The Penn's Grove record., 1915-09-17
DIPLOMAS SOLD
AT CUT RATES
Testimony Before Examining
Board Reveals Graft Scheme.
OsIEOPATH COLLEGE PROBE
Parchments Bought for From $s5 to
$2oo-LIcenses Refused by Board
- Investigations Are to conr
tinue Further.
Especial Trenton Correspondence

Especial Trenton Correspondence
misunderstanding to evidence
brought out before Supreme Court
Commissioner Samuel Fowls, in this
city, diplomas to practice osteopathy
| could be purchased for from $50 to
5000, without encumbering the buyer
with stuffy old details of learning
what TO do with patients.
The testimony came out in manda-
mus proceedings begun by nearly 100
osteopaths to compel the State Board
of Medical Examiners to issue licen-
ses to them. This action follows the
passage of the bill by the Legislature
last winter under sensational circum-
stances, and after a Committee of the
Assembly had investigated charges
that members had been bribed to vote
for it. The measure was intended to
permit graduates of the O~steopath1s
College in Passaic to gain the coveted
licenses from the Examining Board
which had been denied them under the
law of the previous year. 1t is con-
tended by the ~osteopaths that the
State Board has no alternative under
the law of last winter but to issue Ii
censes. In other words, they claim
the law is mandatory. The Board
does not take this view, but holds
that the applicants must prove person
al attendance and a residence Of two
years in the State.
Diplomas Peddled in State.
The diplomas, alleged to have been
peddled around the State, are said to
have been from the New Jersey Col
lege of Osteopathy at Passaic, the in
stitution which, it is alleged, the
State Board has been discriminating
against. Anton Deininger, of West
New York, testified that he paid 5000
for a diploma for himself and the
same amount for one for his wife.
When questioned closely he said he
did not know the person who sold him
the diploma other than that his name
was Blair. Neither he nor his wife
had ever been in Passaic, where the
institution from which they were sup
posed to have graduated, is located.
Lawrence E. Kahn, of Railway, told
the same story only he arranged for
the purchase ofh is diploma by tele-
phone, he said. BY appointment he
met the alleged Blair in New York,
in a hallway, turned over the 5000,
and got the evidence of his education
It was the testimony of Theophilius
Nelson, of Palisades, that a diploma
in 1908 cost him $85, and that DR..
D~4Jx k1An nrncidnnf Nf tho
| College, got the money. He claimed
that he got a list of 100 examination
questions from DR.. Rock, answered
them at home, took them to DR.. Rock,
who looked at them for five minutes.
He then paid $85 and got his diploma.
May Lift Startling Ban.
The war against the European star
ling, a bird which bids fair to become
even a greater pest than the English
sparrow, also an alien, has received
a new impetus. The Bureau of Bio
logical Survey Of the Department of
Agriculture has ofen recommended
hat the protection afforded the birds
in the various States be withdrawn.
A few days ago two residents of Mont
| clair obtained permits from the State
Fish and Game Commission to shoot
starlings annoying them, and this &C
ton may lead to the abolition of the
Jersey State law which protects the
birds in this part of the country.
Feeds on insects.
Although the starting is useful to
the extent that it feeds on insects, it
is a veritable fruit pilferer, and in
nest building it completes with useful
! native birds. In the cities the star
lings are perhaps a greater pest h a
in the country, for their nesting in fine
| shade trees sometimes makes streets
look like chicken yards.
Few o~rnithologists hold that star
lings are desirable aliens. The birds
we're imported from Europe about
twenty-five years ago and their spread
throughout nearby States especially
was rapid. Fruit growers early brand
| ed them as pests and spoilers of crops.
The Department of Agriculture stu
died the birds, and as a result the
| shipment of the species from State to
| State was prohibited under heavy pen
atty.
Four years ago, when the visits of
the Startling flocks first became recog-
nized in Montclair as a public nui-
sance, residents appealed to the Shade
Tree Commission, which appointed a
mar to shoot the birds.