194 HOG CHOLEKA 



use of serum and virus shall be placed exclusively 

 in his hands, and when this is done he has not the 

 same right to fix the selling price of these products 

 that he has to name his own fee. Use of serum 

 and virus is a public trust reposed in him rather 

 than a monopoly given into his hands for private 

 exploitation. His profits should come from his 

 work, not from the serum he uses. 



Some practitioners charge according to the num- 

 ber of hogs treated, some according to the quantity 

 of serum injected, and others on the basis that 

 they fix fees for other calls. v No system is entirely 

 free from objection, but we believe that the most 

 satisfactory and fair plan is for the veterinarian 

 to place a value on his day's work and charge for 

 vaccinating according to the time consumed in 

 doing it. He is entitled to add to this a handling 

 charge on the serum he uses, to compensate for 

 clerical work, express, breakage, and unused prod- 

 ucts that are left on his hands. Under ordinary 

 conditions, if breeders pay cash, an increase of 20 

 or 25 per cent over the purchase price will take 

 care of these items, but it will not be sufficient if 

 credit is habitually allowed. A practitioner can 

 lose more on one bad serum bill than he can collect 

 as fees for several days' work. 



The practice of charging according to the time 

 consumed has obvious advantages if we let our 

 clients know that we are following it. It con- 



