members, 11 delegates.

Map of the nine districts shown in Vol. 1, No. 4, October issue, Official Bulletin. Page 151.

VOTED that the supplementary report of the Amendment Committee be adopted.

VOTED that the National Relief Committee be increased by four members, and amended that the original committee of three may select the four additional members.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON DENTAL
EDUCATION.

To the House of Delegates National Dental Association:

Your Committee on Dental Education has carefully considered that portion of the most excellent address of the President under the head of "Increasing Dental Standards" and is of the opinion that it involves the most difficult and important questions demanding your thoughtful consideration. We especially commend the plea of the President for increased 'Efficiency" of dental graduates; but suggest that greater thoroness would accomplish the object better than an increase in the curriculum.

It is a well recognized fact that histology, pathology and bacteriology are fundamentals in which the dental student should be well grounded, and all dental colleges should meet the requirements by specialized courses to fit the needs of the dentist.

Your committee agrees with the President that if more time was spent in obtaining the dental degree, better results would be obtained, and would therefore recommend that an additional session should be added as soon as practicable. Your committee would ask that this question, and the question of increased preliminary training be referred to the committee on "Dental Education and Educational Council" to work out the problems involved in such a manner as seem just and right.

The Committee is of the opinion that the President's conclusions are correct, and that the preliminary educational requirements can be best and most effectively worked out thru the co-operation of the State Boards of Education of the various states and the State Boards of Dental Exami

ners.

The Dental profession of America owes it to the students, to itself, and to the public to be informed and to so direct the dentist of the future that he may make no mistake in his efforts to become a respected member of our great profession and a qualified servant of humanity.

Respectfully submitted,

HENRY W. MORGAN,
HOWARD S. SEIP,

T. A. BROADBENT,
Committee on Education.

VOTED that this report be accepted.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO PREPARE A SYSTEM OF BOOKKEEPING FOR THE NATIONAL DENTAL ASSOCIATION AND ITS CONSTITUENT SOCIETIES. The element of efficiency in the work of an organization must depend to a considerable extent upon the system under which the work is done, and as the financial item is more or less directly associated with most lines of activity in society work, the importance of a simple and accurate scheme of collecting and forwarding. dues, recording memberships, issuance of certificates, mailing of notices, bulletins, journals, etc., becomes manifest.

When the plan of reorganization of the National Dental Association shall have been fully worked out by the proper reorganization of all State societies, with their competent local or discollection trict societies, the of the dues for local, state and National societies will be made in all states by the local secretaries, as it is now done in the already reorganized states. This means that the dues of the members thruout the country will be paid to not less than five or six hundred local secretaries and will be forwarded by them to the various state secretaries and by them to the National Secretary, who will, after recording the membership and issuing membership certificates, turn the money over to the Treasurer. For the coming year and for several years, the dues will be collected in some states by the local secretaries, in many states by the state secretaries, and if there are some states which do not vote to affiliate, dues from members in such states may be collected by the National Secretary direct.

It will be realized from the foregoing statements that the system adopted must be flexible enough to meet the various conditions in the different states and to be easily modified for each state as reorganization progresses. Other important considerations are that the system shall be so simple that it will be easily understood by the small army of new local secretaries who will be elected each year; that the minimum amount of labor and time will be required of each man in performing his share of the work; that there will be the least danger of error in the transmission of names and addresses; and that there shall be a definite means of checking up and accurately auditing the accounts of all secretaries-local, state and National.

The plan which has been adopted will be briefly explained in the following paragraphs. Concisely written instructions and suggestions have been prepared for the proper officers of all the state and local societies.

Stated very briefly, the plan is herewith presented:

The Secretary of the National Dental Association requested each state secretary to furnish him with an accurately prepared list of the names and ad

dresses of the members of his society, arranged alphabetically for the entire state if the state secretary collects the dues, arranged alphabetically for each local society if the local secretaries collect the dues.

As these lists were received for each state, the National Secretary prepared a set of metal addressing plates, each containing the name and address of a member; and these plates were arranged alphabetically as were the names in the lists. From these plates it is possible to print all sorts of blanks, cards and envelopes very rapidly, in a machine made for this especial purpose, and the addressing plates will always be automatically kept in their proper order. This machine has an attachment by which each name may be printed two or three or more times before the next name comes into place, and it also has an attachment for a numbering consecutively whatever is being printed.

For each state there has been run thru this machine a set of receipt blanks for the collection of dues. Each blank is in four sections or stubs, each member's with perforations between, and name and address is printed on all four of the stubs of a blank. In accordance with the arrangement of the addressing plates in the machine, these blanks are automatically arranged alphabetically either for the entire state or for each local society, and consecutively numbered for each state. are then bound in one or several books (one book for each local society if the local secretaries collect the dues) and sent to the State Secretary, who forwards them to the various local secretaries.

They

Each local secretary then has a book with a four stub. slip for each member, arranged alphabetically. When a member pays his dues the local secretary signs and tears off the first stub and gives it to the member; this stub is his card of membership in the National Association, in his The local state society and in his local society. secretary enters the date on the last stub, which is permanently bound in the book; that is his record of payment. When he is ready to remit to the state secretary, he tears off and mails the other two stubs for as many members as have paid, together with a money order for their state and National dues. He is not required to write a single name or address. His receipt book also shows at all times, by the long blanks remaining in it, those who have not paid.

On receipts of the stubs and the remittance, the state secretary separates the stubs, retains one for each member and forwards the other to the Secretary of the National, with the proper amount of dues. By this plan the state secretary and the National Secretary each receive a card for each member, and if they file these cards according to their numbers they will be arranged alphabetically for each society, because they were numbered in that order when they were originally printed in the machine. The numbers printed on the cards will not only

be consecutive for the members of each state, but will also be in proper order to correspond with an alphabetical arrangement of the states.

In those states in which the state secretary collects the dues, one stub is given the member, one is sent to the National Secretary and the other two are retained by the state secretary. One of these

is already bound in the book in an alphabetical arrangement, the other is detached and arranged according to the address, so that the cards for the members in each city are together. In each receipt book there will be a number of blanks to be used for new members.

It is proposed to change the color of these blanks each year so that, in the files of state secretaries and of the National Secretary, by substituting the new cards for the old as the dues are paid, the lists will show by the colors of the cards which members are delinquent.

As cards are received by the National Secretary, he issues to each member a membership certificate. This certificate has a stub made to fit into a card drawer, and as the certificates are issued, the stubs will be arranged in alphabetical order for the entire membership of the society, and filed away for each year as the permanent record of the members for the year. This arrangement gives the National Secretary's office two files of members, the one an alphabetical list for the entire society; the other made up of the cards sent in by state secretaries, arranged alphabetically by states or alphabetically for the local societies within each state.

State society secretaries will be furnished with boxes of suitable size to hold the cards of their respective states. These boxes may be used for filing the cards as the dues are received, and also to carry them to the place of meeting of the society to be used in registering. There will be a place on each card to indicate the presence of the member. To be registered, each member may be asked for his number, or his name and address, as may be most convenient for the state secretary. The National Secretary will also take the cards, which have been sent in to him, to the meeting of the National Association to register the members who attend. These cards will be arranged in numerical order, which will also be in alphabetical order for each state, or for the locals in each state, in accordance with the original arrangement of the metal plates in the addressing machine. Το register, a member may either give his number, or his name and the society to which he belongs, and his card will be quickly found.

It will be noticed that this plan contemplates the collection of dues by local secretaries, previous to the time of meeting of either the state or National Societies, and it is expected that most of the dues will be collected at meetings of local societies held in the fall, so that the dues of the National may reach the National Secretary's office before the end of the year in order that the new membership certificates may be issued on Jan. 1st. However,

in those states in which it has been customary for the state secretary to collect the dues at the time of the state society meeting, the plan may be continued or not, as may be determined in each state. The state secretary may send out statements in December and collect dues from as many as possible by mail, and the remainder at the time of the meeting, or he may wait until the annual meeting He of his society and collect all of the dues then. may remit to the National Secretary at any time for those who have paid and the membership certificates will be issued.

There is, as a part of the plan, a set of remittance and receipt blanks, by which the various secretaries-local, state and National-check up on each other. The National Secretary will issue direct to each member an engraved membership certificate, and the receipt of this by the member is evidence that his dues have been properly forwarded. These membership certificates are numbered consecutively, so that the highest number issued will correspond with the total dues received by the National Secretary.

Two books will be kept by the National Secretary, one of which will show a classified account of receipts, of remittances to the Treasurer, and of orders on the Treasurer for disbursements; the other will show a classified list of remittances grouped by states and will be the basis of the allotment of delegates to each state.

All moneys received by the National Secretary will be forwarded to the Treasurer, to be paid out on vouchers signed by the President and Secretary. The Treasurer of the National will keep a cash book which will show an account of remittances received from the Secretary and a classified account of the disbursements. The books will be so arranged that the various accounts may be kept in classified form with the least possible number of entries and yet be so arranged that they may be readily checked by an auditing committee.

It will be noticed that it will be unnecessary for either the local, state or National Secretary to write a member's name or address except on the membership certificates issued by the National Secretary.

The addressing machine will, of course, be used for many other purposes, such as addressing of envelopes for the Bulletin and all kinds of notices, for wrappers for the Journal when it is established, The machine is run by an electric motor and in case of need, envelopes can be addressed to twelve or fifteen thousand members in a few hours.

etc.

Respectfully submitted,

HOMER C. BROWN,

OTTO U. KING,

ARTHUR D. BLACK, Chairman.

VOTED that Dr. A. D. Black's (Illinois) suggestion with regard to report of Bookkeeping Committee be accepted.

« PreviousContinue »