518 
EDITORIAL. 
It would be just as unfair and unjust to say that all dealers 
were dishonest and unscrupulous because a few of them resort 
to disreputable methods in their efforts to make dollars. It 
is extremely nauseating to an examiner to have the seller 
attempt to force money upon him whenever he finishes an ex¬ 
amination favorable to his interests, and he does so in such a 
friendly spirit as to tempt the uninitiated ; but the moment that 
the unwary veterinarian accepts those forbidden dollars, just 
that moment he loses his self-respect and becomes a dependent 
tool of that dealer. At the next examination he dare not ijive 
an opinion contrary to the seller’s interest, for the chances are 
nine out of ten that he will attempt to sell the animal over the 
veterinarian’s head by attacking the latter’s character, and give 
the buyer to understand either by innuendo or by direct accusa¬ 
tion that the sale is interfered with because at the low price 
asked for the animal he cannot afford to fee his doctor. If it is 
necessary to make his statement more forceful he produces the 
original check with the veterinarian’s endorsement, or if it had 
been a cash transaction the item is shown upon the cash book. 
While this disgusting method of doing business ma}^ be accepted 
as the wages of sin, it nevertheless hurts the reputation of the 
profession as a whole, and the members should and do frown 
upon it; but possibly not to the extent which it deserves. If 
the associations took it up, and punished by expulsion any of 
its members who were proven to be guilty of bribe-taking they 
would be only doing their duty to their honorable and beloved 
profession. 
Bui this is not the worst of it. The guilty are very liable 
to reap as they have sown, and those who play with fire run the 
risk of being burned. If, however, the innocent are submitted 
to the same kind of treatment, it is surely time to call a halt. 
Whenever a veterinarian’s services are sought by a client for 
the specific purpose of obtaining his professioiral opinion upon 
the soundness of an animal, and that veterinarian makes a care¬ 
ful examination and delivers to his patron his honest judgment 
upon the qualities of the prospective purchase, he has performed 
