EDITORIAL. 
7 
been dragged into the affair. There seems to be a wide popular 
error in regard to the extent of the U. S. meat inspection ser¬ 
vice. The public appears to suppose that onr inspectors have 
access to every rent and corner of the slaughter-house, and that 
every can turned out by the big factories at Chicago has been 
individually inspected. Surely this ought to be, but the law 
should be so amended as to provide for it, and not our faithful 
inspectors accused of shortcomings, which to rectify are out of 
their reach and authority. That tricks in meat adulteration are 
resorted to by our butchers, whether millionaires or poor, we all 
know. If the secrets of the butcher’s trade could be laid bare 
by further investigation by this Army Board, they would have 
at least one good effect—they would open the eyes of the Ameri¬ 
can people as to the necessity for a further extension of the 
meat inspection, a course which has been already well agitated 
by our profession the country over. O. S. 
ARMY LEGISLATION. 
Against our hope, the Hull Army Reorganization Bill giv¬ 
ing to veterinarians the rank, pay and allowances of a second 
lieutenant of cavalry, after having passed the House, has been 
defeated in the Senate. A substitute Army Bill, which was 
hurriedly drafted and passed instead during the last days of 
Congress, contains a veterinary amendment which reads as 
follows : 
Of the veterinarians provided for in this act, i shall have the pay and 
allowances of a 2d lieutenant of cavalry and 1 shall have the pay of $75 
per month and the allowances of a sergeant major : Provided, That the 
veterinarian appointed to the first grade .shall not be so appointed until 
he shall have passed an examination to be prescribed by the Secretary 
of War, as to his physical, moral, and professional qualifications : Pro¬ 
vided further, That the veterinarians now in the service who do not pass 
such competitive examination shall be eligible to the positions of the 
second class under such rules as are now prescribed by the regulations. 
It will be seen from the above provisions that opposing 
influences have been at work reducing the once satisfactory 
amendment to a rather farcical measure, and perpetuating cer- 
