Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-03-19
VERMONT PHOENIX, BRATTLEBoRo FRIDAY, MARCH

mental act, for the adoption Of the States,
| provides that, upon the outbreak Of any con-
| tagious disease among cattle, the Governor is
! TO issue a proclamation, prohibiting the inn
| portation into the State of all animals belong
ing to the class affected. As soon as any case
of disease occurs within State, the owner of
the animal is to inform the Governor, who is
to dispatch veterinary surgeon to investi-
gate it. The owner must not slaughter the
animal until the nature of the disease has
been determined. Upon receiving the report
of the surgeon, the Governor must issue
proclamation prohibiting the removal of all
animals Of the class affected from the locali-
ty in which the outbreak occurred and au-
thorize such quarantine measures as he may
deem expedient. He is also to notify the
president of the national board, and to ask
the cooperation of himself and associates.
All measures for the suppression of diseases
are to be determined by the national boaad
and the surgeon appointed by the Governors
of States
In view of the losses which have resulted
from the neglect of precautionary measures
to check the progress of contagious disease in
cattle, the passage of this bill seems to be
eminently wise and proper. For more than
thousand years these contagious cattle dis
eases have ravaged the herds Of the old
world. They have followed in the track of
armies, and spread over western Europe with
every great general war, from the Eruption
of the Huns upon Rome, A. d. $40, to the
recent Franco-German contest after which
both belgerent countries suffered severely
After the taking of Paris in the recent war
with Germany, the cattle plague anticipated
the wants of the inhabitants in destroying the
animals set apart for their relief; for, out of
10000 TO -, 900 reserved for them, 500 died
in single day aud night. From III to
1863 the disease destroyed over 200, 600, 600
head of cattle in Europe; from 1913 to 1896,
from 5000, 900 to 1000, 600 head in Italy
alone, and in 1872 it destroyed 300, 600 head
of beef kline in Egypt, while in Great Britain,
in lSG5.GG, it proved fatal to 800, 900 head.
The extinction of the contagion by the slaugh-
ter of the diseased animals as advised by
Lancisi in l7l3, and first practscd in Eng
land in 17l4, has been proved, by the expe-
rience of a century and half, to be the only
economical and satisfactory mode of contend
ing with the disease. In 1913 and in 1850 it
was brought to Brooklyn n. Y, and in 1877
to New Jersey, by English cattle, and in 1859
to Massachusetts by an importation of Dutch
cattle. In the lnst-named state a commits
sion was appointed with power to isolate
every afflicted herd and to kill every diseased
animal, and the commissioners finally stamp
ed out the disease after six years of patient
labor and the slaughter Of 11Gl cattle That
were diseased or had been liable to contagion
from contact with those which had died of
the plague. In view of the immense trade
which has been, aud is now, carried on with
in the last two years in live cattle, and the
prospects of its future extension to the ad-
vantage of the stock rnisers of the United
States it is to be hoped that Congress will
not fail to adopt some measures like those
embodied in Mr.. Lefevre's bill. which will in
sure constant expectation of wholesome
meat and protect foreign herds from the dan
gers of contagious diseases from among the
cattle on this side of the Atlantic -- Bost0H
H,pdM