DANGER FROM PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 283 



a fact which should have no concealment; nor the fact, 

 that, by the ordinary trade in and transportation of cattle, 

 it may be disseminated to all parts of the country. The 

 States named have no laws sufficiently effective for its exter- 

 mination ; and it is doubtful if public opinion in the matter 

 is strong enough to override political and party influences, 

 and cause the enactment of the needed statutes. 



Cattle and their products are the greatest agricultural in- 

 terest of the country, and have a money value of many hun- 

 dreds of millions of dollars ; and their transportation to the 

 seaboard, and thence to foreign markets, has become a com- 

 mercial enterprise of vast proportions, with bright promise 

 of unlimited expansion in the future. For increasing this 

 trade, immense capital has been invested in land and trans- 

 portation facilities, all of which is imperilled, if tliis disease 

 is rife, or lurks anywhere in our domain. If through fraud, 

 ignorance, or want of the most scrupulous care, it should be 

 conveyed to the great ranches and pasture-grounds of the 

 West, where these animals are reared in countless numbers, 

 and where confinement or isolation is impossible, the imme- 

 diate losses would be incalculable, and the destruction of the 

 business total. The existence of the disease in the Eastern 

 States is a continued menace to the Western stock-grower, 

 and keeps him in constant apprehension ; because, for the 

 improvement of his herds, so that in quality they shall meet 

 the demands of our foreign market, and return him the 

 greatest profit, it is necessary they should have an infusion 

 of the blood of our Eastern or the foreign improved breeds. 

 If this can be done only by selecting the males from, or 

 transporting them through, the infected districts of the East, 

 the risk is too great to allow of the practice, and its benefits 

 will be lost. 



Already foreign governments within whose 'jurisdiction 

 this trade finds its best market have become alarmed by 

 existing circumstances, and are on the alert to prevent the 

 reception of the disease from our exportations, and at differ- 

 ent times have forbidden the landing of our stock, or com- 

 pelled its slaughter at the places where it is unloaded ; 

 and they are now seriously discussing the question of pro- 

 hibiting it altogether. To allay this apprehension, and, if 

 possible, to prevent such a calamity, the United States Gov- 



