THE FUTURE OF THE VETERINARY PROFESSION. 
11 
The most serious obstacle to a better army veterinary ser¬ 
vice is the army veterinarians. 
Instead of entering into a careful study of how to improve 
the service of animals in the army and publishing their results 
in either the army or veterinary periodicals, they have largely 
assumed the prerogatives of the army mule and expended their 
energy in “ kicking ” about their low pay and absence of rank. 
The needs for competent veterinary service in the army are 
constantly growing, and the status of the army veterinarian is 
advancing little if any slower than other branches of the pro¬ 
fession. A competent service can only be attained by granting 
proper rank and pay and this will be done as soon as the war 
authorities realize the necessity and know where to secure the men. 
We have also to deal with an element in our profession 
which many speakers and writers tend to keep in the back¬ 
ground, as being less popular and fashionable, perhaps, because 
its votaries doctor ordinary horses, cows and dogs, and are at 
times dubbed ordinary horse, cow or dog doctors. Our journals 
exalt the official veterinarian and his achievements, associations 
discuss sanitary problems at greatest length, legislators appro¬ 
priate moneys for the furtherance of veterinary sanitary science 
and college professors seem at times to almost advise their 
highest graduates to not sacrifice their talents on common 
practice. The self-educated or uneducated veterinarian is pass¬ 
ing and several states are decently burying him by repressive 
laws for which there is now scant need. 
They could not at once be replaced by well educated veteri¬ 
narians, but chiefly by graduates of veterinary schools which 
could grant diplomas on short notice, easy terms and at prices 
within the reach of all. The lower of these dovetailed nicely 
into the upper ranks of the others with only a sheet of thin 
parchment paper between the two. 
The late boom in horse breeding increased correspondingly 
the output of inferior veterinarians. 0 he collapse of the boom 
caused many of them to feel that their profession was passing. 
They had fulfilled their mission, why not pass ? 
