100 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



be trifling as compared with the temporary inconvenience of their 

 jjcts. Hence much difliculty is experienced in enforcing the quaran- 

 tine of dogs during outbreaks of rabies. 



TUBERCULOSIS. 



As is stated above, voluntary applications for tests of herds have 

 not diminished as a result of the discussion of Koch's remarkable, 

 and it is believed unsound, dogma. On the contrary, more herd tests 

 have been asked for this year than ever before. Since the funds 

 available for the work of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board have 

 not been increased, it results that it has been possible to comply with 

 a smaller percentage of the requests for herd inspections this year 

 than hertofore, although the actual volume of work done has remain- 

 ed as before. Since voluntary applications for herd tests have in- 

 creased so largely it has been possible to sort the applications still 

 more rigidly than heretofore and make the tests in the herds most ex- 

 tensively infected. At present, no herd is tested at State expense un- 

 less it is known before hand that it is contaminated by tuberculosis. 

 If there is any doubt on this point, the owner is advised to have a 

 test made at his own expense. This arrangement is made necessary 

 by the fact that there are so many applications on file for the in- 

 spection of herds that are positively known to be tubercular that it 

 is not considered fair to use any part of the limited amount available 

 for work on herds that may be sound. \Yhile it is not possible, on 

 account of the scarcity of funds, to make complete tuberculin tests 

 of all herds covered by owners' applications, it is possible to make 

 physical examinations of all herds in which there is reasonable 

 ground to fear the existence of tuberculosis. By this physical exam- 

 ination, the more advanced and most immediately dangerous cases 

 can be discovered and removed, bad sanitary conditions can be cor- 

 rected and thus, although the disease is not eradicated in such a herd, 

 an appreciable start is made toward repressing it. 



There is still much damage done by the sale of tubercular herds. 

 When it becomes evident, through the death or debility of some of its 

 members, that a herd is tubercular, some owners submit to the strong 

 temptation to sell their cattle. They reason that, by so doing, they 

 are violating no special law, that they will receive more for their 

 possibly diseased, but still healthy looking, cows than the SJate will 

 pay, and they are escaping further loss. Of course there are manifest 

 drawbacks to conducting this sort of business in the locality in which 

 one lives. So such cows are usually sold to a dealer and are removed 

 by him to some distant place, perhaps to another State. I believe 

 that this sort of traffic should be discouraged by special legislation 

 and by providing a safe market for tubercular cows. By a safe mar- 



