The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-04

I
| than during the preceding year. when the
] cost Of such inspection was sl72,3 .oS The
I secretary Of agriculture recommends that
/ the law providing for the microscopic in
I pectiOn Of export and interstate meat be-
I so amended as to compel owners OF the
meat inspected 10 pay the cost Of such in
I spcction, and call attention 10 the argu-
ments presented in his report in supper;
l Of this recommendation.
The live beef cattle exported and tagged
/ during the year numbered 363535. This Is
| an increase Of 69,553 had over the pre-
| vious year.
The sanitary inspection Of cattle shipped
I to Europe has cost an average Of 10 81
/ cents for each animal. and the cost of in
( specting southern cattle and the disinfec-
l ton of cars and stock yards averages ~
cents per animal
The Scientific inquiries Of the bureau Of
animal industry have progressed steadily
during the year. Much tuberculin and
mallein have been furnished to state au-
thorities for use in the agricultural col
leges and experiment stations for the
treatment Of Tuberculosis and glanders.
I Quite recently this department has pub
lished the results of its Investigations Of
bovine Tuberculosis and its researches
will be vigorously continued. Certain herds
in the District of Columbia Will be thor
oughly inspected and viii probably sup
ply adequate scope for the department to
intelligently prosecute its scientific work
and furnish sufficient material for pur-
poses Of Illustration, and description. The
sterilization of milk suspected of contain
ing the bacilli of tuberculosis has been
during the year very thoroughly explained
in a leafet by DR.. D. f. Salmon, the chief
Of the bureau, and given general circula-
ton throughout the country.
The Office of experiment stations, which
is part of the United States department
| Of agriculture, has during the past year
engaged itself almost wholly in preparing
for publication works based upon the re-
| ports of the agricultural experiment sta
tions and other institutions for agricul-
tural inquiry in the United States and for
| eign countries. The secretary, in his re-
port for 1885, called attention to the tact
| that the appropriations made for the sup
| port of the experiment stations through
| out the union were the only moneys taken
out of the national treasury by act OF con-
gress for which no accounting to federal
/ authorities was required. Responding TO
! this suggestion the Fifty-third congress in
making the appropriation for the depart
ment for the present fiscal year provided
that the secretary of agriculture shall pre-
scribe the form of annual financial state
ment required by section of said act of
/ March 2, 1887, shall ascertain whether the
expenditures under the appropriation
| hereby made are in accordance with the
/ provisions of said act, and shall make a
| report thereon to congress.
The best service of the statistcians Of
| the department of agriculture is the As
| certainment by diligence and care OF the
| active and real conditions, favorable or
unfaVorable of the farmers and farms OF
| the country and seek the causes which
/ produce these conditions, to the END that
/ the facts ascertained may guide their
| intelligent treatment. In obedience to this
| law, the department OF agriculture I'M
/ mediately sent out blank forms of expense
| accounts to each station and proposes
/ in addition to make, through trusted eX-
| perts, systematic examination of the sew
/ eral stations during each year for the pur-
\ pose of acquiring by personal investigation
! the detailed information necessary TO en-
| able the Secretary of Agriculture to make,
/ as the statute provides, a satisfactory re-
| port to congress. The boards of manage
ment Of the several stations, with great
alacrity ad cordially, have approved the
| amendment to the law providing for the
/ supervision of their expenditures, an
| ticipating that it viii increase the eff
| cheney of the stations and protect their
| directors and managers from loose
| charges concerning their use of public
/ funds, besides bringing the department Of
agriculture into closer and more cOntiden-
tiaI relations with the experimental sta
tions, and through their joint service
! largely increasing their usefulness to the
| agriculture of the country.
Acting upon a recommendation con-
tanned in the report of 1898, congress APP
propriated 900 to enable the Secretary
of Agriculture to investigate and report
upon the nutritive value of the various
articles and commodities used for human
/ food, with special suggestion of full,
| wholesome and edible rations, less waste
| full and more economical than those in
common use" Under this appropriation
! the department has prepared and now mas
| nearly ready for distribution an element
! tary discussion of the nutritiVe value and
! pecuniary economy of food. When we
| consider that fully one-half of the money
| earned by the wage-earners of the civil
| lied world is expended by them for food,
the importance and utility of such an in
vestigation is apparent. The department
expended in the fiscal year 1892 81, 354, 500. 30,
and out of that sum the total
| amount expended in scientific research
was 45.6 per cent. But in the year ending
| June &c. 1894, out of a total expenditure of
| $1,94S, $685. the department applied Sis
per cent. of that sum to scientific work and
| investigation. 1t is, therefore, very plain
! ly observable that the economics which
have been practiced in the administration
of the department have not been at the
expense of scientific research.
The recommendation contained in the
| report of the secretary for 1898 that the
vicious system Of promiscuous free dis
| ulDuuOn OF ltS departmental documents
be abandoned is again urged. These COM
| pilations may well be furnished without
cost to public libraries, educational insti-
tuions and the officers and Libraries of the
states, and of the federal government,
but from all individuals applying for them
| a price covering the cost of the document
| asked for should be required. Thus the
! publications and documents would be Sc
cured for those who really desire them for
! proper purposes. Half a million of copies
of the report of the secretary of agricul-
ture are printed for distribution at an an
nual cost of about 100000. Large num-
bers of them are numbering store rooms
at the capitol and the shelves of second
hand book stores throughout the country.
All this labor and waste might be avoided
if the recommendations of the secretary
were adopted.
The secretary also again recommends
| that the gratuitous distribution of seeds
cease and that no money be appropriated
for that purpose except to experiment
stations. He reiterates the reasons given
in his report for 1898 for disseminating this
unjustifable gratuity and l fully concur
in the conclusions which he has reached.