EDITORIAL. 
563 
than false ; and if our faith in the old adage is to continue, or¬ 
der is almost certain to come out of the chaotic condition of 
army veterinary matters, for we have waited long for a glimmer 
of the light of a glorious fruition. The veterinarian who feels 
pride in the great estate to which the true profession has ar¬ 
rived in the few short years it has existed upon this side of the 
Atlantic, could not but be contented were it not for the thorn 
which keeps piercing his side whenever he reflects that this 
wise and progressive government is the last to place upon its 
brow the wreath of approval and support. No, not this great 
government, but just one department of it, for surely the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture has reaped grand results from its recog¬ 
nition of the value of veterinary services, just as the veterinary 
profession has profited by the patronizing graces of this branch 
of the government. But, the War Department has ever turned 
a deaf ear to the appeals of the profession, and been blind to its 
own necessities. Possibly much has been due to the need of 
reorganization of the army upon a broader, more liberal and up- 
to-date basis. Now, that a real, though short and more dis¬ 
tinctly naval than military, war has opened the eyes of Ameri¬ 
cans to the inadequacy of its standing army, there is already an 
expressed intention of maintaining a force of a hundred thou¬ 
sand men, divided between infantry and cavalry. This will 
mean reorganization thorough and complete, and surely no real 
reform in this direction can be seriously considered which omits 
the establishment of a veterinary department. The time is then 
fast approaching when we are to take our proper place in the 
army just as we have occupied it in every other progressive na¬ 
tion of the world for years and years. In the present issue of the 
Review this subject is very thoroughly gone over by one who is 
peculiarly competent to speak upon it, one who has labored 
along these lines for years, and who draws his conclusions, not 
from theoretical reasoning, but from long experience and intel¬ 
ligent observation, not only in the United States, but in some of 
the leading Continental armies. Prof. Olof Schwarzkopf writes 
upon a subject which has been with him a passion, and we re- 
