ACTS OF CONGRESS. 



[Public — No. 41.] 



An Act For the establishment of a Bureau of Animal In- 

 dustry, to prevent the exportation of diseased cattle, and 

 to provide means for the suppression and extirpation of 

 pleuro-pneumonia and other contagious diseases among 

 domestic animals. 



Be it enacted hij the Senate and House of Representatives 

 of the United States of America in Congress a ssemhled. That 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture shall organize in his De- 

 partment a Bureau of Animal Industry, and shall appoint 

 a Chief thereof, who shall be a competent veterinary sur- 

 geon, and whose duty it shall be to investigate and report 

 upon the condition of domestic animals of the United 

 States, their protection and use, and also inquire into and 

 report the causes of contagious, infectious, and communica- 

 ble di.seases among them, and the means for the prevention 

 and cure of the same, and to collect such information on 

 these subjects as shall be valuable to the agricultural and 

 commercial interests of the country : and the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture is hereby authorized to employ a force suffi- 

 cient for this purpose, not to exceed twenty persons at any 

 one time. The salary of the Chief of said Bureau shall be 

 three thousand dollars per annum ; and the Commissioner 

 shall appoint a clerk for said Bureau, with a salary of one 

 thousand five hundred dollars per annum. 



Sec. 2. That the Commissioner of Agriculture is author- 

 ized to appoint two competent agents, who shall be prac- 

 tical stock raisers or experienced business men familiar with 

 questions pertaining to commercial transactions in live 

 stock, and whose duty it shall be. under the instructions of 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture, to examine and report 

 upon the best methods of treating, transporting, and caring 

 for animals, and the means to be adopted for the suppres- 

 sion and extirpation of contagious pleuro-pneumonia, and to 

 provide against the spread of other dangerous, contagious, 

 infectious, and communicable diseases. The compensation 

 of said agents shall be at the rate of ten dollars per diem, 

 with all necessary expenses while engaged in the actual per- 

 formance of their duties under this act, when absent from 

 their usual place of business or residence as such agent. 



Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture to prepare such rules and regulations as he may 

 deem necessary for the speedy and effectual suppression and 

 extirpation of said diseases, and to certify such rules 

 and regulations to the executive authority of each State and 

 Territory, and invite said authorities to cooperate in the 



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