Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-04-14
'TAX RECORD BROKEN|BLAME PUT ON cow
Good Showing Made Real Inquiry Into Spread of Great
Estate Collections. White Plague Proposed
FIGURES ARE ANNOUNCED RESOLUTION IN HOUSE,
Than Cent Infection
of Total Levy. and Cheese
MR. RUDOLPH IS PLEASED GOVERNMENT REPORT QUOTED
of tanned of
trctD rtments Agcutu Bule
Inquiry Into Spread of Great
White Plague Proposed.
RESOLUTION IN HOUSE
Infection From Milk, Cream, Butter
and Cheese to Be Probed.
GOVERNMENT REPORT QUOTED
Startling Figures and Facts Con-
tanned in Department of
Agriculture Bulletin.

| Startling statements are contained in a
resolution introduced in the House of
| Representatives today by Representative
Herbert Parsons of New York, propos-
ing an investigation by the committee on
, agriculture into the alarming spread of
the great white plague through the me-
dunn of infected milk, cream, butter and
| cheese.
1t appears from the facts set forth by
the resolution that tuberculosis will never
be controlled, and certainly never elm
mated, until there is the most rigid SUI
pervision Of these articles OF diet, partic-
ularly of butter, in which, 1t has just been
discovered, the germs of tuberculosis
thrive for 16O days
| An exhaustive investigation of this
whole subject has just been completed
by the bureau of animal industry OF the
Department of Agriculture. Mr.. Parsons,
obtaining an advance copy of the bu-
reau's report, introduced the resolution
Of inquiry.
Diseased Cow Is Blamed.
1T appears says the preamble of the
resolution, that the alarming prevalence
of tuberculosis in the human family i'll
all parts of the United States and the
District of Columbia and the prevalence
of typhoid and other diseases which en-
danger the public health, are due to a
considerable extent to the consumption
of milk and cream obtained from diseased
| cows and to the consumption of butter
produced from milk and cream which
contains tuberculosis and typhoid bacilli."
| The statement is made that tuberculosis
bacilli remain alive and virulent in but
ter or fnd ,f loy I,,r,
time they are always ready to multiply
| under suitable conditions. The resolu-
ton then goes on to say that more
than one sample out of every twenty
samples of commercial or market milk
from various diaries supplying milk to
the city of Washington were found to be
infected with tuberculosis bacilli, caus-
ing great danger to the public health"
The bureaus unpublished report on this
subject Celebrates this statement as fol-
lows:
1T was also discovered that dairies
which distribute milk infected with tu-
bercle bacilli do so internationally and not
continuously or uninterruptedly. For ex-
ample. one dairy tested on ten consecu-
tive days was found to be distributing
infected milk on the second. third and
eighth days. and milk apparently free
from tubercle bacilli on the remaining
seven days.
Intermittent Distribution.
when this intermittent occurrence of
the tubercle bacill in the milk from in
fected diaries is taken into. consideration
we may reasonably conclude that the
presence of infection in about 5 per cent
of the samples of milk examined at the
station Is much more serious condition
| than it at first appears to be. If it is
necessary to examine from three to five
samples OF milk from dairy in order to
determine the fact that the dairy is dis
trfbuting tuberculous milk. then the &C.
currence Of tubercle baciili in five sam
Piles among a hundred from 100 different
diaries implies that from three to five
| times five diaries, or from fifteen to
twenty-five among the hundred, intermit-
tently distribute tuberculous milk.
This is very important because the
number of infected diaries, rather than
the percentage Of infected milk, deter
mines the extent to which the public is
exposed to vfrulent tubercle bacilli
through the use of milk and dairy prod
ucts."
Another section of the report shows that
tests made in 1867 ION a large proportion
of the herds supplying milk to the city of
Washington showed that about IL per
cent of all the dairy cattle were infected
with tuberculosis. The bureau estimates
the annual loss from white plague among
dairy cattle at $23,OOO,OO0.
Eradication Worth Expense.
ITO overcome the great losses before
| mentioned, says the report of the
bureau, 'is worth considerable trouble
and expense. The benefits to follow from
| the eradication of tuberculosis from farm
animals are SO great and so obvious that
| the necessary expenditures, even though
they must be heavy. may be regarded as
a highly profitable investment"
Included with the report is a most in
teresting monograph on the subject of the
relation of the tuberculous cow to the
public health, in which the author, e, c.
Schroeder, NJ. D. v, says:
THE need for this inquiry is empha-
sized by the knowledge that the common
est and most important disease of cows
is also the commonest and most impor-
tant disease Of mankind. During
1905, according to the most reliable figures
obtainable, 10000 human lives were pre-
maturely. ended by tuberculosis in the
United States alone. and this enormous
number does not include the deaths has
tened by tuberculosis. but chargeable to
other immediate causes. EVERY one of
these deaths was due to infectious ma
terial that had its origin within and was
expelled from the bodies of tuberculous
persons and animals.
Milk is so often infected with tubercle
bacilli that unless we know 1t to be de-
| rived from cows that are certainly free
| from tuberculosis it is not safe to use II
| in a raw state. Tubercle bacilli in milk
are transferred to the cream. butter and
| cheese made from 1t and may occur in
these products in greater concentration
than in the milk from which they are
derived.
IAN excellent medium for the preserva-
ton of the life and virulence OF tubercie
! bacilli is found In butter by reason Of its
moist. bland. opaque character. IS
1.-The elimination of tuberculosis from
the dairy herd Is urgently requested, not
only because the protection of public
health requires 1t, but also because tuber-
culosis among cattle is a serious cause
of pecuniary loss. SO serious. indeed, that
| from the strictly economic point of view
| It must be regarded rs the most impor-
| tant problem that those interested in
| animal husbandry can undertake to
| solve"
| Bacillus in Butter.
The report Of the bureau adds that
1.-The testing of infected butter has been
continued. and in the later experiments
| Of this nature the conclusions reached
through former work have been confirm
ed. Tubercle bacilli will retain their vi