The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-06-07
Renort of the Cattle Commission.

The report of the cattle commission appoint
ed last season by the Treasury Department 10
investigate the subject of pleuro- pneumonia
among the cattle Of this country, has been
received and examined. The commission
consisted of Prof. James Law, Hon. =. +.
Thayer and j. Ell. Sanders, late editor OF the
National LiUe Stock journal. Their report
makes book of over 100 pages, in winch
they give description of the Lang Plague
of Cattle. and its history, tracing it back sew
erai centuries. The Commissioners have Wis
tied the infected districts of this country
and made very thorough Investigations.
They report that it is yet confined to the
Middle and Eastern States and that 1t has
not extended west of the Allegheny Noun
tains. Soma idea may be formed OF the ru-
inous effect its introduction would cause IN
the great cattle regions OF tue west, snould
it once get a foothold there by reading their
accounts of it's ravages in Australia. The
Lurg Plague was introduced into that Island
in 1880 by an imported Shorthorn COW
brought from England. The Legislature of
that country at once passed stringent law
providing for the inspection of cattle and the
Slaughter of all infected. Yet it spread so
rapidly that in January, 1862, the Commission
ers reported that of what they had inspected,
100 were dead, and in every herd excepting
two they found the disease. 1t has been es-
timated that up to 1873 there had persisted
in that islaud l ,404 900 head of cattle, or Az
per cent of the entire number kept, which
at $50 per head amounts to the enormous
sum of $43, 100000 We can thus see the
overwhelming disaster that is liable to come
upon the great cattle interests of the West,
unless prompt and effective steps are taken
by the State Legislatures, or the General
Government to stamp out the scourge and
check its spread westward. The disease was
introduced into Massachusetts in 1859 and
spread rapidly until the Legislature enacted
a law providing for slaughtering and paying
for all infected cattle. The law was rigidly
enforced and since 1865 the disease has been
entirely eradicated. 1t cost the State $77,0 600
and the loss to cattle owners was estimated
at $3.50, 000 The Commissioners inform us
that Massachusetts is the only state that has
had the fortitude to maintain a system OF
suppression until the last germ of the dread
sc urge has been exterminated. They add
this ominous warning:
The contrast between the splendid sue
cess of Massachusetts on her inclosed farms,
and the failure of Australia on her open
pastures, though the latter was no less euer-
getic and far more prodigal of her money
| IS a lesson of the gravest Importance to the
United States. To-day we have it in oui
power to stamp out this pestilence, but II we
criminally delay until it shall have reached
our open pasture lands, we shall but repeat
the experience of Australia, and must resign
ourselves to the permanent incubus of the
pestilence circulating from the source of oul
cattle traffic, through its various channels In
| to every State of the Union"
The Commissioners very properly present
with their report, compilation of the vari-
GUS State laws for the suppression of the cat
| tie plague. Massachusetts,, Kansas, Maine
Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsyl
vania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Illinois
have all more or less effective laws on the sub
| iect-Maine Farmer.