The Coolidge examiner., 1941-03-21

meat inspection division, the gov
ernment inspected meat we eat is
Tree from disease, decay and dirt;
and the animal pharmaceutical OK
tracts your physician prescribes
such as insulin, thyroid, and pepsin
come from healthy animals. The
Departments record of scientific
achievement ranks very high. II
was one of the Departments work
ers, Theobald Smith. who proved
in 1890 that cattle fever was trans
mitted by ticks Not only was his
discovery the first step in the
victory over a disease which once
carried off more cattle than
thieves, but it first established the
new familiar fact that insects
transmit disease germs.
On this discovery rests the dis
covery of the role of the mesquite
in yellow fever and the successful
attack upon that disease as we'll as
upon malaria. typhus, and African
sleeping sickness. 1t is a saying
we'll liked in the Department that
without the Departments work on
the Texas cattle fever, which led to
the discovery that insects trans
mitted small protozoans, the Pana-
ma Canal could never have been
built. A second important discovery
by the Department, the discovery
that animals may be immunized by
injections of sterilized cultures or
dead bacteria, led to incubation
for typhoid in human beings.
In the general field of botany Is
the recent discovery that it is not
the mere passage Of time or the
approach of autumn which causes
a plant to bloom or form fruit. but
the gradual change in the length
of the day. With this knowledge
and with mechanical control of
light, plants from different lati-
tudes which could not previously
have been cross-pollinated may
now be bred together.
Most Americans think of Ameri-
can field crops as native. They are
no more native than the Ameri-
cans. Only tobacco and corn OF the
principal species, were here before
us.
The early wheats and beans
and the like were introduced as
the human strains: by chance. But
the Department has brought In
new plants. The trees which pro-
duce s1OO,OOO.OOO worth of Cali
fornia navel, organes every year
are direct descendants of 2 foreign
trees introduced by the Depart
ment in 1873. The soybean was
imported by the Department from
the Orient and Sudan grass, now
worth about $2,000,O00 year, was
brought in from Africa.
It is not too much to say that
without the Departments work In
discovering, importing, and breed
ing new plants. without. for inst
ance. the new plants which, enable
the farmer to push his field crops
farther north and new cattle when
permit him to pasture his herds
farther souh, the Agricultural map
of the United States would be en-
tirely different, with large areas
either implanted or planted less
profitably.
But the Department does not
stop here. 1t also wrestles with
the farmers economic problems
The AAA, which was generally
taken as a revolutionary departure,
merely followed in a well tramped
path.
For years the Department mas
supplied farmers with crop reports
which help them to avoid glutted
markets and to plan their activi-
ties with some foresight. In addl-
tion It has attacked problems pre-
sented by surpluses of farm pro-
ducts. The AAA, in taking over
4
these problems, is simply going on
with the established work Of the
Department
Not always has theDepartmen'
met with cooperation which they
now enjoy. Some years ago IN
Georgia, an inspector OF the
Bureau of Animal Industry order
ed a group of farmers to dip theil
cattle for ticks. Suspiciously, the
Georgians watched him mix the
solution. Still more suspiciousiI
they looked on while he drove the
animals through the vat. Aftel
the last cow had been dipped, sc
the story oes, one of he farmers
wheeled and shot the inspector.
There have been other instances
| of opposition to the Bureau a.
bigoted and sensational. Dlppint
vats have been dynamited; gun:
have been used to force inspectors
off the premises. In New Yori
State a die-hard old farmer killed
all his cows just before the We
terinarian arrived to administer
the tuberculin test.
Such ignorance and suspicion
however, have been generaii!
overcome by the Bureaus agent'
during their SO year campaign tt
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