No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 223 



to swell the grand total of wealth which our soil resources give to 

 us annually. We must have a complete understanding of condi- 

 tions both good and bad. I do not mean seeing adverse conditions 

 for pessimistic reasons but seeing them that we may understand 

 better how to overcome them and remove them from their position 

 of infiuenee. 



In conclusion, let me stale that we are engaged in the best busi- 

 ness on earth and that nature always has done her part and always 

 will in the utilization of the greatest gift an allwise Creator could 

 possibly have placed in our hands. Now, let us not only utilize 

 this great gift sanely for our own purposes but conserve it for the 

 use of the generations of future ages. This is not only our privil- 

 ege but our duty and if we leave it undone what can be our re- 

 ward? 



VETERINARY SANITARY WORK. 



By Dk. Louis a. Klein, Dci/t. State Veterinarian, Harrisburg, Pa. 



I appreciate the honor of being invited to address this meeting, 

 and only regret that a stress of work has prevented me from writ- 

 ing a paper on the subject which I am to discuss. It is a very large 

 subject, and one that should be given careful consideration. Any- 

 thing that is said in reference to it should be considered well 

 before it is said, otherwise facts may be stated in such form as 

 to be misunderstood. For this reason I would have preferred 

 to have had an opportunity to write out what I have to say. 



Veterinary sanitar.y work, as you will know, is concerned with 

 the prevention and control of animal diseases, and is indirectly con- 

 nected with the public health, inasmuch as disease may be trans- 

 mitted to man by the consumption of animal products. When we 

 speak of sanitary vvork, we are usually inclined to think of merely 

 the contagious and infectious diseases. This is probably because 

 most of the work of this character with which we are familiar is 

 performed under the authority of laws that were passed for the 

 purpose of controlling such diseases, but there are many veterinary 

 sanitary measures that can be applied to the control and preven- 

 tion of diseases which are not of the type usually classed as in- 

 fectious — not only in animals but also in man. The ill effects that 

 result from the use of unclean milk by man, especially infants, can 

 be avoided by the proper observance of veterinary sanitary meas- 

 ures. The application of these measures to the control of the non- 

 infectious diseases is in the hands of the veterinary practitioner, 

 but unfortunately the practicing veterinarian, like the physician, is 

 usually called upon to cure disease after it has developed and is 

 given little or no opportunity to use his knowledge of prevention. 



It does not ap])ear to be as generally appreciated as it should 

 be that it is very oftWn more economical to the individual, as well 

 as to the state, to find the cause of disease and apply the preventive 



