124 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. DoC. 



ures that finally prevailed and that were so brilliantly successful 

 were, in many instances, opposed by the interests to be benefited and 

 so sorely in need of help. 



When foot-and-mouth disease appeared in New England a few 

 years ago, the representatives of the cattle industry were more wil- 

 ling to heed the recommendations of veterinarians and the calamity 

 was averted of loss of foreign trade in live animals and of in- 

 calculable damage to our domestic animals at home. 



These are achievements that are not fully enough discussed and 

 that are not sufficiently appreciated. The saving resulting from the 

 extermination of foot-and-mouth disease alone is great enough to 

 build and endoAV a veterinary college in every state of the Union and 

 to repay, many fold, all of the funds that have been expended on the 

 work of the Bureau of Animal Industry and the Livestock Sanitary 

 Boards of the various states. 



In European countries, where an animal scourge, as rinilerpest, 

 occasionally swept across the land, destroying a large proportion of 

 the horned cattle, or almost completely exterminating them, and 

 where other explosive plagues prevailed widely, there has always 

 been both a keen realization of the destructiveness of infectious 

 diseases of animals and aijpreciation of efforts directed toward the 

 prevention of such diseases. 



And so it was, that one of the earliest measures adopted by the 

 governments of Europe for the relief of agriculture and for the 

 improvement of animal husbandry consisted in the establishment of 

 veterinary schools. The veterinarj- schools antedate the agricultural 

 schools for the reason that the first step in the improvement of 

 animals is to protect them from disease, and agriculture rests large- 

 ly upon animal husbandry. Some years after schools and laboratories 

 were organized for the development of knowledge concerning dis- 

 eases of animals, and for its dissemination, agricultural schools 

 came into being. 



This country has been very tardy in its recognition of the import- 

 ance of the veterinary sciences, being, in this respect, more than 

 eighty years behind Germany, France, and the lesser countries of 

 continental Europe. Perhaps a reason for the slow development of 

 state veterinary schools, in spite of the great need of the country 

 for the work of such schools, may be found in the unprecedented 

 development of schools of agriculture and of agricultural 

 experiment stations. Institutions of these classes were or- 

 ganized in every state, and the impresion seems to have 

 prevailed that it would be possible for them to take 

 care of the needs of the country with respect to veter- 

 inary development and teaching. This, however, has not been 

 the case, and it has long been clearly evident that veterinary teach- 

 ing, if it is to amount to anything in a serious and definitely useful 

 way, and if it is to be developed to a point at all compatible with 

 the needs of the country, must have its own separate and specially 

 equipped institutions. The work of the agricultural colleges and 

 experiment stations has developed so much faster than the income of 

 these institutions that those responsible for their management are 

 constantly appealing at Washington'and at the various state capi- 

 als for increased revenue. Thus the veterinary sciences have re- 

 mained in the background, undeveloped and unable to exert their 



