94 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



permanent herds of the State. The second question must be worked 

 out by the dairymen themselves. Although having given the mat- 

 ter of disposing of tuberculous cattle a great deal of thought, I have 

 not yet been able to arrive at a practical solution of this question. 

 I stand ready at any time to advise with the dairymen and help to 

 plan the matter, and would be more than glad to do so. Some of 

 the herds which were found diseased were located in St. Louis 

 county. I took the liberty to ask the representative of that county 

 to study the actual conditions existing among his constituents and 

 draw up a bill covering the situation and present it to the Forty- 

 fourth General Assembly. After advising with the owners of herds 

 and giving the subject of tuberculosis some very intelligent study, 

 he prepared a bill which provides in brief that it shall be necessary 

 for every dairyman in the State to secure a license from the county 

 clerk of the county in which he resides, and that the license be 

 granted him only after he has had his herd tested and secured a 

 certificate of health. The bill, as drawn, provides for the State 

 to take charge of all reacting cows and pay the owner $15.00 per 

 head. In the main, the ideas embodied in this bill are correct, and 

 even though it would be put into force at considerable expense, the 

 cost at the present time will probably be not more than one-tenth 

 what it will be five or ten years hence. For two reasons, however, 

 it does not seem advisable to undertake a sweeping result of this 

 kind at this time. The first is that the disease is not well enough 

 understood by the owners of dairy herds, and the second is that 

 it would be impossible to secure competent men to do the work of 

 inspection of herds. The execution of this plan will naturally be 

 met with more or less opposition, and a few mistakes made by in- 

 experienced veterinarians would threaten the success of the work. 

 It seems to me that for the time being a good plan is for the dairy- 

 men to simply get the Forty-fourth General Assembly to add the 

 word "tuberculosis" to sections 10548 and 10549 of the present law 

 and for the next two years, at least, dispose of reacting cows by 

 having them appraised under the authority of the county courts, 

 as is now done in cases of horses with glanders. It seems that it 

 would be much better to take time enough to go at this matter 

 right and with due care, than to go to any extremes. As I have 

 said, the whole matter is with the dairymen, and the State Veteri- 

 nary Department is ready and anxious to do the work. 



