The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-12
Letters to the Editor
Shipping Cattle From Alabama

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 Since there are those who say there will never be any demand for the shipment of cattle out of Alabama, I wish to call their attention to few instances where 1t would have been profitable to Alabama to have been ticll-free and on world market.
 MT. Ayecocl of Selma had made sale of high-bred Jersey COW to go 10 h. diana. He could not make the sale be- cause the federal authorities would not permit it.
 Bates & Tanner of Hamberg took the best show herd of dairy cattle to the Tennessee fairs in 1910 and were com pelled to return this herd to Alabama after showing at two. fairs because of the federal quarantine regulations.
 MT. Burt Daughiney from the Standing Rock country of South Dakota called on me at Auburn and requested a permit to ship 600 to 500 Alabama cattle to South Dakota This will be taken up with the federal authorities. He is willing to build a dipping vat and dip these cattle twice and hold them until cleaned of ticks if the government will permit the shipment. He wants the cattle to put on his pas lures and sell them next fall or winter on a world market In other words. tnis Is first call from Alabama for pasture cattle, feeders and stalSers. Can Ala bama supply this demand or this call? No doubt about it if there were no ticks and no federal quarantine, and we were on a world market. But suppose he were permitted to ship after dipping and clean ing the cattle of ticks, who pays for it? He pays for cleaning the cattle of ticks and therefore pays less for the cattle. Consequently the farm selling price is correspondingly reduced. This means that the farm selling price is from $1 to 50 less per head than it would be were the cattle in ticlk-free, non-quaran- tined region. Just now l have calls for help in tick eradication work In num- bers of places, counties and on individ- ual farms. A call from the Jackson Lum- Der company at Lockhart wants man to put in dipping vat A call comes Tor special work in Etowahs county. An other call for plans and methods to keep cattle and pastures free in Bullock coun- ty Another call with petition from Ma con county states that the state should take up the work in that county. Some of the counties in which the work is being conducted are not supplied with state men, The county and the federal gov ernment are doing the work because the state has not appropriated sufficient funds to help on the work.
 The report has been circulated that the government would not lift the quarantine if the county is cleaned Of ticks and that county lies below the federal quarantine line. Before the state, counties and the federal government started the work In Alabama I took this matter up with the federal authorities, and we have the spe- citic statement that the federal quaran- fine will be raised from any tick-free county in Alabama. When the pesky boil weevil gets in it's work in an Alabama county there will be such demand for something to bring relief that we shall have insufficient funds to help the strick- en territory or county. If we are ready for future emergency demands and pres ent requests it will be because there are state funds available. c. A. CARY,
 State Veterinarian.
 Auburn, April 10, 191l.'