state Dairy Association. 91 



State department should assume to dictate to you on this matter. 

 The first impulse of the dairymen will naturally be to stop the 

 discussion of the subject of tuberculosis. I am afraid that some of 

 you will blame me for saying anything further about it, but you 

 must understand that this is a matter now too well understood for 

 the truth to be suppressed. Even if I were never to say another 

 word about tuberculosis of cattle, the facts, as they exist, are bound 

 to become public from time to time and bear their evil results. 

 Even though I were to say nothing further, it is a case of "Truth 

 crushed to earth will rise again." In all of the discussions of this 

 subject I have tried to avoid sensationalism and in every respect 

 to be conservative. More than that, I have planned diligently to 

 get about the control of tuberculosis of cattle without causing the 

 owners of herds any unnecessary loss, either from animals sacri- 

 ficed or from damage to the reputation of the dairy products. Any- 

 one who will read the August bulletin of 1905 carefully will know 

 that these facts are true, regardless of the many allegations of 

 those who are opposed to any aggressive campaign against tuber- 

 culosis, and who would probably rather let future generations 

 handle thousands of head of tuberculosis cattle and use their milk 

 than to sacrifice a few head at the present time. 



There are a few serious obstacles in the way of the control of 

 tuberculosis, and the business end of the matter comes down to the 

 serious and practical consideration of these by the dairymen. One 

 thing that makes the use of the tuberculin test unpopular is that 

 it shows animals to be diseased which to the average eye appear 

 healthy. In rare cases a mistake may be made and an absolutely 

 healthy animal condemned for tuberculosis. I believe that a liberal 

 estimate of the errors that will be made in the use of the tuberculin 

 test by a man of good judgment is one out of one hundred. When 

 properly considered, the actual mistakes are so few as to be of 

 very little importance. If a man had ninety-nine diseased cows 

 in his herd, and if, in order to get rid of them, a mistake were 

 made and the one hundredth healthy one was sacrificed, that this 

 would still be better than to leave ninety-nine diseased cows in 

 the herd. The sacrifice of the healthy looking cows is the hardest 

 proposition for the dairymen to face, yet in the case of the Mis- 

 souri State Farm herd, the sacrifice of one healthy looking but 

 diseased Holstein cow prevented the inevitable loss of ten or fif- 

 teen more by the end of the year, and probably the general spread 

 of tuberculosis in the State herd. I admit, however, that it will 

 take considerable confidence on the part of dairymen in the tuber- 



