EDITORIAL. 
3 
peacefully sleeping in the committees to which they were as¬ 
signed, with every prospect that they will never revive. In the 
metropolitan district the Legislative Committee of the New 
York County Veterinary Medical Association took up the 
matter, and Chairman O’Shea sent forth the following letter to 
all veterinarians in the district: 
VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK COUNTY, 
COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATION. 
Arthur O’Shea, Chairman, 117 West 46TH Street, 
New York City (Borough of Manhattan), March io, 1899. 
Dear Doctor :—As chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the 
Veterinary Medical Association of New York County, I address you this 
letter upon a subject of the most vital importance to your own welfare and 
the stability, honor and advancement of the profession of which you are 
a member. With exact regularity the hard earned protective laws of 
New York State are yearly attacked by quacks and incompetents, who 
hope to secure by political chicane^ what they can never accomplish 
by fair means and upon their merits—that is, to throw the profession 
ten years backward by reopening the books which were closed in 1886 
against every quack who disgraced the Commonwealth. 
Surely, Doctor, it is a travesty upon civilization and advancement to 
slap in the face every self-sacrificing member of the profession who has 
labored to secure the high standard which we have achieved, by, at this 
late date, admitting to practice any man who does not possess a diploma 
from a reputable veterinary college. The colleges of the State have 
bankrupted themselves by their heroic self-imposed decision that the 
professional standard shall be the highest in America. Will you stand 
silently by and see political trickery exerted to defeat this great cause ? 
I know you will not, and, therefore, I ask in all earnestness that you 
will, at once, write to the various chairmen, as indicated, a letter couched 
in as vigorous English as you may have at your command, protesting 
against the favorable reporting of such infamous measures as contained 
in the bills below detailed. Also write to any Senator or Assemblyman 
you know, asking them to use their good offices with the chairmen of 
committees having these bills to kill them. 
Assembly Bill 197. introduced by Mr. Beede, and referred to the Committee on Gen¬ 
eral Laws.— Assemblyman Fish, Chairman. 
This bill opens the books and admits quacks. Kill it! 
Assembly Bill 243, introduced by Mr. Greenwood, has passed the Assembly and 
sent to the Senate and referred to the Judiciary Committee. —Senator Brackett, Chair¬ 
man 
This bill opens the books to admit quacks. Write at once, and kill it. Delay may 
be dangerous. 
Assembly Bill 329. 755, introduced by Mr. Coughtry, has passed the Assembly and 
sent to Senate, where it was referred to Committee on Public Health.— Senator Johnson, 
Chairman. 
Opens the registration books of 1886 and permits quacks to register. Kill it quick. 
It is infamous, though without vigorous protest might become a law. To be forwarned 
is to be forearmed. 
