320 
NEWS AND SUNDRIES. 
There appeared during the month of August, on the farm of 
Mr. F. Balis, Dutchess Co., N. Y., a disease among the cattle 
that, from report, closely resembles some form of anthrax. Five 
cows in all have died. The stream supplying the cattle with 
drink comes from a marshy region where a great number of ten¬ 
ement houses are situated. Animals on this same farm have 
suffered similarly during recent years. 
Col. Mason, in speaking of restrictions on American pork, 
says : 
‘‘The widespread prejudice against American meats can be 
adecpiately met and overcome only by a rigid system of official 
inspection by competent experts,appointed by the National or State 
Government, and empowered to use a seal or other device repre¬ 
senting Governmental authority. In the European mind, an official 
seal is inferior in potency only to the edict of .Royalty itself. 
American pork of all kinds is conceded by intelligent and fair- 
minded dealers to be the best in the market, and it is growing 
better year by year, as the methods of curing and packing for 
European consumption are improved. Through a combination 
of adverse interests and misfortunes, for some of which careless 
and avaricious American exporters have been responsible, these 
meats are temporarily under suspicion; but there is apparently no 
difficulty in the present situation which a prompt, positive, and 
thorough policy may not meet and overcome. I beg to repeat 
that, in my opinion, the European traffic in American salted meats 
can never be fully restored until a system of official inspection is 
established, which shall carry with it the weight and force of 
Federal or State authority. * * * * Until some system of 
this description is adopted, the one per cent, of trichinous hogs 
which is conceded to exist in the United States will prove a 
serious obstacle to the maintenance and further development of 
our export trade in meats. The European meats with which our 
own come into competition are nearly all officially inspected, and 
until American hams and bacon bear the official examination, 
they will be, in presence of existing prejudices, at a serious dis¬ 
advantage in the markets of the Old World. It is within the 
