No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 435 



cattle destroyed but to the public at large. They assert that 

 these animals which are destroyed by the State are in fact the 

 property of the owner, and have a substantial value, for the 

 reasons already given ; that by the destruction of such animals 

 the State is depriving the owner of his property, and in conse- 

 quence he should be reimbursed as others are whose property is 

 taken for the public good, by receiving from the State the exact 

 value thereof; that the policy of the State has always been to 

 provide, in every act which deprives a man of his property, 

 that he should receive the value, and that he should have an 

 easy means whereby that value could be determined by a disin- 

 terested tril)unal ; that if this were done the owner would re- 

 ceive from the State whatever the animal was really worth, 

 taking into consideration its capacity to yield milk, the fact that 

 the oft'spring of such animal are free from the disease and may 

 therefore grow up to be healthy animals, and all other elements 

 which go to make up the value of such property ; and they fur- 

 ther assert that this is the policy which has been adopted by a 

 larsre number of other States where the same work is beinor 

 performed, citing the laws of Rhode Island, Connecticut, 

 Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and 

 Kansas. 



Those who oppose this proposition assert that, as a matter of 

 fact, in the appraisal of such animals upon their actual value the 

 ■fact must be taken into consideration that the animal is affected 

 with a contagious disease ; and that whenever competent per- 

 sons are called upon to value such an animal, taking into con- 

 sideration the lact of such contagion, it will always result in 

 arriving at a value which is substantially nothing, because such 

 value, after all, must be what purchasers would pay for such 

 animal in the open market under all the circumstances, knowing 

 the fact that the animal has this contagion and is liable to spread 

 it amono; other stock with which it is brought in contact, and 

 that the product of such animal is dangerous to the public health ; 

 and they assert that in fact no purchaser could be found who 

 would be willing to pay anything for such animal ; and they 

 cite in this connection the experience of the State under the 

 laws which authorized the payment of the actual value of glan- 

 dered horses, which resulted in an abandonment of the law and 

 a final adoption of a provision which provided for no compensa- 



