EDITORIAL. 
157 
office and should not be a separate corps or department of the 
army. The following amendment to the Senate Bill relative to 
this point was submitted by the Secretary : “ That the Presi¬ 
dent is authorized to appoint by and with the advice and con¬ 
sent of the Senate, after such examinations, under such regula¬ 
tions prescribed by the Secretary of War, two veterinaries for 
each cavalry regiment and one for each battery of field artillery 
in the service, provided that said veterinaries shall have the 
rank of second lieutenants of cavalry without command, and 
provided that two veterinaries of the first class now in the ser¬ 
vice shall be appointed without further examination, and the 
veterinaries of the second class now in the service shall be as¬ 
signed to duty under direction of the Secretary of War, and, 
upon separation from the service of the present incumbent, no 
more of the second class provided for under the act of March 2, 
1899, shall be appointed.” 
This amendment seemed to be accepted with favor by the 
members of the House Committee, and will probably be incorpo¬ 
rated in the bill as reported by that committee. 
While it will be seen from the above that the Secretary of War 
is not altogether opposed to a change, we fully realize the diffi¬ 
culties with which our friends in Washington are battling for 
the good of the profession, and we shall not be unmindful of 
their endeavors, and only hope that further and full success may 
crown their efforts. O. S. 
THE FUTURE OF THE VETERINARY PRACTI¬ 
TIONER. 
During the past few years of commercial depression in this 
country the value of horses became so reduced as to render 
medical attendance upon them when sick or disabled a ques¬ 
tionable economic problem, and the status of the veterinarian 
from a financial point of view was very discouraging—so much 
so that many abandoned the practice of the profession aud 
sought employment in other fields. The introduction of other 
