The Portland daily press., 1891-12-28
BAY STATES SICK CATTLE
Fr, BaiIey's Reply to the Massatha-
sets Cattle Commissioners.
THEY ARE CONVICTED OUT OF
THEIR OWN MOUTHS.

to Stamp it Out-Testimony from 9th
er Sources--A Quarantine Against
Massachusetts Our Only Protection.
To the Editor of the Press:
The proposed action of the Maine Board
of Cattle Commissioners in quarantining
our state against Massachusetts, has called
forth some severe comments in the Boston
papers from Professor Stockbridge, chair
man Of the Massachusetts, Board.
Mr.. Stockbridge objects to the statement
of the Maine State Veterinarian that
Massachusetts, is fairly honeycombed
with diseased CATTLE" and says ''the state
ment is entirely false. as is the assertion
that we do not pay any attention to the dis
ease among our cattle, for the general
health and condition of cattle in Massa-
chusetts is excellent, and can sag posi-
tiveLy that there is very little tuberculosis
among them. There are no cheap cattle
here, and our dairy animals rival any Of
those in the United States"
Let us review the ''coid facts" as opposed
to the above fabulous statement of Mr..
Stockbridge. The cattle commissioners of
: Massachusetts. in their annual official re-
port of 1886, 'called particular attention
to the prevalence of tuberculosis, and the
difficulty of graduating it by the force of
our present statutes. or any appropriation
the legislature would make" In 1887, the
same board of Massachusetts, commission
ers say:
The facts Of year ago are,g in the
main, the facts of today. The disease con-
tinues. with no apparent abatement or In
crease, though, as the veterinary profess
sion increases In number and attention is
called to 1t more and more, there is call for
doubtless, be eradicated by placing 1t In the
same category with pleuro-p1eumonia, and
applying to it the same provisions of law;
but it would, doubtless, necessitate the de-
struction of twenty animals to save one,
and require the payment OF many hum
dreds OF thousands of dollars.
In 1883, DR.. j. F. Winchester of Law
renee, member of the board, made report
to the cattle commissioners upon this dis
ease. He collected information from ex-
perts all over the state. His investigations
covered "a suspected farms, wherein were
1856 cattle. OF these, 243, or % per cent,
we're killed, and 189, or over % per cent of
the remainder, were suspected. On 15 9TH
er farms, with 244 animals. he found rs. or
over IL per cent, with symptoms of tuber-
culosis, and "a others which were regarded
as suspicious. or the 213 suspicious in the
latter class. some were doubtless affected,
and were sold into other herds. where the
disease may not have before existed, to act
as new foci of infection.
In 1889 DR.. Austin Peters of Boston, a
specialist in the study of tuberculosis, and
in charge of the work inaugurated by the
Massachusetts Society for Promoting
Agriculture" expressly to investigate
tuberculosis, reports: "That at the ex-
perimental farm at Mattapan, Mass,
where, in connection with DR.. Ernst, he
has been making some interesting observa-
tions, they have had in all Is tuberculous
cows from ten different herds, represent
ing eight towns, all within a radius of 25
miles from Boston. He has killed thirteen
calves and seven pigs which have been fed
upon the milk of these cows for period
Of from three to six months. Two pigs
and six calves were tuberculous. Nine of
the eighteen cows have been killed and all
proved by post-mortem examination to be
tuberculous. Tube circle bacili were found
in the milk of six of these cows. He has
also visited several herds In the state and
has found the disease existing in from one
to one hundred per cent Of the animals"
In 1890 Mr.. Francis Blake of Auburn
dale, Mass, read valuable paper on
tuberculosis before the Thursday Club"
in which he said;
Before proceeding, let me say that up to
the time Of inspection had supposed N.Y.
self possessed of as fine and healthy lot
of animals as could be found in the state.
A few days thereafter the inspection was
made and six of the ten animals were de-
clared to be afflicted with tuberculosis, and
within the next twenty-four hours were
killed.
The autopsies disclosed a state of physi-
cal rottenness most alarming to me, In view
of the fact that the milk from two of the
worst afflicted cows had been used in nv
household up to the day Of the inspection.
From what hear, my opinion is that it
is hard to find herd of cattle kept for sale
of milk in which there are not cases of tu-
berculosis. If this is so 1t seems TO me
there should be strong movement toward
securing legislation in the interest of the
consumer.
My experience is not. or rather ought not
TO be, an exceptionable one. A neighbor,
attracted by 1t, has within the month had
his herd examined and three out of seven
animals killed; and within the last two
weeks my attention has been called to
newspaper accounts of tuberculosis in cat
tie at Waltham, Mass, and Dover, N. III,
One stands appalled, at the immensely of
this evil, covering, as 1t does, the entire
country, threatening at every step the
health of the community. and crying loudly
for redress. A single case of cholera, yell
low fever or smallpox. or even harmless
cucumber taste to the water supply in a
large city is considered good cause for eX-
cited editorials in the newspapers, and for
extraordinary efforts on the parts of boards
of health, while every day from January to
December scores are perishing unnecessa.
rily from the more insidious and far more
deadly tuberculosis.
On January 10, 1891, DR., Peters in a very
able and exhaustive address upon the SUBJ
ject of tuberculosis, at farmers meeting
in Boston, said:
Cattle in the diaries In the neighborhood
OF large towns and cities are much more
the victims OF tuberculosis than those kept
ont on the farms; therefore while perhaps
from ten to twenty-five per cent of the
mitch cows in eastern. Massachusetts are
tuberculosu,Eit is much more rare n the
western part of the state, although do not
mean by this to say that it does not exist