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EDITORIAL. 
271 
such a grand meeting a great many difficulties to overcome, 
The committee ot arrangements must certainly have had 
much to do, and, in the presence of their various projects, it 
cannot be surprising if some possible oversight seemed to 
have occurred and misunderstandings to have arisen. Hence 
the expression of our fears in a previous number of the Review, 
and also those of our correspondent and friend, Dr. W. L. 
Williams, in his open letter of last July. But these have all 
been allayed. The correspondence of Dr. Hoskins and Dr. 
Williams, which we here publish, has arranged and explained 
all difficulties, and all fears that the most friendly and harmon¬ 
ious feelings will not prevail, have now vanished. Everything 
is now satisfactory, the trip is arranged, the programme 
definitely laid out, the trains are secured, and now “ All aboard 
for Chicago,” to meet on the third Tuesday of September in 
the large Lecture Hall of the Auditorium Building. 
We give here the two latest letters from Dr. Hoskins and 
Dr. Williams relating to the subject, brought on by the open 
letter of the latter. 
t 
[Reply to Open Letter]. 
To Dr. W. L. Williams : 
Dear Sir: —In reply to the open letter published in the July number of the 
Review, permit me to make a few notes on the past history of the United States 
Veterinary Medical Association. It has always in the past confined its pro¬ 
gramme to members of its organization, and only by special request, given by a 
unanimous vote, allowed outside papers to be read at its meetings. I have per¬ 
sonally attended these meetings since it honored me with an election, and I have 
yet to attend one which, to me, did not prove instructive, and I have yet to 
receive of one of its members a resignation on the grounds of failure to perform 
its duties. On my accession to the office of Secretary, a careful review of its 
work for the past twenty-five years, its records and lists of members, led me to 
feel that its greatest weakness was not in the ability and worth of its members, 
but in the one fact that the preponderance of its members was east of the Alle¬ 
gheny Mountains. Conferring with the higher officers of the Association, and 
with their approval, I commenced, over one year ago, to develop an interest in 
the Association among the Western members of the profession. In conjunction 
with our President, we carefully selected for resident State Secretaries the best 
that our list afforded. With these members as a working body, I suggested to 
them the advisability of working up sufficient interest to command our Asso¬ 
ciation to again make the West a visit. After many months of persistent work, 
in the face of much opposition arising from reminiscences of the Cincinnati 
meeting, we brought sufficient influence to secure a meeting in Chicago for 
