I 
American Veterinary Review. 
NOVEMBER, 1898. 
All communications for publication or in reference thereto should be addressed to Prof 
Roscoe R. Bell, Seventh Ave. <5r* Union St., Borough of Brooklyn, New York City. 
EDITORIAL. 
THE BLACKMAILING OF VETERINARIANS BY 
HORSE DEALERS. 
In a recent issue of the Review appeared a letter from a 
young veterinarian inquiring as to the truth of a story brought 
to him by a transient dealer in horses who had been disposing 
of a carload in the New York market in which a sweeping 
charge of dishonesty was made against the profession of that 
city in the matter of bribe-taking when called in to make ex¬ 
aminations for soundness. The dealer in question had asserted 
that the practice was general; that almost all veterinarians ex¬ 
acted a fee from the seller as well as from the buyer, and that 
the examiner had to be taken into consideration when the price 
of the horse was fixed upon. The Review replied to its cor¬ 
respondent by saying most emphatically that he had been mis¬ 
informed ; that the profession of this city was as a rule com¬ 
posed of men of honor far above such disgraceful practices, and 
that in the matter of character they were the peer of the mem¬ 
bers of any profession or calling. It freely acknowledged that 
it was not without its disreputable members, just as every other 
branch of business or society j but that they were few and not 
at all representative ; men who were failures in the legitimate’ 
lines and who hung around the dealers as barnacles do upon the 
hulks of ships, which in time are washed or scraped off and dis¬ 
appear from view. 
517 
