The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-06-16

we shall see a bill introduced into the
legislature which will make 1t high
crime and misdemeanor for any person to
inject any animal with tuberculin or any
other diagnostic compound or drug
I have letters from several reliable milk
men in different sections of Maine who
haveyhad their COWS tested that their yield
of milk has fallen of, and that their COWS
have beer heard to cough occasionally,
which as lever known before the test
1 also L>.-eve that the indiscriminate
testing of dairy herds is dangerous to the
consumers of milk, particularly to in
fants and people with weak stomachs. A
case has recently come to my notice in
this city where a child had shown a de-
rangement of the stomach and other
troubles for several days or week which
could not be accounted for, and the
family have recently learned that the
m1lkman from whom they have been
taking milk for the last eight years had
just had his COWS tested, and that the
child was drinking the milk from the
newly tested COWS at the time of it's ill
ness.
also learn from Mr. Bowker that at a
nearing at the Massachusetts State House
it came out that several of the children
on the Island of Nantucket We're thrown
into high fever by partaking of milk
from cattle which had just been tested,
and that they We're very sick, and that it
puzzled the doctors what to do for them,
and it was only when milk taken from
COWS which had not been tested was fed
to the infants that the fever subsidized.
This fact has also been substantiated by
statements made by several wealthy gen.
tlemen near Boston who have had their
cattle tested. They found the same effect
in their families and those of their near
nelghbors, and they should consider it a
dangerous thing to do, although they
declined to have their names used. They
feel willing to have their COWS tested, but
do not care to drink the milk from such
COWS for several days afterwards. Now,
OF course the common people cannot take
advantage of this. They must drink
what they get without any knowledge OF
the test, and as competent veterinaries
have testified that the effects of it do not
leave the system for some time, believe
1T more of a menace to the public health
than animals which are slightly diseased,
which are the only ones that it is claimed
the test will take from herd other than
those which can be picked out by care
full physical examination.
Mr.. Bowker also says that several of
the best herds in the state, owned by very
wealthy men, kept in and under the most
tested With tuberculin several times, and
each year show a larger increase in the
number condemned, which should cause
any fair minded man to think that there
was something in the effect of tubercuiin
which rendered them more susceptible,
and that the disease was spread more by
the test than diminished.
DIR. Parker also corroborateS this state
ment, but claims that these might have
been exceptional cases. The unreliable
work of the test at the Brighton abbatoir
has become SO notorious that it need hard
ly be mentioned in this connection.
l might also quote further along the
same lines from such authorities as DIR.
B. Bang OF Copenhagen, DIR. J. E.
DR.. e: S. Schroeder of the Veterinary
Experiment Station, Washington, D. c.,
DR.. Theobold Smith of the Division of
Pathology, Washington, D. c., and
others.
Then believe that it opens up an i'm
mense field for fraud, among. all classes
who have anything to do with the test, as
pure deception might be practiced by
Intentionally causing tuberculin test to
be made shortly before the examination
by the inspector. And it is also claimed
that the characteristic rise of temperature
may be prevented in suspicious animals
by allowing them to drink their fill of
cold water at the proper time. No one
will claim for a moment that these de-
ceptions could be practiced upon a skilled
veterinary if he was depending upon
physical examination.
| will quote once more from Mr. Daven-
port, who says: 81 had case in YER
mont where a cows temperature started
at 104 and ran to 10Y. Of course could
not get certificate and the COW was sold,
and driven twelve miles and retested and
passed all right by the same veterinary
OF course he did not know her, being in
lot of others. She came down to Water
town market on the same train that I
did. l have had number of hundreds
tested but could sell more COWS not tested
than tested, people thinking it injured
Them
I will say in conclusion that I believe
the farmers of Cumberland county are
taking the only course open to them, and
have no doubt but that they will be sus-
tanned by the courts if the matter should
be brought to test. I believe that they
are all willing to pledge themselves to all
necessary restrictions as far as care,
housing, feeding and general sanitary
conditions of their COWS are concerned.
They are willing to submit the milk they
place upon the market to careful exami-
nation under the direction of the milk
inspector of the CITY, and their animals to
a careful physical examination. Having
done this believe they have gone as far
as the interests of public health demand.
and any further requirement is but an
invasion of personal rights which every
self reliant and self respecting farmer
will resist to the bitter end
B. WALKER MCKEEN,
Secretary Maine Board of Agriculture.
Augusta, June IA, 1897.
ADRUNKEN MANS FREAK.
Tried to Drive His Horse through a