OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 103 



attacks on hog cholera and tuberculosis were begun, and it was 

 due to his support that the system of herds accredited free of 

 tuberculosis was adopted. He was active in promoting the 4ip- 

 ping system all over the range country for the reduction of 

 scabies and manges in cattle and sheep, and while he was in 

 charge of the Bureau, measures for the restriction of dourine 

 and contagious abortion were instituted. In 1914 he demanded 

 and secured the enforcement of the rigid quarantine that ulti- 

 mately permitted the reduction of foot and mouth disease. 



To him fell the laborious task and the responsibility of devel- 

 oping the enterprises that had already been initiated. In the 

 twenty-one years during which the Bureau had operated it had 

 undertaken a multiplicity of services for the benefit of the 

 breeders, packers and consumers. To carry such beginnings to 

 a successful conclusion is often more trying than to inaugurate 

 them. With a keen sense of justice and a long suflFering patience, 

 Dr. Melvin advanced the work in hand and met the ever-chang- 

 ing conditions due to new knowledge. Broad and comprehen- 

 sive as were the purposes of the Bureau, they had to be modified 

 and extended, as well as to be correlated with the work of indi- 

 vidual states and institutions. Like his predecessor, Dr. Salmon, 

 he stood firm against the intrusion of political interference with 

 scientific work, and bravely met the misguided efforts of live- 

 stock owners who from time to time came to believe that science 

 and natural laws could be disregarded in the control of animal 

 plagues. His ability as an administrator, his sterling qualities 

 as a man, his nobility of character, his gentle and sympathetic 

 nature and his loyalty to the purposes of the Bureau endeared 

 him to all. He died suddenly in Washington, D. C, December 

 7, 1917. 



"His twelve^ years in the Bureau of Animal Industry were indeed 

 years of big undertakings, and his constructive recognition of 

 the nation's problems contributed largely to the present rela- 

 tively healthy status of American livestock. 



