804 
EDITORIAL. 
Representative and Senator was besieged with appeals from 
their veterinary constituents, and as a proof of the efficiency of 
that united effort when the bill reached the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives on Dec. 6, notwithstanding the bitterest attacks of 
its enemies (see January Review), it passed by a vote of 72 to 80. 
Upon technical grounds the amendment which had passed the 
Senate eight months previously, was, with the other provisions 
of the Army Reorganization Bill, brought up for discussion and 
decision again in the Senate, and when the January Review 
went to press the bill was awaiting the action of that body. 
It was fair to assume that the Senate, whose personnel was little 
changed from its constitution of last May, would be consistent 
enough to stand by its declared policy, and especially so when 
a canvass of its august members showed a clear majority in 
favor of the Veterinary Corps. We are assured that enough 
Senators had pledged the committee of the A. V. M. A. their 
support to justify the prediction that the amendment would 
pass beyond the shadow of a doubt. But nothing was taken for 
granted. Two members of the committee (Chairman Salmon 
and Secretary Huidekoper) were continuously upon the ground, 
while members Pearson, Clement and Lowe were lending effi¬ 
cient aid from a distance. Just at this point the fine hand of 
the War Department was suddenly brought into action, through 
alarm at the unsuspected strength shown by the veterinarians 
in the two Houses of Congress, and they worked upon Secretary 
Root with so much success that he came out flat-footed in vio¬ 
lent opposition to the bill, sending to the Senate on the morn¬ 
ing of January 7 (the day of its consideration) a vigorous pro¬ 
test, supporting his contention by a semi-official letter of the 
Secretary of the New York State Veterinary Medical Society, 
both of which received wide publicity in the morning papers of 
the Capital and the country. Alarmed at the danger of Secre¬ 
tary Root’s bomb, many telegrams from veterinarians were hur¬ 
ried to the Senate chamber, in the hope of counteracting the 
effect of the blow ; but, alas, the mischief was done. The 
amendment was beaten by a vote of 43 to 5. 
