SPECIAL MEETING. 7 



towards the veterinarians on the part of the stock-yard peo- 

 ple whom Mr. Washburn represented, and that, unless they 

 could have their own way of doing things, they did not 

 intend to help much. He wanted the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry abolished, and a Commission appointed by the 

 President which should continue as long as there was any 

 necessity for it and then die. He did not want any Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, which is doing a great deal of solid 

 scientific work in relation to the investigation of disease, 

 and has published two valuable volumes on that subject. 

 Those he ignored entirely as of no use. His method other- 

 wise was not unlike the common method, which is to have 

 the general government appropriate whatever sum may be 

 necessary to stamp out the disease fi*om the country. That 

 is what the friends of the present Commission have asked 

 for, and have not received, for the reason that the stock- 

 yards people have fought them. 



]Mr. Slade. Do we understand that what is meant by 

 ' ' stamping out " is killing the cattle and paying for them ? 



Mr. Cheever. Restricting the disease to the localities 

 where it exists, slaughtering the cattle and destroying all 

 that have the disease or have been exposed to it. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. And paying for those same cattle? 



Mr. Cheever. They are to be paid for, as a matter of 

 necessity, but the exact proportion to be paid is a matter to 

 be left for discussion and action by the Congress which 

 enacts the law. It is understood that if liberal prices arc 

 paid it is offering a premium upon sick cattle ; if too small 

 prices are paid it encourages hiding cattle away, and the 

 point will be to get at the right medium. Private propert}' 

 cannot be taken out of the hands of private owners without 

 compensation, according to the principles of law. At the 

 present time the Bureau of Animal Industry has no power 

 to pay for animals killed that are not already sick, and the 

 law is weak in that regard. They have not the power which 

 Massachusetts took into her own hands at the time the 

 disease was here. Dr. Salmon lias the confidence of all the 

 veterinarians in the country, I think, and of the cattle men 

 generally. He is at the head of the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry. He worked very hard last winter at the meeting 



