Evening star., 1901-11-28
ANIMAL INDUSTRY
Bureau Praised by South African
Official.
WORLD OWES IT Debt OF GRATITUDE
Frozen Meat Now Mostly Used
in Cape Colony.
LOYALISTS MOST SUFFER

"Agriculturalists, veterinarians and the
consumers of meats the world over owe a
debt of gratitude to the American bureau
of animal industry it would be difficult to
express. Your government has spent money
freely in expanding the field of its opera
tions. Its officials have given their ser
vices without stint. But the results are
extraordinary, even for such expenditures"
The speaker was DR.. Duncan Hutcheon, a
veterinarian Of the Cape Colony govern
ment and one of the most distinguished
civil officials of the South African service.
He has come to America to study the meth
DDS of the Department of Agriculture in in
vestigatihg diseases of cattle and sheep and
In preventing the spread of animal plaques.
When seen by a reporter for The Star last
night at the Shoreham he was making ready
to spend Thanksgiving day at the local ex-
pertinent station of the bureau of animal
industry and to leave tomorrow for Chica-
go to get what he terms "a birds-eye view"
of the American cattle industry by attend
ing the international stock show In that
city On December II he will sail from
New York for his home in Aberdeenshire,
Scotland, and by February he will have
returned to Cape Town.
Stands Well in Other Countries.
Your bureau of animal industry stands
wonderfully we'll in other countries. This
is due very largely to the originality Of its
methods and the pertinacity with which It's
officials have coped with veterinary prob
lens. But I cannot but think it is due in
very large degree also to the organizing
ability of DR.. D. E. Salmon. who has ere
ated the bureau out of a force Of one man
and who now directs all its operations, vast
and multiform as they are.
did you know that this American bureau
discovered and gave to the world one of the
most important veterinary methods now in
use? 1t came about during the prevalence
of what Is known as Texas fever among
American cattle. For long time no one
could discover the cause Of the disease.
Valuable cattle were dying by hundreds.
But two of your Yankee investigators
learned that all the cattle infected were
being bitten by peculiar kind of fly, and
with characteristic independence Of thought
began to inquire into the nature Of the in
sect and his habits with an eye to finding
ths responsibility for the contagion. They
learned, those two, that the fly was infected
with the germ Of the fever, that he bit the
cattle freely and that the cattle then caught
the disease. And on the basis Of that dis
covery the bureau of animal industry was
able to offset the ravages Of the plague
ana free American cattle from 1t for all
time.
had in mind when / spoke Of the worlds
debt to your bureau. By initiating your
American Investigations we have located
the cause of one of our South African cattle
pestilences-the tsetse fly. AS the passive
bearer of the organism of disease that in
sect's determination means as much to us
as the escape from Texas fever meant to
America. From that discovery by the
American bureau Of animal industry dates
the identification Of the surra insect in
India, the tsetse fly in South Africa, a
similar disease-bearer which infects sheep
and another which tnfects the dog, and
possibly a second cause of Infection among
sheep.
Frozen Meat in South Africa
'In South Africa these days nearly all Of
our fresh meat goes to the imperial army
in the field. For many months past the
provinces have been eating frozen meat
imported from Australia. By enactment Of
parliament that frozen meat is now sold
very reasonably. A duty Of I'd. to the
pound, formerly levied, has been suspended,
and mutton nows sells for Cd. or ID, and
beef from Sd. to a shilling a pound. There
is no lack Of meat and 1t all reaches the
consumer in good condition. Our methods
of packing meat in that part of the world
differ from the methods in use here. The
w--ole carcass is shipped as a whole and not
cut into quarters.
'In watching the sale of this meat I have
learned that the greatest sufferers through
the present disturbances in the Transvaal
province are not the Beers or the i'm
perial troops. but the loyalsts who former
ly lived in the Transvaal or in Orange Free
State. All the loyalists who could afford to
do so went to Europe at once. The others
were forced down into Cape Colony, with
out means and without any prospect Of OBJ
tanning profitable employment Govern
mental aid is limited to the families of the
Beers and the dependents of soldiers in
service. These people were forced, there
fore. to depend entirly on the charity Of
private enterprise. Some money has been
h1f no
man able to do manual labor can accept
any such help So men unaccustomed to
any such occupation are now at work with
the pick or shovel at As. or As and Cd.
day. They feel keenly the lack of SYM
pathy on the part Of the European press.
Loyalty doesn't pay they say with
shake Of their heads. 1 believe firmly these
people are the greatest sufferers of the war
Concentration Camps.
"a great deal Of misapprehension prevails
In Europe and elsewhere as to the accom-
modations given the Boer women and chill
dren in what are called concentration
camps 1 have made a considerable in
vestigation of those camps. I have also
heard from other scientists who have visit
ed the camps / have been unable to reach.
And 1 feel abundantly warranted in saying
that the sanitary arrangements of those
camps and their present operation are all
that could possibly be desired. There is
abundant room. There is abundant food.
There is no unusual mortality among the
adult inmates. These statements are sup
ported by several disinterested reports. The
only occasion for comment rests with the
infants and Is due to the spread Of measles
1t would be possible to prevent the further
contagion of those children If we could
separate them from their mothers, but such
segregation Of those liable to the disease
is not in any sense practical.
But did not mean to discuss these ques-
tions. ! intended only to say emphatically
what said in the-beginning, that all veter-
inarans, all students of animal industry
the world over, feel and acknowledge the
active leadership of you Americans in dis
covering the causes of animal disease and
in preventing it's spread"