720 
EDITORIAL. 
ate shall have stamped its approval upon this amendment, for 
the President has expressed his sentiments in favor of it, and 
there will be no difficulty in securing the executive sanction. 
We, therefore, congratulate the profession upon the gallant 
and deserved victory which seems imminent, the country upon 
the wisdom of its action from an economic standpoint, as well 
as upon its tardy recognition of a profession which is deserving 
of the positions of rank thus conferred, and the Army upon its 
acquisition of ranking officers the peers of any in point of in¬ 
telligence and gentlemanly demeanor. 
Elsewhere will be found a verbatim report of the discussion 
of the amendment in the House, and while all will be forgiven 
in the general rejoicing, there are some who have earned and 
will receive the unstinted applause and support of the veteri¬ 
nary profession of America. 
PROTECT THE LAWS WE HAVE. 
Veterinarians in all States whose legislatures have adopted 
laws prohibiting all but registered men from practicing the art 
of veterinary medicine ,and surgery should not rest under the 
feeling of security that, having obtained the coveted statute, 
they are forever free from all semblance to the conditions which 
existed prior to the enactment of the protective laws. There is 
nothing to prevent repeated attempts to reopen the registry 
books to those in whose faces they were shut; and such efforts are, 
as a matter of fact, being made at every session of the legisla¬ 
tures, under many different forms and disguises, both as general 
and special legislation. We believe, however, that no State in 
the Union has ever, even remotely, approached New York in the 
frequency or persistency with which the integrity of a sovereign 
law has been sought to be nullified. There has never passed a 
year during which there was not one or more bills introduced 
to permit Tom, Dick and Harry to become legally registered 
practitioners of veterinary medicine, although such men were 
expressly prohibited by the existing law from performing such 
a function. We do not believe that the medical practitioners, 
