738 
ARMY VETERINARY LEGISLATION. 
should have more advanced instruction for both officers and men, and 
at these posts there should be perfected schools of farriery, where every 
horseshoer in the army should receive in turn a minute, detailed course 
on the anatomy of the horse’s foot, and a supervised term of prac¬ 
tical application of the horseshoe. The cattle, bought for butchering 
for food for the army, should be inspected by army veterinarians who 
are known to be competent and responsible. The meat furnished to the 
army should be inspected by the same officers, who by education are 
the ti amed experts for such work, dhe forage fed to the army horse 
and mule should be inspected by the veterinarian, whose college educa¬ 
tion in botany and chemistry has fitted him for it. 
“ Every board of officers appointed for the purchase of horses should 
have as one member an army veterinarian, an expert, trained in the 
details of faulty conformation and in the diagnosis of disease which will 
escape the observation of the cavalry or artillery officer, though the 
latter may, by long experience, be infinitely the superior and better 
expert in selecting the type of animal wanted for draught or saddle. 
While the professional veterinary work in any of these "details can be 
performed by the employment of a civil veterinarian, as has been the 
custom in the Quartermaster’s Department and at many of the cavalry 
and artillery posts, this method is not satisfactory. It is more expen¬ 
sive, and the civil veterinarian is not responsible for the work beyond 
the moment of its performance. The emplo3mient and position of the 
veterinarian as provided for by the last Congress is little better. There 
has been gained the assurance of the employment of a better class of 
men by the requirement of the examination; that is about all. The 
cavalry only is provided for, and the veterinarian is responsible onlv to 
the troop commander under whom he serves. 
“ What is needed for an efficient service on the level with that of all 
other civilized countries is a corps, with the chief responsible directly 
to the head of the army, as are the Quartermaster-General, Surgeon- 
General, Chief Signal Officer, and others. 
“ From the purchase of any horse or mule, cattle for the soldier’s 
ration, or forage for the animals, a record should be forwarded through 
vetei inary channels, so that, on the complaint of any troop or battery 
commander or commissary of subsistence through their channels, the 
chief veterinarian can locate the justice or error in the complaint. With 
a corps the chief will see that the veterinarians are equipped with oro- 
per supplies for performing their professional work; he will be in¬ 
formed of the individual qualities of the personnel, and will be able to 
make the best selection of the individual veterinary officers for service, 
with troops in the field, at posts where instruction is required, and for 
details for boards of purchase and condemnation, and for scientific in¬ 
vestigation of contagious diseases. The reports of the veterinarian on 
the condition of the animals for whose health he is responsible will co¬ 
incide with the efficiency of the horses of a given command, or will fur¬ 
nish the information needed by the general commanding the army to 
explain inefficiency of any troop or battery. 
“Rank—the position of a commissioned officer—is a necessity to 
secure the ser\ ices of a class of men who will be and will know them¬ 
selves to be gentlemen, and who will have an esprit de corps which will 
compensate them like other army officers for the expenditure of intelli- 
