20 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



only, not because the blood is needed to improve our animals; and 

 during recent years the tendency of such importations has often been 

 detrimental rather than beneficial. This tendency is fully appreciated 

 by the breeders, as is shown by the almost prohibitive registration fee 

 which has been imposed by the Shorthorn Association. 



The Argentine Republic has long been importing high-priced breed- 

 ing stock from Europe, but recently has prohibited the trade on account 

 of the danger of admitting disease from that section of the world. The 

 stockmen of Mexico begin to realize the benefits which would accrue 

 to them by producing animals which would conform more nearly to 

 modern requirements. South Africa, stripped of its live stock by the 

 exigencies of a long and stubbornly contested conflict, must in the 

 near future be rehabilitated and begin anew the development of an 

 extensive pastoral industry. What is more natural than that the 

 finely bred and healthy herds of the United States should be drawn 

 upon to supply the wants of these countries ? 



Just at present the demand for such stock at home is almost too great 

 to favor very active efforts to build up an export trade. But this 

 condition will not long continue because the stimulus of good prices 

 will lead to much greater production and then a foreign outlet will be 

 very desirable. An export trade can only be built up, however, by 

 supplying the highest quality of stock and that which is free from 

 disease. Of foot-and-mouth disease and pleuropneumonia we are 

 free, and probably shall remain free, but the attention of the world 

 is now turned to tuberculosis, and we should put our herds in condi- 

 tion to also guarantee freedom from that plague. Argentina, Aus- 

 tralia, and New Zealand have felt the disastrous effects of tuber- 

 culous breeding stock, and it is not likely that any country hereafter 

 will admit such animals without the most rigid tests. Neither should 

 animals be admitted into the United States without these tests, if the 

 reputation of our herds is l o be maintained. 



IMPROVEMENT IN CATTLE SHIPS. 



There has been great improvement recently in the vessels carrying 

 live stock to Great Britain, as a consequence of the Department regu- 

 lations requiring wider alleyways and better ventilation. In some of 

 the older ships it was impossible to widen the alleys to the extent 

 demanded without too great interference with the carrying capacity, 

 and in these the object sought was attained by running alleys ath wart- 

 ship and increasing the ventilation. It is believed that now, after a 

 continuous struggle for ten years, these vessels are at last in condition 

 to carry animals humanely and without unnecessary loss. During 

 this long period one concession after another has been obtained from 

 the transportation companies, some willingly and some unwillingly, 

 with the result that a gradual improvement has followed. 



There remains still in an unsatisfactory condition the method of 

 securing attendants to take care of the cattle during the ocean voy- 

 age. At present, many of these men are ignorant foreigners, unable 

 to speak our language, who are engaged under misrepresentation as 

 to the character of the work and with promises of compensation and 

 of a return passage which are never made good. The result is great 

 hardship and cruelty to the men and lack of attention to the cattle, 

 because the men are not familiar with the work and only perform it 

 under compulsion. No efficacious method of correcting this evil has 

 yet been devised, but it is now receiving the attention of the several 



