LEGISLATION REGARDING THE DEPARTiMENT. 43 



LAW CREATING THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



The Bureau of Animal Industry was established as an integral 

 branch of Department activity by a law approved on May 29, 1884. 

 The text of that law is as follows: 



AX ACT for the establishment of a Bureau of Animal Industry, to prevent the exportation of dis- 

 eased cattle, and to provide means fur the suppression and extirpation of plearo-pneumonia and 

 other contagious diseases among domestic animals. 



Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of liejn-esentatii'ea of the United States of America 

 in Congress assembled, That the Commissiouer of Agriculture shall orgaiiize iu his 

 department a Bureau of Animal Industry, and shall appoint a chief thereof, who 

 shall be a competent veterinary surgeon, and whose duty it .shall be to investigate 

 and report upon the condition of the domestic animals of the United States, their 

 protection and use, and also inquire into and report the causes of contagious, infec- 

 tious, and communicable diseases among them, and the means for the prevention 

 and cure of the same, and to collect such information ou these subjects as shall be 

 valuable to the agricultural and commercial interests of the country; and the Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture is herel)y authorized to employ a force sufficient 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 authorized to appoint two com- 

 petent agents, who shall be practical stock raisers or experienced business men 

 familiar with questions pertaining to commercial transactions iu live stock, whose 

 duty it shall be, under the iustructions 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 sujipression and extirpation of con- 

 tagious pleuro-pueumonia, 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 performance 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 execution and enforcement of this act. Whenever the plans and 

 methods of the Commissioner of Agriculture shall be accepted by any State or Terri- 

 tory in which pleuro-pneumonia or other contagious, infectious, or communicable 

 disease is declared to exist, or such State or Territory shall have adopted plans and 

 methods for the suppression and extirpation of said diseases, and such plans and 

 methods shall be accepted by the Commissioner of Agriculture, and whenever the 

 governor of a State or other properly constituted authorities signify their readiness 

 to cooperate for the extinction of any contagious, infectious, or communicable dis- 

 ease in conformity with the provisions of this act, the Commissiouer of Agriculture 

 is hereby authorized to expend so much of the money appropriated by this act as 

 may be necessary in such investigations, and in such disinfection and quarantine 

 measures as may be necessary to prevent the spread of the disease from one State or 

 Territory into another. 



Sec. 4. That in order to promote the exportation of live stock from the United 

 States the Commissioner of Agriculture shall make special investigation as to the 

 existence of pleuro-pneumonia, or any contagious, infectious, or communicable dis- 

 ease, along the dividing lines between the United States and foreign countries, and 

 along the lines of transportation from all parts of the United States to ports from 



