The Portland daily press., 1865-12-30
Precautions against the Cattle Disease.

On the 18th of December the President an
proved very brief act of Congress, consisting
of two sections only, the first clause of the first
section of which contains the gist of the act,
and reads as follows: "Bs it enacted, &C., that
.'the importation of cattle be and Is hereby
.)rohibited" aET
The design of this law-to remain in force
thirty days after the President shall by procla-
nation give notice "that no further danger is
"to be apprehended from the spread of foreign
infectious or contagious diseases among cat
'tle," us to prevent expoiing the cattle of this
country to the plague which has proved SO fatal
among the cattle of England and some of the
countries on the continent of Europe. The Wis
dom of the prohibiting act few will be dispos-
ed to question.
The Secretary of the Treasury being requir-
ed to make regulations for the collectors of
customs and the agents of the Government, to
secure the enforcement of this act of prohibi-
ton, has issued a circular, but we have failed
to discover in one ofits provisions the same
degree of wisdom that the law itself exhibits
For example, the Secretary says the term
Seattle" includes, according to Websters
Dictionary, domestic quadrupeds collective
1ly, not only of the bovine genus, but also
sheep, goats, horses, mules, asses and saoine,"
and he further says the importation of cat
tle," thus defined, lis prohibited entirely" and
collectors and other customs officers will
therefore give no permits to land, unlade or
"deliver any of these animals, under any cir
"cumstances, or any. pretext whatever"
According to the Secretary's definition
shipmaster arriving from foreign port, no
matter if from Brazil, Chilli, Cape of Good
Hope or the Sandwich Islands, where the
seattle" disease is unknown, will not be al
lowed to land colt, pig, a goat, a lama or
lamb, though the Seattle disease" so-called,
it is believed, has never been known to affect
any quadrupeds of the kind here mentioned
The truth is, the Secretary has slightly "put
his foot in" in his definition, and made Web
ster responsible for definition which he new
er intended to be understood as the definition
accepted in this country. In defining the term
Seattle Webster says: r
l.. Beasts or quadrupeds in general, serving for
tiage or other labor, and for food 10 man. In its
primary sense, Inc word inclu les canelS, horses,
asscs all the varieties of domescated horned beasts
or the bovine genus, sheep of all kinds and goats
and perhaps sWine In this general sense 1t Is
stanty used in the Scriptures. See JOB q. Hence
it would appear that the icord properly signifies poe
sessions, goods but whether from word originally
sgnitymg beast-for in early ages beasts consttut-
ed the chief part of a mans property,-or from a
word sgnifynS to get possess 1t is not easy to de-
ermine. This word Is restricted to domestic beasts
but ip England it itincudes horses, which 1t ordnar-
y does not in the United States at least not in New
Eng land. sss.s.. s,.. 81
e. In the United States, cattle in common usage,
signifies only beasts Of the bovie genus, oxen, bulls
naestic beasts, HORSES, sHEEP, ASSES, MULTs AND
SWINE ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM CATTLE,
IT neat cattle. In Great Britain, beasts
are distinguished into black cattle, including bulls
oxen, cows aud their young, and small cattle, includ
ing sheep of all kinds and goats. .r- 81 a 81
The Secretary has in fact adopted the scrip
ture definition of the term seattle" and not
thelegal sense, at least as Webster says the
word is understood in the United States; but
we do not believe the members of the Ameri-
can Congress had any Scriptural idea in mind
when they passed the law. Mr.. McCulloch,
perhaps, has read the sacred volume with
more care than he has Webster's Dictionary,
especially in its definition of the word under
notice. I'D l..