No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 473 



Bulletin No. 32 of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, Bureau of Animal Industry, by Dr. I). E. Salmon, 

 chief of the Bureau, upon the " Tuberculin Test of Imported 

 Cattle," is a justification of these requirements of the United 

 States government, and emphasizes the importance of insist- 

 ing that cattle imported from foreign countries into the 

 United States shall be free from tuberculosis, in order to 

 protect live stock in localities where the disease does not 

 exist ; not only on account of the dangers to our own popu- 

 lation from the use of products from tuberculous animals, 

 and the pecuniary losses to farmers occasioned by this dis- 

 ease, but also to protect our foreign markets for beef and 

 pork, as it would injure the sales of these exports in the 

 markets of the world if we had the reputation of having 

 this scourge prevail extensively among our cattle and swine. 

 What he says in this bulletin is as applicable to one State 

 as to the United States ; and the Massachusetts Cattle Com- 

 mission feels that it is only a proper course to pursue, as part 

 of the work in endeavoring to eradicate tuberculosis from 

 the herds of the Commonwealth. 



The second division of the work in connection with tuber- 

 culosis is that comprised in the annual inspection made by 

 the inspectors of animals, as provided for in section 29, 

 chapter 408, Acts of 1899. This inspection was ordered in 

 October this year, as it was last. The following table* 

 shows the results of the examinations made by the inspect- 

 ors, the number of cattle quarantined by them, and the 

 disposition made of the animals by the commission : — 



* The full table, showing returns by towns, will be found in the separate report 

 of the Cattle Commissioners. 



