196 
NOTICE. 
a regular course ? This part of the act, if passed, would be a 
dangerous weapon in the hands of our natural enemies, to be used 
unsparingly against us. Take the present State Association of 
Missouri, which is composed exclusively of quacks; what reliance 
could be placed on its members, or on such men as it pleased 
their whim to license ? Not the slightest. The recognized veter¬ 
inary colleges should have the sole power of granting diplomas. 
Any such division of power as is proposed by the act cannot but 
be prejudicial in the extreme to our interests. The sudden and 
fast increase of State Association licentiates, which would inevit¬ 
ably follow the passage of such an act—men who would be 
legally qualified, whose evidence would be as good as a graduate’s 
in a court of law—should be looked at as a serious matter. I 
condemn the latter part of Section 1 as especially unjust in its 
bearings to the younger members of the profession, who, after 
pursuing an expensive course, will find themselves, when fully 
fledged, regarded by the public as on about the same footing as 
the licentiates. We may say that merit will always come to the 
front in time, but even deserving men have to struggle hard fre¬ 
quently to build up a practice, and they should not be handicapped 
by such unjust competition as we are likely to have. The rest of 
the proposed act will probably meet with the support of the 
body of the profession. We wonder who the Missouri repre¬ 
sentative (?) of the profession to the National V. M. Association 
meeting in Chicago next November will be ? 
Nothing I have written is from personal motives ; it is merely 
the outcome of an honest and sincere desire to see the interests of 
the profession advanced as they should be, and I hope the stand 
I have taken on the present state of veterinary affairs in this 
country meets with the approval of my professional brethren. 
H. F. James, Y.S., 
St. Louis, Mo. 
NOTICE. 
We are pleased to call the attention of our readers to the ad¬ 
vertisement of the Wilson Safety Manger as one of the best 
