The log cabin Democrat., 1917-03-23
BOARD POWfRLFSS
 10 SET ASIDE LAW FOR TICK ERADICATION
Dr. Martin Nelson of University States Position of Board of Con-
 trOl on Cattle Dipping.

Fayetteville, Ark, March 21, 1917. Editor Log Cabin Democrat:
 l am informed that persons in your county are circulating and signing d petition, asking to be relieved from compulsory dipping of cattle against the cattle tick. 1 have been request ed to make a statement that you might use in your paper. Conse- quently l will take the opportunity to make few brief statements.
 l First, let me say that the board of control has absolutely no power to set aside the law requiring tick erad- ication. The board is as much bound by the law as is the citizen in your community or any other county of the state.
 Second, let me say that there will be very few cattle ticks left in Ark ansas at the end of two years, if the citizens of the state are reasonably favorable to tick eradication. With out one iota of thought for boast ing, l will say that public sentiment in Arkansas and all over the south is so strong that there is no power within our state, including the board of control, that is capable of preventing Arkansas from being cleared of ticks.
 Third, l wish to say that whatever stories are circulated locally in diff ferent communities regarding the in jury of cattle from dipping are all wrong. Cattle are not injured if the usual precautions are taken, and all those precautions will be fully set forth when the work of the dipping begins. The fact is that ticks of all kinds, lice and parasites that sap the blood of animals are all destroyed, and the cattle actually gain under dipping conditions. As far as pos sible dipping vats will be so placed that people will not have to drive long distances in warm weather The most important thing, however, to consider in matter like this is that every man will have valuable cattle when ticks are cleaned up. They will grow better, do better, be worth more to the extent of several dollars per head, and the benefit of this work will be realized over and over again every year after the work | is done. People often fail to realize that death of cattle is, in large ma jority of cases, due to the Texas fev- CT, caused by the ticks. They do not take into consideration the fact that ticks keep cattle down, even l if they do not take Texas fever. I am sure they do not realize how much more cattle will sell for locally and in St. Louis and Kansas City markets when they are free from ticks.
 There is no question in my mind that the moment cattle of average quality are freed from ticks and ticks removed from that section so that they will not get back upon the cat tie, that those cattle are actually worth $500 per head more than be- fore. This means that the man with a few head of cattle is paying tre- mendous tax to the cattle tick every year, and if he loses cattle outright, which he is likely to do, the price he is paying for keeping the ticks is increased to the extent of his loss. As citizen of the state, with no power to nullify any law, and inter- ested in the welfare of every com munity, I wish to urge that every community get together and help to rid that community of ticks, which can be done in one season, and the trouble will all be over and every in- dividual citizen will be pleased with the results. No one single thing can be mentioned today that counts for so great loss to our people as the presence of the cattle tick. Those who are interested and want infor- nation regarding the detail of the work should write to Dr. R. M. Cow, or Dr. A. E. Wright, Little Rock, Ark. Yours very truly,
 Martin Nelson, Dean and Director