18 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



therefore most urgently recommend that the compensation of the 

 chiefs of the scientific divisions of this Bureau and their more 

 important assistants be made commensurate with the high class of 

 work required of them. 



MEASURES TO EXCLUDE CONTAGION. 



The maintenance of properly equipped and efficient quarantine 

 stations is essential to the protection of our live stock from imported 

 contagion. The increased value of animals of all kinds in the United 

 States has led to larger importations and to correspondingly greater 

 danger of bringing disease into the country. There may be a reasonable 

 doubt as to whether it is necessary or even advantageous to bring any 

 new breeds of animals or any fresh blood of old breeds into this 

 country, but there can be no question that it would be far better to 

 have no more breeding stock imported than to allow the entrance of 

 diseased animals, which are capable of spreading contagion among 

 our domestic stock and causing heavy loss to our farmers for years to 

 come. Foreign countries in which we desire to market live animals 

 are from time to time making inquiries as to the value of our quarantine 

 stations and the protection which we give to our live-stock industry. 

 It may be, therefore, that the continuance of our exports in the coun- 

 tries to which we now ship, as well as the extension of our trade to 

 countries where it is desired to establish a trade, is dependent upon 

 our exclusion of diseased animals. 



The quarantine stations now in use have been sufficient in the past, 

 but with the growth of the import trade more facilities are required. 

 Ground for a station for the quarantine of animals entered at the port 

 of New York has recently been purchased at Athenia, N. J. , and buiM- 

 ings are now in course of erection. The increased cost of building 

 material and the greater number of buildings required make it impos- 

 sible to equip properly this station for the money which has been 

 appropriated. The work should therefore be continued another year. 

 There is also great need for a quarantine station on the water front, 

 to which animals can be taken by boat in all cases where there is any 

 suspicion that they may have been exposed to disease. This would be 

 far safer than transportation by rail, as at present. There is no place so 

 situated available near New York, and it would therefore be advisable 

 to purchase land for such a station somewhere on the extensive shore 

 line in the vicinity of Baltimore. The quarantine station for the port 

 of Baltimore, now located at St. Denis, Md., needs extensive repairs 

 or entirely new buildings, and consequently this would be a favorable 

 time to make a change. 



With a station such as is contemplated, animals might be admitted 

 which we are now obliged to exclude. All cattle, sheep, and swine 

 from the Continent of Europe, for example, are now forced to enter 

 through the Canadian quarantines, because of the prevalence of foot- 

 and-mouth disease in Europe and the danger that would be connected 

 with the transportation of such animals by rail immediately after land- 

 ing, even if they were apparently sound on inspection. In the history 

 of the quarantine stations, before they were administered by the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, there are several instances in which foot- 

 and-mouth disease was not detected by the inspection on shipboard, 

 although the animals were actually affected. Such instances are liable 

 to occur again, and emphasize the importance of adopting every pos- 

 sible precaution. An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease would cause 



