Evening star., 1938-12-23

slogan that the
only reason the United States backs
the Pan-American Union is because
she wants the lions share of the
South American trade.
This year the anti-European feel
Ing is a reflex of the revolutionary
forces and methods of Germany and
Italy.
The meaning of the meeting at
Munich has begun to penetrate to
the leadership of all the South
American countries and this Con-
.gress is going to see welding of
American forces that will be a more
genuine expression of a common in
terest than any we have known.
A delegate said to me eff we could
only get the United States to treat
Argentina fairly on the subject of
her quarantine of the foot-and-
mouth disease it would be easy to
enjoy relationship with Argentina
more cordial than we've ever known"
For several years I had heard sim
liar expressions frequently. So l
. determined to set forth exactly the
facts of this long controversy and
show how little of it remains I'M
settled.
Extremely Contagious.
| The foot -and-mouth disease comes
from an elusive germ which is con-
tagious in its effect upon cattle,
sheep and hogs.
In a herd of cattle affected by it.
per cent die, dairy COWS lose their
calves and go dry. Steers lose their
appetite and are divested of their
weight. 1t takes those which do not
die year in which to recover.
Fortunately the disease does not
affect the public health. Consumers
Of meat infected by the disease may
eat it safely.
Hence the subject is economic to
start With-although it has become
somewhat political owing to the
almost unanimous determination of
American stock raiSers to make the
Argentine quarantine 100 per cent
effective regardless of everything.
This American rejection of Argen-
tine cattle and fresh meat followed
the outbreak of the disease in the
United States during 1929. The raw
ages were peculiarly severe in Cali
fornia and Texas, where the losses
were in the neighborhood of $25,-
100000, rs per cent of which was
borne by the State and Federal gov
ernments and 25 per cent by the live
stock owners. We had suffered pre-
Vious outbreaks, all traceable to Ar
hut of
'the worst and the stockmen, raised
to fury by their losses, demanded
that it be the last.
Disease Mostly Endemic.
1t was determined that we would
not establish even an experimental
work on the subject. We didn't want
any germs around, even in labora-
tories.
1t was decided upon scientific re-
search that the disease is endemic in
most of Argentine, and over practi-
cally all of Europe. England has
periodic outbreaks among her fine
herds. We decided not to allow the
disease to become endemic in the
United States.
Congress passed resolution there
fore that we would not allow the i'm
portation of live cattle or fresh meat
from any country where the foot and
mouth disease is endemic.
In vain Argentina asked us to re-
iieve the rigo-s of the administra-
ton, pointing out that she shipped
her beef to England in periods when
the disease was apparently under
control. Our answer was that Eng
land had to take the risk if she eats
Argentine beef There is always a
shortage of beef in England In
the United States there is no short
age. Why take the risk on Argen-
tine beef? England, moreover, suf-
fers periodic outbreaks as the result
of the risks she takes. If in the
United States We should get the
outbreaks as frequently as does
England, we'd risk loss of $780,
100000 a year.
Argentina then said that there
were zones in her republic where the
disease is not endemic and that we
were excluding meat from those
sections, using the quarantine regu-
lations as mere pretext to keep
meat out.
Pledged to Zone Preference.
At the Montevideo conference we
pledged ourselves to program that
would give zone preference, as Ar
gentina requested
The United States Bureau of
Animal Industry found that Pata-
gonia was the only zone entitled to
the preference. 1t is bleak, arid
and windswept, producing only NUT
ton.
A treaty resolution backed by one
animal industry and the State De-
partment favoring this zone is now
in the Senate. 1t has been kept
back. The American livestock in
dustry fights it, and the American
public misbelieves that it involves
the whole quarantine subject.
AS a matter of fact, if this resolu-
ton to which the United States
delegation pledged itself at Monte
video were adopted by our Senate
and we got all the mutton pro-
duced in Patagonia it would mean
SO the estimates of the Bureau of
Animal Industry show-only
ounces of mutton per year to each
American. 1t now costs % cents
per pound to lay mutton down in
New York from Patagonia, and NUT
ton has sold there recently for 16
cents a pound.
The entire controversy is now
limited to the issue of Patagonia,
and It Is no issue.