434 
W. H. HOSKINS. 
earnest support to their every advanced step toward an elevation 
of the standard of our profession: alike the laying firmly of our 
voice and hand of censure and just criticism, on any of their 
movements that may tend to degrade or dishonor our calling. 
The present collegiate year will witness the advent of the largest 
body of graduates into the ranks of workers in our calling, and It 
behooves us, fellow members, to look forward to a higher standard 
of admission to our Association. These schools, I am convinced, 
are not all the growth of necessity, but of a mushroom character, 
and of a desire on the part of many to gain national or state 
notoriety, from the position of a place and honor accorded mem¬ 
bers of the profession in their respective faculties. The failure 
of our national government to recognize any of the professions in a 
national way, or to adopt a national standard, makes it the work 
of this Association to establish a standard of excellence that shall 
impress upon our country a high regard for our labors, and make 
it an honor to be desired by every qualified practitioner to gain 
an entrance into its ranks. The scope of our country may in the 
future require a division of our Association, but this will not ne¬ 
cessitate any difference in standard of excellence. We have lived 
already to see the misuse in several marked instances of powers 
conveyed to corporate bodies of fitting men for the profession; 
and noted with profound regret the long range of difference in 
the individual requirements of these institutions of learning. 
With some the only apparent requisite seemed a stated length of 
time within their walls, or a given amount of money; while the 
range of knowledge seemed a secondary consideration. Boasting 
of their large number of graduates, as well as students, has seemed 
the highest aim of some schools, and a low sum for tuition and 
other similar encouraging features has called into our profession 
many totally unfitted members. Infancy, my fellow members, is 
the season for bending and directing our efforts toward rectifying 
these grave evils, and in this regard I would suggest a convention 
of the faculties of ail our veterinary colleges of the United States 
and Canada, that a mutual and single standard of excellence might 
be discussed and, I hope, adopted. I am not sure that the estab¬ 
lishing of veterinary schools, with one or two chairs filled by veter- 
