446 REPORT Oi' THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Regretting the fact that under the present laws there is no Avay by which I can pra 

 tect vour cattle-owners from this disease, 

 I remain, very resjiectfully, 



F. C. NESBIT, 

 Acting Commissioner. 

 Hon. John S. Williams, 



Mount Sterling, Ky. 



In this connection, it may bo added that the animal industry law 

 seems to require that there shall be State legislation authorizing the 

 State authorities to co-operate with the Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 or at least giving some power to quarantine under State laws before 

 this Department is justified in incurring such expenses. Otherwise the 

 quarantine regulations might be broken with impunity and could not be 

 maintained except by the courtesy of the owner of infected herds. Such 

 a condition of affairs would make effective quarantine impossible and 

 would lead to the expenditure of large snms of money without any ade- 

 quate results. 



This conclusion is confirmed by tlie decision of the Attorney-General, 

 from which the following paragraph is quoted here as ai)i)lying to this 

 subject : 



Section 3, to which you refer, authorizes the regulations by the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, and supposes that these maybe adopted by State executive authorities; 

 or, as an alternative, supposes regulations by State executive authorities Avliicli in 

 turn it empowers the Commissioner to adopt. In either case of course such State 

 executive action is to be authorized by competent State legislation. 



The following correspondence with the secretary of the Kentucky 

 State board of health does not need additional explanation : 



State Board of Health of Kentucky, 



Bowling Green, Ky,, June 13, 1885. 

 Sir: On yesterday, accompanied by Ex-Senator John S. Williams and others, I 

 visited the herds of cattle near Cynthiana, in this State, now and for some time past 

 affected with contagious pleuro-pneumonia. There are two herds involved in the 

 trouble — on adjoining farms — one containing about 100 head and the other IC head. 

 The danger of infection of the cattle of this entire section soem«sd so great that, under 

 a clause of our health law which gives us supervision of the food supply of the peo- 

 ple of the State, I have placed both the herds of cattle in a i)rovisionai quarantine 

 for one month, in order to confer with you with the view of securing such assistance 

 as you may be authorized to give, looking to permanent protection for our cattle in- 

 terests against this disease. 



There is a serious- qxiestion as to the extent of it, but whatever quarantine power 

 has been conferred by our legislature is A^ested with us, and we are ready to co-op- 

 erate with or indorse any measures you may propose which will rid us of this disease, 

 or tide over the emergency until the meeting of our legislature in December. We 

 have not had tlie question of jurisdiction raised here, as the owners of the cattle are 

 ready to accept any reasonable proposition from us which promises relief. 

 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



J. N. McCORMACK, Secretary. 

 CoAiMissioNEit OF Agriculture, 



f}''ashi7igton, D. C. 



Tliis letter inclosed a quarantine notice as follows : 



quakantink noticb. 



Office of tue State Board op Health, 



Bowling Green, Ky., June 15, 1885. 



V/hcroas it has come to the knowledge of this board that contagious pionro-piieu- 



iiK)uia now exists in the cattle herds of Frisbie & Lake and William 'J\ Handy, in 



Harrison County, in this State; and whereas this disease is highly infectious, and its 



existence seriously jeopardizes the food supply of the State : Now, therefore, be it 



