ARMY VETERINARY DEPARTMENT. 
239 
veterinarians could be used in a dozen different ways around the 
post if they were given the proper rank and authority, but as it 
is now, having no rank, the veterinarian is simply considered 
out of it. 
Mr. Pepper —Does the medical department of the army have 
anything to do with the inspection of milk? 
Dr. Turner— No, sir. 
Mr. Pepper— Are they not competent to do it? 
Dr. Turner— No, sir; they would not know what kind of a 
cow the milk came from, and they would not know on which 
side of a cow to go to examine her udder. I doubt if any cavalry 
officer would know unless he was raised on a farm. 
Statement of Dr. W. Horace Hoskins, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Dr. Hoskins —I am sorry that Dr. Melvin cannot be here 
this morning to address the committee on the subject of this bill. 
He is engaged with a board of army officers before the Commis¬ 
sioner of Indian Affairs in the consideration of a plan to utilize 
some of the reservations in the breeding of horses for the army. 
I can add very little to what has already been said by the 
gentlemen who have preceded me, and I am of the opinion from 
what has been said here this morning that you gentlemen must 
now recognize that the profession of the veterinarian has become 
one of the most important in the country. You must realize that 
they have contributed a great deal to the upbuilding of the coun¬ 
try, when you take into consideration the fact that there are pro¬ 
duced in this country annually more than $300,000,000 worth of 
animal food products that are sold in foreign countries under 
our food-inspection law, and that these products must pass under 
the observation and inspection of skilled veterinarians. You 
must realize that we have a number of schools all over the coun¬ 
try, all conducted on a high plane of efficiency, and, in addition, 
we have instituted and have to-day a central school, the curricu¬ 
lum of which is as high as that of any similar institution in the 
world. The breadth and scope of the work required in our in¬ 
stitutions to-day exceeds that required in preparation for almost 
any other learned profession. There is scarcely any other pro¬ 
fession in which a wider scope of knowledge and better training 
is required in order to fulfill the duties required than in that of a 
veterinarian. 
Now, no body of men can be engaged in an important ser¬ 
vice of this kind for the army without some unofficial aid or 
