Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-10-11

dread disease, thus spreading it
among human infants, as well as
among the rising generation of calves,
the milk producers of the future.
"A large percentage of the beef sold
In the smaller butcher shops in the
State consists of the carcasses of
dairy animals which have suffered to
some degree from tuberculosis. The
annual economic loss to dairy farmers
and cattle breeders in the United
States because of tuberculosis is esti-
mated at $40.O00,00O."
The gravity of these statements.
uninitiated. is revealed by the char
acter Of the men and women over
whose signatures the alarming facts
were given to the public.
They were: DR.. Abraham jacob.
DR.. s. S. Goldwater, DIR. Walter Les
ter Carr. DR.. l.. Emmet Holt, DR.. c.
G. Kerley, DR.. Floyd M. Crandall,
DR.. r. w. Lobenstein, DR.. Franklin
Aorthron AopGtt DOMAIN IN Dr. c1tnn William drar p
DR.. N. r. Norton. DIR. Roland G.
Freeman, DR.. John A. Wyeth, DR..
Haven Emerson, DR.. Ira s. Vile, DIR.
Godfrey Pisek, DR.. Philip Van Ingen,
Dr.. q. II. BARLEY. DR.. Henry Dwight
Ghapin' DR.; Henry L. Goyt, Dr..
ews NoTtn Stephen dSnn0 e. Wlams, Wi Gnarifs Eight Fl
Rev. David H. Greer, the Rev. Walter
Laidlaw, Frederick w. Longfellow,
Walter w. Law, Henry Ives Cobb.
Franklin d. Roosevelt, John d.
Sake, Dewitt j. Seligman, John
s. McLane, Mrs. A. M. Palmer, Mrs.
Henry Willard and Mrs. J. Borden
Hartman.
Not only were the alarming truths
contained in the public utterances of
the New York milk committee thus
made public in a general way for
the first time, but they were also in
corporated in a protest forwarded to
the Governor and the Speaker of the
Senate and Assembly against certain
proposed amendments of the agricul-
tural law then pending before the
Legislature.
These amendments, which on the
surface appeared to indicate a con-
scientious effort on the part of poll
ticians to meet and offset the dangers
of the diseased COW, in reality offered
no solution to the tuberculosis prob
lem, and were intended to offer none.
The Governor and his associates
tests made by the New York State
Department of Agriculture in the year
1912 showed that over 10 per cent. of
all the cows tested were suffering
from tuberculosis.
That many of he herds had been
previously tested and that their own
ers desired them to be tested because
they believed them to be in particu-
larly good physical condition, indi-
Gated to the Governor quite conclu-
stvely that among the hundreds of
thousands of dairy cows known to
be in such poor physical condition
that their owners would not submit
them to a test the percentage would
run extremely high.
In this connection 1t was also
pointed out that 100000 is appro-
priated every year by the Legislature
of New York to reimburse the farmer
for animals condemned. taken from
him, and slaughtered on account of
tuberculosis
Under the operation of this pro-
vision the sick animals are voluntar-
| lily submitted by their owners to the
tuberculin test solely for the reason,
| as their owners frankly confess, that
| they would soon lose them through
disease anyhow, in which case they
would be unable to look to the State
for a slice of the indemnity pie.
Documentary proof was laid before
the chief executive and the law
makers at Albany. showing that the
owners of sick cows, ANXIOUS to OBJ
tain salvage on them at the expense
of the State, or desirous of selling
them while still alive under a clean
bill of health to an unsuspecting
dealer in some other State, had only
too frequently conspired in this man
ner against public welfare.
1t was pointed out by the New York
milk committee that the fund of $780,
/ 900 was distributed chiefly among GER
fni in on1 Iof
sessing strong political influence, and
that the tests on which the distribu-
| ton of this sum of money was based
covered but per cent. of the total
number of cows in the State, the other
9S per cent. remaining untested, un-
molested, and uncontrolled.
Our investigation" declared the
, New York Milk Committee. 'indi-
Gates that among the half million tu-
| bercular cows now to be found in the
State of New York 200, 900 are spread
ers. 1t is through this source of in
fection that the pitiable condition of
thousands of children under ten
years of age and the fatal illness of
scores of adults are to be traced"
Following the publication of these
statements cattle dealers gathered in
Albany from all parts of the country
In an endeavor to show the lawmak-
ers that Notwithstanding the facts re-
vealed by the New York Milk Com
mittee, physical examination" was
all that was needed as public health
measure.
To support this declaration the cat
tie men again dug up their old stand
by and informed the Legislature that
''the truth had been grossly exag-
gerated and the tuberculin test had
! failed anyhow"
The deadly relationship which these
facts bear to the dairy situation of
every other State in the Union gives
to them an Importance the gravity of
which urges the application of reme-
dies which public health authorities.
unless supported by an enlightened
public sentiment, are reluctant to
employ.