THE LUNG PLAGUE OF CATTLE. 85 



APPRAISEMENT OF CONDEMNED CATTLE. 



This maybe done by two Appraisers mutually chosen by the stock- 

 owner and the representative of the government j <>r in cities, especially 

 when 4 dairymen are most solicitous that the fact of the infection of their 

 herd should be kepi a secret, a price may be put upon the cattle by the 

 veterinary inspector, with the concurrence of the owner. As a rule, the 

 remuneration of appraisers is a considerable item, and it is better and 

 cheaper, in the aggregate, that the unfortunate loser of the cattle should 

 receive the extra amount than that it should go to a third party. The 

 award by the veterinarian is, however, usually no higher than that made 

 by an appraiser.' 



AMOUNT OF INDEMNITY. 



Kverything considered, a liberal indemnity is the best, most economi- 

 cal, and most successful. It eidists the hearty co-operation of the owner 

 of infected stock, secures the early report of cases, and the correspond- 

 ingly early extinction of the malady. It was a wise course that Penn- 

 sylvania at first pursued, to appraise the sick animals first reported 

 at their actual value as they stood, and all subsequent cases reported 

 in the same herd at full sound value, and to pay an indemnity to this 

 full amount in case they afterward sickened. 



In cities, especially where the profits from milch cows are so high, and 

 the loss of a milk-route by sickness, slaughter, or exposure, so fatal to 

 the interests of, the milkman, the indemnity should be a liberal one. 

 Everywhere a liberal award obviates the necessity for a vast amount of 

 professional inspection from herd to herd and beast to beast, and is, 

 therefore, a measure of the very soundest economy. A compensation 

 amounting even to the sound value of the animals cannot be objected 

 to as a means of inciting to the willful spreading of the disease, in a 

 district where all movement of cattle, except under special license, has 

 been temporarily abolished. As showing what is saved by a liberal in- 

 demnity, it may be named that in States like New York, where a low 

 indemity only was given, the necessary professional examinations for 

 the purpose of detecting the disease and the other essential expenses 

 amounted to three times the amount of the total indemnities. To avoid 

 the continuance of this expensive item of professional examination and 

 reduce it to its minimum, we would, therefore, appro ve of a measure for 

 the prompt slaughter of all animals in every infected herd, and the com- 

 pensation of the owner to their full value for all that had as yet shown 

 no signs of the disease. The speed and certalnity of such a course will 

 make it the most economical in the end. 



In this matter of economy, that course which is the most speedily 

 successful in eradicating the plague must prove by far the best. Not 

 only .will it save nearly all of the most expensive item in the work, the 

 prolonged professional supervision, but it will more speedily relieve our 

 cattle trade, home and foreign, the yearly losses on which are probably 

 greater than the value of all the herds now infected with lung plague 

 on this continent. 



POWER TO PROHIBIT PASTURAGE OR EXPOSURE ON UNFENCED LOTS, 

 OF TWO OR MORE HERDS ON ONE. LOT, OR OF SUSPECTED ANIMALS 

 ON PLACES ADJOINING HIGHWAYS OR OTHER LOTS OCCUPIED BY 

 CATTLE. 



This common -pasturage has been the main cause of the perpetuation 

 of this plague iu America. It was the main cause of the little good ac- 



