552 
PROF. LAW. 
when, as in this instance, they proceed to vote upon a subject so 
important, a subject fundamental to the prosperity of our agricul¬ 
ture, without once glancing at the merits of the case as shown in 
the documents furnished to their hand, and which their own body 
had called for. The present ignorance of Congressmen is an un¬ 
answerable impeachment of them as derelict of their high trust, 
and if this plague should, by reason of their neglect, evade the 
quarantine at Chicago and the lack of quarantine in the East, and 
escape to our plains and permanently establish itself there, on 
these neglectful Congressmen will rest the responsibility. Their 
demand for a new investigation and report is all a delusion. If 
they cannot find time to open the report lying under their hand 
of the disastrous history of this plague in past centuries, and of 
its recent history in our midst, much less will they find time to 
look into the matter when another document has been added to 
the list. The only result of such legislation will be the delay of 
all active suppressive measures for another year at least, when a 
new Congress may demand the appointment of a new commis¬ 
sion of their own creation as more trustworthy than that which 
is to be appointed this year. The true instigators of all this folly 
will, however, have attained their end ; no man shall interfere 
with them in turning over so many hundreds or thousands of 
cattle (sick or well) per day, and pocketing a handsome return 
for the privilege. No man shall hinder them from receiving cat 
tie from an infected herd and selling the same to go into districts 
where the disease is unknown and where the cattle industry is 
the predominant one. What matters it to them if the lung 
plague has gained a footing in the Mississippi Valley ? What 
would it matter to them if it were planted permanentlj 7 on our 
Western ranges? What if it had permeated and corrupted every 
stream of cattle trade in the country ? The loss would not be 
theirs. They would still draw their commissions on their sales. 
And the unlucky stock-owner who discovered that he had just 
purchased an infected lot would too often hurry off the appar¬ 
ently healthy to market anew, to be resold to another unwary 
purchaser, to spread the disease to a fresh centre, but also to fur¬ 
nish an additional commission to the dealer. Thus the more 
