690 
I would now recommend a larger force and more vigorous operations. With 
the present force and facilities, but a few thousand’ dollars can be used during 
the year out of the $100,000 appropriated for this purpose. With twice as many 
men and better facilities for getting over the ground several times as much 
work can be accomplished. 
As tuberculous cow’s are taken out of the dairies new animals must be put 
into their places, and it is desirable that these should be tested before they are 
allowed to enter the stables which have been disinfected and freed from dis- 
ease. To do this at present the herd inspection must be interrupted, and as 
the number of inspected herds increases the interruptions will be more fre- 
quent, until the herd inspection will be entirely stopped. It is important,, 
therefore, that men should be stationed at the stock yards to test all cows that 
are brought into the District. This will prevent the further introduction of the 
disease, and will enable us to keep free from it the herds which have already 
been inspected. 
This work in the District is of great importance, not only as - a preventive of 
disease among consumers of meat and milk, and to guard against the spread of 
tuberculosis from the District into adjoining States as required by law, but as 
an experiment to determine various questions relating to the prevalence, recog- 
nition, and prevention of tuberculosis as affecting dairy stock. The scientific 
results of this work are, therefore, of great value to the whole country, while 
the practical work is of benefit to only a small section. These scientific results 
are urgently needed in order that the various States may formulate proper 
measures for protecting their citizens, and for that reason, if for no other, the 
.work should be pressed to early completion. 
Under any circumstances only a small part of the amount appropriated can 
be expended during this fiscal year, as one-third of the year has already 
('lapsed. More rapid work also means more thorough work. There is less op- 
portunity to shift diseased cow's from the uninspected to the inspected dairies, 
and the first inspection should be completed before a second one is necessary. 
Detailed recommendations as to requirements will be made from time to 
time as occasion demands.® 
No record has been found to show what further recommendations, 
if any, the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry made concerning 
the application of the tuberculin test to dairy cattle in the District 
of Columbia, nor to show even why the work that had been begun 
was abandoned. The reference to “ tide $100,000 appropriated for this 
purpose,” apparently meaning thereby for the testing of dairy cows 
in the District of Columbia with tuberculin, is misleading. A care- 
ful investigation has failed to show that Congress ever made an 
appropriation for the purpose named. It is probable that the 
amount stated was an amount set aside, formally or informally, 
by the Secretary of Agriculture, for the eradication of tubercu- 
losis from the District, from the gross sum appropriated for the 
expenses of the Bureau of Animal Industry during the fiscal year 
1895. The appropriation act for the year named 6 authorized the 
® Tenth and Eleventh Annual Reports, Bureau of Animal Industry, 1893-94. 
Published in 1896. Pages 32 and 33. 
&Act of August 8, 1894, 28 Stats., 269. 
