June, 1909.] 



Live Stock, 



throughout the Islands. Quarantines 

 were instituted and a general effort was 

 made to interest the local officials and 

 communities in preventing the spread 

 of animal diseases. The work was more 

 or less unsettled at the beginning as the 

 lines of procedure had to be worked out 

 in the provinces. Some changes were 

 necessary from time to time during the 

 first three years. This formative period 

 of the work has long since passed, and 

 it is now thoroughly organised with 

 definite plans which are certain to give 

 results if persistently followed. 



The first thing done was to inspect 

 imported cattle to determine whether 

 or not they had infective diseases on 

 arrival. The records show clearly that 

 a great many of them did bring such 

 diseases, especially from China. 



The next step was to inspect those 

 cattle being shipped from ports of entry, 

 especially Manila, to the provinces, and 

 determine whether or not they left th^se 

 ports in a healthy condition. It was 

 found that many of them carried the 

 diseases to the provinces. 



It was also found that where diseases 

 prevailed in the provinces they were 

 spread extensively by local cattle 

 trading. 



The result of all these studies and 

 observations was to define the different 

 lines of action which are known to be 

 necessary in the suppression of the 

 diseases. The first of these was to estab- 

 lish a rigid inspection and limit the 

 movements of cattle by means of quaran- 

 tine. The first effort in this direction 

 was the enforcement of the veterinary 

 section of the Sanitary Code of the City 

 of Manila, which became effective, 

 January 1, 1907. This law was held in 

 suspension for some months, but in due 

 course of time the quarantine of 

 imported cattle exposed to infective 

 diseases was undertaken. This led to 

 immediate and strong opposition by 

 certain local cattle dealers. They even 

 questioned the integrity of the Govern- 

 ment officials who had charge of enforc- 

 ing the quarantine. All of this agita- 

 tion led to a full discussion of the 

 subject, which finally resulted in the 



Eassage of Act No. 1760 of the Philippine 

 ommission on October 12, 1907. This 

 in effect extended the quarantine to 

 infected and exposed . auiraals through- 

 out the Islands. 



Strong protests against all quaran- 

 tines were constantly made on the 



f [round that liberal importation of cattle 

 or draft purposes was necessary to 

 replace those which had died from 

 diseases in the provinces. It was shown 

 in the May Review that 90 per cent, of 

 the cattle imported into the Islands 

 70 



come to Manila, that 70 per cent, of these 

 are slaughtered in this city, and 80 per 

 cent, of the remainder shipped to the 

 provinces, are subsequently slaughtered 

 in the towns near Manila. So this 

 argument lost much of its force. If it 

 were not tor prejudice, seven pounds of 

 meat out of every ten produced here by 

 imported cattle, could as well be bought 

 from cold storage. 



After considerable agitation, General 

 Order No, 9 was issued April 30, 1908. 

 Its main feature was to exclude cattle 

 from the infected places throughout 

 the Orient. This order met with strong 

 opposition from the cattle dealers, and 

 its enforcement was suspended on 

 technical grounds. 



General Order No. 10 was issued and 

 provided a system of automatic limita- 

 tion of shipments from infected places. 

 It gave dealers time to ship cattle which 

 they claimed to have on hand and per- 

 mitted three successive infected ship- 

 ments to be landed, However, certain 

 unscrupulous dealers began deliberately 

 importing infected animals from differ- 

 ent Chinese ports, changing when three 

 shipments had been made from each. 



This was followed by the issuance of 

 General Order No. 12 which put all ports 

 on the same basis in so far as landing 

 of infective shipments is concerned- 

 Under these provisions when an infect- 

 ed shipment of cattle arrives in Manila, 

 the animals can be landed for immediate 

 slaughter only. 



This order is the most important step 

 yet taken by the Government in prevent- 

 ing the constant reinfection of different 

 parts of these Islands with rinderpest 

 and foot-and-mouth disease. It marks 

 a distinct epoch in the history of the 

 veterinary work which all thiuking men 

 who understand this problem will 

 readily appreciate. 



The order in itself is not complete, in 

 that it does not provide details for the 

 cleaning and disinfection of ships, 

 corrals, and other places from which 

 the infection of these diseases is liable 

 to spread. An attempt has been made 

 to remedy this by the codification of 

 all general orders from No, 10 and 

 including the rules and regulations for 

 disinfecting. This constitutes General 

 Order No, 13, published in this number 

 of the Review, 



There are three more logical steps 

 which the Government should, and no 

 doubt will, take in due course of time. 

 The first of these is to provide a meaus 

 of handling infected shipments of cara- 

 baos and selected breeding cattle which 

 are intended for slaughter. This would 

 be simple if there was an Island in Manila. 



