362 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
ing the importation of stock of all descriptions, and we have had 
to keep for ready reference the laws of each state bearing upon this 
point so that we have been able to properly advise all shippers who 
want the certificates. Several hundred such calls reach this depart- 
ment every year. 
Through co-operation with the Bureau of Animal Industry in 
acting upon all cases of contagion throughout the United States 
this department has received and given reports of contagious 
diseases, including the locality of its origin. This has been a class 
of work of importance and has affixed the Iowa department in a 
creditable standing among similar departments of other states. 
Aside from the regular work of the department, we have received 
and responded to many calls for papers to be read before various 
gatherings of farmers and stock men. This branch of educational 
work, while not a given duty, has had our enthusiastic support, 
and we believe we have accomplished a new purpose, that of bring- 
ing the agricultural interests of the state in closer touch with the 
department, and thereby rendering every possible aid to the actual 
fulfillment of the object of this office. 
Concluding, we wish to call attention to the small appropriation 
upon which we have had to operate. There has been necessary the 
closest economy in every branch, and while this has not interfered 
with the proper work, it has in a measure effected a strong barrier 
to the consummation of the results we had hoped to obtain. The 
department and its needs have grown in the same way every other 
utility of the state has grown, and it is hoped that the coming legis- 
lature will increase the appropriation, so that the work may be 
extended to better ends during the ensuing term, and that all who 
are desirous of the service of this department may be accommodated 
in an equitable way. 
TUBERCULOSIS. 
No subject emanating from medical jurisdiction is more prominently 
discussed today than tuberculosis. As applied to the human family much 
has been and is now being done to effect some relief from the widespread 
existence of the disease. Tubercle Bacilli, the germ from which the 
disease originates, has been found to gain its foothold among cattle, and 
in order to co-operate with those who are seeking to relieve sufferers, 
this department has lil^ewise sought to destroy, in as far as our appro- 
priation and means admit, the original source of the infection; that is, 
to determine the cattle affected and make disposition of them. In this 
effort we have had the hearty support of the medical fraternity, and the 
administration of the state, as well as that of the National Bureau of 
