CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 189 



success. The whole number of cases disposed of in 1879 by 

 killing the infected animals was forty -two : the present year 

 it has been but twenty-seven, and the number of suspected 

 cases requiring watch or isolation has decreased. In their 

 last Annual Report the Commissioners called the attention 

 of the Legislature and the public to the several forms of tliis 

 disease, to its contagious, fatal, and insidious character, and 

 the great danger to our horse-stock, as well as to man, by its 

 prevalence. We desire herein to call attention to those state- 

 ments ; for, although the number of cases has decreased the 

 past year, the disease is very far from being eradicated, and 

 constant care and vigilance will be required to keep it from 

 increasing, or even to keep it under control. The provisions 

 of law relating to this disease are such as to make the ex- 

 pense of combating it unnecessarily large, and the principle 

 involved rarely finds expression in the statutes. A glandered 

 horse is a nuisance, and dangerous to the owner and the pub- 

 lic ; but the law requires, that, before being slaughtered, the 

 condemned animal shall be appraised for the benefit of its 

 owner, and by such a specific method, that, quite generally, 

 the bare cost of appraisal is more than the sum awarded. 

 The Commissioners would respectfully suggest such a modifi- 

 cation of the law as will secure the suppression of individual 

 cases of this nuisance in a similar manner to that by which 

 others affecting the public health and safety are suppressed. 

 In our last report the fact was cited that contagious pleuro- 

 pneumonia existed in several States of the Union ; that there 

 was imminent danger that it would spread to all our herds, 

 and reach the great cattle-producing regions of the West; 

 that there was a marked feeling of apprehension and unrest 

 among all interested in cattle production and commerce ; 

 that the country was threatened with a total loss of our 

 beef-trade with Europe, and of immense losses of stock by 

 its existence. There has been little if any change in this 

 matter during the present year ; and there is not, as we are 

 aware, any comprehensive organized plan in existence for its 

 suppression. 



In consequence of this fact, the English Government has 

 caused the slaughter of all American cattle at the place of 

 landing; and, it being reported that among them animals 

 were found infected with the disease, the United-States Gov- 



