1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
123 
KEEP OUT TUBERCULOUS CATTLE. 
NEW YORK STATE A DUMPING GROUND. 
Dr. James Law Explains a Bill. 
A Fair Measure. —I wish to draw at¬ 
tention to a bill introduced in the New 
York Legislature by Senator Willis and 
Hon. Theron Johnson, the object of 
which is “to prevent the introduction of 
tuberculosis into the dairy and other 
herds of cattle in the State of New York.” 
Already this bill has been noticed by a 
Buffalo paper as a “vicious measure,” 
“ aimed at the live stock interests of 
New York,” and “savoring of the dressed- 
beef interests.” Said paper misrepre¬ 
sents the bill, states that it demands a 
certificate of a tuberculin test with all 
cattle entering New York, and that car¬ 
rying companies are forbidden to ca/rry ant 
cattle without such certificate. 
The bill really demands such certifi¬ 
cate with milch cows and store cattle only, 
and expressly excludes “ fat cattle for im¬ 
mediate slaughter'- from its operation. Its 
object is Dot, as the Buffalo paper inti¬ 
mates, “to favor the dressed-beef inter¬ 
ests,” neither can it in any way preju¬ 
dice the live stock interests of New 
York, nor the legitimate cattle trade at 
Buffalo. It leaves the fat cattle trade 
absolutely as free and unhampered as 
before. It does, however, strike effect¬ 
ively at a pernicious system which has 
grown up at Buffalo and other New York 
markets, of testing imported cattle, ship¬ 
ping the sound ones on into other States , 
and disposing,of the tuberculous ones to be 
added to the dairy and other herds of the 
State of New York 
Why Needed. —Tiiis vicious and most 
injurious practice has grown out of the 
fact that, for years past, Canada, Penn¬ 
sylvania and the New England States 
have had laws, like the bill introduced 
by Senator Willis and Mr Johnson, pro¬ 
viding that all store cattle imported 
from other States shall be subject'd to 
the tuberculin test. 
Hosv New York Suffers.—N ew York 
has no such law. The natural result has 
followed. Store cattle destined for these 
self-protected States have been shipped 
into our large markets at Buffalo and 
elsewhere, and there subjected to the 
tuberculin test. Those that successfully 
stood the test have been sent on into 
Pennsylvania or the New England 
States, accompanied by certificates of 
soundness, and the condemned and tu¬ 
berculous cattle have been left in the 
hands of the shipper or dealer. He was 
thus confronted by a dilemma : Justice 
and morality would plead that the 
tuberculous cattle should be slaugh¬ 
tered, even at a total loss ; pecuniary in¬ 
terest and business acumen, on the other 
hand, would plead that he should dis¬ 
pose of them in the public market at 
their full market value as sound animals. 
The test is a hard one to a mind trained 
to sharp business methods, and the more 
so that the State of New York interposes 
no obstacle to his turning an honest pen¬ 
ny. The law winks at the nefarious 
act, and the dealer reaps a large profit, 
in place of allowing mere moral senti¬ 
ment to betray him into an unnecessary 
loss. 
Some of the unfortunate victims have 
complained seriously of the infection of 
their dairy herds in this way; some 
have even claimed that they found 
in the ears of the cows the tags of 
the inspectors of the Bureau of Ani¬ 
mal Industry, branding them as tuber¬ 
culous cattle. The vicious trade had 
evidently grown so bold and fearless 
that the seller did not always take the 
trouble to remove these evidences of 
fraud. Apart from this, and with a dis¬ 
ease developing so slowly as tubercu¬ 
losis, there was very little danger that 
the victimized purchaser would trace the 
resulting infection to its true source, 
and the shrewd and unconscionable deal¬ 
er had, on the whole, rather a sure thing 
of it. 
The State Must Act. —Why did not 
the Government inspectors put an end 
to such transactions ? For the sufficient 
reason that they had no authority to act 
in any such way. The Bureau of Animal 
Industry is a department of the National 
Government. It has jurisdiction over 
interstate commerce in diseased stock, 
but no right whatever to kill diseased 
animals which belong in the State of 
New York, or to prevent any one from 
selling them into the dairy, breeding or 
feeding herds of the State. So far as any 
legal right is concerned, they are abso¬ 
lutely helpless in the premises. If, on 
the other hand, the inspection is made 
by a private veterinarian employed by 
the dealer, his duties end when he has 
made his report to his employer, and no 
third party need know anything of the 
transaction. There is, therefore, posi¬ 
tively nothing to hinder the dealer from 
selling the condemned tuberculous cattle 
to go into our New York herds. 
The possible evil results do not, how¬ 
ever, end here by any means. Stock- 
owners in adjacent States, who wish to 
clear their herds of tuberculosis, are 
tempted to subject them to a private 
(non-official) tuberculin test, and ship 
those that have been thereby shown to 
be tuberculous, into the State of New 
York to be disposed of as milch or store 
cattle. Veterinarians who practice on 
both sides of the Pennsylvania and New 
York l : ne inform me that, in certain 
townships on the New York side, from 
10 to 40 per cent of the cattle are tuber¬ 
culous. This they state as the result of 
the tuberculin test employed with the 
object of shipping the cattle into Penn¬ 
sylvania. 
The traffic is so abominable that I can¬ 
not conceive of any reputable newspaper, 
which has made itself acquainted with 
the facts, entering a plea against the 
passage of the Willis-Johnson bill, and 
as little can I conceive of an honest 
dealer in sound store cattle allowing his 
name to appear as opposing its passage. 
Stof the Business. —The vicious trade, 
which is the occasion of the introduction 
of such a bill, is so opposed to every con¬ 
sideration of right and justice, to sani¬ 
tary administration for the protection of 
the health of man and animals, and to 
every sound principle of political econ¬ 
omy, that it needs only to be brought to 
the knowledge of the citizens of the 
State to insure that it shall be swept 
away in a storm of righteous indignation. 
If we were to attempt to devise a means 
of extending tuberculosis in the herds of 
the State, and to increase the supply of 
tuberculous beef and dairy products to 
our homes, it would puzzle any one to 
conceive of a more effective scheme than 
that which is now in operation. If the 
infected herds of other States were sent 
into New York i l unbroken herds—the 
sound with the diseased—there would be 
less to complain of. Under such con¬ 
ditions, we take our risk and receive, at 
least, a share of sound stock. But when 
the sound are held back, or sent else¬ 
where, and the tuberculous deliberately 
selected and sent into our herds without 
a single sound animal as a redeeming 
element, the outrage is greater than 
human nature can be expected to bear. 
The law now in force provides that no 
indemnity shall be paid by the State to 
the owners of cattle condemned for tuber¬ 
culosis before they have been three 
months in the State, thus imposing the 
loss upon an owner who is, as a rule, in¬ 
nocent of all knowledge of the disease. 
The Willis-Johnson bill, on the other 
hand, in requiring the test of all stock 
animals imported, secures for the im¬ 
porter the knowledge of the animal’s 
condition, and if he persists in importing 
the tuberculous animal, he becomes a 
willful violator of the law, and as such 
is fully entitled to this penalty. It lifts 
the penalty from the innocent party, 
and imposes it on the guilty. 
In the name of fair trade, of public 
health, of our live stock industry, and 
of a sound political economy, I invite 
every stock owner, every lover of human¬ 
ity every citizen of New York of what¬ 
ever political creed, to unite in an im¬ 
perious demand that the atrocious wrong 
shall cease, that New York shall have 
the same protection which the adjoining 
States have enjoyed for years, and that 
she shall no longer remain the sink into 
which these States can continue to pour 
the condemned offscourings of their 
tuberculous herds. It is quite evident 
that, ignorantly or maliciously, this bill 
is to be opposed and mis epresented, and 
every right-minded man should come to 
the rescue and write to his Senator and 
Representative in the State legislature 
to see that it is enacted and placed on 
the statute book. The bill interferes in 
no way with the New York State herds ; 
its sole aim is the end of that nefarious 
traffic which seeks to introduce into our 
herds, as sound cattle, the animals of 
other States which have already been 
condemned as tuberculous. Consciously 
and deliberately to continue such a sys¬ 
tem must be considered as nothing short 
of criminal. james law. 
Cornell University. 
Laws Regulating Disiiobning. —In regard to a 
law which prohibits one farmer from dishorning 
for his neighbors and charging for his work, 
none exists in Illinois. We have consulted a 
veterinarian on this question, and he tells us 
that there is no such law in any of the western 
States. We have never had a patron complain 
on this point, so we feel sure that it cannot be 
general. It is quite common for a farmer to 
make a business of dishorning, and charge for 
his work anywhere from 10 cents to $1 per head. 
Some farmers make a special business of dis¬ 
horning throughout the Winter, and the only 
thing we have ever known our patrons to have to 
contend against was the suits brought by the 
Humane Society. n. h brown mfg co. 
Gambling in Goats. —The Detroit News tells of 
a Cuban speculation in goats. A Texan named 
Perkins went to Havana to see what he could 
find in the way of trade. He telegraphed his 
partner that 100 goats might be sold. The part¬ 
ner believed in getting a plenty while he was 
agetting, so he bought 5,000 goats at #1 apiece, 
and loaded them on a steamer. Perkins started 
out to sell them, but the only offer he Could get 
was 50 cents apiece. He finally decided to take 
that, but then the 8panish custom house people 
■stepped up and demanded $2 apiece as duty, be¬ 
fore the goats could be landed. Perkins went 
aboard the steamer and tried to frighten the goats 
off the deck into the harbor, but they refused to 
go. They were then taken to Jamaica, but not 
one could be sold. Then they steamed back to 
New Orleans, but were not permitted to land, as 
it was feared the goats might have the germs of 
yellow fever. After several days of feeding, the 
goats were finally landed, and given away in New 
Orleans. This is said to be the most unprofitable 
speculation of its size in American history. 
Children deprived of fats 
and mineral foods have 
weak bones, flabby flesh and 
thin watery blood. 
The milk of nursing 
mothers, enfeebled by chron¬ 
ic diseases, or long contin¬ 
ued nursing, produces the 
same results. 
Scott’s Emulsion is cod- 
liver oil partly digested and 
with the hypophosphites, 
forms a fat food which acts 
on the infant through the 
mother’s milk, giving rich 
blood, strong nerves and 
sound flesh and bones to both. 
50c. and $1.00, all druggists. 
SCOTT & BOWNE, Chemists, New York. 
Profits of a Separator. 
Did you ever figure up 
the profits of using a 
Safety Hand Sepa¬ 
rator ? The machine 
costs about as much as 
two cows. If you are 
milking 16 cows it 
brings you as much 
butter as if you milk 
20 cows. It gives you 
fresh, sweet skim-milk 
worth 22 cents per hun¬ 
dred pounds for feed¬ 
ing at home, im¬ 
proves the quality 
of your butter and 
saves much labor, 
culars. P. M. SHARPLES, 
Branches : West Chester, Pa. 
Toledo, O. Omaha, Neb. 
Elgin, Ill. St. Paul, Minn. 
Dubuque, la. San Francisco, Cal. 
“ALPHA-DE LAVAL” 
CREAM SEPARATORS. 
De Laval Alpha “liahy” 
Cream Separators were 
first and have ever been 
kept best and cheapest. 
They are guaranteed su¬ 
perior to all imitations and 
Infringements. Endorsed 
by all authorities. More 
than 150,000 in use. Sales 
ten to one of all others 
combined. All styles and 
sizes— $50.- to $225.- Save 
$5.- to $10.- per cow per 
year over any setting 
system, and $2.- to $5.- 
per cow per year over any 
imitating separator. 
New and improved ma¬ 
chines for 1800. Send for 
new Catalogue containing 
a fund of up-to-date dairy 
information. 
THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR GO. 
Randolph & Canal Sts., 1 74 Cortlandt Street, 
CHICAGO. I NEW YORK. 
Top Price Butter. 
The kind that a fancy private 
trade demands, is colored with 
Thatcher's Orange Butter Color — 
the color that does not contain 
any poison. Send for a sample. 
THATCHER MFC, CO., Potsdam, H.Y. 
A FEED COOKER 
/r\ is a money saver on every farm. It 
money saver on every I 
Increases the grain you have- 
making it more palatable and 
gestible. 
THE 
FARMER’S FAVORITE 
Is a thoroughly reliable cooker at a 
reasonable price. Furnace made of 
best gray iron; bolter of best gal¬ 
vanized steel. It is of special value 
for cooking feed for all kinds ot 
live stock and poultry! * or beat¬ 
ing water for scalding nogs, etc. 
Excellent for evaporating Maple 
sap, boiling down syrup, "sugar* 
Ing off,” ete. Just the thing for boiling down elder. 
Don’t buy until you get our circulars and prices, 
ts R. LEWIS, 50 Main St., Cortland, N. Y. 
Farmer’s Improved FEED COOKER 
Is superior to all others in Safety, 
Durability and Cheapness of cost 
and operation. Scientifically con¬ 
structed. Heavy oust iron lining 
in furnace. Boiler of heavy gal¬ 
vanized steel. Stands high from 
the floor and can be put up in the 
barn or summer kitchen with 
safety. Made in 3 sizes. Every one 
guaranteed or money refunded.For 
descript ive book and prices address 
ACME M'F’« CO., Quincy, Ill. 
Investigate Bausman Perfect Sani¬ 
tary Cow Basins. Increases annual profit, $5 per 
cow. Interesting circular free. 
MANCHESTER’S SONS, Wlnsted, Conn. 
Meat smoked in a few hours with 
KRAUSERS’ LIQUID EXTRACT OF SMOKE. 
Made from hickory wood. Cheaper, cleaner, 
sweeter, and surer than the old way. Send for 
circular. E. KKACSEK A HKO., Milton, Pa. 
WHAT IS THE BEST SEPARATOR? 
THE IMPROVED UNITED STATES. 
Why—Because it has the Triple Current Bowl 
which recovers all the cream in. the milk. 
Skims Perfectly Clean ; Is Very Easy to Operate. 
Williamsburg, Iowa, July 28 , 1898 . 
The Improved U. S. Separator is giving splyidid satisfaction. 
It skims perfectly clean and is very easy to operate. We would 
not think of handling any milk without the Improved U. S., 
which I consider the best separator on the market. 
J. W. THOMAS, Steward Iowa Co. Poor Farm. 
Write for catalogues and further information to 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO., - Bellows Falls, Vt. 
