460 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



animals liave been running at large during the Tvliole ■winter, and it is impossible to 

 Kay how many others they may have infected. 



There have been stock sales in Fulton on the first Monday in each month for sev- 

 eral years past. On some days probably 200 or ::iOO head of cattle were sold, and car- 

 ried to different and remote parts of the coiiuty, and many of them to adjoining 

 counties. We cannot tell whether the disease was taken with them or not; we sim- 

 ply give the possibilities. 



The committee finds at least fifty to sixty persons who have had their cattle ex- 

 posed, not counting the individual exposures in Fulton. Some of these have only 

 from 1 to 6 head. Others own from 10 to 50 head. We find to date about 1,000 cattle 

 have been exposed directly or indirectly, and our work of discovery is not yet com- 

 plete. We shall continue our investigations, and hope in another week to make a 

 much fuller and more accurate report than this. 



WHAT SHALL BE DONE? 



We have had no trouble to induce parties to have their cattle killed when we had 

 the money to pay for them. But our means have been very limited. So far all the 

 money at our disposal was the amount raised at our first meeting — about $2,600, with 

 only about $1,400 paid in. It is our object now to ascertain the extent of exposures, 

 so as to estimate the probable amount necessary to suppress the disease. W^e shall 

 do all in our power to suppress the disease, but if a stronger power than individual 

 effort does not interpose, how long will it remain sujipressed ? 



The stables and pastures where the diseased animals have been running should be 

 quarantined, as it were, for a year. There ought to be some law that will compel the 

 owners of such stables and pastures not to allow cattle to be put in them for at least 

 a year. 



The county finance committee appointed by the State finaoce committee, of which 

 you are chairman, has called a meeting of the citizens of this county to meet at Ful- 

 ton on the 25th for the purpose of raising money. What the outcome will be we can- 

 not tell. 



The spread of the disease is simply appalling. It can be more easily suppressed than 

 hereafter. If it is not suppressed who will be responsible ? Let our State authorities 

 answer. 



Believing that you, as the chief exocfltive of the State, are fully alive to the great 

 interest at stake, and that you feel the great responsibility, and will do all you can 

 to deliver the peoi)le from the effects of this sad calamity, we remain, 

 Respectfully, your most obedient servants, 



C. A. BAILEY, 

 J. L. ERWIN, 

 SISERA THRELKELD, 



Executive Committee. 



Fulton, Apnl 20, 1885. 



lu answer to a telegram Dr. Trumbower telegraphed, ou April 18, 

 that cattle were being driven out of Callaway and shipped in adjoining 

 counties, and that railroad agents in this (Callaway) County, outside of 

 Fulton, received^cattle for shipment. The following notice was there- 

 fore sent to the vice-president of the Missouri Pacific Eailroad, and a 

 similar one to the president of the Chicago and Alton and to the gen- 

 eral manager of the St. Louis and Pacific Railroad : 



Depaktment of AcnicuLTunE, 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, 



Washington, April 20, 1885. 

 Sir: I have just been informed by Drs. Micheacr and Trumbower, inspectors of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, that cattle which may have been exposed to pleuro-pneu- 

 monia are being shipped by rail from various stations in Callaway County, Missouri, 

 and also being driven for shipment to stations in the adjoining counties of Audrain, 

 Boone, Montgomery, Cole, and Osage. 



In tlii.s connection I would call your attention to sections 6 and 7 of the act estab- 

 lishing the Bureau ofAnimallndustry, which provides a penalty for receiving affected 

 animals for shipment. Considering the great danger to the whole cattle industry of 

 the country from this disease, will you not prohibit shipmejits of cattle from stations 

 in the counties above named, except when accompanied by certificates of health 

 from our inspectors ? Answer. 



NORMAN J. COLMAN, 



Commiasioner of Agriculture. 

 E. S. Hayes, Esq., 



First Vice-President Missouri PtuAfic Railroad, Saint Louis, Mo. 



