Arizona republican., 1898-03-17
GOVERNMENT PROTECTION.
What the United States Does for the
 Benefit of the Cattle Industry

Before the Texas Cattle Raisers' as
 sOciatiOn at its recent meeting in Fort | Worth, Texas Dr. D. B. Salmon of the
 bureau of animal industry of the de-
 partment of agriculture made an ad-
 dress, of which the following is an
 extract:
 The bureau of animal industry has
 been working for the benefit of the cat
 tie industry in many directions. The
 regulations as to the movement of cat
 tie from the southern section of the country have been only a part of the
 work Of the bureau. It has been nec-
 essary in order to further and assist the marketing of the cattle products, that the bureau should undertake to regulate, not only the movement Of cattle but the movement of cattle pro- ! ducts. It has been necessary to in- spect the cattle at the time of saugh- ter and to certify to their healthfuIness
 and the wholesomeness of the meat. i It has been necessary for us to regu-
 late the shipment of cattle across the ocean, to regulate the feeding. and the amount of feed that should be carried. and the number of experienced cattle men who should go along with the cat
 tie, and all those things have worked 1 together to get better prices for the cattle which have been on sale For instance, at the time these regulations
 were first made, in order to get cattle shipped, the insurance reached as
 much as per cent of the value of the cattle-eight dollars per head. on an animal worth s100. This was because , the losses were so great, in crossing
 the ocean; which losses were partly due to infection with cattle disease and i partly due to improper and insecure fittings, whereby cattle were washed 1 oVerDOard in heavy weather, and part ly due to overcrowding, crowding cat i tle Tn between the decks of ships. where there was not sufficient ventila- ton. Now the effect of these reguIa- tions have been most marked as every 1 body admits. Insurance has dropped 1 rom eight dollars head to less than one dollar a head, and On an average. or the cattle shipped from this country | 10 european countries to market less than one iii two hundred die in cross ing the ocean. Thousands of cattle shipped without the loss of a single i anlmaI; and only occasionally is it 1 tact that vessel might strike very 1 rough weather, when cattle will he i washed overheard in spite of all pre- cautions, and thereby the loss has reached as much as one-half of one per cent. You will all admit that that
 IS great improvement: and the saw
 ing of seven dollars a head on insur-
 ance on the 400,000 head of cattle we sent abroad amounted to nearly s3.OO0.- 0O0 Tn that one item alone
 It has only been by reason of the in spection of meats that we have been
 able to keep the European markets
 open for the animal products of this
 country. You know that in 1SS1-2-4
 the principal governments of the con-
 tlhent Of Europe absolutely prohibited
 our pork product. because not inspect
 ca, and for ten years We were unable
 to sell a pound of pork to the principsI
 countries of Europe; but by this sys-
 tenn of inspection, which was establish ed by the bureau of animal industry.
 a large part of that trade has been re- covered. Last year we sold these same
 countries over 40,000,OO0 pounds, and
 this year the aggregate will be over 60,000O0O
 In the same way our dressed beef
 was attacked in all the markets of Europe, and it was only because of in
 spection by the government and the certification of that meat that we were
 able to send it abroad. Our live cat
 tie trade would have been entirely prohibited long before this but for these regulations concerning the ship
 ment of cattle; because all sorts of
 charges were brought against them;
 and the one which seemed most dan
 gerous was the charge of cruelty to the
 animals on the ocean voyages, and
 the sympathies of the queen were ex- nd hxy+ T,o, |o1o
 Now all these things have been done
 away with, and although in many of
 the countries they are still seeking ex- cuses for shutting out our products.
 we have been enabled, by this system. of Inspection and this system of cer-
 tIficatiOn, to still sell enormous uuan-
 tit1es of animals and meats
 Now 1 have been requested to say
 few words in regard to the fever. gen.
 erally known throughout the country as Texas fever-a name which I know
 the people of Texas have long resent
 ed, and very justly, because the fever
 is no more Texas fever than Georgia fever, or North Carolina fever, or Vir-
 2lnia fever: and no more American | fever than African fever or Australian ) fever. It is disease that is very widely scattered over the earth, as we l know from Investigations. The in- : vestigations made by the bureau of : animal industry have brought us to l the point where we understand this : disease so well that we think we can s see clearly the means by which we ' can overcome it. We began first by = marking out the districts from which : cattle communicated the fever. After that was done we formulated regula- s tlons by which cattle from such dis n trlcts could go to markets abroad dur f ing all seasons of the year, by which t they could be sold for feeding purposes e during certain months. After then it : struck us as a very curious coincidence
 that this district which We had marked