ARMY VETERINARY LEGISLATION. 
?39 
gence and hard work far beyond that given in civil life for the money 
remuneration which an officer receives. 
“ From the point of view of military service it is indispensable that 
the Chief of the Veterinary Service should have the grade of the chief 
of the regiments whom he is expected to advise. 
* * * * * * 
“ Your committee has endeavored in its work to show the impor¬ 
tance of having an organized veterinary service which should extend to 
the artillery and Quartermaster’s Department as well as to the cavalry. 
It has also tried to make plain the fact that a few veterinarians holding 
inferior positions in the cavalry regiments, necessarily scattered over 
the country, having no connection with each other and without means 
of concerted action, could not be expected to meet the more serious vet¬ 
erinary problems with which the War Department is often confronted, 
Such veterinarians in the past have reported that they could neither 
obtain proper medicines nor instruments ; that they had no authority 
to cause the treatment which they prescribed to be carried into effect ; 
that not being consulted in the purchase of horses, animals with eon- 
tagious diseases were often introduced, and much damage was fre¬ 
quently caused before the contagion could be controlled. 
“The present veterinary service of the army is undoubtedly a dis¬ 
grace to an enlightened and progressive country. It is a service which, 
to accomplish anything, must be able to carry its directions into effect, 
and yet it is without rank or authority ; it is a service which requires 
instruments and supplies of a special character, and detailed instruc¬ 
tions as to the manner of meeting the various emergencies which are 
liable to arise, and yet it is without a head ; the veterinarian must en¬ 
dure all the hardships and face all the dangers of the service, and yet 
neither he nor his family have any prospects of a pension in case of dis¬ 
ability or death in the service. 
“ The result of this anomalous condition of affairs was very appar¬ 
ent in the course of our short war with Spain. The Government cor¬ 
rals became hot beds for the production and dissemination of glanders, 
and the efforts to check this disease were in some cases so crude that 
they might provoke a smile of derision on the countenance of our en¬ 
emies, but could only bring a blush of shame and indignation to the 
face of a humane American citizen. At one place in Florida weeks of 
time were spent in testing the animals with mallein, and j-et horses 
which showed unmistakable symptoms of glanders upon the most su¬ 
perficial examination were not separated from the healthy ones, and 
nose-bags were used indiscriminately. Injured and sick horses went 
without treatment because the veterinarians lacked medicines, instru¬ 
ments, instructions, and authority. There is little excuse for such a 
condition of affairs. While this is a rich country, and the loss of a few 
millions more or less on horses does not affect us seriously, it is, never¬ 
theless, a humane country, and our people are not disposed to tolerate 
unnecessary suffering and cruelty to animals either by individuals or 
by the Government. The fact is the Government, through its various 
departments, should set an example of what is required in this civilized 
age in the wav of intelligent and humane treatment of the animals 
which it controls. To accomplish this the army veterinaiy service 
needs to be reorganized ; it needs a head. With the present service 
