The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-21
FARMERS AID IN THE
 FOOT-AND-MOUTH FIGHT
Value of the Public's Help in Stamping Out the Plague Especially Marked in
 Indiana and in
 Michigan.


 quarantine from large areas pre- yiously closed and the modification of the Quarantines in still other sections, has been made possible, Federal au- thorftfes say, by the cooperation, not only of the various state officials, but of farmers and stocl1rnen themselves. Where this cooperation has been most in evidence, progress in the eradica- tion of the disease has been most rap i'd. The Federal authorities have of course control over the movement of live stock in interstate commerce only the local quarantines are established and enforced;by the state. Their efficiency depends in great measure upon the willingness of the people to submit to the necessary restrictions.
 Indiana and Michigan are cited as instances of the importance in this re- spect of public opinion. In Michi- gan, the first herd of cattle slaughter ed was on October 19. Cases of the disease existed in 5 Michigan coun- ties and in IS in Indiana. In all 3S" herds were affected. Sixty days later these herds had all been slaughtered and the infected premises cleaned and freed from disease In the interval there had been only a few scattering instances, half a dozen possibly of the plague spreading from these diff ferent centers of infection to neigh boring farms
 
 quarantine regulations but they did all in their power to expedite the work of slaughter. In many cases they had the ditches in which the an inaals were to be buried dug and wait ed for the killing gangs. As rule no objection was taken to the apprais- CTS valuation of the condemned stock. which is the more surprising in view of the fact that so little was generally known of the seriousness of the dis ease. The farmers did not want to part with their stock. They saw that the sore mouths and feet grew better and they had had no experience with the after effects of the pestilence-- the constant aborting, the failure to produce milk the ability to dissem- mate disease months after the visible symptoms had disappeared. Never. the1ess they accepted the situation helping instead of hindering.
 In only a very few cases was there any attempt to conceal the existence of the disease, in fact public opinion was so strongly against this that 1t was practically impossible to do so. In one instance, a man fed some skim milk from a creamery to a calf which later developed foot-and-mouth dis ease. It occurred to him to kill the calf and say nothing about the mat ter. The neighbors, however. ob- tained some inkling of the facts and notified the authorities. After he had been forced to admit that he had kill ed the calf the body was dug up and unInistakab1e marks of the disease found upon it. Within two weeks all the rest Of the herd was infected and had to be killed. In addition the owner was fined $40 or so for break ing the quarantine regulations. The sentiment of the whole community. i it should be noted, was against him.
 In another case in Michigan an in dividua1 with a weakness for dogs of which he owned five or six ignored the regulation which required all dogs | to be tied up in order to prevent their picking up and spreading the disease. With him as with the ca1f-owner it was the neighbors who objected. The | sheriff tied up the dogs and their l owner paid a. fine of $23. A week or l ten days afterwards he was punish ed more severely by the loss of all | his cattle which came down with the I disease and had to be slaughtered. There had been no previous outbreak I in that neighb borhood for three weeks | Although dogs. as in this case, and chickens unquestionably act as me- l ckanical carriers. in spreading the dis ease in Indiana and Michigan the I creaneries were found to be one o1 I the chief sources Of contagion. One of the first steps taken by the author 1 fties was to insist upon the cream I cries steriIizing the skinned milk land whey before these were return ed to be fed to stock. At the be-
 ginning of the campaign in Berrfer County. Michigan, there were at Ieas' TITO herds infected in an area. opprox- imately is miles long by 8 miles wide I1Of this infection TO per cent. wal traced to skinned milk returned bS the creameries. After the order re | quiring sterilization went into effect I one establishment allowed it's appa T ratus to get out of order and three | days went by before it was repaired
 Infection in 3 herds was traced t' the carelessness of these three days | In Allegan County, again, there wa one small herd affected, the owne
 of which was one of fifty-nine patron of a creamery. Though he delivered milk to it for only one or two days thi was sufficient to infect 21 herds ant it was considered fortunate that al of the 59 patrons did not suffer. From such experiences as thes I livestock authorities are more thai
 ever convinced that skim milk shoul' . invariably be sterilized.
 The danger from the foot-and mouth disease is of course a passini l one. Previous epidemics have beel stamped out and there is no reason to suppose that this one will not, be A Tuberculosis, however, is a perma nent menace. Its symptoms are no I Iso immediately noticeable and it l therefore more difficult to trace tn
 origin of the infection but there is n doubt that it is frequently dissennin
 ated in skim milk in the same. wa; that the foot-and- mouth disease, wa in the instances described Togeth 3 CT with the creameries, public sale \ lof live stock have proved themselve
 most dangerous agents in spreadin N foot-and- mouth disease. In Indian and Michigan the State authoritie : absolutely prohibited the holding 2 | such sales in or adjacent to area 7 1 where the disease existed Tn spread of the contagion in other state
 where this prohibition was not en 4 1 forced shows the value of the precaU ! ton but.it requires strong and deter