66 The Lung Plague of Cattle. 



" What has been done by the Scandinavian nations, bj 

 Oldenburg and Switzerland, by Massachusetts and Con- 

 .ecticut, can be done by all of our Eastern States. On this 

 ■"oint the teaching of history is as unequivocal as on the 

 certainty of the irreparable results if our open Western 

 stock ranges were iufected. The one indispensable pre- 

 requisite to success is the vigorous and simultaneous ac- 

 tion of the various infected States, and its persistent 

 maintenance until the last infected beast has disappeared 

 and the last contaminated place or thing has been puri- 

 fied. It matters little whether controlled by State or 

 National goveriunent, if vigor and uniformity of action 

 can be secured; but, as such combined and unflagging 

 work is necessary, it could be best controlled by an in- 

 telligent central authority. The United States Govern- 

 ment is as much called upon to defend her possessions 

 against an enemy like this — so implacable, so relentless 

 and so certain, if not repelled, to lay us under an incubus 

 which will increase with the coming centuries, and dwarf 

 the prosperity to which we are entitled — as against the 

 less insidious one who attacks us openly with fire and 

 sword. Let the national Congress consider this matter 

 well. Let every stock-holder press it upon his Bepre- 

 sentative as a matter that cannot be safely ignored even 

 for a single day. Let boards of agriculture, farmers' 

 clubs and conventions, granges, and all citizens who value 

 the future well-being of the nation, unite in a strong rep- 

 resentation on the subject. If the present Congress 

 should neglect it, let citizens make it a test question to 

 every future candidate for their suffrages, and elect only 

 such as are pledged to carry suppressive measures into 

 effect. The danger threatens all classes alike, though 

 the first sufferers will be the stock-owners ; for every tax 

 upon production necessarily enhances the value of the 

 product ; and, as agricultural progress must be seriously 

 retarded, the tax will not fall upon meat alone, but upon 

 every product of the farm. Nothing can excuse a con- 

 tinued neglect of this subject, the dangers surrounding 

 whkh increase from day to day, and the final results of 

 which, if once it reaches our Western and Southern 

 States and Territories, can only be computed by the 

 prospective increase of our population and our herds of cat- 



