462 llEPOKT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AQRIOULTUUE. 



vided for " purcliiisc" of tlioso animals ■\vifbin tl)o Di.strict, I prcsmiic, tlio more that 

 it does ito( iiiteud tLo ap])iopiiatio!) contained inlJicact so to be aiiiilicd auywliere. 

 The <li.sea.sed animal, as in ordinary canen, jieril sua dumiuo. Vim hasten in<jj of suck 

 event upon public grounds, beiug, to all appearance, supposed by Cosigrtss to afford 

 no ground for setting up a market for Buch animal, wherein the pnlilie is to bo pur- 

 chaser. 



The act in (question being, as probably was anticipated, the iirsi of a series upon 

 that subject, isconsequently somewhat general and merely tontative in its provisions; 

 as, for instance, was the case in analogous recent legislation establishing a National 

 Board of Health. As the results of experience and observation ac(.uuuilato upon 

 the topic of whicli yon speak, no doubt more definite legislation is intended. 



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

 Agriculture, and supp{)3es that these may be adopted by State executive authorities; 

 or, as an alternative, snpposes regulations by State executive authorities whicli in 

 turn it empowers the Coniiuissiouer to adopt. In either case of course such Stat6 

 executive action is to be authorized by competent State legislation. The section then 

 proceeds to suppose a time for action to arrive, and to be notilied by some proper 

 State authority to the Comuussiouer. And thereupon the Commissioner is author- 

 ized, as you quote, to spend money for the quarantine action, required by the partic- 

 ular exigency. 



There is, however, as I repeat, no provisions for purchasing the diseased animals. 

 The question, at whose loss any necessary destruction of these may be, is not a ques- 

 tion of quarantine, and the powers of the Commissioner are incident to quarantine 

 only ; it being important, of course, that for the j)urpo3e of executing those he shall 

 have acquired information and come to conclusions in the way indicated by section 2. 

 Very respectfully, 



A. H. GAELAND, . 

 Attorney-General. 



The Commissioner op Agriculture. 



A similar letter to that of the Commissioner of the 18th of April to 

 the Attorney-General was forwarded to the First Comptroller of the 

 Treasury, and was promptly replied to as follows : 



Treasury Department, 

 First Comptroller's Office, 

 Washington, JJ. C, April 21, 1885. 



Sir : In reply to Aour request asking my construction of the act of May 20, 1884, 

 " for the cstabiishm'cnt of a Bureau of Animal Industry," and especially that ])Ortion 

 of the same giving you the authority to expend the amount appropriated as is em- 

 braced in the following words, "And in such disinfection and quarantine measures as 

 may be necessary to prevent the spread of the disease from one State or Territory 

 into another, " I have to state: 



The power given to the Commissioner by said act seems to be broad and unlimited 

 as to the means to bo used bj' him to carry out said disinfection and quarantine, and 

 it is my opinion that he can cause such investigation to bo made in regai'd to the 

 matters mentioned in said act as he may deem proper, and then use such means as he 

 deems best to carry out the objects and purposes of the same. If ho regaidsthe 

 slaugliter of the infected animals necessary to carry out such objects and purposes he 

 may do so, but he cannot expend any more than the amount appropriated under any 

 state of the case. Ho must keep himself within the limits of said appropriation in 

 carrying out said act. 



Very respectfully, 



M. J. DURHAM, 



Comptroller. 



Hon. Norman J. Colman, 



Commissioner of Agriculture. 



Oil the 23d day of the same month the following additional letter was 

 received irom the First Comptroller : 



Treasury Depa7«tmext, 



First Comptrollkr's Office, 

 Washington, D. C. April 2o, 1885. 

 Stk: I have just received a note from the Attorney-General stating that he had 

 written you an opinion as to your pow-crs under the pleuro-pucumouia act adver.se to 

 the one that I had given you. 

 In that note he refers to the unofficial interview he and I had, but ho concludes, 



