ARMY VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
339 
offered, and that those offered were in reality comparatively 
liberal. 
During these two years of war nothing of any importance had 
been achieved by our civil veterinarians, so that they at least had 
earned no right to a greater recognition from the Government 
than that to which they were entitled in 1861. From a costly 
experience the army had come to value more highly than at first 
the services of the veterinarian, but where was the Government 
to secure veterinary surgeons for army service ? Certainly not 
from abroad, at any compensation; and surely not from our own 
country, where there were not enough at the time to properly 
officer the many regiments of cavalry and artillery, even if all of 
them were employed. The services of some could not of course 
be secured at any price, while some from physical disability could 
not withstand the rigors of campaigning. Others, if they served 
at all, would serve for money and for glory, but with not much 
care for the glory. 
This, then, left but a few who had any claim to a knowledge 
of veterinary medicine whom the Government might hope to 
secure as Army Veterinary Surgeons, and under the circumstances 
her compensation must of necessity be such as to render injustice 
to the qualified veterinarian in that she might protect herself 
against the inefficiency of the self-instructed ; for the great ma¬ 
jority, if not all, were to come from the ranks of the latter. 
Nor is this all that can be said in defence of the Government’s 
position. When a comparison is made between the compensation 
given the Veterinary Surgeon and that given the Surgeon, it will 
be seen that in so far as salary was concerned the former was 
nearly as well paid as the latter; for the Assistant Surgeon of less 
than five years’ service received but $53.33 per month, with an 
allowance of four rations per day, two horses while on active duty 
in the field, and one servant. 
The money value of an officer’s ration was reckoned at thirty 
cents, which would add $36 to his monthly pay, making his 
salary $89.33 per month. 
Regarding the allowances of the Veterinary Surgeon nothing 
is said by the Revised Statutes, but during the war he was 
