408 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



of the commission, the de^rree of the disease is of no impor- 

 tance. An animal where the disease is present is not capable, 

 in the opinion of the Board, of any years of uspful service. To 

 be sure, it may live for years, it may perform its ordinary func- 

 tions to a profitable extent, if the owner is allowed to sell its 

 products, Imt it is nevertheless a source of menace to the health 

 of the community. There is, therefore, but one course to pur- 

 sue Avith such an animal, and that is to destroy it. 



A great majority of the objections to the work of the com- 

 mission in connection with the destruction of animals is based 

 upon the question of what remuneration the owner shall receive 

 for the animal destroyed. This question will be taken up at 

 length in another portion of the report. 



Milk from Tuberculous Cows. 



One of the main purposes indirectly to be accomplished by 

 the work which the commission is now doing in destroying 

 tuberculous cattle is to purify the milk supply of the State. 

 Some complaints have come to the attention of the commission 

 in relation to the milk supply of the State in its relation to 

 tuberculosis, which are worthy of attention. It is said, 

 ** Why, then, should the tillers of the soil be taken during their 

 dull moments of toil and placed in the balances with the entire 

 remainder of the State's individual wealth, and so be made to 

 stand one-half the loss of their cows, and also taxed to help 

 the State pay the other half, and at the same time allow any 

 kind of milk sent into the State from other States for general 

 family use ? Is our tuberculosis any more deadly than that of 

 Vermont or New Hampshire, or does Massachusetts owe her 

 farmers a grudge, and intend to put them into the pauper 

 list?" 



So far as this complaint is intended to apply to the work of the 

 Cattle Commission, they can only say that directly the whole mat- 

 ter is without their control. There is no law in this State which 

 puts into the hands of the Board of Cattle Commissioners the 

 ri2:ht to regulate the sale of milk within this Commonwealth, 

 whether such milk be derived from cows within the State, or 

 whether it be brought, as milk, into the State, having been 

 derived from cattle without its limits. The question of the 

 regulation of the milk supply within this State, in connection 



