766 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
that the disease spread slowly, and was insidi¬ 
ous in its advance. Quarantines as now estab¬ 
lished, are ineffectual. It is impossible to tell 
whence all the cattle in our herds have come, 
and quarantining ent ire herds on suspicion is 
had tor owners. The speaker recommended 
that quarantines bo established around the in¬ 
fected districts, and urged that the Bureau of 
Information t»e made permanent. 
Dr. N. H. Paaren, Illinois State Veteri¬ 
narian, exhibited a diseased lung, and talked 
about pleuro pneumonia He said this disease 
existed in Illinois in len herds, all of which 
bad been isolated He awarded to Dr. Sal¬ 
mon credit for detecting the present disease in 
this State. Ho said it was an injustice to 
owners of Jerseys to declare that breed, as 
most liable to the malady. In their native 
island this disease is unknown. 
A letter was read from Prof. Daw, of 
Cornell University. Dr. Gadsden moved that 
a vote of thanks bo sent to that gentleman, 
who had been President of the late Treasury 
Cattle Commission. Commissioner Loring 
moved that this should not bo done, because 
of the fierce and uucallod for attack of the 
Professor upon the work done by the Bureau of 
Animal Industry. The Commissioner declared 
that the quarantine arrangements of this 
country are perfect. Last year the importer* 
were somewhat inconvenienced, yet they ap¬ 
proved the quarantine. The speaker also 
declared that the censures on the conduct of 
the Bureau of Animal Did stry in Prof Law’s 
letter were entirely uncalled for, and he hoped 
that the letter would be dropped out of sight. 
William Ball, of Michigan, and Mr. J, H. 
Sanders, of Illinois, affirmed friendship for 
Prof. Luw, yet thought his letter should be 
suppressed. Dr Gadsden tried to explain 
his motion, and was discourteously choked off, 
his motion being emphatically voted down. 
The following is a synopsis of Prof. Law’s 
paper:—’‘As he was now out of office, he 
wanted to make some suggestions He thought 
it. unwise to intrust the carrying out of sani¬ 
tary regulations to those who were pecuniar! 
ly interested. Certain experts iu the cattle 
trade have discredited the statement that 
pleuro pneumonia existed on the American 
continent. He blamed Congress for insuffi¬ 
cient legislation, thereby hampering the Bu¬ 
reau of Animal Industry. Influential news¬ 
papers have been called to aid the opposition. 
Imporiers of cattle were declared to be incom¬ 
petent to superiut* nd veterinary sauitary-ad- 
mlolstration, because they were not profes¬ 
sionals, and were interested. He thought the 
Bureuu of Animal industry should not wa*te 
any time in trying to determine the contagi¬ 
ousness of pleuro-pneumonia. He objected to 
such experiments its ate being conducted by 
the Bureuu, on Barren Island. N Y., and in 
Illinois. Theoretically, the safest man to ad 
minister sanitary laws is be who is an expert 
in the plagues to be guarded against, and who 
has no interest iu animal* whicn are liable to 
suffer from sueb plagues. The Bureau of 
Animal industry should have the same power 
in all the States and Territories that it has iu 
the District of Columbia. This Bureau would 
be much more efficient witn but one responsi¬ 
ble head, and, if the nou-professionul commis¬ 
sioners are retained, they should not be al¬ 
lowed to interfere in any way with prompt 
and efficient action in auy case seen, by the 
vetertnury chief, to demand such, and the lat¬ 
ter officer should not be hindered. In a matter 
of this kind, success depend* on decisive 
promptness and energy. State veterinarians 
should be appointed everywhere, with full 
powers to act. If such had been the case in 
Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky, last Spring, the 
lung plague could not have been left to smol¬ 
der there for eight months, to the Imminent 
daugerof the cattle of the entire nation. At 
present there is a good chance to supervise the 
movement of cattle from the At antic sea¬ 
board westward, owing to the small number 
shipped, it is different as yet with Southern 
stock, but the danger from that quarter is not 
so far-reaching, nor so universal. 
Finally, in case the power to operate in the 
different States cannot be secured to the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, it would be easy 
for the latter lo co-operate with the State 
officials, and even by some such measure as 
w as proposed a year ago, to bear the expense 
of suppressing such animal plagues as threaten 
the permanent prosperity of the entire na¬ 
tion. 
The Committee on Resolutions reported: 
1. The Bureau of Animal Industry was ap¬ 
proved and commended. 
ting the disease is to slaughter every animal 
affected with it. In the liability to commuui 
cate the disease, there is a great similarity be¬ 
tween pleuro pneumonia in animals that have 
apparently recovered and glanders in horses. 
Dr. Gadsden bad written to several veterina¬ 
rians. who had thoroughly studied the luDg 
plague, and they all agreed about the great 
danger of contagion from these apparently re¬ 
covered cases. Dr. James D. Hopkin c , of 
Cheyenne, Wyoming, read a fine historical 
paper on “Sauitary Science,” which was ap¬ 
plauded. 
In 1869, the United States Government em¬ 
ployed Dr. John Gainget, of England, to in¬ 
vestigate pleuro pneumonia, and be found it 
in five States. In 1878, Prof. MacEacbran, of 
Montreal, was employed by the British Gov¬ 
ernment to investigate the existence of conta¬ 
gious pleuro-pneumonia on the Atlantic sca- 
together with a list of Vice Presidents from 
the States and Territories; Thomas Sturgis, 
of Wyoming, was chosen Secretary, and Geo. 
E. Morrow, of Illinois, Assistant-Secretary. 
The report of the committee who went to 
Washington last Winter, was read by its Sec¬ 
retary. Hon J. B. Grinnell, of Grinmdl, Iowa. 
This committee consisted of representatives of 
26 States and Territorries who represented 
hundreds of millions of dollars. After a calm 
and able discussion they concluded:—1. That 
our herds were imperiled by contagious dis¬ 
eases, especially pleuro pneumonia. 2. That 
nothing less than national legislation would 
avert great danger and losses. 8 That only 
radical measure*, to insure a clean bill of 
health, would give us that national standing 
in the markets of the world, to which, under 
the laws of trade and commerce, we are 
entitled. 
who should be honored quite as much as the 
human doctors, for their valuable help to suf¬ 
fering animals. But there are perhaps more 
differences of opinion, more bigotry, more 
blundering, more blind experimenting, more 
pedant ry and more folly exhibited in the med¬ 
ical profession than in any other, and the lead¬ 
ing veterinarians have recently exhibited 
these peculiarities iu a very conspicuous man¬ 
ner. They have made an enormous amount 
of fuss and noise, but have done very little 
useful work. They remind me of old Fal- 
staff’s tavern bill of which it was said, there 
was nut “one ha.I penny’s worth of bread to 
an intolerable quantity of sack;” and we have 
had an Intolerable quantity of experimenting 
and reporting, and investigating to less than 
one cent’s worth of good done. 
But bow much barm has been done? The 
Rural New-Yorker has been pegging away 
for years at the efforts made to injure our 
trade in meats with foreign countries, and it 
has done well to be disturbed about it. Just 
now we fiud, by published statistic*, that this 
trade is rapidly slipping from our grasp into 
the bands of foreign countries The export 
of pork products to Germany has fullen off 
during two years past 17 pur cent., and ROper 
cent, to Franco. The export of pork products 
from Germany to France has increased in the 
same time more than 50 percent., and to Eng¬ 
land 87 per ecut In the same time our ex¬ 
ports of live cattle to England have been 
wholly stopped, while those from Canada are 
steadily increasing What is the reason? 
[Hasn’t the absolute prohibition of importa¬ 
tions of American bog products Into Germany 
and France had some influence in producing 
the decrease? Every wei k considerable ship¬ 
ments of live cattle are made to the United 
Kingdom from Boston and New York, and 
frequent shipments are als<* made from Balti¬ 
more and Philadelphia. The animals must, 
however, be slaughtered at the port of de¬ 
barkation within ten days utter landing. The 
local market, it is true, is sometimes over¬ 
stocked, and this compulsory slaughter then 
entails a rnOni or h 1 ** heavy Jo*»; whereas if 
the cuttle could either be held until the local 
market was relieved of tne surplus stock, or 
be taken to other parts of the country where 
prices ruled higher, a profit instead of a loss 
might tie made. Canadian cattle need not be 
slaughtered at the port of debarkation; they 
are generally stall led or pastured for some 
time after landing, and aro butchered when 
they have recovered from the fatigues of 
travel, gained more flesh ami found a good 
market.— Eds.] Certainly nothing hut all the 
fuss made about diseases In hogs and cattle. 
And jet we are no worse off, so far as dis¬ 
eases aro concerned, than at any previous 
time; no worse—m fact, much bttter—In this 
respect than auy other country, and no better 
in this respect for all the folly of the sensa¬ 
tional reports; but wo are worse in another 
respect, for we have lost a good deal of our 
trade, and are sure to lose more of it as long 
as this folly goes on. It is time for stockmen 
to take the business into their own hands, and 
out of Government control; for there has 
been no instance yet in hiBtory, of any gov¬ 
ernment interfering in the management of 
private business without making a mess of 
it. And this present instance is only another 
one which proves the truth of history. 
Something has been said also in the Rural 
of monopolies. Let me give you au instance 
of '• how the old tuiug works.” 1 sent three 
imported Cheviot mountain sheep 8CKI miles 
by railroad; the freight blit was $79.55. Ibis 
is the way railroad uiooopo'ies encourage 
agriculture and the improvement of stock. I 
am trying tbtse hardy and valuable sheep in 
a mountain country, and it may be I may get 
iny mouey back again, in time. But after a 
good deaf of such business as this, I ruustcon- 
fess l was ‘•struck”—m a double sense—by 
this freight bill. 
Early Maine Potato. From Nature. Fig. 491. 
board. His report caused restrictions to be 
imposed on importations of cattle into the 
Uni*ed Kingdom and Canada from the United 
Btates. In 1879, New York and New Jersey 
tried in vain to eradicate contagious pleuro¬ 
pneumonia. In 1881, the Secretary or the 
Treasury appointed experts to investigate. In 
1884, there have been rumors of piouro-pneu- 
monia in Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky. Dr. 
Salmon investigated, and fouud that the cases 
resulted from importations of cattle from 
Maryland and other Btates. The course of 
Dr. Salmon was warmly defended. 
Cattle from the South have the germs of 
Texas lever in their veins. Texascattle should 
be provided with separate yards, cars, etc., 
in course of transportation. During the past 
year, hog cholera has prevailed to an alarm¬ 
ing extent in many of the Western State*, 
particularly in Eastern Nebraska. The speak¬ 
er urged that the people cause the enactment 
and observation of sanitary laws. Wyotniug 
has better sanitary laws than any other 
State or Territory, and it has not a case of 
contagious pleuro-pneumonia. 
Mr. L. C. Coffin, of Iowa, read an opinion 
of Judge Cooley, about the cost of shipment 
A committee of 20 prepared a bill, and tried 
to secure its passage. A me mortal was pre¬ 
sented to Congress concerning the Interests 
of property valued at fl2.0d0.000.000 It was 
estimated that an appropriation of at least 
$1,500.000 would be needed to extirpate pleuro¬ 
pneumonia. After caretul study, a bill was 
prepared, which differed from the bill en¬ 
acted. in providing national remuneration of 
State* for one half their losses In the destruc¬ 
tion of diseased cattle. It made no adunsdon 
thatthe Texan fever was not a contugiou* di*- 
eas»; it gave the President of the United 
States authority to quarantinea given section 
or a State, for the general welfare: and it 
asked lor an appropriation of $500,000. The 
House Committee eliminated some of It* 
provision?, and in both branches of Congress 
it called forth more discussion than auy other 
measure, except the tariff The bill finally 
passed the Ben ale by a vote of 84 ayes to 9 
nay*; in the House it passed by 156 aye* and 
116 nay*. The original bill was mueli injured 
by eliminations, though not from lack of 
activity of its friends. 
The opposition of the Chicago Live Stock 
Exchange to the measures advocated by the 
Tremont Potato. From Nature. Fig. 492. 
£>o attics, etc 
of dressed beef and live stock, to the effect 
that the rate to New York on the former 
should not be twice that on the latter, a* it is 
at present, for, to ship one costs no more than 
the other. A motion was adopted that this 
convention favor the shipment of dressed 
beef instead of live stock, L. C. Coffin, of 
Iowa; John H. Kimball, of Maine; and J. W. 
Simpson, of Wyoming, were appointed a com¬ 
mittee to confer about the action of the rail 
roads in the shipment of dressed beef and live 
stock. The Hon. Geo B Loring, U. S, Com. 
of Agriculture, tuld the convention what he 
knew about cattle 
After Com Loring's paper, Dr. Salmon, cf 
Washington, read au exhaustive treatise on 
pleuro-pneumonia. He made no complaint of 
theownersof Jerseys. He showed tbatamoug 
the cases of pleuro pneumonia in Illinois this 
year tbereVas as high a percentage of deaths 
as occurred in France and Germany. He said 
live-stock owners, was severely censured. 
The Bureau of Animal Industry will bring be¬ 
fore the next Congress, for the first time iu 
our history, a statement of our capacity in 
cattle ana beef raising, met hods, the cost of 
shipment, looses by neglect, favorite breeds, 
and a discussion of dressed beef shipments, as 
well as the dangers and extent of losses by 
Texas fever and plouro-pneuuiouia. and many 
other cognate matters. It is the duty of the 
Government to dispel the suspicion of disease 
so that we may find a good foreign market 
for our products. Congress should give power 
to the President, or a Board of Health, to 
declare quarantine in infected localities. 
Dr John W. Gadsden, of Philadelphia, read 
a very interesting paper on “Danger to 
Healthy Cattle from Recovered Cases of 
Pleuro pneumonia, or Chronic Lung Plague.” 
Contagious pleura pneumonia in cattle is in¬ 
curable [?— Eds.] The only means of eradica- 
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 
STO.KMEN. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
The second annual convention of Ameri¬ 
can stockmen met at Chicago on Thursday 
forenoon, November 18th, 1884. Nearly 500 
persons were present, including nearly 200 
delegates from 22 States and Tenitories, most¬ 
ly from toe West. The Hon. DeWitt Smith, 
of Bates. HI., was elected temporary chair¬ 
man, and the Hou. Tuomas Sturgis, of Chey¬ 
enne, Wyoming, ex officio Secretary, was 
chosen temporary secretary. A committee 
on organization was cho»eu, of one member 
from each Slate and Territory represented, 
and several persons from Canada were invited 
to take part. The committee reported D. W. 
Smith, of Illinois, for Permanent Chairman; 
The best presents in our list “For subscrib¬ 
ers only'' 1 may be awarded lo clubs of less than 
50; less than 20 or a dozen probably. We do 
not know. Those of less vulue may be earned 
by those sending us half a dozen possibly! We 
are confident that many will receive presents 
actually wot th more than the amounts they 
may send us for subscribers. We want them 
to understand this. Such an offer “to Sub¬ 
scribers only” has never before been made. 
