210 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 
postpone all action until the board meets. He 
cannot even take the consensus of the members. 
They must meet to act.© If he takes the respon- 
sibility of action be may do so only at his peril, 
and if harm or injury results to any one through 
such illegal though possibly advisable action, he 
may be held personally liable, if after the board 
meets they fail to support him in his act, and take 
the responsibility upon themselves.° 
Modern business methods demand that respon- 
sibility be definite with each person engaged in 
its operation for some particular portion of the 
work, and that there be no portion of the work 
which is not clearly the duty of some one person 
to perform. It would be just as advisable and 
practical to entrust the operation of a pumping 
station to a board of amateur engineers, or so to 
construct an automobile that each occupant would 
have an equal control over its movements, as it 
is to expect a board to be efficient in governmental 
administration. 
167. A Trained Executive. Another serious 
fault in American executive administration is the 
failure to recognize the necessity for special edu- 
cation and training previous to appointment to 
office. This is particularly true of positions re- 
quiring special technical knowledge. ‘To some 
degree this is recognized in certain lines of work. 
For example, it is customary to make a knowledge 
of the law requisite for appointment or election 
to the judicial bench. Some knowledge of the law 
5 PuBLiC HEALTH, 295. 
6PuBLic HEALTH, 360, 365, 
366. 
