BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTEY. 437 



That is, Dr. Hagyard was recommended to Trisbie & Lake as the 

 most available man for them to employ as a i^rivate i^n-actitioner and 

 for the purpose of securing their private interests. The difference in 

 the dates of the two telegrams is due to the former being received at 

 Chicago and the answer having been delayed until my return to Wa.^h- 

 ington. Dr. Hagyard did not represent this Department in any degree, 

 nor did he have any authority to inspect any cattle in behalf of the De- 

 partment, or to give certificates of health which would relieve tlso 

 owners of any responsibility which they were under, because of restric- 

 tions imposed in accordance with the act establishing the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry. 



On the 11th of January Dr. Trumbower wrote from Austin that he 

 had called on Governor Ireland, and that the governor stated that he 

 could do nothing and would not interfere in the matter. Dr. Trumbower 

 stated that Mr.Frisbie declined to allow him to make an examination 

 of the herd unless he would agree to give a certificate of health in case 

 he failed to find any cases of pleuro-pneumonia. This he could not 

 agTce to do, owing to the fact that if the cattle had been exposed before 

 shipment to the contagion of this disease they might contract it within 

 a short time, even if at the time of examination they showed no symp- 

 toms. Mr. Frisbio informed Dr. Trumbower that he had only shipped 

 124 head and that 5 of these had died in transit. 



A few days later Dr. Trumbower was recalled from Austin by order 

 of Commissioner Loring on account of the protests made by Frisbie & 

 Lake's counsel. These gentlemen x^retehded to believe that Dr. Trum- 

 bower was i)rejudiced against them, and through their counsel asked 

 that any inspection of their cattle should be made by the Chief of the 

 Bureau. Accordingly I left Washington January 20, reaching Cynthi- 

 ana, Ky., on the 21st. Mr. Lake stated that they still had about 17 head 

 of the unregistered cattle, among which were some of the most unthrifty 

 ones at Cynthiana. I desired to see and examine these animals in order 

 that a definite conclusion might be reached as to whether they were 

 actually affected with pleuro-pneumonia, but acting with the advice of 

 his counsel Mr. Lake absolutely refused to allow such an examination. 

 They placed this action upon the ground that in no event could the 

 Government grant them any relief, and that every examination was 

 liable to do them injury by revealing the presence of disease, or pos- 

 sibly by a mistaken diagnosis such as any one might, in their judg- 

 ment, make. When his attention was called to the shipment to Texas 

 from this herd, the suspicion that these animals were under, the vast 

 injury that might be done to the cattle industry of the nation by the 

 dissemination of the plague, and that a regard for his own interests, as 

 weU as for that of the country at large, would seem to make an investi- 

 gation very desirable, he simply replied that they did not consider it to 

 theii' interest to have such an inspection made. 



To remove one point raised in his objections to inspection, I then of- 

 fered that in case any one of the unregistered animals presented any 

 signs of disease upon exaniination, and he was dissatisfied with the di- 

 agnosis, that I would buy and slaughter the animal in the presence of 

 properly qualified witnesses, and thus definitely settle the question 

 upon its merits. This proposition was also rejected. Not being able to 

 accomi:)lish anything at Cynthiana, I proceeded the following day to 

 Jackson, Tenn., to investigate the condition of the animals shipped there 

 from Frisbie & Lake's herd. 



