establishment, finds its way to the uninspected places; and as the Federal law prohibits the interstate shipment of uninspected meat, it follows that the product of the numerous abattoirs which are without Federal inspection is sold and consumed within the States where they are located. Furthermore, this Bureau frequently finds preservatives in meats prepared by local butchers.

There is great need, therefore, for the States and cities to provide an adequate local inspection which will protect their people against these local establishments. Few States have done anything in that direction, and very few cities have an adequate and efficient inspection. In most cities where there is a municipal inspection it consists simply in an examination of the meat as exposed for sale in the markets and stores. Such an inspection is almost worthless. While it may result in the condemnation of a certain amount of unwholesome and tainted meat, the average purchaser is able to detect and avoid such meat for himself. What is required is an inspection that will protect the consumers where they can not protect themselves, namely, by guarding against the meat of diseased animals. This can be done only by having a sufficient number of competent veterinarians to inspect the carcasses at the time of slaughter, and this is a kind of inspection that very few cities have. Without such a local inspection the consumer can be assured of wholesome meat only by purchasing no meat except that bearing the Government inspection label.

PROGRESS IN SUPPRESSING DISEASES OF LIVE STOCK.

Gratifying headway has been made in the work of controlling and eradicating contagious diseases of live stock. Especially is this true with regard to sheep scab. During the fiscal year the quarantine on account of this disease was removed from two States (Idaho and Wyoming), and since the close of that period it has been removed from Kansas, Nebraska, and large parts of North Dakota and South Dakota. In the 12 States and Territories remaining in quarantine such good progress has been made that the amount of infection remaining is very small in all but California. The situation is so encouraging as to lead to the hope that considerable additional territory can be released during the coming year, and that the disease may be entirely wiped out within a few years.

The quarantine on account of cattle mange was removed during the fiscal year from parts of Kansas and Nebraska, and has since been removed from parts of North Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Parts of 10 States and Territories still remain in quarantine.

The work of exterminating the ticks which are such a detriment to the cattle industry of the South has been continued vigorously and

with good results. During less than three years of this work nearly 64,000 square miles of territory have been freed from these troublesome parasites. This is an area somewhat larger than that of the State of Georgia. This gives assurance of ultimate success, although many years will probably be required for the completion of the work. Much depends upon the amounts appropriated for this work by the States, as well as by the Federal Government, but more upon the assistance and cooperation of the cattle owners themselves, for without a fair degree of cooperation the eradication of the tick can never be accomplished.

HOG-CHOLERA VACCINE.

The vaccine or serum for the prevention of hog cholera, prepared according to methods worked out under the direction of Dr. M. Dorset, chief of the Biochemic Division, as described in previous reports, has been further tested in a practical way during the year and its efficacy has been still further confirmed.

In order to make this treatment available for general use, it is necessary that some arrangements should be made for supplying the vaccine to hog raisers. To prepare vaccine for the entire country, however, would be such a great undertaking that the Bureau does not feel warranted in attempting it. It is believed that the best way of accomplishing this object would be for the various States to prepare the serum and furnish it to citizens on such terms as may be thought proper. With this object in view, the Department invited a number of experiment station and State veterinarians to visit the Bureau's experimental farm near Ames, Iowa, so as to observe the method of preparing and applying the vaccine. At these conferences the opinion was generally expressed that the vaccine can be successfully used in the prevention and control of hog cholera; also that it was advisable for the States to make ample provisions for this very important work. In most States separate appropriation should be made for providing suitable laboratories and farms where the serum can be prepared by competent assistants under the supervision of the live-stock sanitary board or State veterinarian. Some of the State experiment stations have successfully undertaken to prepare and distribute the vaccine, and it is hoped that others will do likewise.

THE TUBERCULOSIS PROBLEM.

The most serious problem now confronting the live-stock industry is tuberculosis. This disease has progressed to an alarming extent and is undoubtedly on the increase, especially in States where no adequate measures have been taken against it. The recent agitation in favor of a more wholesome food supply has drawn attention to tuberculosis not only as it relates to the health of the consumer of

meat and dairy products, but as it affects the business of raising live stock in an economic way. Judging from the meat-inspection statistics and from records of the tuberculin test, it is estimated that more than 1 per cent of the beef cattle, 10 per cent of the dairy cattle, and 2 per cent of the hogs in the United States are affected with tuberculosis. The financial loss that is chargeable to this disease among farm animals amounts to no less than $23,000,000 annually. Both in the interest of the public health and for the financial benefit of stock raisers, it is time that more aggressive and systematic measures were taken to suppress and eradicate this disease.

During the past year the Bureau has been endeavoring, in cooperation with the authorities of Nebraska and Wisconsin, to trace the origin of animals found affected with tuberculosis in the meat inspection. The results of this work have been very satisfactory in the way of enabling the State authorities to locate and stamp out centers of infection. In Nebraska, for instance, in every case where diseased animals have been found in the meat inspection and their origin traced back to the farm, tuberculosis has been found among the live stock remaining on the farm. It is therefore evident that the meat inspection can be made an effective agency for discovering and locating the presence of disease, and it seems important that the meat inspection should continue to be intimately connected with the administration of any work for the eradication of tuberculosis as well as other contagious diseases of live stock.

In order to give general application to this plan of tracing the disease, it seems essential that the various States should empower their officials by law to require that shippers shall tag their live stock, especially cows, shipped for slaughter, in such a way that they may be identified and their origin determined.

The agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 1909 authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture "to investigate the prevalence and extent of tuberculosis among dairy cattle in the United States," and under this authority steps are being taken to collect such information. This should be followed, however, by systematic work on a large scale by the Federal and State authorities in cooperation, with a view to the ultimate eradication of tuberculosis from farm animals. This work to be successful will require many years and considerable expenditures, but there is no doubt that such expenditures will be a profitable investment, even if the subject is considered wholly from the financial standpoint. After more specific information is obtained as to the extent of the infection and as to the localities in which it prevails, the tuberculin test should be applied generally and systematically in the infected sections, this test being unquestionably the most accurate method of diagnosis known. The safest way of disposing of diseased animals is to slaughter them, but in order to make

the financial loss as light as possible it would be well to have such animals slaughtered at abattoirs having Federal or other competent veterinary inspection. In this way a large proportion may be safely passed for food and made to yield their full meat value, while only those whose meat may be dangerous to health will be condemned. It seems only reasonable that persons whose animals are condemned and slaughtered should be paid indemnity, at least in part.

An important step looking toward the suppression of tuberculosis in live stock was taken in the organization in New York City in March of an association of live-stock sanitary officers of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, with the special object of regulating and controlling the movement between those States of dairy and breeding cattle.

INADEQUACY OF STATE LAWS FOR DEALING WITH CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS.

Much of the Bureau's work for the control and eradication of contagious disease of live stock has been done in cooperation with State officers. In a few States the authorities are provided with both laws and funds for such work, but in a large majority of the States this is not the case. The Bureau has recently collected the laws of various States bearing on this subject, and it is found that in most of the States the laws are very inadequate for the protection of live stock against contagious diseases and that in most cases the appropriations are entirely insufficient for effective work. While many of the States have cooperated very effectively with the Federal Government in the eradication of sheep scabies, cattle mange, and the southern cattle tick, the lack of ability on the part of other States to do their share in such work has resulted in delaying its progress. It is very important for the success of such work, especially with regard to the cattle tick and tuberculosis, that the States concerned should enact laws giving adequate powers to their officers and should make sufficient appropriations for the work that is to be done. In work of this kind it seems reasonable and proper that the expense should be divided equally between the States and the General Government.

RANGE CONDITIONS IN THE WEST.

Much of the Bureau's field work is done in the range country of the West, and good opportunities are afforded for studying conditions in that section as they affect the live-stock industry. The conditions on the open range are unsatisfactory from the standpoint of both the stock owners, who desire to use it for grazing purposes, and the sanitary officers, who are combating contagious diseases of live stock. It is well known that, aside from the reduction of the area of public

range as a result of the taking up of homesteads, the grass on the remaining range has been so depleted that the number of animals which can be supported on a given area is much less than formerly. This condition is due to overstocking and misuse of the range. The range has been overcrowded, especially at certain seasons and in the vicinity of watering places, and the close grazing and tramping have in some places almost exterminated the native grass. It has also been found very difficult to eradicate or even to prevent the spread of contagious diseases of live stock on the open range, because the lack of fences or inclosures makes it practically impossible to control the movement of animals. This is especially true in the case of cattle mange, and if some more destructive disease should gain a foothold under such conditions it would undoubtedly cause enormous loss.

The best remedy for both of these conditions, in my opinion, would be the passage by Congress of a law regulating grazing and providing for the leasing of public range. By this means the range would be brought under definite proprietorship, and the lessees could exercise control over the land and would be encouraged to make improvements which would aid in conserving both the live stock and the range. Under such circumstances the enforcement of quarantine measures would be much easier.

ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY NEEDED FOR DEALING WITH CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.

Under existing legislation the Secretary of Agriculture has power to enforce measures for the protection of the live stock of the United States against the introduction of contagious diseases from abroad so far as they are liable to be brought in with imported animals or with hay, straw, forage, or similar material, or meats, hides, or other animal products from infected countries. There still remains, however, the danger that the contagion of some destructive animal disease may be introduced by the importation of virus or cultures of organisms causing such diseases. It is therefore respectfully recommended that Congress enact a law prohibiting the importation, except with permission of the Secretary of Agriculture, of any virus that may be infectious for domestic animals. It is not the intention to prevent absolutely the importation of virus and cultures from abroad or to interfere with any proper scientific investigations by responsible persons, but it is considered desirable to have all such importations subject to the control and approval of the Secretary of Agriculture in order to avoid the introduction and spread of contagious diseases by careless investigators..

Authority should also be given to build fences along the international boundary lines, in order to control the movement of live stock and prevent the introduction of contagion,