REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 25 



The total expenses in Maryland in the work of suppressing pleuro 

 pneumonia from July 1, 1886, to December 31, 1887, were $105,883.81. 

 Of this sum $75,156.72 was paid as compensation for slaughtered 

 cattle. The miscellaneous expenses, including disinfection, locks 

 and chains, tags, record books, elc., were $1,170.16. Traveling ex- 

 penses amounted to $9,430.49. The total amount paid for salaries 

 was only $20,126.44. The amount paid for cattle was to all other 

 expenses as 1 to 0.41. 



We have, with the expenses in Illinois and Maryland, two extremes 

 in the proportion of the amount paid for cattle to that paid for all 

 other purposes. The reason for the large relative expense for sala- 

 ries in Illinois has been given. The reasons for the small relative 

 expenditures for salaries in Maryland are the large number of affected 

 herds in Baltimore County, which made it easy to find great num- 

 bers of affected and exposed cattle; the fact that the work of slaugh- 

 tering has been continued without intermission, there being no 

 period of investigation covered before the slaughtering began or after 

 it was finished; the small size of the force, which for the most of the 

 time has been insufficient to properly control the movement of cattle. 

 The last reason mentioned was due to the authority given by the 

 State not being sufficient to allow the supervision of the movement 

 of cattle until after November 10, 1887, and, consequently, it would 

 have been a waste of money to increase the force. Since the order 

 of November 10 was made the number of men employed in Maryland 

 has been largely increased, and the relative expenditure for salaries 

 and other expenses will soon be greater than for cattle; but the effi- 

 ciency of the work has been greatly improved, and the extirpation 

 of the disease will cost less money than if the work were done with 

 a smaller force. 



^ A relatively small expenditure for salaries is therefore no indica- 

 tion either of the efficiency or the economy of the work for the sup- 

 pression of pleuro-pneumonia. We might have gone on for years in 

 Maryland with twice the expenditure for cattle that was made for 

 all other purposes, but while the prevalence of the plague could have 

 been diminished the contagion could not have been eradicated. To 

 accomplish this result, men must be employed to watch the move- 

 ment of cattle, and to give permits by which they can be traced, to 

 guard the stock-yards and other cattle markets, and prevent the en- 

 trance of diseased animals, to make post-mortem examinations on all 

 animals which die or are slaughtered from the infected district, to 

 investigate all reported outbreaks of disease, and to disinfect all 

 premises where the contagion has existed. This system is undoubtedly 

 expensive in the way of salaries, but it is the only way to eradicate 

 the plague, and in the end it is*far more economical than any attempt 

 to control the disease with an inadequate force. 



Early in 1888 a new law was passed by the Maryland legislature 

 recognizing the work of the Bureau in that State, and providing for 

 co-operation. Although there has been considerable opposition on 

 the part of cow dealers, and in some cases of dairymen, and some 

 violations of the regulations, the supervision has been maintained 

 in an efficient manner and has resulted very satisfactorily. 



It has been found difficult, and often impossible, to secure the in- 

 dictment and vigorous prosecution of parties violating the laws and 

 regulations, apparently because the sympathy of local officers was 

 with the offenders of their district rather than with those who were 

 trying to eradicate this disease. Fortunately the governor and the 



