state Daiinj Association. 89 



goes in with the general milk supply of the city. There seems to be 

 no law in this State under which the sale of milk from tuberculous 

 cows may be prevented. A letter addressed to the Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, asking whether or not anyone had any authority to prevent 

 the shipment of milk from these cows, has never been answered. 

 There are two great objects in mentioning these cases. The first is 

 to thoroughly convey the knowledge that any dairyman who trusts 

 to his own judgment and neglects the use of the tuberculin test 

 stands a good chance, sooner or later, to get tuberculosis among 

 his cattle ; the second is to show that there is a limited amount of 

 tuberculosis scattered through the herds of this State, and dairy- 

 men may well infer from the examples mentioned that it is only 

 a matter of time till the disease will become as common as it is 

 in older states and in European countries. A sufficient number of 

 tests of dairy cattle have been made over the State to show that 

 the milk from tuberculous herds is going into the general supply 

 for the cities of. St. Louis, St. Joseph and Kansas City. Dairymen 

 cannot afford to have a few people with diseased cows to carry on 

 a business which reflects upon the whole dairy industry of the 

 State. The necessity, therefore, of looking after the spread of 

 tuberculosis in dairy cattle, from a business standpoint, becomes 

 imperative. 



The loss of the cows that die of tuberculosis is a comparatively 

 small matter. The greatest loss is due to the decreased price which 

 dairymen must in general accept for their products, resulting from 

 any inferiority in quality, whether from disease or lack of cleanli- 

 ness. The discussion of the subject of tuberculosis in the human 

 family and lower animals is just well started. The people of the 

 cities who purchase the dairy products of the State are the ones 

 who are doing the most reading and thinking about this matter. 

 They are rapidly learning the danger of tuberculosis, and naturally 

 desire to shun it. They demand, and have a right to demand, dairy 

 products that are clean and free from tuberculosis. The average 

 dairyman today, who is careless about handling his milk and allows 

 it to become saturated with filth and who takes no precaution to 

 prevent disease among his cattle, is compelled to sell milk in the 

 cities at a small profit, if he gets any at all. From personal obser- 

 vation I know that some dairymen have gone out of the business 

 for the reason that they cannot get enough for their milk to pay 

 for producing it. At present prices of feed and labor they say that 

 they must have twelve cents a gallon for milk during the summer 

 and sixteen cents in the winter. During the past summer ordi- 



