152 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
at Chapin’s. Col. M. A. Aldrich acted as toastmaster. Steps 
were taken after the banquet toward the organization of a State 
veterinary association. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
THE ROBERTSON-,SWAIN CONTROVERSY—DR. SWAIN’S RE¬ 
JOINDER. 
Decatur, III., April 4, 1901. 
Editors American Veterinary Review : 
Dear Sirs :—On the 949th page of your March issue, Dr. 
James Robertson of, and for, the State Board of Veterinary 
Medicinal and Surgical Examiners, attempts a defense of him¬ 
self and the Board against a series of wholesale charges, specifi¬ 
cations and positive proof which I preferred against them in 
the February number of your journal. And, now, while I feel 
like apologizing to the profession, one and all, for asking them 
to suffer the infliction of carefully reading that sickly and silly 
deliverance from the Doctor in your March issue, I do so only 
because it is supposed to be the best defense that can come from 
that more or less respected, august, and erudite body; but why 
they presume to put forth even this bastard and brainless de¬ 
fense is a mystery to me. The Board admits it has never de¬ 
nied a certificate to any applicant, however undeserving and 
degraded, if only he had the fee. It admits having licensed 
an invalid from the insane asylum ; it pleads guilty to having 
passed an applicant whom our committee found unable to an¬ 
swer a single primary question ; of which fact I refer to the 
Illinois Veterinary Medical and Surgical Association in proof. 
The Board admits telling these applicants, against whom 
plentiful and persistent protests were made, that they need 
not feel uneasy about losing the $20 fee, in case they failed 
to pass, because the Board would pass them ; and the Board 
always thus exchanged the license for the fee. I say the 
Board ad?nits the truth of all these allegations because they 
are not denied. The Board does not pretend to deny nor pal¬ 
liate this infamous practice, because it can't. From all over 
the State would concentrate clouds of witnesses to confound 
them. They must take their medicine. When conscience and 
common honesty compelled our committee to condemn this 
Board and its infamous actions, they answer back that we are 
u non-graduates /” and, when we adduce evidence that many 
of the world’s most eminent men belong to our contemptible 
