8 i8 
JAMES LAW. 
first be applied only or mainly to herds in which advanced or 
dangerous cases had appeared, and that the non-tuberculous 
herds constituting a very large proportion of our State cattle, 
would never be subjected to the expensive test at all, but would 
remain throughout above suspicion. 
The amount required for indemnities under this method is so 
uncertain that it is difficult to settle on the sum necessary to 
conduct the work for one year, but with $100,000 for inspectors 
and an equal amount for indemnities and administration ex¬ 
penses, the task could be commenced with a fair degree of con¬ 
fidence. 
3. No other plan can be at all compared to the above, nor 
indeed justified as a State measure for the suppression of tuber¬ 
culosis. The method now in force in New York and Massachu¬ 
setts, of furnishing examination, “tuberculin” test and indem¬ 
nity on herds, the owners of which apply for this, and leaving 
all others untested, will temporarily purify a large number of the 
most infected herds, but it is not likely to rid a district of the 
infection, and the tuberculous herds that remain will sooner or 
later reinfect the neighboring herds that have been thus purified. 
The gain, therefore, is very partial, temporary and uncertain, 
and there is no means of preserving what has been acquired. It 
lacks too, in the matter of evenhanded justice ; as the stock owner 
who fails, through ignorance or otherwise, to apply for State 
help is excluded from the benefit, while the more intelligent 
owner, who has sought and obtained such help, is still left in con¬ 
stant danger of reinfection from his neighbor’s tuberculous herd. 
The alternative of having city or other boards of health in¬ 
sist on the testing of all cattle engaged in furnishing their milk 
supply, is liable to exactly the same objection. One herd fur¬ 
nishing sweet milk is tested, and two others on the two sides of 
it, devoted to the production of butter and cheese, are left un¬ 
tested. The extinction of the disease in the district has not 
been accomplished, and the opportunity for reinfection from the 
adjoining herds, are too frequent to allow of the guarantee of the 
tested herd remaining of value for any length of time. 
