602 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The State X)f New York was not represented at the conference, as 

 the State veterinarian. Prof. James Law, was then attending to some 

 business in the Western States. After returning, however, he gave 

 it as his opinion that, with the large number of infected herds kno^wai 

 to exist on Long Iskmd and in the city of New York and vicinity, it 

 would be unwise to attempt to control the plague with the present 

 small appropriation. 



The governor of New Jersey has not accepted the rules, and it ap- 

 pears that the obstacles to co-operation were Rules 8 and 15. The 

 objection to Rule 8 was removed by an offer from this Department to 

 change the reading from "without the consent of the proper officers 

 of the Department of Agriculture "to " without due notice to the 

 proper officers of the Department of Agriculture." This concession 

 was also made to the State of Illinois, but the experience of the last 

 four months leads me to the ox)inion that it would he wiser for the De- 

 partment to adhere to the original reading. State authorities often 

 have very different ideas from those entertained by the officers of this 

 Department as to the time when it is safe to remove quarantine re- 

 strictions. They consequently object to restrictions which they can- 

 not remove at will. On the other hand, if the National Government 

 appropriates money to pay the expense of this work, there certainly 

 should be some guarantee that the proper regulations are enforced. 



The objection to Rule 15 still stands in the way of co-operation with 

 New Jersey. The State authorities have adopted the practice of in- 

 oculation, and release the inoculated herds from quarantine after a 

 short period of isolation. After carefully considering the question 

 and all the scientific evidence bearing upon it, I am of the opinion 

 that it is useless to attempt to eradicate pleuro-pneumonia in States 

 where inoculation is practiced and where inoculated animals are 

 afterwards allowed to mingle with, the cattle of other herds. The 

 money expended for the purchase of diseased animals for slaughter 

 under such conditions is consequently largely wasted. 



The State authorities of New Jersey, however, have been assisted 

 by employing one or more veterinarians nearly the whole time, whose 

 duty it has been to investigate reported outbreaks of disease and give 

 such aid as was needed in inspection and in enforcing the State quar- 

 antine regulations. Thirty-one infected herds have been reported 

 from this State, containing 530 animals, of which 43 were diseased. 



The governor of Pennsylvania has also failed to accept these rules 

 and regulations. His reasons for not acting on them are unknown 

 to me. The governor's agent in charge of the pleuro-pneumonia 

 work raised some objections to Rule 15, but admitted that its enforce- 

 ment would make no great difference to the State. Inoculation is 

 practiced by the Pennsylvania authorities also, but with the small 

 number of outbreaks reported it would certainly be advisable to 

 slaughter all diseased and exposed animals and thus rid the State of 

 the plague at once. 



_ Virginia is the only remaining State infected with pleuro-pneumo- 

 nia where the authorities have not accepted tlie rules and regula- 

 tions. The attention of the governor has been called to the desira- 

 bility of eradicating the disease from the State, but up to the present 

 he has taken no action. 



The governors of Delaware and Maryland have accepted the rules 

 and regulations as issued, and without modification of any kind. No 

 cases of pleuro-pneumonia have been reported from Delaware since 

 such acceptance. 



