The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1914-11-26
NO CASES OF CATTLE
PLAGUE APPEAR HERE

| No additional cases of the foot
and mouth disease have been repor-
ted in the State of Washington, but
extraordinary care is still being uset
on the part of state inspectors.
Nothing to indicate that the dis
ease has penetrated to the Lynden
district has been reported thus far.
Manager Fl. Elenbaas of the Lynden
Creamery believes that the district
Is thoroughly aroused to the danger.
The following are extracts from a
report on the plague issued this
week by the United States Depart
ment Of Agriculture:
Both in virulence and in extent
of area affected the present out
break is more serious than any of
the five previous ones which have
occurred in the United States.
These previous outbreaks have
not been sufficiently serious either
to familiarize farmers with the
symptoms of the disease or to rem
der them fully alive to the losses
that 1t occasions when permitted to
most dangerous characteristics is it's
extreme cOntagiOusness. Not only
may it be conveyed directly from
one animal to another, but it may
be transported in fodder, picked up
from the ground and carried over
the country by cats, dogs and chick
ems, or communicated through the
agency of man. Cases have already
been found in which 1t seems cer-
tain that the disease was spread by
the curiosity of farmers to inspect
suffering animals. They returned
from these visits to communicate
the disease to their own previously
healthy herds.
The cOntagiousness of the dis
ease explains the action of the Fed
eral authorities In quarantining such
large areas. The practice is to clap
blanket of quarantine on the state
in which case of the disease mas
been found. and then, by careful in
vestigatiOn, determine the exact
area infected. When an animal
suffering from foOt-and-mOuth dis
ease is discovered in herd the
whole herd is at once slaughtered.
Otherwise it would remain a danger
Gus source of infection and be a
menace to the entire community.
1t is customary to appoint an apprai.
ser to value the herd. One-half of
the appraised value is paid to The
owner by the Federal Government
and one-half by the State. The
slaughtered animals are buried in
deep trench, their hides slashed TO
make it useless for anyone to dig
them up again, and the carcasses ar
saturated with quicklime. In this
manner previous outbreaks have
been completely stamped out and
there is every reason to hope that
this will be the case this year.
The chief danger is that there may
be infected herds whose existence
is not reported to the proper author
tiles. Farmers are therefore urged
both for their own protection and
as duty to their neighbors TO re-
port immediately all cases of suspic-
ious sore mouths or lameness among
their stock.
The mortality, however, by no
means represents the real losses
occasiOned by the disease. No reve-
nue. is possible from infected nerds,
and in the case of dairymen an out
break of fOOt-and-mOuth disease fire.
quently means that their business is
completely ruined.
What the disease means to those
countries where it has gained a real
grip is shown by the fact that on its
last serious outbreak in Germany
the German Government spent
$2,OO0,OOO in fighting it. In 1880
official statistics showed that In the
German Empire 421,235 head of cat
tie, 23O,S6S sheep and goats and
153,8OS swine were affected with
the disease. During the same year
the pestilence ravaged live stock in
France, Italy, Belgium, Austria
Hungary, Switzerland, Roumania,
and Bulgaria. In 1888 it was es-
timated that the disease acost Eng
land $5,OOO,00O. On the occasion
of the last outbreak in the United
States in 1908 100000 WIS appro-
priated by Congress, and with The
exception of a few hundred dollars
it was spent in stamping out the dis
ease. This of course does not in
clude the Indirect loss caused by the
interruption of business and other