354 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
working's of tlic veterinary profession on the continent of Europe, 
and from there, from Japan, from far-off Africa—these corners of 
the earth—come the news of a steady growth in the application 
of veterinary medicine and the general well-being of the profes¬ 
sion. In the United States, tbo, the veterinarian has fared well 
for many years, although none has developed into a millionaiie, 
only since the panic of 1893 has he suffered, bnt not mnch more 
so than other professions or those engaged in industry and com¬ 
merce. No other cause can be found for all this than the “ hard 
times’’ which have befallen onr country, as it is easily pro\en 
by comparison with the active life of other nations. In England 
and Germany factories are working overtime, in the United States 
they are run with a limited force or entirely closed. In England 
and Germany horses bring higher prices to-day than they have 
for twenty-five years 5 in the United States common horses are 
sold for less than it costs to bring them np. It is as a United 
States Senator remarked to me not long ago : ‘‘ Doctor, in this 
great country of ours it is either feast or famine ! If this i^ 
so the famine will vanish, the rays of better times will gradually 
appear on the firmament, and the American horse, bred more 
judiciously, and the American veterinarians, educated more 
thoughtfully, will yet have their feast. _ ^ 
But, agreed that the use of the horse should become limited, 
is veterinary medicine to become extinct ? Dr. Volgenaii him¬ 
self does not believe this, for he admits that “ as long as the 
cattle, sheep and hog interests of the country are of such magni- 
.tnde there will always be a demand for veterinarians, and he 
also admits “ that there will always be a demand for educated 
veterinarians as their field for nsefnlness broadens.” What, then, 
makes him come to the conclusion that if the bicycle has come 
to stay veterinarians will soon have to seek new fields and other 
methods of earning a livelihood.” Surely the doctor has his ob¬ 
servations and conclusions mixed np in a somewhat nnphilosoph- 
ical manner. _ ^ . 
When the doctor further says that veterinarians are leaving 
the profession, he is correct. And I say : let them go ! A year 
ago I met a former colleague who was running an elevator, an¬ 
other renewed his acquaintance with me while he was shingling 
a roof of a cottage, a third is a street-car conductor. All honor¬ 
able occupations in their way ! Bnt these three men were of 
limited education, all three were graduates from a short-term co - 
lege which has frequently claimed to be the most successful on 
the continent of America. Yes, the hard times, and the bicycle 
