EDITORIAL. 
59 
Commissioners is made fully evident by the following re¬ 
marks which were contained in the editorial columns of the 
Boston Herald of April 9th : 
THE CATTLE COMMISSION. 
The indictment which the Cattle Commission of this State has had brought 
against it by the Cattle Commissioners of the State of Maine is one which must 
lead to positive action if a public scandal is to be avoided. If the statements of 
the Cattle Commissioners of Maine are to be trusted, the members of the Cattle 
Commission of the State of Massachusetts are thoroughly incompetent and un¬ 
trustworthy officials. They are allowing contagious pulmonary diseases to 
extend among the cattle of this State, which not only threaten the health of 
these animals, but endanger the lives of our people, particularly sick and aged 
persons and young children—that is, those who are in any way dependent for 
existence upon a milk diet. 
The charges that are made by these presumably responsible persons in 
Maine are either true or false ; if the former, then the members of the Cattle 
Commission of this State should be immediately removed; if the latter, then 
the members of the Commission owe it to themselves to have the fact clearly 
demonstrated by competent executive or legislative inquiry. No half-way 
course is possible. 
We may add, that the charges now made have been previously brought for¬ 
ward, though in a less responsible manner ; but, for one reason or another, they 
have not been examined or answered. If, as most physicians assert, tubercular 
affections can be transmitted from a diseased animal to a young child by drink¬ 
ing the milk of the former, then it would seem, in view of the great loss of life 
that occurs in children of three years of age and under, that no preventive mea¬ 
sure could be too severe which had for its result the placing of a check upon 
this needless mortality. We have our milk inspectors, whose duty it is to see 
that milk sold by milkmen and purchased by the consumers does not have its 
nutritive qualities reduced by the adulteration of water; but, if these official 
statements which come to us from Maine are correct, the water that may be put 
into milk may be the healthiest part of it. 
It seems to us that a prima facie case has been made out, which not only 
justifies, but absolutely imposes upon the State authorities the duty of making 
an investigation. If the work of the Cattle Commission could be undertaken 
either by the Board of Health or as a department of the service of the State 
Board of Agriculture—perhaps, in this case, the former, on account of its 
special medical character—there is every reason for thinking that the alleged 
incompetence would give place to scientific thoroughness, and if there are, as is 
asserted, many hundreds of diseased cattle kept within a few miles of this city, 
their presence would be found out, and their prompt destruction would prevent 
the spread of the disease through other cattle and the possible extension of it 
to human beings. 
While we congratulate the Maine Commissioners on Con¬ 
tagious Diseases of Animals as aboard, however, we feel that 
