Indemnity. 86 



on the market with most disastrous results. The main 

 purpose of the indemnity is not, as many suppose, the 

 re-imbursing of the owner for his loss, but rather the 

 speedy discovery and extinction of every centre of con- 

 tagion. The real value of the sick animal is usually of 

 no account, and consideriag the danger of immediate and 

 prospective infection of other animals by proximity and 

 through the infected buildings, the dangers incident to 

 its preservation far more than counterbalance the actual 

 worth. But the prospect of a recovery, of having ar 

 animal that is no longer susceptible to the disease, and 

 the many drawbacks in the way of injury to business, 

 wiU usually deter the owner from making his losses pub- 

 lic. In all countries where the disease has been rooted 

 out it has been found that no penalty for concealment 

 is half so effectual as a liberal remuneration for animals 

 sacrificed. Then, again, an indemnity which will encour- 

 age owners to report is a measure of the wisest economy. 

 While the existence of disease is concealed, the State is 

 thrown back on a slow and laborious examination of herd 

 by herd and beast by beast, conducted by veterinarians, 

 and even then there are a thousand ways of secreting 

 the sick in out-of-the-way places and subjecting only the 

 apparently healthy to examination. Where, on the other 

 hand, the owners have every encouragement to report sick- 

 ness, the skilled veterinarian is only wanted to decide as 

 to the nature of the sickness reported, and the State is 

 sa\ed at least nine-tenths of the expenses for professional 

 inspections. 



For ihese, among other reasons, I have always advo- 

 cated a liberal indemnity : and every day's experience 

 with the plague shows more and more clearly the wisdom 

 of this. The sick should, therefore, be appraised at their 

 full value as if in health and the award should be no less 

 than half of this estimate. I would even favor a two- 

 thirds value as more efficient and economical, as it would 



