The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-01-15
Farmers AID IN FIGHTING
FOOT AND mouth Disease
The Value of the Public's Help in
Stamping Out the Dreaded Plague
Is Especially Marked in Indiana
and Michigan

quarantines from large areas previous
ly closed and the modification of the
quarantines in still other sections has
been made possible, federal authorities
say, by the cooperation, not only of
the various State officials, but Of farm
ers and stockmen themselves. Where
this cooperation has been most in evil
denee, progress in the eradication of
the disease has been most rapid. The
federal authorities have of course con
troll over the movement of live stock
in interstate commerce only; the local
quarantines are established and en-
forced by the State. Their efficiency de-
pends in great measure upon the will
ingness 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 Michigan
the first herd was slaughtered ON Octo-
Der 10. Cases of the disease existed in
fifteen Michigan counties and in eight
cen in Indiana. In all $50 herds were
affected. Sixty days later these herds
had all been slaughtered and the infect
ed premises cleaned and freed from
disease. : In the interval there had
been only few scattering instances,
half a dozen possibly, of the plague
spreading from these different centers
of infection to neighboring farms.
The people not only observed the
quarantine regulations but they did all
in their power to expedite the work of
slaughter. In many cases they had the
,taha
be buried dug and waiting for the kill
ing gangs. AS rule no objection
was taken to the appraiser s 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 disease. 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
disseminate disease months after the
visible symptoms had disappeared.
Nevertheless they accepted the situa.
tion, helping instead of hindering.
In only very few cases was there
any attempt to conceal the existence
of the disease, in fact public opinion
was so strongly against this that it was
practically impossible to do so. In one
instance a man fed some skim milk from
creamery to calf which later de-
veloped foot and mouth disease. It oc
Cured to him to kill the calf and say
nothing about the matter. The neigh
bors, however, obtained some inkling of
the facts and notified the authorities.
After he had been forced to admit that
he had killed the calf the body was
dug up and unmistakable marks of the
disease found upon it. Within two
weeks all the rest of the herd was in
fected and had to be killed. In addi-
tion the owner was fined $40 or so for
breaking the quarantine regulations
The sentiment of the whole community,
1t should be noted, was against him.
In another case in Michigan an in
dividual with a weakness for dogs of
which he owned five or six ignored tho
regulation which required all dogs to be.
tied up in order to prevent their pick
ing up and spreading the disease. With
him as with the calf owner it was the
neighbors who objected. The sheriff
a fine of $23. A week or ten DAYS aft
erwards he was punished more severely
by the loss of all his cattle which came
down with the disease and had to be
slaughtered, There had been no pre-
vious outbreak in that neighborhood for
three weeks. Although dogs, as in this
case, and chickens unquestionably act
as mechanical carriers in spreading the
disease, in Indiana and Michigan the
ereameries were found to be one of the
chief sources of contagion. One of the
first steps taken by the authorities was
to insist upon the creameries sterilizing
the SKINNED milk and whey before
these were returned to be fed to stock.
At the beginning of the campaign in
Berrien county, Michigan, there were
at least 40 herds infected in an area
approximately Is miles long by 8 miles
wide. Of this infection 20 per cent.
was traced to SKINNED milk returned
by the creameries. After the order re-
quiring sterilization went into effect,
one establishment allowed its apparatus
to get out of order and three days went
by before it was repaired. Infection
in 33 herds was traced to the careless.
ness of these three days.
In Allegan county, again, there was
one small herd affected, the owner of
which was one of fifty-nine patrons of
a creamery. Though he delivered milk
to it for only one or two days this was
sufficient to infect 21 herds and it was
considered fortunate that all of the 50
patrons dfd not suffer.
From such experiences as these live
stock authorities are more than ever
convinced that skim milk should in
variably be sterilized.
The danger from the foot and mouth
disease is of course a passing one. Pre-
vious epidemics have been stamped out
and there is no reason to suppose that
this one will not be. tuberculosis, how
ever, is permanent menace. Its symp-
toms are not SO Immediately notice.
able and it is therefore more difficult
toftrace the origin of the infection but
there is no doubt that it is frequently
in skim milk in the same
way that the foot and mouth disease
was in tho instances described. Togeth-
er with the creameries, public sales of
live stock have proved themselves most
dangerous agents in spreading foot and
mouth disease. In Indiana and Michi-
gan the State authorities absolutely pro.
hibited the holding of such sales in or
to areas where the disease ex-