682 
A. LIAUTARD. 
as a test in reading, handwriting, orthography, grammar and 
arithmetic .” 
Gentlemen, it has taken us twenty years to reach at this still 
low standard. We have progressed slowly, perhaps too slowly 
some will say. I will answer “yes, but surely.” 
It is well enough for some of our friends to say that the re¬ 
quirements demanded by the regents bill are certainly very low, 
and that after all, the examination on arithmetic, elementary 
English, geography, spelling, United States history, English 
composition and physics cannot be considered as two severe a 
test for a candidate to the study of the immense field of com¬ 
parative medicine. 
I will grant that “the better educated, the better fitted,” but 
are our young men prepared for this sudden raise in the re¬ 
quirements. Many possess those qualifications no doubt, but 
how many do not. It may be proper to expect them from our 
city boys, but how about those who are in the country. It may 
not be difficult to find them among families well to do, but how 
about the ambitious boy, who has by hard work, I was almost 
going to say hard labor, learn some of the requirements that 
you ask, has economized to see his way through the three years 
of college life . . . and who finds the college doors closed for 
the present at least, for several years anyhow, until he becomes 
possessed of your new re-enforced obligations. 
But let us suppose that we are in error—that the officers of 
the American Veterinary College have been wrong in working 
so carefully since their organization, and that the requirements 
of the bill of the regents should be the only one which would 
allow our veterinary schools to grant degrees to veterinarians 
who would establish themselves afterwards to the state. What 
would it mean ? What would be the result ? 
Simply this : “ Private schools give up your charter and close 
your doors . Your existence of thirty years teaching, Gentlemen of 
the faculty , are no protection. Your ungrateful work, your yeais 
of perseverant activity, your sacrifices in behalf and for love of 
your profession must all be ignored. Your schools will remain 
