No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 521 



to such shipments. Dr. Kelly will make the investigation for New 

 York State when the advices are received, and furnish you with a 

 report thereon. 



There is no unloading chute or quarantine pen now at West 

 Albany ; whatever quarantine cattle are unloaded there must be 

 unloaded into the common stock-yard pens, and either driven 

 directly for slaughter or taken into the pens used by other cattle. 

 There is a tradition commonly entertained by the older stockmen 

 that there was once a separate chute and pens for such cattle, but 

 that these became old and decayed, and were finally pulled down 

 as being of no more use. 



The destruction of cattle by a contagious disease contracted in 

 the progress of conveyance from one State to another naturally 

 arouses the question of responsibility in the minds of the losers of 

 those cattle. 



The question which confronts your Board is, How may future 

 outbreaks be prevented? This question is one which interests 

 every northern State which is likely to receive southern cattle in 

 the summer time. While the question of legal responsibility may 

 never be taken up or pushed to a conclusion, that of responsibility 

 for taking necessary steps to prevent future outbreaks may readily 

 be arrived at. 



The heavy losses in cattle due to Texas fever prior to 1889, and 

 the attitude assumed by States in quarantining against the admis- 

 sion of southern cattle within their boundaries or their passage 

 eri route to other States, and the accompanying interruption of 

 cattle traffic, led to the quarantine by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture of all cattle south of a stated line, and their 

 assuming oversight of all cattle transported from that area for 

 immediate slaughter until they had been delivered into pens set 

 apart for them at their destination. The line was established on 

 the clinical evidence obtained by earlier investigation, and has 

 been subject to subsequent revisions. The quarantine was found 

 to be of such commercial utility that it has since been annually 

 proclaimed. 



The proclamation for the current year is : — 



Regulations concerning Cattle Transportation, 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary, 



Washington, D. C, Jan. 27, 1897. 



To the Managers and Agents of Railroads and Transportation Companies 

 of the United States, Stockmen and Others. 

 In accordance with section 7 of the act of Congress, approved May 29, 

 1884, entitled " An act for the establishment of a Bureau of Animal 



