COMMUNICABLE ANIMAL DISEASES. 
769 
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can only act when requested by the State Dairy Commissioner, 
the State Board of Health, or at the request of the owner. 
They have no power under the law of their own volition to ex¬ 
amine any herd, no .matter what its condition may be, without 
the request or consent of one of the foregoing'. When the com¬ 
mission organized and commenced its work some individuals 
were strongly opposed to it. These people mostly did not un¬ 
derstand the insidious, chronic nature of tuberculosis and that it 
was transmissible to the human family. Others from selfish 
motives were afraid that it would hurt their dairy business, and 
so on. . The. commission, however, soon proved itself equal to 
the exigiencies of the work. Its experienced and able Secre¬ 
tary, the Hon. Franklin Dye, inaugurated what was essentially 
“ a campaign of education.” His far-seeing intelligence told 
him that the only real danger to the ultimate work of the com¬ 
mission was an ignorance on the part of dairymen, cattle-men 
and others, of the essential nature and danger, not only to the 
animals, but to the health and wealth of the people themselves. 
When we consider that tuberculosis kills more people than any 
other disease among mankind and that the tubercle bacillus of 
tuberculosis is transmissible from the cow the importance of the 
question that confronts us becomes more evident from a sanitary 
standpoint. The commission is a most conservative and safe 
body, moving slowly, but surely, doing effective work. When 
called upon it inspects an infected herd, making a careful phy¬ 
sical examination of each individual animal and testing with 
tuberculin any cases that cannot be diagnosed without Its aid. 
Diseased animals are condemned, appraised, killed and autopsies 
made and owners are paid three-fourths of the appraised values. 
Premises are disinfected. The matter of proper ventilation, 
sunlight and good sanitary conditions in general are encouraged 
as far as possible. 
No public work where so many interests are involved was 
ever conducted without criticism and opposition to some extent, 
but I must say that I am surprised at the support given the New 
Jersey State Tuberculosis Commission by producers and con- 
