Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1892-02-26
UNCLE JERRYs WORK.
THE STORY OF rAE SUCCESS OF
THE FARM DEPARTMENT.

4" Ve'ornAer" Who Was Exposed by
the DEADLY ParAliel-why Agricultural
implements Are Not T~sxed-The Ma
tion's Commercial ProRress-Brevities
Worth Iseadinr.
What Has Been Dome for American Meats
In Foreign Countries.
Whenthe present administration came
into power there was no class of people
IL the country whose prospect looked
less bright than the farmers; 30 much
80, that agricultural depression had be-
come a familiar term among speakers
and writer's of all classes and of all par
ties. 1t was clear that much depended
upon the new head of the Department
OF Agriculture, whoever he might be.
10 Till this important post, I q repre-
sent the agricultural interests in the
cabinet of the President OF the United
States, and to direct the machinery of
the department devoted especially to
the advancement of the farmers inter-
ests, President Harrison selected a man
whose entire life had been SO spent as
to assure to him an experience which
could not but be valuable in such a stu
alton. Brought up OF u farm, owning
ana tllling a farm throughout
his entire life. and consequently thor
oughly familiar with the wants and diff
1cultles, and the views of the farmers
themselves, he was withal a man hav-
ing business qualifications, wonderful
energy and administrative abilities, OF
which he has furnished ample evidence
In several important public positions,
as a member of the state legislature, as
u congressman, as commander of q regi-
ment i'll the field, and US governor of a
great state.
To review in detail the work accom-
plished under an administration SO
a~uspiciously begun. down to the present
date, would require many chapters.
For the present we will select but one
feature of the vast work accomplished
under Secretary Rusk's administration,
namely the breaking down of the arti-
1lclal barriers erected against American
meat products i'll foreign countries.
In Germany, France, Austria-Hun-
gary, Italy, and other European coun-
tries, the importation of American hog
products had been absolutely prohibited
III 1851. and a cry few figures will show
che damage inflicted on American agrl-
culture by these harsh and unnecessary
laws. BY reliable authorities it was es-
tlmated that the requirement of imme-
date slaughter by Great Britain depre-
GATED tile price of American cattle in
that market from $40 to Sl5 per head as
compared with Canadian bullocks adj
mitted without restriction. Even at the
lower figure this meant, at the rate of
expectation prevailing during the past
ONO per annum. and for the period dur
ing which the prohibition has been en-
forced, owe S2J,UO0,0OO; but the indi-
rect losses were necessarily far greater,
tor this depression affected the price OF
every steer marketed in the United
States, a loss estimated by the best in
formed cattle dealers as a%ggregating in
Ashe neighborhood of S25, 900, 900 yearly,
yhile as to sheep and hogs, the ~restric-
ton practically effected a prohibition of
the export trade.
Such a situation of affairs very
promptly attracted the attention of Sec
rotary Rusk and he at once resolved
upon the measures necessary to meet,
to abate If not to remove, these obsta-
cles to our trade.
To assure ourselves of the absolute
healthfulness of all cattle shipped
abroad, a system Of inspection and
Identification was undertaken and sue
cessfully established, in spite of the
declarations from many sources that
such a vast undertaking could not pos
sibly be carried out successfully. Under
this system about 10000 individual an
imals have been annually inspected,
and each one numbered and tagged for
Identification, inspected again on ar
ilval at II foreign port, and we need
hardly say, the British officials rem
dered so conservative in their diagnosis
of American imported animals that, for
more than a year past, only three COM
plants of this kind have reached us,
which have been conclusively proven
unfounded.
The energetic measures adopted by
the administration in this regard, has
led the antagonists of our live cattle
trade abroad toseek osher grounds upon
which to oppose it. Humanitarians
were invoked, and quite successfully, to
oppose this trade on the ground of the
sutterings entailed uponthe cattle trans
ported, cases not being difficult to find,
where, on vessels unprovided with the
necessary facilities for the proper care
and feeding of the animals, considera-
BILE suffering has been entailed. AS
soon as it was found that this move
ment was assuming proportions liable to
interfere with our trade, and obtaining
recognitiona and considerationipth the Brit
ish Parliament, a short bill was drafted
in the Department of Agriculture, and
presented by the Secretary.to Congress,
where it was o passed, empowering
him to direct and control the interior
fittings of all cattle-carrying vessels en-
gagged in foreign trade, and making the
certificate of an officer of the depart
Want, as to due compliance with the in
Aructions of the Secretary in these par
ticulars, essential to the clearing Of the
vessel by the custom-house authorities.
The movement undertaken on humans
tartan grounds was thus Immediately
checkmated, humanitarians themselves
being promptly satisfied by the meas
ures adopted by the secretary of agri-
culture for the protection of animals in
transit.
Another effort was made towards the
same end, grounded on the alleged ex-
istence among animals exported from
this country, of Texas fever and the
danger of conveying the same to cattle
in Great Britain, while, for reasons OBJ
vloust to every well-informed veterina-
rian who has studied this disease, such
danger was purely imaginary. The
Secretary concluded that action would
be more efficient than argument, and
Immediately adopted such measures in