ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE A. V. C. 
75 
pression of contagious and infectious diseases among cattle 
and other live stock, authorizing the expenditure of large 
sums of money for this purpose, and yet to-day in the State 
of New York, with its millions of inhabitants and its millions 
of investments in horses and cattle, there is not an endowed 
veterinary college, and but for the unaided efforts of yourself, 
Mr. President, and your associates, there wouldn’t be a single 
educational school within its borders. The life and health of 
the community is involved, and we may well ask ourselves 
what it means. But aside from the questions of health and 
self-preservation suggested by a proper cattle quarantine, 
proper oversight and protection from diseased and infectious 
meat used in daily consumption, has it ever occurred to you 
what tremendous financial questions are at stake ? Have you 
any conception of the amount of money invested in the 
domestic animals of the country that need surgical and 
remedial care—care beyond shelter, food and water—yes, 
care greater and more scientific than that which is given to 
the human family, if you would save them from widespread 
disease and ultimate death? In the State of New York to¬ 
day there is invested in milch cows alone, the sum of 
$47,002,116, and the milch cows and other cattle of the United 
States, as estimated by the Department of Agriculture, 
amount in value to the enormous sum of $977,972,693. In the 
presence of such amounts of money, when a correct dietetic 
treatment is necessary for its proper preservatiQn, is it strange 
that we express surprise at the supineness and indifference of 
the owners of this vast wealth in regard to the right education 
of men who can protect it? The new State of Colorado has 
invested in livestock the sum of $29,199,149, and even the 
mining State of Wyoming has $12,359,355, and the mind 
becomes dazed if an attempt is made to estimate the aggre¬ 
gate capital in all the live stock of the country, including 
horses, cattle, sheep and swine. Billions of dollars would 
constitute the unit of calculation. Now, this indifference to 
the protection of our wealth has arisen, no doubt, from the 
prejudice of the farmer to “ book learning,” as they choose to 
call it, although they insist upon the education of their family 
