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THE SCOURGE OF TUBERCULOSIS. 
sanitary laws. Ignorance of the danger is given as the ex¬ 
planation, and many of the states are waiting for an awakening 
of public interest like that which has arisen in Illinois. 
Mississippi, Georgia and Montana expect to pass laws at 
their next legislatures aiming at exterminating tuberculous 
cattle. Governor Mount, in behalf of Indiana, promises to act 
as soon as another state takes the initiative. Some states have 
anti-tuberculosis laws which are ineffective because of inade¬ 
quate appropriations. In Ohio, New York, Missouri and 
Washington, cattle are tested and condemned regardless of the 
wishes of the cattle owners. Massachusetts appropriated $75,- 
000 this year for the extermination of tuberculous cattle. In 
that state the carcasses of condemned animals are buried. 
Pennsylvania appropriates $50,000 a year for the purposes, and 
that sum is considered insufficient. In Mississippi condemned 
cattle are shot and hauled to the woods. 
Climatic conditions in some of the south and southwestern 
states are reported as being antipathetic to the prevalence of tu¬ 
berculosis. The high altitude of Wyoming keeps cattle in that 
state free from the disease. In South Dakota, Oklahoma, New 
Mexico and Florida cattle are practically lion-tuberculous. 
Of the cities Buffalo has elaborated ordinances prohibiting 
the sale of milk from cows not known by test to be free from 
tuberculosis. The system employed there is much the same as 
has been suggested for use in Chicago. 
TEXT OF THE QUESTIONS. 
The exact questions asked by the Tribune and to which the 
reports from various states are in answer were as follows: 
What steps, if any, has your state taken toward extermina¬ 
tion of tuberculosis in cattle, and particularly in milch cows? 
How does the law operate ? 
How much does the state appropriate for this purpose? 
Have the live stock, health or other authorities power to 
test cattle with tuberculin without the consent of cattle owners? 
Have any cities of the state taken municipal action to re¬ 
strict the sale of milk not known to be free from tuberculosis ? 
If nothing has been done by the state or city government, to 
what extent has tuberculosis attacked cattle in the state? 
No state reports the existence at any time of an epidemic of 
tuberculosis. The disease does not break out in epidemics, it 
is maintained by veterinarians ; it is a slow constant scourge, 
and complete extermination is the only remedy. 
