148 
EDITORIAL. 
CONTAGIOUS PLEURO-PNEUMONIA AND STATE VETERINARIANS. 
The subject of contagious pleuro-pneumonia continues to be 
au interesting one for our western exchanges. And now, added 
to the reports of new outbreaks at various points, and to the 
probably exaggerated rumors of its reappearance in Pennsylvania, 
there is another item, which is of special importance to the veteri¬ 
nary profession. It is contained in a statement in which the 
honesty of one of our confreres is badly impugned. If our western 
friend speaks truly, a prominent veterinarian, holding, indeed, a 
high official position in his own State, with a handsome salary 
attached to it, has been guilty of a flagrant attempt at imposition 
in demanding or soliciting a fee for services for which he had 
already been paid by the State. The charges, moreover, go so 
far as to allege such an act of trafficking and dickering as the 
gradual reduction of his original demand of $200 until it had 
dwindled down to one-tenth of that amount, or $20, in full satis¬ 
faction of his claim for $200. He is also charged, in a similar 
case, with reaching for a mere moietv of the minimum amount 
previously solicited, and consenting to accept a $10 fee in similar 
conditions. 
This is quite too serious a charge to be overlooked, and the 
gentleman against whom the accusation is brought owes it not 
alone to himself individually, but to the profession to which he 
belongs, emphatically to refute it. We have no doubt that he will 
promptly do so. 
This subject suggests another important question in relation 
to the enforcement of sanitary laws in various States. If a clean 
bill of health is to be required for a lot of cattle going out of 
every State through which they may have passed, or in which they 
may have stopped, before reaching their tinal destination; and if 
a fee is to be paid for such a certificate, cattle dealers will cer¬ 
tainly be exposed to frequent, unnecessary and unjust expense. 
Cannot this be obviated? We see no reason why it should be 
allowed to continue. Let us have national legislation on the sub¬ 
ject, and let us have State veterinarians subordinate to the national 
organization. Let us have what we never yet have had, a na- 
