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DR. JAMES DAVID MCCOY
WILSHIRE ARTS BUILDING
WILSHIRE BOULEVARD & MANHATTAN PLACE
LOS ANGELES

PRACTICE LIMITED TO ORTHODONTIA

May 13, 1930

Dr. Leuman M. Waugh,
576 Fifth Avenue
New York City, New York.

My dear Leuman:

I was on the verge of writing you, just on general principles, and to let you know how much I enjoyed my visit with you and Mrs. Waugh in Nashville, when your letter reached me.

I wish sincerely. that our meetings would not attempt to cover quite so much territory.* It seems to me that an over-crowded program (which seems to be the case nowadays) has a greater tendency to nullify the value of the meeting than a program which is characterized by the opposite extreme. The  Nashville meeting had too many papers, too many clinics and too many case reports for the number of days allotted. I am not making this in a critical way of out officers or of our past president, but rather of the policy of the present day which seems to run along this same line. As a member of the Board of Censors I am going to endeavor to correct this evil, so wish me luck.

Personally, I am glad that you have been willing to accept the position of Secretary-Chairman of the Orthodontia section of the American Association of Dental Schools, for I believe your influence has been a decidedly helpful factor in making some of our executives realize what is involved in Orthodontic teaching. My observation of such men is that they are still thinking of Orthodontia in terms of "regulating appliances" and retainers and are willing to "program" almost any scheme which does not reduce the income from Orthodontic cases in their infirmaries.

In one prominent school I know of in the middle west where undergraduates are handling cases, appliances are put on and teeth are started moving many times before even casts are completed. In other words, the demonstrator with the "all seeing eye" utilizes the "squint eye method" of diagnosis and the teeth are sent merrily on their way. Do you think any executive who is so ignorant as to allow such things deserves to be called a member of a learned profession?

* So that more time could be given over to "personal conferences" are are not only pleasant but helpful.