246 
THE CATTLE-PLAGUE. 
the sundry civil appropriations bill passed by the last Congress, 
and consists of Prof. James Law, of Cornell University; Dr. 
Thayer, of West Newton, Mass., and J. H. Sanders, of Chicago. 
Prof. Law has had a large experience with the disease, and is 
considered eminently fitted for the responsible position conferred 
on him. Dr. Thayer is also practically conversant with the dis¬ 
ease, having had charge of the work of stamping it out in Massa¬ 
chusetts. Mr. Sanders is editor of The National Live Stock 
Journal , a recognized authority on cattle and horses, and is a 
man of much reading and experience. The commission met at 
Saratoga last week, and organized by the choice of Prof. Law as 
president, and Mr. Sanders as secretary. Several days were spent 
in laying out the work to be done. A summary of its conclus¬ 
ions is herewith presented: 
The primary object of the commission is to suggest some 
means by which the British government may be assured that none 
of the cattle imported from this country have the contagion, which 
assurance will warrant it in removing the present restrictions on 
the trade. Under the law, at present, all cattle received from the 
United States must be slaughtered at the point of debarkation 
within ten days after their arrival, regardless of their condition 
or the state of the market. Under this restriction, it is estimated 
that cattle are worth from $15 to $25 per head less than they 
would be if they could be taken inland and kept till their condi¬ 
tion and the state of the market were favorable. The annual loss 
thus entailed upon American breeders and shippers is estimated 
at from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. 
Many of the members of Congress thought that a strict inspec¬ 
tion at the port of export would remedy the evil; but the com¬ 
mittee was of the opinion that any inspection, however rigid, 
would be useless as far as giving the British government an as¬ 
surance of freedom from the disease is concerned. So long as 
there is any pleuro-pneumonia in the country and so long as an 
unrestricted traffic is permitted between the infected and non-in- 
fected districts, an inspection would go for nothing, owing to the 
insidious nature of the disease. It fastens upon an animal and 
incubates from thirty to ninety days before making its appearance, 
