EDITORIAL. 
99 
be awarded to our Jersey confreres for this. But the most inter¬ 
esting spectacle of all has been the course of things in the Legis¬ 
lature of New York. If we have not been misinformed, the 
Solons of the Excelsior State have had no less than seven bills 
simultaneously offered for their consideration, of which, however, 
two only are of any interest to the profession of the State. One 
of these was passed and received the signature of the Governor; 
the other was killed. The first authorizes the extension of the 
rules of registration. It was a law which, however, was after all 
of but little account, when we take into consideration the wording 
of the act of last year, and the fact that now every man who 
wishes to do so may register. Yes, Dr. Middleton, we can answer 
your inquiry. We believe that any of your neighboring blacksmiths 
who so elect may go on filing horses’ teeth, and may collect his 
two dollars without any fear of the penalty of the law. And if 
you ask us who is responsible for a state of things so absurdly 
disgraceful, we answer : Those who killed the second bill; those 
who, after petitioning the Legislature for the reinsertion of the 
clause eliminated from last year’s law, prevented the transmission 
of the memorial to Albany, and thus caused the movement to 
abort; those, both regular and irregular, who are running a mill 
for grinding out diplomas and certificates, and own a veterinarian 
factory which returns them fat fees without work; those who, 
recreant to their word and to all considerations of professional 
honor, are perpetuating a system of disgraceful jobbing which 
will retard the progress of the profession in the State, and keep 
it half a century behind the age. 
How long must this evil continue ? is a pertinent query for the 
veterinarians of New York to answer. It is for them to sa} 7 
whether, as members of the profession, for which they have so 
laboriously toiled, they will allow themselves to be thrust aside, 
or walked over and ignored, in order that diploma-mills and certi¬ 
ficate-machines may grind on and flourish undisturbed in their 
midst. 
The legislators at Albany, it may further be said of them, 
though they have not only passed a useless law, and have refused 
to pass a valuable one, have still, once again, proved their appre- 
