The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-10-26
The Cattle Commissioner Report,


brief synopsis of its report all the in
teresting facts presented by the Yer
mont cattle commission in it's recently
published account Ct its stewardship.
The law which the commission has
been administering was passed in 1894,
and became operative Feb. 1, 1895.
The public is familiar with the state of
things Immediately preceding the pass
age of the law of 1894, and how the
existence of tuberculosis in the herd at
the experiment station, which first be-
came generally known in January 1894,
opened the eyes of people to the dan
ger to health lurking in the source of
one of the most general and varied of
food products, the herds Of the State.
The following table will best explain
at glance the work of the cattle COM
mission under the law :
1886 189697 1898
Cattle tested, 14,155 17,785 27,259
killed, 924 5S4 972
Per cent condem'd
in farmers herds, z 43 So
In drovers' herds, 15 O.6
Total cost to
State, s2o,72a2l s142o4.4o s19,97S.54
Veterinarians
reed, 4,21O "a 3,45327 4,Os3 10
Commis'rs rcd 2,S297o 1,944.38 2,966.41
Owners 13,6S267 S,SO6.76 13, 494 90
The total number of cattle tested
from February l, 1896, to July l, 1898,
the date to which the above account is
made up, is 59,199; killed, 1880; cost
to the Slate, S54 ,901. Is, including S11O
for glandered horses. The percentage
OF diseased animals has decreased from
seven per cent in 1895 to three and
two tenths in 1898. The percentage of
diseased animals in the private tests of
1894 was fifteen. These figures show
conclusively great and most satisfac-
tory abatement of tuberculosis in the
State.
During the year ended July l, 1898,
the average cost of testing cattle was
twenty-one cents per head, and the
average price paid for cattle killed was
1882.
If the above figures lack any element
of conclusiveness as to the wisdom of
the policy of the State, as embodied in
the law of 1894, and the practical eff
cheney of its administration, it will be
found in the results of retesting the
herds. Out of seventy-eight retested,
twenty-three were found free from dis
ease on the second test, and twenty
three had only one case of disease.
Eight OF the remaining herds found
diseased on the second test were free
from tuberculosis on the third. The
six most obstinate herds were given a
fourth test, when two were found clean,
two with one case each and two with a
larger number. About thirty per cent
of those herds were found diseased at
the first test and it is supposed that the
barns were not thoroughly disinfected.
Out of some 10000 tests made, how
many have disclosed false diagnosis
false on the face of the evidence? The
number reported is twenty.one, or one
in about three thousand. That is about
as close an approach to absolute infalli-
bility as is likely to be made by any
human agency. And in these twenty
one cases it is not certain but that the
means of minuter inspection would
have shown the presence of tubercu-
losis. Could the high priest of physi-
cal examination for the detection Of
this dread disease have passed upon
10000 cases and slip up in only twenty
one instances? This record is a great
triumph for tuberculin as diagnostc
agent. The commission completes
the triumph by the statement that in
no instance that has come under the
observation of its members, in this
large experience, have they discovered
any harmful results to healthy cattle
from the use of tuberculin.
From the most careful estimates that
can be made it is believed that less than
three per cent of the cattle of the State
are now affected with tuberculosis; and
men most converssnt with the matter
are firmly of the opinion that the State
can be practically freed from tubercu-
losis in few years if all cattle owners
will cooperate with the commissioners
to complete its extirpation.
With no break in the line of policy
the State has been so successfully
pursuing, and no change in the officials
who have been so efficiently and sue.
cessfully administering the law, the pur-
pose it was enacted to accomplish is
certain of early and practical achieve.