204 ANNUAL EEPOKTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sufficient and wholesome supply of food for the preservation of 

 human life and health. 



In the interest of economy and good administration it is impor- 

 tant that the work of the Bureau of Animal Industry should remain 

 intact and in the Department of Agriculture. It is folly to argue 

 that the consolidation of the various government agencies having a 

 bearing in any way on the public health into one organization would 

 be a measure of financial econom3^ If this Bureau were removed 

 from the Department of Agriculture, it would be essential for that 

 Department to replace a large part of the organization if it continued 

 to deal efficiently with agriculture, and this would duplicate and 

 increase expenses instead of reducing them. The present organiza- 

 tion permits the use of the same men (under various appropriations) 

 in different lines of work and their transfer from time to time to 

 meet the needs of the service — an arrangement that would not be 

 possible if the work were divided by the transfer of the meat inspec- 

 tion to the proposed new organization. As pointed out in my report 

 for the preceding year, the field work in eradicating diseases of 

 animals is mostly done during the summer, while the work of slaugh- 

 terhouses is heaviest during the winter; and a number of men can be 

 utilized for field work in the summer and for meat inspection in the 

 winter, thus effecting an economy which w^ould not be possible if 

 these lines of work were not under the same management. A strik- 

 ing illustration of the advantage of the present organization was 

 given in that report with reference to the outbreak of contagious 

 foot-and-mouth disease in the winter of 1908, when it was possible to 

 draw immediately on a trained force of veterinarians and scientists 

 already engaged in the meat inspection and other regular work of 

 the Bureau. Had these branches been separated, the contagion would 

 verj^ probably have spread widely and reached the great stock-rais- 

 ing regions of the West before a force could have been organized to 

 combat it, and there it would have caused tremendous damage and 

 loss and its eradication would have been exceedingly difficult and 

 expensive if not impossible. 



It seems that it should be entirely possible and practicable for the 

 Government to enlarge its work for human health and to maintain 

 an efficient public-health organization without placing under that 

 organization work which has no logical place there and without 

 impairing existing branches of the government service with no corre- 

 sponding benefit to the public. 



STUDY AND ERADICATION OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



The scientific investigation of various animal diseases has been 

 continued, and the policy of having such diseases studied in the field 

 by a larger number of experts than heretofore has been adopted. The 

 work for the eradication of certain contagious diseases has been 

 unusually effective during the past year. 



ERADICATION OF CATTLE TICKS. 



With the steady extension of the zone affected by the ravages of 

 the cotton-boll weevil, and the growing realization by southern 

 farmers of the need of giving more attention to stock raising, the 



