CORRESPONDENCE. 
149 
movement to form a State Association for Missouri, and thus 
furthering the interests of the profession. The call for a conven¬ 
tion which he showed us was signed by half a dozen notorious 
quacks, not one graduate’s name being on the list. He asked for 
our signatures individually, but each one wishing to consult with 
the others, requested him to call again, though on account of its 
commercial savor and the questionable signatures, we felt in¬ 
clined to fight shy of the whole affair. This gentleman was 
finally referred to me by two or three of my colleagues, they 
agreeing to stand by my decision. The other graduates held 
their signatures in reserve, presumably to see how we acted. I 
told Mr. Smith that on no consideration would we recognize the 
quacks ; that the way to elevate the profession in public estima¬ 
tion was not to call a convention of the graduates of the stable- 
fork and broom, and trumpet forth such a proceeding as in the 
interest of veterinary science. Ho compromise could be effected, 
not even to the extent of admitting those men who had practiced 
ten years or more. The line must be drawn somewhere, and we 
would have nothing to do with any association which was not 
exclusively of graduates of recognized colleges. At any rate, we 
did not consider that the time was yet ripe for the formation of 
a State Association. Nearly all the graduates in Missouri had 
very recently settled down, and could ill afford to leave their new¬ 
born practice at the present time. I pointed out the danger of 
calling an indiscriminate convention of practitioners; how the 
quacks could outvote us ten to one. and have everything their own 
way. To this Mr. Smith replied that their great idea was to ad¬ 
vance our interests, and as a secondary matter secure the position 
of The United States Veterinary Journal as the official organ of 
the Association. That other State Associations were so largely 
tainted with the empirical element (a fact which I forgot to state 
I asktd him about in our conversation), was their own fault; the 
Journal only asked those who were reputed to be graduates to 
sign these convention calls, and it remained with ourselves to ex¬ 
amine the credentials of such as presented themselves for admis¬ 
sion. He was sorry to find that we were not in favor of the 
convention, and hoped there would be a more favorable outlook 
