490 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



priation has been made with which to carry out this provision, and 

 hence it must of necessity remain a dead letter upon the statute 

 books. The state veterinarian cannot assume the responsibility of 

 destroying condemned stock without being in position to assure the 

 owners of the compensation contemplated by the law. People are 

 loath, if not positively opposed, to permitting the killing of diseased 

 stock of which they are the owners unless they can be remunerated 

 in some measure for the loss involved, often failing to realize the 

 danger incurred by permitting infected animals to continue to exist. 



Such animals are a menace to the health of the stock and people 

 with which they may come in contact, in many instances. It is 

 hoped that the requisite appropriation may be made at the forth- 

 coming session of the legislature. The cost of establishing this 

 system of disposing of tuberculous cattle is not as great as is gen- 

 erally supposed. Owners should receive fair remuneration for 

 stock destroyed on account of disease and in case of food animals, 

 should be allowed the alternative of accepting the appraised value 

 of what they will bring for food purposes at a packing house where 

 federal inspection is maintained. The price obtained from the 

 packing house depends on the condition in which the animals are 

 found upon slaughter. In many cases the animals are not badly 

 affected and the greater part of the carcass is passed for food, the 

 owner receiving a fair price for such animals ; but in case the ani- 

 mal is badly affected, it is condemned for offal. Hence animals 

 slaughtered at a packing house in many cases net a sum in excess 

 of the appraised figures. But even though in the total the returns 

 from the sale of these animals does not equal the sums paid to the 

 owners upon the appraisement, the balance will not be very great 

 and the benefits to be derived far exceed the expenditure. 



Compensation for animals which may be slaughtered on account 

 of communicable disease is provided for in about twenty-five states. 

 In some the compensation is dependent upon the length of time 

 the animal has been in the state, the disease for which it has been 

 slaughtered, and the compliance of the owner with sanitary meas- 

 ures required. "Where no compensation is allowed, food animals 

 are in some instances slaughtered subject to the United States meat 

 inspection regulations. This is the case in Nebraska, North Dakota 

 and Utah, and in other states. Compensation is provided in the 

 following named states : 



Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massa- 

 chusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, . New 



