208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The laws of some other of the States provide that the 

 owner shall in all cases be paid, by the State authority, one- 

 half of the sound value of the animal destroyed ; and be- 

 cause of this fact they depend upon the owners of the sick 

 animals to report the existence of the suspicious cases, argu- 

 ing that, if a man has a sick animal, he will Ijc so glad of an 

 opportunity of selling him in this way that he is sure to call 

 upon the authorities to come and see him. 



The practical objections to this last-named method are 

 many and serious. In the first place, there are many cases 

 of tuberculosis found by our inspectors, in animals that are 

 supposed by their owners to be in a perfect state of health. 

 Farmers and dairymen are not generally good judges of 

 animals in this respect, else why are they so often found to 

 have just bought a cow that skilled examination shows is 

 thoroughly consumptive ? It is not to be supposed that they 

 would voluntarily do so ; and, if these men cannot guard 

 their own interests and protect their own pockets in this re- 

 spect, they certainly cannot be relied upon to protect the 

 interests of the State at half the price. 



Again, it oftentimes happens that an animal with tubercu- 

 losis will give a full flow of milk, or take on fat as easily 

 and fully as any healthy animal. Is it likely that the owner 

 of an animal of this sort, even if he knows that he has a 

 consumptive animal, will report the fact for the purpose 

 alone of obtaining a fraction of its value ? There are plenty 

 of honest men who will do it, but what of the others who, 

 alas, exist in all communities, who will not call the attention 

 of the State authority to their sick animals, in the absence 

 of any one whose ])usiness it is to do so ? 



The practical working of such a law, in this respect, will 

 be that most of the animals reported will be either of high 

 class or else belong to the other extreme, and that is, have 

 become so far worn out as to be worth less than one-half of 

 their healthy value in the open market. 



Further very serious objection, and one that experience 

 has always shown to be inseparable from any law which pays 

 indemnity, is that sooner or later the State treasury goes 

 into the business of buying diseased animals that are col- 

 lected for the purpose not only from within its own borders, 



