The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-09-01
Dangers of the Calf Trade.
Important to Hreeasrs Of CATTLE.


lamation forbidding the introduction of
cattle from certain localities designated
as infected into that State They fur
Their secured from the Governor of Iowa
proclamation warning farmers against
purchasing calves from the infected dis
tricts. Up to that time no such calves
had been known to have been sent from
the actually infected districts. but only
from those counties of New York and
Pennsylvania which lie west of the Ale
ghanies, and which have so far kept
free from the lung-plague infection.
During the present summer the supplies
from this belt have fallen off, and the
high prices ruling for young stock SEEM
ed to have given blow to the trade,
Which offered, at least, a temporary pro-
lection to the West. The confidencere re-
posed in this mode of protection has,
been doomed to rude de-
struction. Recently calf was shipped
from the infected farm of John A. Conk-
lin, OF Long Green, Baltimore County,
TO the West and it was alleged to Chi
cago. Further inquiry drew out the
facts that the calf was not a thorough
bred sent West to improve the herd of
the purchaser, but an ordinary native
and one of lot picked up by dealer
for the Western market. 1t further
transpires that it had become a practice
with dealers to draw upon this danger
Gus market for young cattle to be ma
tured in the West; also, that at the
stockyards at Camden, n. j., calves
were frequently bought and sent out
West to mature. In this last case there
was added the reprehensibh practice of
having the calves examined by veter-
marian in the stock yards, and shipped
West with q certificate of health. There
was no pretense that the districts nor
herds from which they had been drawn
had been examined and proved sound,
nor that the stock-yards in which they
had been selected had been kept free
from all infection. On the contrary, il
is a common occurrence in the Camden
stock-yards to have cattle seized as be-
ing affected with the lung plague and
given over to immediate slaughter.
4 Yet these calves, drawn from any local
ity or herd, healthy or diseased, and
mingling with and succeeding in the
stock-yards, cattle drawn from all parts,
and at times proved to be actually dis
eased, are sent out with guarantee of
health! A certificate of health when
eaving. place where thousands of ami
mails from all sources, sound and I'M
sound, congregate, and where this dis
etse against which this is a guarantee
may Turk for months in the system I'M
suspected and undetectible by the ablest
professional man! Could any trap be
more cunningly baitedP Could any
course be better calculated to secure the
spread of the infection in the Westp
The trusting purchaser is entirely
thrown off his guard by the professional
certificate, and turns his new purchase
into his valuable home herd, or on his
unfenced range, where weeks must still
elapse before the infection caught in
the Eastern stock-yard can show itself
perhaps years more may pass before the
true nature of that disease is ascertain
ed. Meanwhile, the poison is spreading
slowly and insidiously, but none the less
surely; and if it has not been already
accomplished, we are daily approaching
nearer and nearer to the irremediable
infection of our vast grazing lands. The
system is most pernicious one. and
ought not to be tolerated for a single
moment No guarantee of freedom
from lung plague can be granted on the
basis of one examination of animals in
transit, much less Of an examination in
stock-yard where lung plague is occa-
sionally detected. Such examinations
are but decisions, and such certificates
are but SHARES to entangle the unwary
and confding. ps... f1 fiti...t
The facts as above detailed seem to
imply the existence of the same prac-
tice in other infected districts. Tho
shipment of calves from the infected
markets of Camden and Baltimore, sug-
gest at least similar shipments from
Georgetown, Philadelphia, Jersey City
and New York. Under these circum-
stances how long can the boasted i'm
munity of the West be hoped to con-
tinueP Never before in the history of
the nation has the danger been so i'm
minent For over thirty years we were
protected by the conveyance of the
whole continental cattle traffic to the
infected center. Three years ago q
counter current set in in the case of
calves sent from middle and western
Pennsylvania and New York, to be ma
tured in the West. Now, on account of
the exorbitant prices given for stock in
InlS Uelt, IHc ctIcTeIS loT tuc Wcstciu
market have been crowded further east,
q and now, for the first time, the infected
districts are being extensively laid UNI
der contribution to supply the demands
of the West.
The bill that passed the House of
Representatives in June providesfor the
punishment of men who shall k,aoVi'ag-
IN send infected cattle out of an infected
State. The urgency of this new danger
demands more than this In this case
infected cattle were sento of the State
under the conduct of q certificate Of
Souadness, and neither the carrying
company, the shipper, or consignee, can
under this law be convicted, which fact
shows conclusively the imperative ne
cessity for a prohibition Of all cattle
traffic out of an infected State or dis
tIict. a' ii''f fed l iri'"