98 THE LUNG PLAGUE OF CATTLE. 



August Bartke, Centre street, had 4 cows in a stable capable of holding 20, which 

 were free from disease. 



Henry Schwartz had 5 cows in a well-lighted and clean stable, which were healthy. 

 The space per head was 9 feet high, 3 feet wide, and 8 feet long. A window 1 foot 

 square in front of each cow and a door 3 feet wide and 6 feet high gave sufficient 

 ventilation. 



F. Koenig, Teutonia avenue, had 9 cows, which were healthy. The space allowed 

 each was 7 feet high, 3 feet wide, and 10 feet long, and a passage-Avay 3 feet wide be- 

 hind the cows. The diet was brewers' grains, wheat bran, and hay. ' Fresh cows are 

 bought in the country of farmers. 



No lung plague exists in the dairies of the city or ever has existed, though in very 

 poor sanitary condition. 



SAINT LOUIS. 



I began the inspection of Saint Louis, Mo., November 7. Upon making known 

 my mission to Chas. W. Francis, health commissioner, he kindly detailed Mr. Hohoff, 

 an officer of the sanitary staff, to accompany me and point out the location of the city 

 dairies and slaughter-houses. We visited first the National Stock Yards in East Saint 

 Louis, 111. These yards cover an area of 100 acres, and in 1880 the receipts were 

 346,533 head ; shipments, 222,417 head of cattlei There is a high and tight board fence 

 around the yard which excludes cows or other cattle outside from coming in contact 

 with those inside. 



Isaac H. Knox, president of the company, stated that he could safely say that 

 there had never been a single case of lung plague in . these yards. He stated that 

 20 per cent, of the trade at these yards is in Texas cattle. That in former years he 

 had had frequent complaints and claims for damages by farmers who had lost cows 

 from Texas fever caused by the Texas cattle shipped to these yards but these com- 

 plaints were growing less and less each year, and this season no complaints had 

 been made, and but very few cattle had died from it. The cause of this decrease 

 in the number of cases of Texas fever he thought was due to the better care the 

 Texans received. They are not driven on foot such long distances as they were form- 

 erly, but are shipped in cars to market, the increase in the number and extent of the 

 railroads in Texas making this possible. Also there is more care exercised in the 

 breeding, raising, and feeding of Texas cattle, and the country is better cultivated, 

 all of which causes contribute to mitigate the disease. There is no trade in cattle 

 from the "far East." Whatever does come from eastern points comes from Ken- 

 tucky, Ohio, and Indiana, and is mainly thoroughbred stock for the improvement of 

 the native cattle. There is only one distillery from which cattle are sent to these 

 yards. 



About four years ago a number of sensational articles appeared in the newspapers 

 about the " swill-fed " and diseased cattle that came from Illinois and were sold in 

 these yards. The company sent Charles T. Jones, superintendent, to thoroughly in- 

 vestigate these stories, and he found there was no distillery at the place where it was 

 said these diseased cattle came from, consequently there could be no truth in the 

 stories, and the newspaper correspondent was obliged to take back the statements he 

 had made. Near the stock yards are the works of the Saint Louis Beef Canning Com- 

 pany. I examined the lungs of cattle killed here and none of them were diseased. 



Mr. Hamilton, superintendent, stated that diseased livers were sometines found, 

 but that the lungs were sound. 



My next endeavor was to ascertain if the cows in the dairies were also free from 

 lung plague. I began by examining the cows of Martin Wohlend, 2430 Columbus 

 avenue, who keeps 28 head. They were all healthy. The stable is 12 feet high. Each 

 cow has a space 3 feet wide and 8 feet long, with a passage-way 4 feet wide in front 

 and 2 feet wide behind, in addition to feeding trough 12 inches wide and 9 inches 

 high, and a manure gutter 1 foot wide and 4 inches deep, The food given is distillery 

 slop, brewers' grains, wheat, bran, and hay. The drainage and ventilation was very 

 good. 



Twelve cows belonging to Tobias Burk, Columbus avenue, were healthy. None 

 have died. The stalls wese 8 feet high, 7 feet long, and 2 cows had a space 6 feet in 

 width. The diet was slop, malt, bran, and hay. 



H. A. Held, Sidney street, 37 cows, also heal thy. In four years only 1 cow has died. 

 The stalls were 10 feet high, 8 feet long, with a space 5| feet wide for 2 cows. It was 

 a square stable, built of brick, with the cows tied in two double rows facing each 

 other, and a passage-way 3 feet wide between each two rows. The stable is lighted 

 by windows in the side of the building. Fresh cows are bought of cow dealers who 

 bring them to the stable, and the purchaser knows nothing of the previous history of 

 the animal, which might have come from an infected stable for anything he knows; 

 but as no disease is developed it is reasonable to suppose that no disease exists where 

 the fresh cows come from. 



Frank Young, Jackson street, has 12 cows ; all were healthy, and he states that none 

 have died. The stalls were 8 feet high, 5 feet wide, and 7 feet long, and a passage- 



