The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-05
They Say American Horses Easily
Contract influenza, and They May
Quarantine or Exclude Them.
REGARDED rs A SUBTERFUGE
IN LINE WITH OTHER PRETEXTS
FOR PLACATING AGRARIANS.
Views of congressman and Depart
ment OffciaIs--Fruit Exclusion Orr
der Considered by the Cabinet.
peelal to the indianapolis Journal.

Special to the indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4--Unofficial ad-
vices from Berlin, received this afternoon,
indicate that the Germans are still strain
ing themselves in efforts to find excuses for
barring out American products. a few days
ago, with the aid of microscopes, they are
alleged to have found lice on American
fruit Now they have discovered that horses
from the United States are liable TO catch
influenza on arrival in Germany. Influenza
is one of the most prevalent diseases in
Berlin and other cities. In the winter time
it is epidemic, and attacks the lower ami
mails as well as mankind. In view of this
it would be surprising if American horses,
weakened by a long sea voyage, did not take
the disease when landed in a climate that
fairly reeks with influenza microbes. 1t is
astonishing, however, that the German au
thorities do not consider the matter i'm its
proper light, but are using the influenza
epidemic as a pretext to restrict importa-
tion of our horses A dispatch from Berlin
says: Baron Won Hammerstein-Loxte
the minister of agriculture, at to-day's Ses-
sion CT the Prussan Diet declared that
American horses developed influenza after
Importation He added: If the importa-
tlons increase we shall certainly be forced
TO adopt a suitable quarantine in order to
protect ourselves.
When Chairman Hit, of the House for
eign affairs committee, read the cablegram
he said this move was clearly part of
the general movement toward exclusion
shown by the recent action against
American fruit. His colleague on
the foreign affairs committee, Mr..
Adams, of Pennsylvania, said the dis
patch suggested that it was time to dis
cover bacillus in German wines, and it
would be desirable also to determine as to
the sanitary character of the process of
making German sugar sent to the United
States. Mr.. Cousins, of Iowa, another MEM
Der of the foreign affairs committee, said:
Our State Department should give distinct
notice that if there is any desire to stop
trade with this should be done in
straightforward way and not by indirectly
attacking our products on sanitary
grounds
Chairman Dingley, of the ways and means
committee, said this was in the line with
the German action on American fruit. A
quarantine was not an absolute prohibition,
however. Mr.. Dingley said, and it remained
to be seen whether quarantine so vigorous
as to be prohibition would be put in force.
The officials of the Agricultural Depart
ment emphatically discredit the probability
of American horses carrying the influenza
into Germany and say that if they do de-
velop it after importation it is contracted
from animals in that country. The state
ments of the German minister of agricul-
ture, Secretary Wilson says, are unwar-
ranted.
Dr. Salmon the chief of the Bureau of
Animal Industry. said when his attention
was called to the dispatch: 80 far as the
Department of Agriculture is aware there
is no influenza prevailing in this country. 1t
is a disease common to horses and possibly
may be present in places of which we have
no information, but this is improbable be-
cause news of that character would prompt
ly reach the department. The horses which
are exported are not inspected, but if an
animal has the disease it will recover or
The period of the duration of the disease
is about two weeks and it takes from
two to three weeks to ship the animals
across the ocean it is apparent that all
danger is passed by the time the other
side is reached
The growth in the shipment of American
horses to Europe in the past four years has
been enormous. These shipments in 1897 ag
gregated in value $4 769 ,265, as against $71s,
607 in 1893 The value of those sent to Ger
man in 1897 was 1922, ,25o, as compared with
SIS $50 in 1893