The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1866-03-04


The Cattle Plague-Prohibition or tho
importation OF Cattle.
Both the Senate and the House have passed
bill prohibiting the importation "of neat cat
tie and the hides of neat cattle from any foreign
country into the United States" to remain in
force so long as shall be necessary In order "to
prevent tho introduction or spread Of conta-
gious or infectious Diseases" Any wilful vio-
lation Of the law may be punished by fne OF
five hundred dollars and imprisonment for one
year. This is n good law, and there should be
no delay in enforcing It Our importations Of
cattle are mot large, though we import hides to
a great extent; but the injury 70 . branch Of
commerce that may be caused Is as nothing
compared to the danger that the law viii
guard against.
The cattle plague that now RACES in England,
and that has swept over nearly the whole Of
Europe, from the Russian steppes and the vast
plains Of Hungary, is the most infectious and
fatal Of cattle discusses. Fifty per cent Of cattle
subject to the influences Of the disease are
taken, and eighty per cent Of those taken die,
despite all known plans Of treatment. It Is
fact in the history OF disease that the great
scourgcs are never amenable to remedies.
The plaques that have swept away whole
sections Of the human race, down to
the cholera, are still the mysteries Of
medical science. And this present cattle
plague is of the type of disease that is
least controlled by treatment in the human
family even under the most favorable circum-
stances. 1t seems from its symptoms to be
bovine typhus fever. The deeply poisoned
blood, the gangrene of internal organs, the
lungs especially, indicate its severity and give
q sufficient reason why all treatment that can
be employed in the case Of such an animal
should fail.
We act wisely to profit by the experience Of
others. England has learned that all that can
now DO done is to guard against the spread of
the plague by very extensive precautions.
Knowing that the disease was communicated
by contact, and that 1t would come on cattle
from the Continent, sanitary inspection at the
ports was relied upon to prevent its introduce
ton. But this was q half measure. The
inspectors could only condemn animals that
actually had the plague, and thus the herds
vi WhfSu me SVhutmucu uhttnofs huu occu
part and with which they had made the
voyage, went into the country despite the in
spector. AS the disease has period Of incu-
bation-a period during which the poison is
active in the system, though the disease is
not apparent-many Of the animals that thus
passed the inspectors were attacked in two,
three or maybe ten days after they were
mingled with the healthy cattle Of the English
farmer who had bought them at the last
market
Thus the stupidity Of preventive measures
connived at the Introduction Of the disease
into England, and now the only measures dis
cussed there are the slaughter Of infected herds
and the killing Of all the cattle for certain
distance around points at which the disease
has made Its sppearance-measures for which
no more can be said than that they are proba-
by less expensive than the diseass would be.
Since the Introduction It this disease would
be great national calamity we 1nst gu.-,--dd
against IL by the only known means--absolutc
prevention Of the importation Of cattle or hides
to our own from infected countries The law
just passed and awaiting the Presidents sigma
ture seems likely TO secure this end, and hence
there should be no delay in giving II prac.i-
cal effect