The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-06-05
SURPRISING tuberculosis.

Some excitement has been aroused in
Chittenden county by the work of the
cattle commission in that section of the
State. If there is stir among the
owners OF the herds, the facts SO to the
condition of the herds the work of the
commission has developed ought to
arouse rafting breeze among the con-
sumers of dairy products.
Large numbers of cattle have been
slaughtered. Condemnation of the
work of the commission has been loud,
and some of the critics have been
fierce, but these expressions of disap-
proval, it seems to be generally under
stood, come rather from persons, own-
ers of herds, who with fear and trem-
bling are expecting visit from the
guardians of the public health, and who
are credited with sufficient reason, in
the probable condition of their cattle,
to fear the approach of the veterinary
and the authority of the State.
The dairymen who have themselves
been the losers by the condemnation
and slaughter of their herds are not
the complAinants. They express their
satisfaction with the doings OF the COM
mission, even when their action has
involved them in the loss of their herds.
There is trepidation among the owners
OF cattle who are expecting a call from
the State. One owner of large herd
took the the precaution to sell his stock
to purchasers 10 neighboring towns.
The prices were about the same as
the State pays for condemned cattle
which are found TO have been diseased.
Practically the entire herd was sold
at this rate, before the cattle COM
mission could test the animals and
ascertain their real condition. The
cows were driven away in the
night, To cloak the transaction under
the cover of darkness. They have
been found among the stock of farmers
in adjoining towns. The perturbed
owner, who foresaw and complained
that the probable action of the State in
his case would "n axe him poor man."
in his panic made haste to get rid of
his live stock, the sound as we'll as the
unsound, at price per head but tri-
file greater than the State would have
paid him for the animals that were act
ually found to be diseased. 1t was a
! case of the wicked fleeing prematurely
and involving himself in loss several
hundred dollars greater than he would
have suffered bad he submitted his
herd to the inspection of the State.
Some herds have been quarantined,
the owners being unwilling to subject
their cattle to the tubercolin test.
The commissioners have been petit
Toned to remove the quarantine, and
also to defer further work in that field
till fall. The board does not seem dis
posed to allow these petitions, but to
press its work to its legitimate conclu-
sion, and with good reason. 1t pro-
poses, further, to extend its investiga-
ton into the milk herds around Bur-
lington, to supplant private and indi-
vidual tests with tests bearing the au-
thority of the State of Vermont-for
the greater security of milk consuming
people.
The commission has been somewhat
hampered in its operations by inability
to procure tuberculin of the govern
ment in quantity to maintain continu-
Gus operations. In the last six months
about 1000 bottles of the preparation
have been used. A bottle will suffice
for the testing of six animals. This
circumstance indicates that the cam
paign has been somewhat arduous.
Whatever view a cattle owner here
or there, or a taxpayer more solicitous
for the size of the tax rate than the
health of bis neighbor, may take of the
work of the cattle commission, the gen.
eral public will exhort that body, and
its chief, Hon. G. j. Bell, to resolute
continuance in we'll doing. In this
view of the matter people will be
strongly confirmed, not only by nat
ural reluctance to using the milk and
butter of animals rotten with tubercu-
loais, but by repugnance to consuming
the flesh OF animals similarly diseased
which INSCRIPTIONS butchers may be
taking into their shambles and expos