TWO EVILS. 
By Herman Gross, ^Senior Student McKillip Veterinary College. 
Two evils that beset the veterinary profession are the corre¬ 
spondence schools.. “ diploma mills,” and the patent medicines. 
The influence and effect of these on the public could be greatly 
nullified by some little effort on the part of each ethical member 
of the profession. There is no reason on earth why these corre¬ 
spondence schools could not be compelled to shut down sooner or 
later. 
From this source a lot of quackery is bred, it makes a lot of 
people think that the veterinary profession is an easy one to learn 
and altogether creates a false impression in the public mind. 
They produce law breakers; many a “sucker” has sent off his 
money and got the course and “ diploma ” thinking that the 
possession of the latter made him a qualified practitioner and as a 
result got in trouble sooner or later. 
Some even consider themselves capable of passing a State 
Board examination and apply for it as has occurred in Minnesota, 
Nebraska, etc. It can all be summed up that these “ mills ” are 
detrimental to the profession, not that their “ graduates ” can be 
said to be competitors of regular graduates, but because of the 
false impression they create on the public mind. 
Therefore something should be done, and can be done, if gone 
about in the right manner; and something that every live veterin¬ 
arian can add his little assistance to. 
These schools advertise mostly in farm journals and to some 
extent in other popular magazines; and in any journal wherein 
their advertisements are found we can write the publisher and 
ask them to discontinue accepting any advertisements of these 
schools. 
* The author has received his degree in veterinary medicine since writing this article, 
and is practising his profession in Webster, S. D. 
460 
