482 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



It will be seen by these resolutions that a system of veter- 

 inary sanitary police contemplates an efficient inspection of 

 slaughter houses. This, however, applies more to the pro- 

 tection of the public health than to the eradication of disease. 



The laws under which this commission acted prior to May 

 25, 1899, provided that it should receive the returns of in- 

 spections of slaughtered animals from the inspectors of 

 animals and provisions in the different cities and towns, and 

 also that it furnish applications for licenses for slaughter 

 houses, and that a duplicate of every license granted in the 

 State should be on file at the office of the Board of Cattle 

 Commissioners. This did not seem to have much to do with 

 the eradication of disease, and the inspection was placed in 

 the hands of the local boards of health by section 20, chapter 

 408, Acts of 1899, as it seemed to be more of a local sani- 

 tary matter than one closely connected with the control of 

 bovine tuberculosis, and it caused a good deal of extra work 

 in the office of the commission, without any corresponding 

 benefit. What the slaughter-house inspection by the local 

 boards of health amounts to is a matter of conjecture. 

 Every week old, emaciated cows, called "canners" and 

 " bologna cows," are shipped to our markets for " beef," not 

 only from without the limits of the Commonwealth but from 

 towns in the dairy districts of the State. Many of these 

 must be diseased and unfit for human food ; yet, if the 

 slaughter-house inspection was properly carried out, this 

 contemptible business would not be as profitable as it appears 

 to be, and would be given up. If the Cattle Commission 

 seized the animals which were clearly diseased coming from 

 without the limits of the State, they could be killed without 

 appraisal or payment, and rendered as they ought to be ; 

 yet, if this were done, it would be unfair unless similar ani- 

 mals coming from within the limits of Massachusetts were 

 also seized and killed. Such animals would, however, have 

 to be paid for, if they had been owned within the State for 

 six months prior to condemnation, from the appropriation of 

 the commission. 



As the object of the law is to kill diseased animals whose 

 milk may ])e unhealthful or which may be a source of con- 

 tamination to other cattle, it seems proper to allow them to 



