Evening star., 1914-11-18
Other Commodities
Are Also Affected.

is prohibited, and milk shipped from
areas where infection might exist un-
discovered Is required to be pasteur-
ICED before it is used. No serious
scarcity of milk has yet occurred as
result of the epidemic. because of the
relatively small size of the infected
areas, but should the epidemic spread
much further. serious local shortages
In the milk supply might result The
regulations with regard to hides are
that they may be shipped from infect
ed areas. provided they have been dis
infected under federal supervision.
Thus. the hide business will not be
materially affected as long as more
drastic regulations are not found
necessary.
From the above, it will be seen that
the epidemic will probably cause no
serious Industrial disturbance. pro-
vided IT is successfully controlled. The
epidemic Of the disease are best illus
trated by the experience of European
countries, where 1t is much more COM
mon than in the United States. The
loss from this disease in England in
1888 was estimated at $6,000.000. 1t
has been found in England and other
European countries that when the dis
ease has become widespread, it is i'm
practicable to follow the method of
slaughtering all infected cattle. as this
ply to the famine stage. When it is
| sought to cure the disease, 1t has been
| estimated that the loss upon each ami
| NAL affected. which ultimately re-
| omy of slaughtering the animals while
the area Of Infection is small is read
lily appreciated In Germany an cpl
demic appeared in small proportions
in 1886. It was sought to cure the af-
fected cattle, and by 1890 1t was found
that 431.235 head Of cattle. 230,S6S
sheep and goats and 15s.s0s swine had
the disease. 1t cost the German gov
ernment nearly 100000 to stamp out
this epidemic, and It spread to France.
Italy, Belgium, Austria Hungary, Swift
! zerland, Roumania and Bulgaria.
In addition to the loss Of millions of
dollars upon the animals affected, a
widespread epidemic of foot and mouth
disease would mean the loss Of our en-.
tire export trade in live animals. and
| Interruptions of domestic commerce
which would surpass the loss caused by
the actual ravages Of the disease.
Nothing is known about the origin
of the present epidemic except that 1t
first appeared in southern Michigan:
cattle shipped from that state carried
the infection to the Chicago stockyards.
| and from this point II was distributed
| to many other states The origin of
| the epidemic of 1908. however. was ac-
curately traced. and is interesting as
showing how the infection may be car
| ried long distances. 1t was found that
a Pennsylvania firm had imported vac
cine virus from Japan in 1902, and the
germs OF foot and mouth disease were
| in this serum, and remained active
until 1908. In that year a Detroit firm
| obtained some of the virus. and with
| It fnoculated calves which were rented
from farmers near Detroit, for the pur-
pose of propagating the vaccine virus
| for human use. These calves were. OF
course, thus infected with the foot and
mouth disease. They were returned to
| the farmers, after the vaccine firm had
completed it's work with them, and
were sent to the Detroit stockyards.
from which they were distributed. car
ryine the disease into several states.
Realizing the possibility of thus
spreading the contagion by means OF
virus Intended for the cure of an
caeo have destroyed $1s0,00o worth of
hog cholera serum found within the
infected area.