42 Missouri Agricidtural Report. 



large herd of registered Shorthorns was propagated, and on the 

 premises I found the skeletons of cattle from which the hogs had 

 eaten the flesh. I had had unofficial knowledge of the existence 

 of tuberculosis in this herd for three or four years. Individual 

 animals from this herd can now be found in many prominent herds 

 of the State. This is mentioned as an example to show the situa- 

 tion in regard to tuberculosis among the beef breeds. Tubercu- 

 losis was found prevalent in the dairy herds in St. Louis county, 

 where dairying has been carried on for a great number of years. 

 In one herd, as an extreme example, 27 cows and heifers, out of 

 78 head, were found diseased with tuberculosis. One cow, showing 

 the most doubtful reaction from the test, was slaughtered, and 

 plain lesions discovered in the glands of the throat. Later in the 

 summer another cow, which had gone down rapidly from tuber- 

 culosis, was killed and found badly diseased in the udder and 

 throughout the internal organs. A quarter of this cow's udder, 

 in which was found a tubercular abscess with a fistulous tract 

 alongside of the teat, was brought to the Experiment Station and 

 preserved for future reference. Of the reacting cows probably 20 

 head were giving milk ; five of these showed marked signs of tuber- 

 culosis. A notice, placing all of the diseased cattle in quarantine, 

 was served on the owner, who is an ex-member of the Board of 

 Agriculture, on March 17th. Since that time the owner of the herd 

 has continued to ship milk from the diseased cows to St. Louis, 

 where it is mixed with the general milk supply. The tests of dairy 

 cattle have been carried far enough that we are able to state posi- 

 tively that the milk supply of St. Louis, Kansas City and St. 

 Joseph is contaminated with the milk from tuberculous cows. 



At a meeting of the Executive Committee, June 6, 1906, the 

 State Veterinarian was ordered to make an investigation of the 

 slaughter house conditions of this State and report the same to the 

 Board. The investigation was duly made and a report rendered 

 to the Executive Committee at a meeting at the State Fair, Octo- 

 ber 6th. The results of the investigation developed some very im- 

 portant facts, which may be summed up as follows: At public 

 expense, the Federal government is furnishing meat inspection to 

 all packing plants doing an interstate business. The principal 

 part of the interstate business is done by the four large packing 

 firms usually referred to as the packing trust. These powerful 

 financial institutes are getting the benefit of free meat inspection, 

 and their products are now being given the preference in all the 

 markets of the world. Some of these firms are filling magazines 



