212 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 



edge the fact that a good man is better worth his 

 salary though large, than the poorly equipped 

 man is his pittance. The penny-wise legislators 

 are inclined to believe that so long as any one can 

 be induced to take an office for small pay, the pay 

 should not be raised. The consequence is that the 

 office must be filled with incompetent men or those 

 who seek to make up the deficiency through doubt- 

 ful means. There are many ways of using a free 

 office for the personal advantage of the holder, 

 and low salaries in governmental work always 

 put a premium upon dishonesty. 



169. Permanency of Office. Since governmental 

 work demands qualifications for which there are 

 small demands in private life, it follows that a 

 competent departmental executive should hold 

 his office so long as he proves efficient. He should 

 not be subject to removal with every change in 

 administration — that tends to attract his atten- 

 tion from his executive business to politics. It 

 often perverts his administration in order to 

 secure or hold political support. A Canadian 

 judge is not even permitted to vote at an elec- 

 tion, in order thus to keep him clear of political 

 entanglements. There should be no admixture of 

 health administration with political party con- 

 tests. It is true that sometimes a party may very 

 properly make public health one of its party 

 planks, but the man who holds an executive posi- 

 tion in the goverament should be pennitted to 

 devote his full attention to health protection, if 

 that be his particular field of operation. 



170. Veterinary Science and the Medical Pro- 

 fession. The members of the general medical and 



