THE
| Foot and Mouth Disease
In Hlinois
Its Cause, Character, Cost and
Eradication
BY
American Experts in Veterinary Medicine and Animal
Husbandry before the Iilinois General Assembly
on January 19, 1915
COMPILED AND PRINTED BY
The Secretary of State, Lewis G. Stevenson |
By Authority of the General Assembly of Illinois |
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THE
Foot and Mouth Disease
In Illinois
ite Cause, Character, Cost and
Eradication
BY
American Experts in Veterinary Medicine and Animal
Husbandry before the Illinois General Assembly
on January 19, 1915
COMPILED AND PRINTED BY
The Secretary of State, Lewis G. Stevenson
By Authority of the General Assembly of Illinois
ILLINOIS STATE JOURNAL Co., STATE PRINTERS.
SPRINGFIELD, ILt,
1 915
My (Of ee
DEC 23 $948
INTRODUCTION.
The Illinois General Assembly, on the afternoon of January 19,
1915, considered. the foot and mouth disease among the live stock herds
of this State.
Herein is contained an account of that session, including the
addresses delivered by animal husbandry and veterinarian experts called
in to advise the General Assembly as to the character and course of the
disease and the most approved, efficient, and economical methods of
stamping it out.
Secretary of State, Hon. Lewis G. Stevenson, presided and intro-
duced the following speakers:
Hon. Edward F. Dunne, Governor of Illinois.
Prof. V. A. Moore, Dean of the Veterinary Department, Cornell
University, Ithaca, N. Y.
Dr. C. J. Marshall, Professor of Veterinary Medicine, University
of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Prof. H. W. Mumford, Professor of Animal Husbandry, University
of Illinois, Urbana.
Dr. S. E. Bennett, Inspector for the United States Bureau of
Animal Industry, having charge of the work in Illinois, Washington,
iD: C:
Dr. U. G. Houck, Inspector for the United States Bureau of Ani-
mal Industry, Washington, D. C.
G. A. Gregory, Editor, Prairie Farmer, Chicago.
H. E. Young, Editor, Farmers Review, Chicago.
J. Brown, Editor, Drovers Journal, Chicago.
Every speaker endorsed summary slaughter as the most effective
and economical plan. Those who had had experience in combating the
disease declared that the quarantine method has never proved satis-
factory, but on the contrary has been even more expensive in the end
than direct loss through slaughter would have been.
The concensus of opinion of these speakers, both experts and lay-
men, was that Illinois’ authorities had adopted the proper course when
they began to kill infected and exposed stock. No criticism of the
campaign waged by Illinois officials was even intimated. Many urged
them to proceed with even greater dispatch and thoroughness to eradi-
cate the epidemic by this drastic measure.
They referred to the suddenness and the extensiveness of the out-
break which has taxed the resources of both Federal and State govern-
ments.
The very limited number of inspectors in the Federal and State
services who had had sufficient experience to diagnosis the disease
readily should always be taken into account in any discussion of the
early treatment of this scourge in Illinois.
4
Another fact of the greatest importance was brought out by Prof.
Mumford, when he said that the general situation throughout the country
is well in hand, and there is little uncertainty as to the outcome, except
in Illinois, where the contagion has been most virulent and extensive.
“Already,” said he, “more than 500 herds have been exterminated.
Of the herds reported diseased less than 25 remained alive on January
12, in addition to the National Dairy Show cattle, held in quarantine
for experimental purposes.”
In these addresses will be found a conservative and dispassionate
dicussion of all the questions which the epidemic has raised, not only
in the minds of the laymen, but of the stockmen as well.
The reasons for slaughter as against quarantine, why quarantine is
not effective but is as expensive as slaughtering, the duty of the State
to reimburse the owners of slaughtered stock, the seriousness of the
disease in its effects on the general public, even to those most remote
from it, how and where it touches our food supplies and diminishes our
accumulations of material wealth, the characteristics of the contagion,
the many ways in which it may be disseminated, its history in this
country, the means which have been taken to combat it without
slaughter; these, and many other subjects will be found fully and
intelligently treated, in this little book, by the highest and best authori-
ties in veterinary medicine and animal husbandry in the United States.
For these reasons these addresses are printed by the Secretary of
State, under authority of the Forty-ninth General Assembly of Illinois.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1915, 2:00 O’CLOCK P. M.
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.
House met pursuant to adjournment,
Secretary of State L. G. Stevenson in the Chair.
THe Cuarr: The House will be in order.
I believe that every person in this House recognizes fully that the
live stock interests of the State are in serious danger, and unless some-
thing is done, radically, vigorously and immediately, it will soon be in
a condition which money cannot change. The disease has been success-
fully dealt with in several counties. The Federal Government, as I
understand it, has entire charge of the quarantine, and our State, under
the direction of the State Veterinarian, Mr. Dyson, is actively cooperating
with the Federal Government.
This matter I know has caused Governor Dunne an immeasurable
amount of anxiety as it has also all others who are deeply interested in
the welfare of the State. I know also that he has consulted many
eminent authorities regarding the method of treatment—quarantine and
the so-called slaughter—and, without exception, every man he has con-
sulted has approved the course of the Federal and State governments.
Further than that, the Governor and the Board of Live Stock
Commissioners have gone outside of the State and invited to address us
men eminent in their line, men who have had extensive experience with
this disease, and one or two of them have successfully coped with it.
These gentlemen will address us later and I am advised will be glad to
answer any questions which are pertinent to the situation.
It is my pleasure to introduce a man who has devoted his time
untiringly to the solution of this problem—Governor Dunne [ Applause].
GOVERNOR Epwarp F. DUNNE. .
Gentlemen of the Senate and the Assembly:
Last Friday, I believe, or Thursday, a committee of this House, or
rather members of this House—because I recognize the fact that the
House is not yet organized—but several members of the House who
are either stock raisers themselves of who are very much interested in
the stock raising industries of this State were kind enough to call upon
me in my office in this building to consult with me with reference to
the course that has been pursued, and the course that is being pursued,
and the course that will be pursued in the effort to eradicate the hoof
and mouth disease in the State of Illinois. At that conference it was
suggested by these gentlemen that it might be wise if I could place at
the disposal of the House and members of the Senate, such infor-
mation from scientists as might be at my disposal, so that the farmers
and stock raisers of the State of Illinois, through their representa-
tives in the Assembly, might be informed of the present status of the
6
treatment of the foot and mouth disease and what would be expected
in the future. I told them with much pleasure that I had just antici-
pated some of their requests; in other words, prior to that time I had
extended an invitation to Dean Moore, dean of the veterinary college
attached to the University of Cornell, in Ithaca, New York, and Mr.
Marshall, State Veterinarian of the great state of Pennsylvania, who
had had the experience derived from two struggles in the past with
the foot and mouth disease ; and that I was about to invite Mr. Goodwin
of the “Breeders’ Gazette,” who, while not an expert, because of the
fact that he owned, edited, and managed a paper devoted exclusively to
the live-stock interests of this State and the Northwest, was a man that
probably was as well informed upon the scientific status of this fight
as any one.
I am pleased to say, gentlemen, that I have here today with me,
prepared to lay before you their views on the subject, Dean Moore and
Mr. Marshall, and a telegram of regret from Mr. Goodwin. I feel that
you could not get better scientific information in the United States
outside of the Federal department—The Bureau of Live Stock Industry
at Washington—than the information you can get from these scientists.
Mr. Goodwin telegraphed me that he could not be here and I would
like to read his telegram as showing what he thinks of the course pur-
sued both by the Federal and State authorities in the management of
the foot and mouth disease. It is addressed to me and dated January
14th:
“Am just leaving with my family on my winter vacation and
cannot go to Springfield as you request, and could not qualify as
an expert witness. The policy adopted by the Federal and State
authorities in dealing with the foot and mouth disease will be
supported strongly by the Breeder’s Gazette.”
“W. R. Goopwin.”
As you are all aware, gentlemen, this outbreak took place about the
first of November and I want to say to you that it did not originate in
the State of Illinois. The disease entered this State from Southern
Michigan and Northern Indiana and was suddenly discovered in the
Stock Yards at Chicago. Immediately upon the discovery of this
disease in the State of Illinois both the Bureau of Animal Industry at
Washington and the Live Stock Commissioners of this State and Mr.
Dyson, the State Veterinarian, promised coordination for the purpose of
promptly treating this disease and, I believe they have done so with
great success. I did believe about the 20th of last month—owing to
the fact that we had most of the tainted herds of this State exterminated
and placed under ground, and the herds that were infected and not
slaughtered did not exceed 20 in number—that we had the foot and
mouth disease under control. I anticipated that I would be able to
say to you in my message, when this body is organized and when I can
deliver that message to you, that we had it under control and that it
was practically exterminated in the State of Illinois.
Since that time, however, things have somewhat changed. The
disease, to our great surprise, has spread, and my last information—
twenty-four hours ago—is that there are about twenty-five or twenty-six
herds still affected in the State of Illinois.
it
The policy pursued from the start, as I have been advised, is the
only successful, scientific, and thorough way of exterminating the foot
and mouth disease. So I am advised by the Federal authorities, through
their representative, Dr. Bennett, and so I am advised by the State
Veterinarian, who, when he was appointed, I ascertained had as good
credentials and qualifications for the position as I could find in the State
of Illinois as a scientist in that line. The advice given to me from the
start has been that to successfully exterminate the foot and mouth dis-
ease it is necessary to slaughter not only every animal infected but every
animal in the herd that has been exposed to the infection, and that
policy has been pursued, acting upon the advice of the scientists, from
the time when we first discovered the outbreak in the State of Illinois
down to the present time. In carrying out that policy it has occasioned
some discontent, some uneasiness, some dissatisfaction. I do not wonder.
When I was first told by the scientists, about the first of November, that
it was necessary to kill every animal in the herd when only one or two
was infected I was shocked. I did not think it could be possible that
that was the only way to treat this disease and exterminate it, but I
have learned since that time from every scientist that I have consulted
that that is absolutely the only safe way to treat this disease. I have
been informed in the great empire of Great Britain that they started by
quarantining the affected herds and that it was found to be a failure, and
that the British government, following the precedents established by this
republic, now insists, in its treatment of the foot and mouth disease, that
not only the animal affected but every animal exposed has to be
slaughtered and placed under the ground.
It is not a new question to the scientist of this country, although it
may be new to some of us. This is the sixth outbreak of this epidemic
in the United States, and on five different occasions the Federal authori-
ties have combated this disease, and on different occasions they have
succeeded in eradicating it, but only by the slaughter of the entire herd,
both those affected and those exposed to the infection.
Gentlemen, I am glad of the kindly invitation extended by this
conference of members who waited upon me, and I am very glad to
place at the disposal of this body such scientific information and such
knowledge as these gentlemen possess, because you and I and all of us
want to do what is best for the stock raising interests of the State of
Iljinois and of the United States.
It is not a question alone for the State of Illinois. This epidemic
has already affected 18 states and because of its wide-spread character
and the excessively contagious character of the disease I have reached
the conclusion that it ought to be a matter of National rather than State
concern. If war were declared upon the United States the Federal
Government, under the Constitution, would be compelled to take up the
defense of this country and not leave it to the individual states. The
foot and mouth contagion has declared war upon the cattle raising
industries of the United States and I believe it so wide-spread and of
such a National character that the matter ought to be handled by the
Federal Government in case of future outbreaks of this character, and I
am pleased to say, my friends, that from the start to the finish, so far
as the attempt to suppress the foot and mouth disease in this State,
8
there has been entire coordination and harmony between the Federal
and State authorities, and there doesn’t seem to be any difference of
opinion between these authorities that the only way to exterminate this
disease is to slaughter every animal which has been exposed. That is
the only issue before us and you and I want the stock raising industries
to understand it.
It has occasioned great losses to all the farmers, and the Federal
Government has tendered, pursuant to its past policies, one-half of the
losses of the farmers, and I have urged our two United States senators
to expedite that appropriation so that these moneys which are to be paid
out by the Federal Government are paid out as soon as possible. Out
of due courtesy to the Legislature I do not want to anticipate my mes-
sage, but I can properly say that I have made certain recommendations
in my message in relation to this matter, so far as the State of Illinois is
concerned, that I think will meet with the entire approval of the cattle
raising industries of this State.
I will ask, my friends, that you now hear from the gentlemen who
have made a study of this matter and who are professionally much better
able to present their views upon this matter than I or any other un-
trained or unscientific person can, and I will ask Dean Moore, of the
Veterinary College of the University of Cornell, to address this house
upon the issue. [ Applause. |
Gentlemen, the professor has been dean of the veterinary college
of the University of Cornell for the last six years, and he has written
several treatises on these diseases, one of which I had the pleasure of
reading.
Proressor V. A. Moore, Dean of the Veterinary Department, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York.
Mr. CHairMAN: When I was invited to be here today it was my
understanding that I was to appear before a committee and be questioned
rather than to make an address to a body of this kind. However, on
consultation with the Governor and State Veterinarian, it seems to be
their wish that I make a statement to you concerning the foot and mouth
disease.
Foot and mouth disease, while new to the people in the middle and
farther western section of this country, is not new to the veterinary
profession. It is supposed to have had its origin in the Orient and to
have gradually traveled westward until by the middle of the eighteenth
century it had spread over the entire continent of Europe and to the
British Isles. Since that time great effort has been made on the part
of the European governments to eradicate it from their countries. It
has on five previous occasions made its way to this country. These
occurrences were in 1870, between 1880 and 1883, 1884, 1902, 1908,
and 1914.
Foot and mouth disease is perhaps the most easily spread infectious
and communicable disease of domesticated animals. It attacks chiefly
ruminating animals and pigs, although other species are not entirely
exempt from it. It is caused by some specific agent, the exact nature
of which we do not know. It will pass through a Berkfelt filter and
9
for that reason its cause is known as a filterable virus. It is an eruptive
fibre and belongs to the class of exanthematous diseases akin to small-
pox, measles, scarlet fever, and the like. It begins with a rise in tem-
perature, which after one to two days is followed by the eruption of
vesicles on the lips, gums, inside of the cheeks, and tongue; in cows on
the teats and on the inter-digital spaces; in swine it frequently does
not attack the mouth. In a few days these vesicles break, leaving a raw
and usually deeply reddened surface. After the vesicles have broken the
characteristic of the disease has disappeared and its diagnosis becomes
more difficult. Unlike other infectious diseases of this class, immunity
following it is very slight; cattle often suffer from a second attack within
a few weeks.
The period of incubation is said by most authorities to be from three
to six days. In the present outbreak evidence has been accumulated to
show that it may be much longer.
Another point of interest is the rapidity with which the disease
runs its course and the promptness with which the lesions in the mouth
will disappear. The mortality is very light. It is given by different
authorities at from one-half of one per cent to ten per cent, but occa-
sionally there are outbreaks in which the mortality is very high. The
sequelz of the disease may be varied. While many animals recover, a
considerable percentage of them develop abscesses in the udder and in
other cases the hoofs drop off. This latter seems to be particularly true
of hogs.
While the disease is not in the beginning very serious the secondary
lesions that follow, together with the loss of milk and flesh during the
disease, render it one of the most serious of the infectious diseases of
animals.
Dr. Cope (Seventh International Congress of Veterinary Surgeons,
Baden Baden, 1899, vol. I, p. 184) stated at the International Veteri-
nary Congress at Baden Baden in 1899 as follows:
“Tt is true that foot and mouth disease rarely assumes a fatal
character, but the fact that nearly all classes of animals on the farm
are susceptible renders the neighborhood losses much greater in the
ease of foot and mouth disease than rinderpest or pleuro-pneumonia.
which only affect cattle. In my country, where it has existed for at
least 50 years, it has caused enormous loss and inconvenience,
greater than that of all the other contagious diseases combined.” —
This is an exceedingly important statement when we eall to mind
the statement of Dr. Gangee, that because of the neglect on the part of
the British government, rinderpest and pleuro-pneumonia had cost Great
Britain and her colonies more than four hundred million dollars.
Hafner stated, at the same congress, concerning the ravages of this
disease in southern Germany, that:
“Foot and mouth disease had prevailed almost continually in
Germany for a long series of years and it had caused losses much
greater than all other episodic diseases combined. It had also been
found that the disease, instead of following a benign course as
formerly, had, during recent years, become very malignant. In fact
in numerous sections hundreds of cattle had suddenly died and
certain estates had lost from a third to a half of their stock.”
10
The seriousness of the secondary lesions that follow this disease
may be understood from the following statement from the report of the
outbreak in New England in 1902 (Report of Bureau of Animal In-
dustry, 1902).
“Tn Massachusetts a number of herds were preserved which
had the disease in a mild form and which had apparently recovered
at the time the inspection was made. In about one-third of the
cases where the owners afterwards came in with the statements that
relapses had occurred with their animals, some were again affected
with a formation of vesicles and most of those had abscesses in the
udders which made them unfit for milk production. At the time
these cattle were slaughtered the udders of many of them were so
distended with pus that they were ruptured as the animals fell and
discharged vast quantities of this liquid.”
In order to show that the general character of the disease is not
‘ always mild it should be stated that it was not until 1875 that it was
classified in Denmark as a “malignant, infectious disease.” It is now
regarded in that country as one of the most harmful diseases among
domesticated animals and the greatest efforts are now being made to
keep it in check.
In addition to the serious udder and feet trouble, Professor Bang
makes the further statement :
“Tt may be added that in nearly all outbreaks some cows con-
tract inflammation of the udder, with the result that many of these
cows become more or less worthless for milking; some cows get a
malignant and persistent hoof complaint which weakens them gen-
erally. Furthermore a number of young calves and pigs die, as well
as adult animals occasionally; abortion is also liable to occur; and
all this without taking into account the emaciation caused by the
disease. There is thus every reason for treating the disease and
doing everything possible to prevent its gaining firm footing.”
It is important to understand the means by which this disease is
disseminated. As already stated, it is one of the most infectious diseases
of which we have knowledge. As the virus or “seed” of the disease is
discharged from the infected animal, it is readily understood that the
diseased animal is the most important means of carrying the infection.
It is also recognized, and very extended experiments by Professor Hess
of Berne, Switzerland, prove, that animals that have recovered from the
disease are still able to transmit it for a variable length of time. Pro-
fessor Hess found that animals that had apparently recovered gave off
the germ of the disease five months later. Here, then, we have a carrier
exactly similar to the typhoid carriers, or the diphtheria spreaders, of
which you are all familiar. In addition to the diseased animals and
those that had apparently recovered the germs of the disease are trans-
mitted frequently on the clothing of men who are caring for them, and
by pigs, cats, and birds. As the germ is able to live for a considerable
length of time it can be carried)on hay, grain, feed bags, or any other
articles that may come in contact with the diseased animal. Milk from
infected herds and milk cans that have come in contact with such animals
also spread the virus, It is necessary, therefore, that every article that
sat
may become contaminated by the diseased animals should be kept away
from sound cattle.
Although the cause of foot and mouth disease is not definitely known
it has been shown that it will be destroyed in the saliva of the diseased
animals when it is kept at a temperature of 37 degrees centigrade for a
short time, but it has been known to retain its power to produce disease
for a period of several months when kept at zero temperature centigrade.
The economic importance of foot and mouth disease is not gener-
ally understood. Because it has a low mortality, people sometimes think
it is of not much importance. Professor Bang has pointed out that
where dairy cows recover, the cost from the loss of milk, etc., in Ger-
many, has been 50 marks (‘Twelve and one-half dollars). In the Nether-
lands it has been shown that it cost $20 for every sick animal that
recovered. Prof. Bang has pointed out that “there are many instances
of the disease developing a very malignant character, with a mortality
of from 5 to 50 per cent among adult animals, and from 50 to 80 per
cent among young animals. Malignant foot and mouth disease of this
kind is most apt to attack dirty and overcrowded farms, but they may
also occur under favorable hygienic conditions. ‘The disease may also
occur in a very malignant form with numerous sudden deaths reminis-
cent of anthrax. Such epidemics have been observed in many different
countries, both in former and recent times. In 1839 2,000 head of
cattle died in the cantons of Berne and Fribourg in Switzerland; in
1872 in the French Department of Nievre, more than 20 per cent of the
calves and over 22 per cent of the pigs were destroyed by the disease
in the course of two months. In the summer of 1892 there died in
Bavaria, over 3,000 head of cattle, and in 1896 in Wurttemberg, 1,500;
at Barcelona, in Spain, there died in 1901 50 to 70 per cent of the
young cattle. In Transylvania 711 out of 7,498, or 9.4 per cent, were
destroyed in 1899.”
He also mentions a number of other places in Europe where the
mortality ranged from 10 to 50 per cent. He then continues:
“However, it is not these apparently rare cases of great mor-
tality that cause the chief trouble. It is the acutely infectious
nature of the disease which makes it so serious. When it is left
alone it spreads to an enormous number of farms and with the
present quick and easy means of communication it might quite
easily extend to nearly all the farms of a country or province, with
the result that the aggregate of numerous small losses represents
in the end an enormous sum. ‘Thus the loss suffered by Germany
in 1892, when over 1,300,000 head of cattle, over 2,000,000 sheep
and goats, and over 400,000 pigs were reported to be infected, was
estimated at over one hundred million marks ($25,000,000). And
this year, 1911, the loss is sure to be much greater.”
The most important question before the people of the United States
is the method of control. There are but two methods that are possible,
namely, quarantine and eradication by slaughter. The quarantine
method is the one that is adopted in Europe, and after years of trial it
12
was reported at the International Congress at Baden Baden im 1°99,
by Hess, of Berne, who stated:
“The diseased animals should be destroyed completely, includ-
ing the heads and hair, and the exposed slaughtered under police
supervision.”
Dr. Cope, of England, speaking of an outbreak in that country,
says:
“Tt was eventually stamped out in the County of Kent by the
purchase, slaughter, and burial of several of the affected flocks.”
Prof. Dammann, of Hanover, at the same Congress mentioned,
said:
“Without an absolute quarantine of the infected farms, pre-
venting even the movement of persons, the control of foot and
mouth disease is not to be thought of”; “but this measure,” he says,
“cannot be executed.”
He further said that the
“very severe requirements of the sanitary law has not succeeded
in eradicating the disease, and notwithstanding the quarantine of
the infected stables, reinforced in many cases by the quarantine of
districts and even of a large zone around these ; notwithstanding the
very extended prohibition of animal markets and the supervision
exercised over the abattiors, dealers, stables, and railroad cars, the
disease continued to prevail.”
We have, then, the evidence that in countries where the disease has
grown up its control has been found to be impossible through any quar-
antine that can be imposed, and in place of this Huropeans have recom-
mended slaughter of infected and exposed animals and a thorough dis-
infection of the infected premises.
In view of the unsatisfactory experience in Europe under the quar-
antine system, this government adopted the policy of permitting erad-
ication by means of the slaughter of the infected and exposed animals.
This was first apphed in the outbreak in 1884 in Portland, Me.; it
was successfully employed in the 1902 outbreak in New England, and
in the 1908 outbreak. It is this method that the government has adopted
in the present most serious of all outbreaks in the United States. It
has been largely successful and it is believed that it will be entirely so.
There seems to be no other way by which this disease can be rooted out
of the country, other than to destroy every carrier of the virus and the
disinfection of all contaminated places. It should be clearly under-
stood that in eradicating this disease the first cost is the least. Should
foot and mouth disease be allowed to remain in any section of this
country it would cause a quarantine to be placed upon the whole coun-
try by other nations, and in this country it would very likely cause the
state or states in which the disease continued to remain, to be quar-
antined by other states. We cannot afford to have the disease in our
land. ‘Thrice it has been entirely eradicated by this method, and there
is no reason to expect that for the fourth time it will not be entirely
removed from this country, and the lessons that I hope we have learned
from it will enable both states and Nation to adopt such measures in
the future as are necessary to forever keep it away.
13
I thank you for your kind attention and trust that these somewhat
rambling remarks on the nature and control of this disease may be of
some assistance to you. :
QUESTIONS ASKED MR. MOORE.
Q. I would like to ask the doctor what effect this disease has on
sheep and horses?
A. Foot and mouth disease is a disease of the cloven-footed ani-
mals; they suffer more than the other animals. Horses are said to be
affected at times, but they are not so susceptible, apparently. Now, one
claims that these animals will contract the disease if they are infected,
but because of the habits of horses they have rarely become infected ; but
I believe it is generally considered a disease of cattle, sheep and swine.
Q. There is one school of scientists who believe that the only cure
and the only way to prevent the spread of this disease is by slaughter.
I want to know whether there is another school of scientists, who, if
they were addressing a body such as this, would claim that it was not
necessary to slaughter the infected animals, but that the disease could
be cured and checked by quarantine?
A. I don’t know of any body of that kind. There is this fact that
Dr. Law says, that he believed that if a quarantine sufficiently rigid to
prevent the escape of the virus from the infected premises could be
maintained long enough for any virus left on the recovered animals to
die out, that it would check the disease. It is difficult, in fact impos-
sible, to state what percentage of herds there would be in which the
subsequent infections would not develop, and under these conditions
he believes that the disease could be controlled by quarantine; but as
pointed out by Prof. Dammann and others, in a country where there is
a much better control of the people than in the United States, such a
quarantine is absolutely impossible.
Q. Who is Dr. Law?
.A. Dr. Law is at Ithaca. He came there in 1868 and was pro-
fessor of veterinary medicine there until 1896, when he was appointed
dean of the veterinary college and held that position until six years
ago when he retired. He is now 76 years old.
Q. Did you succeed him?
A. I succeeded him as Dean of the College; yes, sir.
Mr. Stevenson: Dr. C. J. Marshall, Professor of Veterinary
Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, is recognized by all readers of
Live Stock Journals as authority on all matters pertaining to live stock
sanitation. He is peculiarly well fitted to address us today, inasmuch
as he has entirely eradicated the foot and mouth disease in the State of
Pennsylvania on two occasions.
APHTHOUS FEVER.
By C. J. Marswaxu, State Veterinarian, Pennsylvania.
In the fall of 1908, there was an outbreak of foot and mouth
disease in Pennsylvania. It originated in Michigan and was carried to
various parts of Pennsylvania by cattle shipped from Buffalo. There
14
were eight separate and distinct points of infection received about the
same time. The infection extended over an area of 100 miles in length
-and in the part of the state where animal husbandry is most extensively
practiced. ‘The infection was found on 100 farms, 1,320 head of cattle,
877 swine, 52 sheep and 3 goats were diseased or exposed to the infec-
tion. They were appraised at $57,702.49, promptly killed, buried, and
the premises were disinfected. The cost of disinfection averaged about
$100 per herd. All told this outbreak cost a little over $86,000. The
Federal Bureau of Animal Industry and the state paid the balance. It
required three months to stamp out the disease.
The state was then free from aphthous fever for a period of six
years. In the fall of 1914 another outbreak occurred which was much
more extensive. ‘Two herds were quarantined in Lancaster County on
October 23. One affected animal was discovered in the Pittsburgh stock
yards on the same date. These yards were quarantined on the 24th of
October. Since that time the disease has been found in 27 counties on
about 650 farms. We have destroyed something over 10,000 head of
cattle and 6,000 hogs. The total expense will run close to $750,000.
The plan adopted in the previous outbreak was to locate diseased
herds, place them in quarantine, appraise all cloven-footed animals on
the premises at full market value whether diseased or not, kill and bury
them under 6 feet of earth, disinfect the premises and hold the premises
in quarantine for six weeks after the disinfection. This work was all
done in a period of three months. Some did not agree fully with this
policy, yet there was no serious objections that delayed or hindered in
any way the progress of the work. There were not sufficient funds in
the treasury at the beginning of the outbreak to meet the obligations.
The money was promptly appropriated by the legislature. The Federal
and state governments were able to pay all just claims in a short time.
The management of the outbreak was satisfactory to all parties
concerned.
When the present outbreak occurred the members of the State
Live Stock Sanitary Board voted unanimously to handle it practically
in the same manner that had been successfully followed in the previous
trouble. There has been very little opposition to the work of eradication
this time. The only object in nearly every case has been to clean out
and clean up as soon as possible. The work has progressed rapidly. At
the present time there are but four known infected herds in the State.
These we hope to bury and finish all the disinfection by the end of
this week.
We are in entire sympathy with this plan of handling the disease
and approve fully of what the Bureau of Animal Industry is doing to
exterminate it. It may be possible to work out some better plan to
handle future outbreaks if they should occur.
With the work so nearly completed in all infected states we feel
that it would be a mistake to adopt any other plan at present. We
realize that the disease is not highly fatal and that recovery will take
place in a high percentage of eases without even a learned course of
treatment. It is one of the most highly contagious diseases of cloven-
footed animals and while the death rate is comparatively low the losses
to animal industry are considerable. The disease has gained a foothold
in nearly all European countries and it is practically impossible for
15
them to adopt our method for exterminating it. All countries except
the British Isles handle it by close quarantine. It is necessary to hold
infected herds in quarantine for something over three months. A recent
investigator in the Netherlands, where the disease is common, has shown
that it costs practically $20 per head in each infected herd to handle the
disease in quarantine. This is the best they can do after many years
of experience in trying to control it by the quarantine method. Their
expense is figured on the loss in milk production, loss in condition of
meat producing animals, loss from work in oxen, death from the
disease, and extra care given to those that are sick. It is doubtful if
a herd owner in this.country could afford to have aphthous fever in
his herd for $20 per head. If this method were adopted there would
be constant unrest in the neighborhood. It would be necessary to
increase the inspection force to locate new centers of infection. ‘The
quarantined herds should be under constant Federal or state super-
vision. Neither the state nor Federal Government could be expected
to remunerate the owners for losses sustained during the course of the
disease. It has been demonstrated in all foreign countries that this
method will not exterminate the disease. We cannot hope to do some-
thing that they have failed to accomplish. It will take us years to
develop veterinary sanitary police regulations for handling aphthous
fever by the quarantine method that is as good as theirs. “We cannot
afford to even experiment with it. It would be a calamity to the cattle,
swine, and sheep industry of this country to have this disease get beyond
our control.
Every state should be prepared with laws, rules, regulations, agents,
and money to fight aphthous fever, rinderpest and all other trans-
missible diseases of live stock. The fight should be determined and
persistent. A herd owner should not be a menace to his neighbors and
no state should send aphthous fever, hog cholera, tuberculosis, elanders,
ete., to other states to jeopardize their live stock interests. This can be
prevented to a great extent if each state will do its part. It can’t be
done without efficient official supervision and a strong public sentiment
on the part of herd owners in favor of genuine cooper ation with Federal,
state, and local authorities.
Mr. Stevenson: There is no man in the State of Illinois, whose
influence goes farther than that of Dr. Mumford, Professor of Animal
Husbandry. at the University of Illinois. I am a farmer myself and for
six years I have gone to Champaign for two weeks each winter to listen
to his lectures on stock raising. I feel I can say without exaggeration
that the breeders and feeders who have followed his advice during the
last few years have now profited greatly.
A CRISIS IN THE FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE SITUATION.
By H. W. Mumrorp, Professor of Animal Husbandry, University of
Illinois.
(Communication from the Agricultural Experiment Station, Uni-
versity of Illinois.)
There are two sides to every question upon which men differ honestly
and at present there are differences of opinion between many of the
16,
cattle owners on one side and the Federal Bureau of Animal Industry
and Illinois Live Stock Commission on the other regarding the best
method of combating foot and mouth disease. The Agricultural Experi-
ment Station recognizes that this is a crisis and feels that a clear state-
ment of both sides may aid the public generally to a better understanding
of the present situation.
A brief outline of preceding events may serve as an introduction
to this statement. Spreading from a single point in Michigan the foot
and mouth disease was distributed from New England to Montana
within a month and it was plain that if not checked it would reach
practically every herd in the country within a short time.
The Federal Bureau of Animal Industry and the various State
Live Stock Commissions who are charged with handling such matters
were not organized to control an outbreak of such magnitude. At that
time there were but few men in the United States available as inspectors
who had ever seen a case of this disease. Under such circumstances it
is to be expected that mistakes in diagnosis would be made. Starting in
late October with what seemed a practically hopeless situation the centers
of infection have been located and removed until the general situation
is now well in hand and there is little uncertainty as to the outcome
except in the State of Illinois. Here the infection had been heaviest
and something over 500 herds have been destroyed in combating the
disease in this State. Of the herds reported diseased less than 25
remained alive on January 12, in addition to the National Dairy Show
cattle held in quarantine for experimental purposes.
Where even a single animal was found diseased the entire herd has
been slaughtered and the Federal authorities have agreed to pay one-
half of the appraised value of the slaughtered animals, there being an
understanding, but no legal provision, that the State would pay the other
half. The large financial loss incident to this slaughter and the uncer-
tainty created in the minds of other cattle owners as to the possibility
of their being the next victims have created a very panicky feeling in
many communities.
The cattle owners feel that they have been made to bear unneces-
sary burdens by this program of universal slaughter. They point out
that in many of the herds, particularly in the National Dairy Show
cattle, the effect of the disease is so slight as to be hardly noticeable to
the casual observer and the death rate has been extremely low. They
urge that a way be provided for saving the cattle, particularly in the
cases where the herds represent the results of years of careful breeding.
There is also dissatisfaction on the financial side. The appraised
values, while not seriously below the market value of the ordinary ani-
mal, do not cover the breeding value of the animal or the disorganization
of the farm business which has resulted from the destruction of the
herds. The latter is especially important upon the dairy farms where
the farm plan calls for a herd to consume the forage. Where the cattle
are destroyed they cannot be replaced under present conditions both
because the traffic in cattle is stopped and because it would be unwise to
at once restock the infected farms. Accordingly the crops can not be
consumed upon these farms as usual. On the other hand, there is no
market for these forage crops because of the danger that they may trans-
mit the disease. As a result of the loss of their cattle and the market
1’
for their crops such dairy farmers are losing heavily, if not facing actual
financial ruin.
Neither does. this valuation cover the accessory expense and inconve-
nience incident to the destruction of the herds. In some instances weeks
have elapsed between the date of diagnosis and slaughter and another
long period before the final disinfection of the premises. During this
time a strict quarantine was maintained which hampered the people
upon the farm and prevented obtaining assistance for the necessary farm
operations. This quarantine has been continued in a modified form long
after the final disinfection. Finally the money promised by the govern-
ment has not yet been paid and the State has as yet had no opportunity
to provide for payment of the other half.
However, the foot and mouth disease must be recognized as one of
the most costly animal scourges. In many herds in this State the disease
has appeared in a mild form and consequently many stockmen have not
realized the seriousness of the outbreak. The fact is that when stripped
of all exaggeration it far exceeds either tuberculosis or contagious abor-
tion in the havoe which it works and the ease with which it is spread.
It produces little or no immunity so that ravages of the disease occur at
short intervals. With the present narrow margin of profit in the meat
and milk business, the carrying of the additional burden of foot and
mouth disease would be impossible without a rise in the price of both
milk and meat. Accordingly if the disease became general the burden
of this new state of affairs would fall not only upon the farmers, but
upon the consumers as well. Since the various elements of cost have
now forced meat to an almost prohibitive price, there is reason to expect
that this added cost would seriously cripple if not practically destroy the
fat stock industry of this country. There is no question, therefore, but
that it would be good business policy to spend vastly more than the
present struggle has cost rather than settle down to foot and mouth
disease as an added burden to the animal industry of these United States.
The objection to quarantine as a method of combating the disease
is that it is both difficult and expensive to maintain, especially when the
disease is so extremely contagious. Such a quarantine is now being
maintained in connection with the Dairy Show cattle at Chicago and
notwithstanding the unusual value of the animals the expense has been
so great that it is a question whether the owners would not have been
better off had they accepted the appraised value of the cattle in the
regular way and submitted to slaughter at the beginning of the outbreak.
On an ordinary dairy farm the expense of maintaining an efficient
quarantine coupled with the difficulty in marketing the product would
make the quarantine method of handling this disease more expensive
than the present slaughter method. The apparent recovery of the Dairy
Show herd has been so frequently referred to as a successful result of
the quarantine method of handling the disease that it seems desirable
to point out that the careful and rigid quarantine maintained and the
sanitary and professional care with which the cattle have been surrounded
would be absolutely impossible on the average farm.
Even where quarantines are carefully conducted they become a
menace to the surrounding farms because the infection can be carried in
—2 M
18
>
a mechanical way by birds and by hunters as well as by cats, dogs, rats,
mice, and rabbits. The difficulty of maintaining an effective quarantine
is such that any attempt to do so on a large number of farms would be
practically equivalent to abandoning the effort to eradicate the disease.
The present outbreak of foot and mouth disease does not differ from
those which have preceded it in any way except in being originally more
widespread and consequently more difficult to suppress. The method of
procedure which is now being employed is precisely that which has been
successful in suppressing previous outbreaks and the results thus far
attained indicate that the present outbreak can be controlled by this
means.
Under such circumstances it seems the plain duty of all who have
the welfare of the live stock interests at heart to unite in supporting the
effort to eradicate foot and: mouth disease from this country.
Mr. Stevenson: Dr. 8. E. Bennett represents the United States
Bureau of Animal Industry and is now in charge of the work of the
Federal Government in the State of Illinois.
In response to a request from the Governor and the Live Stock
Board he has agreed to tell us the Federal Government’s attitude in
this matter. ;
Dr. 8. E. Bennerr, Inspector for the United States Bureau of Animal
Industry in [lhnois.
Mr. CHatrMAN: This is one of the greatest pleasures of my life—
to be here this afternoon. Now, I have always wanted to go into some
legislative hall and look over the members of the Legislature. I have
had the impression that legislators—from cartoons I have seen and
articles I have read about you—were men going about seeking whom
they might devour, and a great many of you, from the newspapers and
cartoons, may have the same impression of us. I am agreeably surprised
this afternoon to see so many bright and intelligent faces.
I am here to represent the United States Government, but would
rather be out in the field working than doing this. The policy of the
United States Government has always been, in matters of this kind,
very radical, and I think I am one of the most radical representatives
they have.
It has been my good fortune, or misfortune, to have “butted” into
three outbreaks of the foot and mouth disease. I was sent to Massachu-
setts at one time, and had been there only a short time when the foot
and mouth disease broke out, and wherever I was sent they had an out-
break of that disease.
Afterwards I was sent back West, and was on a trip East and
stopped in Buffalo, six years later, where they had another outbreak of
the foot and mouth disease. I had a nice easy job in Indiana, and last
fall they transferred me to Chicago. JI was thinking what a nice time I
was going to have in Mr. Shurtleff’s district, getting rid of tuberculosis,
and then I ran into the foot and mouth disease again.
19
Generally the policy we have adopted has been a radical one. We
think the only thing to do in a case of this kind, is to slaughter and have
a very strict quarantine. We know, of course, it causes a great many
' people a good deal of inconvenience. We do not contend that this
disease is necessarily fatal. Statistics show that ordinary forms of the
disease probably kill about 3 per cent of the animals infected. That is
not the question. The question we are contending with right now is
whether we want another animal disease in this country that causes such
an enormous loss. We have various diseases that affect the live stock—
tuberculosis, anthrax, measles, and hog cholera—and various other dis-
eases that affect live stock in this country. You perhaps do not know
that about 15 per cent of all hogs that go to Chicago are affected with
tuberculosis; 6 per cent of all cattle that go there are affected with
tuberculosis, and that 3 per cent of all cattle are affected with measles.
It has been estimated that the outbreaks of cholera have cost the swine
breeders of this country about $65,000,000 per year. We do not think we
need another disease in this country at all; we think we have all we can
handle and pay for, and what we are trying to do right now is to prevent
the foot and mouth disease from getting a permanent foothold. You have
heard from the other gentlemen that this is a serious proposition, although
it does not kill the animal except in a few instances, and we have come
to the conclusion that quarantine in a country as free as ours is prac-
tically impossible. You cannot get a farmer to tie up his cattle and
take the necessary precautions that are required to keep this disease in
check. He will get away from it in spite of anything you can do. That
has been the experience of all the countries where this disease has been
found. It will be our experience. We have not the sanitary police
organizations that they have in other countries. We have been successful
in coping with the disease heretofore, and have stamped it out in every
instance. We have just now the largest outbreak we have ever had; it
has appeared in 18 states, and in the State of Illinois alone we have
slaughtered 539 herds of cattle. It appeared in 53 counties. Thirty-
three have already been cleaned out and we are working in the other
counties. We are inconvenienced a little in this work at the present
time, owing to a little unpleasantness, but hope to have that adjusted
pretty soon. We are also having isolated cases reported here and there,
but most of the difficulty is now in three counties, where we have met
with the most opposition. It is not our intention, gentlemen, to anta-
gonize the farmers. Of course, in a great many instances they have
received bad advice and they have not come, probably, to the proper place
to get straightened out, but in every instance where we have had an
opportunity to talk with these farmers and explain our object we have
had no difficulty with them. We have assured them that they will get
their money from the government, and we have assured them that any
property we destroy in the matter of cleaning and disinfecting, any feed
and fodder that belongs to them, they will be reimbursed for, and when
they understand it in that way, we discover that they as a rule are a
pretty good bunch of people. They realize the importance of this thing.
I know it looks pretty hard, and probably I understand as well as any-
body what it means to a live stock producer to have a fine herd of cattle
led out and slaughtered, but at the same time it means a whole lot more
to a great many other people in case we do not eradicate this disease.
20
And when we think of the enormous value of the live stock interest in
this country, if it costs the United States Government $50,000,000 to
eradicate the foot and mouth disease, the money is well expended. For ,
this reason we must have cooperation from all sides, and we must have
hearty cooperation. If the farmers are badly advised by people that
probably do not have their interests at heart, only to a certain extent, it
necessarily works a hardship upon them, as well as everybody else. We
have an example of that in Bureau County at the present time. From
all indications from what the farmer has told us he had the disease
about six weeks ago. It was not reported and his cattle became sick
again. He got cold feet on the proposition and sent for some one, and
now he is convinced that there is something to the disease. We have
this information from him. He tells us the cattle are in the shape now —
that they were about six weeks ago, and in several instances we have
learned of herds being covered up and not being reported, and that may
account for the outbreaks we are having now. ‘There may be some
source of infection that we do not know about; that isn’t anything to
the farmers credit in my estimation, and he necessarily handicaps his
neighbors, and may become a menace to the whole United States. I
would rather inconvenience some people for two or three months than -
to inconvenience the rest of the United States for the rest of its life.
I would like to see the members get together and push this thing
along, and I think you can eradicate the foot and mouth disease in very
short order.
QUESTIONS PROPOUNDED TO MR. BENNETT, WITH
ANSWERS.
Q. Are those animals that are affected with the disease ever driven
to the market for human consumption?
A. We have found affected cattle in the Union Stock Yards at
Chicago; yes.
Q. I realize they are subject to Federal regulation, but where it
gets to the market, is it fit for human consumption?
A. No, we deem it as unfit for food.
Q. What becomes of the 15 per cent of hogs that are affected with
tuberculosis ?
A. They are handled under the Bureau of Regulation.
Q. What effect does the weather have on this disease?
A. Cold weather has a tendency to slow the disease up, it does not
develop so rapidly as it does in warm weather. I remember reading of
one case where they said the virus had remained active for nine months
at a freezing temperature. Our object in handling this disease, is to
kill the cattle, get them under ground, and clean and disinfect the
premises as soon as possible, and to prevent movements just as much
as possible of any live stock in infected territories. One of the worst
things we have to contend with in the foot and mouth disease, is prob-
ably the class of men who do not realize the importance of it; he does
not realize how infectious a disease he has to deal with. If his neigh-
bor’s cattle have become affected he naturally sympathizes with him and
goes over to his neighbor’s farm, thoughtlessly perhaps, and wants to
give his cattle the “once over.”
x
21
Q. What. regulation has been necessary in interstate shipments from
a district that has had the infection?
A. The present regulation in Illinois is that from the portion of
the State that is in quarantine, no interstate shipments are permitted.
Q. Where the infection is stopped, how long is it before shipments
ean take place again?
A. After we have cleaned and disinfected and completed our inspec-
tion, it is 60 days after disinfection.
Q. Then, inasmuch as the loss would fall on all of the taxpayers
of Illinois, has there been any recommendations as to the stock feeders
buying and bringing in any new cattle?
A. We do not bring in any feeders in the quarrantined area of
Illinois; there are no feeders brought into the affected area. We do not
think it is advisable to bring in cattle that we might have to buy
ourselves.
Q. There are cattle brought in of this class?
A. None being brought in from outside of the State.
Q. It is the recommendation that no more cattle be bought until
the disease has been eradicated ?
A. It would appear to me that that would be the only policy on
the part of the men in the feeding business. I wouldn’t think of
putting my money into it if I thought I would have to sell at less than
I bought for. If the government would pay me more, I might do it.
Q. Who has done the slaughtering, the Federal Government of
the State?
A. The Federal Government has been doing most of the slaugh-
tering.
Q. Have they done all, or only part of it?
A. The State inspectors have done some.
Q. What per cent?
A. I couldn’t tell you that.
Q. Approximately ?
A. I couldn’t tell you that.
Q. By the authority of the Federal Government, or of this State?
A. You understand we haven’t any authority to slaughter in this
State—the Federal Government has no authority to slaughter cattle in
the State of Illinois.
Q. It is a fact, however, that the Federal Government has slaughtered
a majority of those that have been slaughtered in the State of Illinois?
A. Yes, sir; and that is with the agreement between the Federal
Government and the State authorities and with the owners. When we
appraise a lot of cattle, the owners sign an agreement and release on 50
per cent of the valuation which he expects to get from the government.
Q. I have been told by some farmers down in my section of the
country who claim to be eye witnesses, that after the infected stock had
been killed, that for a period of from six to ten weeks no disinfecting
had been done?
A. I don’t know of any instances of that kind.
Q. It certainly would be some fault there if the stock had been
killed and the process of cleaning up the premises immediately had not
been followed out?
22
A. I don’t know of any instances where premises were left six or
eight or ten weeks. Our policy is to clean up the premises as soon as
we can get to it. There may have been some delay. We have now in
the State of Illinois about 600 men cleaning and disinfecting, and we ©
have 12 veterinarians working with them, and we have killed cattle on
539 premises. Thirty-three counties are already cleaned and disinfected.
It is quite a job, especially at this time of the year. If you have had any
experience in work of this kind yourself you will realize what a proposi-
tion it is. I was in one county when the thermometer registered 29
degrees below zero, and you can imagine what a proposition it was to
keep a spray pump going in that climate. The boys have been working
right along doing the work as fast as they can.
(). What percentage of the infection is removed by the slaughter of
the herd ?
A. You remove the active infection there at the time you get them
underground, and also you prevent further infection from the saliva
dropping into the troughs, in the acute stage of the disease, and prevents
the virus from being carried on the attendant’s feet to other places, and
when the government has killed the cattle, every precaution has been
taken to check it until we come up to clean the premises.
Q. But the slaughter of the animals removes a very large per cent
of the infection?
A. Yes, it removes a very large percentage of the infection and the
chance of carrying the infection.
Q. If the buried animal should become uncovered would there be
danger of infection from it again?
A. We put them down about 7 feet and cover them with quick lime,
when we bury them; we figure there is about 5 feet of earth over them.
Q. Have you buried any?
A. We have burned some and that is all right. We did that 12
years ago in Vermont. We have had cases where we had to use dynamite
in order to get into the ground, it has been so cold. We used that
method with 62 cattle in Vermont. I don’t like the thing myself, because
it is a very nasty thing to start with. The cattle have to be opened and
the internal organs taken out, and the carcasses quartered, and you can
imagine what kind of a mess that would make on the farm. Ordinarily
speaking, that is not the method we would use in dealing with this
disease.
Q. What is the total loss up to date?
A. For the State of Illinois?
Q. Yes.
A. The present valuation in Illinois to date is $1,200,000 for the
entire live stock.
Q. One-half of which is paid?
A. One-half of which is paid, yes.
(). Isn’t it true that the State and Federal officials have been work-
ing in complete harmony in‘the effort of stamping out this disease?
A. Yes, sir, they have been working in harmony right along.
Q. There has been no friction ?
A. There has been friction over minor points, but we have adjusted
those. ;
23
Q. In what way do they disinfect themselves—the men who do this
work and go from one place to another ?
A. We provide each one of these helpers with a uniform—with over-
alls‘and jumpers—and they are instructed, in cleaning and disinfecting
premises, to leave those overalls on the premises where they are working
until they are through; when they go home at night they are left there.
Then, their shoes are disinfected and they are permitted to go home. In
going to the next farm, all this clothing is taken and placed in a con-
tainer of some kind and thoroughly fumigated before they are taken to
the next place. Our inspectors in the field are provided with rubber
coats, hats, gloves and boots. When they make an inspection, on your
farm, for instance, before proceeding to another farm, whether they
found infection or not, their hats, gloves and boots,would be disinfected
in a bichloride of mercury solution. They would do this whether they
found any infection or not. They do it on any farm, and we do that to
prevent criticism. We are criticized sufficiently anyway. We go on the
assumption that if the disease broke out on a particular farm after our
inspector had been there, he would certainly be blamed for bringing it
there, and for that reason we take that precaution.
Q. Is it true that in any instance they permit people to take swine
out of the herds for the meat, before they decide to slaughter them ?
A. That perhaps would be permitted under certain cireumstances—
for instance, we go onto your premises and you have, say 50 cattle and
some 30 hogs. If there were some of those hogs that did not show signs
of the disease, we would not object to your killing a couple of them.
Q. I am asking you this question chiefly because some of the people
down in my country have gotten the idea that it is not dangerous and
that it is not bad, and that it is not really contageous, and I wanted to
know whether, permitting them to do that, would spread the disease ?
A. I know, in the Northern part of the State, where we were going
to kill some cattle and hogs, the farmer asked me if he could have a
couple of those hogs for his own use, and I told him I saw no objection.
We made a very careful examination of them before slaughtering, and
we told him we saw no objection to it at all. If I thought there would
be any objection or any chance of infection, I would not for a minute
submit to it.
Q. I asked this question because it has raised a feeling against the
slaughter of the diseased animals in my county. It has led our people
to feel it is not so bad and that slaughter is not necessary. They do
not apparently understand the situation.
A. That is one time when we thought we were doing the farmer a
favor, and weren’t, I guess.
Q. How long a period of time must elapse before the farm can be
restocked ?
A. We recommend 60 days after disinfection. I have made some
experiments along that line and one time I put some cows in the barn
five days afterwards, to see how it worked out.
Q. What happened?
A. They stayed healthy.
Q. Now, I understand, and I have been informed by others, that
this disease starts in the hoof and infection is caused in the mouth
through the licking of their hoofs? It that right?
24.
A. No, there is nothing to that at all. There are a great many
instances where these vesicles develop in the mouth, and you do not
find foot lesions at all.
Q. That was for my own information.
A. Yes, but there is nothing to that at all. On the,matter of re-
stocking, we specify 60 days; we think it is absolutely safe after that
time. ‘There might be a spot in the disinfecting that the men might
possibly have overlooked. We depend on nature to some extent to help
us out with it. We don’t mean to overlook any dark spots or corners,
but we might do it, and for that reason we specify that length of time.
Q. In the matter of quarantine, how long should the premises
remain quarantined after the stock has been slaughtered, disposed of
and the disinfection has taken place ?
A. We are perfectly willing to leave that to the farmer, after we
are through with it. We fumigate and disinfect the premises, and the
rest will have to be left to you.
Q. What would be the length of time that the premises would remain
in quarantine after these affected herds had been disposed of and the
affected premises had been cleaned up,—for what length of time after
that process had been completed would the place remain in quarantine?
A. After we had located all the diseased herds, which we do just
as quick as we can possibly do it, we make a house to house canvass in
that vicinity within a three or five mile radius and make our inspection.
After that, if we found no disease anywhere in the county, it could be
released from quarantine.
Q. Then it would be within the time which you require to make
such inspection ?
A. It would depend entirely upon the speed with which we would
make the inspection.
Q. If you could make that in a week, that would be the length of
time ?
A. No, 15 days between inspections, and we usually make two
inspections, so that the shortest time would be 30 days.
Q. In your judgment, doctor, within 30 days after a county has
been cleaned out, that county might be safely released from quarantine?
A. Yes, sir, if we found nothing in that county to indicate that it
was infected, that would be the time..
Q. What is the period between the exposure of the animal to the
disease and the active manifestation of the disease ?
A. That varies, from three to five days. We know of cases where
it has gone 26 days. I know of one case under my own observation
where it went 15 days, and I know of one instance where it developed
24 hours after exposure.
Q. Doctor, isn’t it a fact that the premises of these farmers will
disinfect themselves in the summer time when the temperature is high
and there is a good deal of sunlight ?
A. Yes, that is the idea; we think sunlight and air are the best
agents we have for that kind of work.
Q. Then, the winter time would be favorable to the deyelopment
of the disease ?
25
A. No, it is not; in the protected places the cold weather slows
up the disease. In the summertime it will develop faster, but in those
surfaces exposed to the sunlight its development will be retarded, but
in other places where there is no sunlight, it will not be slowed up.
The disease is slowed up in the winter time in these protected places.
Q. Do you know the cause of the foot and mouth disease ?
; A. I do not. I do not know of a preventative, except to get rid
of it.
Q. How many “curealls” have been suggested since this disease
has come out?
; A. I couldn’t figure it. I have a file on that, labeled the “Nut
le.”
Q. Is this disease plain enough so that every veterinarian can diag-
nose it plainly?
A. Ordinary cases are easy to diagnose; that is, the foot and mouth
disease that you would recognize if you saw it once—the foot and mouth
disease we all know. There are various forms of foot and mouth disease
that might fool the most expert.
Q. Mistakes can sometimes be made then in the diagnosis?
A. Veterinarians are human, you know.
Q. I presume so.
A. Yes, that is one of the earmarks of the human being, they are
liable to err, you know.
Q. How long after a case is diagnosed usually elapses before the
slaughter of a herd of cattle?
A. Just as soon as we can have the work done.
Q. Do you allow a certain time to confirm your diagnosis?
A. Yes, as a rule we do. My instructions have been to get the hole
started, because I would rather pay for the hole than I would for the
cattle. If a mistake has been made we just have to put the dirt back
into the hole. I have done that at times. I remember in one outbreak
I paid for the digging of three holes.
Q. When you did not slaughter?
A. When there was no slaughter. We found the disease had not
developed there sufficiently for us to kill the animals.
Q. Paid for the hole and not for the cattle?
A. Paid for the hole and not for the cattle.
Q. Do you always use quicklime?
A. We always use quicklime; at least that is what we are supposed
to get; that is what the instructions are—to use quicklime.
Q. You never use any form of slacked lime?
A. No, not that I know of. Their instructions are to get quicklime
for that work.
Q. Have you ever used slacked lime, doctor?
A. We prefer quick lime.
Q. As a matter of fact, slacked lime would not do a bit of good,
would it?
A. I don’t know whether it would or not. We like quicklime,
because it is a better burner, and burns the carcasses very quickly.
Q. Does the foot and mouth disease develop in the human family?
A. I have never seen a case of it myself, but they claim it does
develop in the human family. The danger would be in that case that
26°
the milk would be infected coming from these infected animals, and by
the milk cans coming in contact with the vehicles and the milk becoming
contaminated in that way.
Q. Can you ever trace the disease from one farm to another.
A. I wouldn’t want to pin that right down to as fine a point as
that; | wouldn’t say that a man had gone to his neighbor’s farm and
then gone back to his own, but I would tell you of an instance when
1 was in Massachusetts, where we had a stall of 103 cows, and wherever
the cows went, we killed the cattle on the premises. | know of another
instance where a young man in Massachusetts was called in to look at a
cow. ‘This was on Sunday.. He did not suspect foot and mouth disease,
and treated her as the symptoms seemed to indicate and went back
home. They called me up on Monday and I went out there and found
we had foot and mouth disease, and at the end of that day I found 60
cases of it, and at the end of the second day, 113. I called him up at
his father’s farm, of which he had charge. His father had 60 cows. I
told him what I had found, and told him to go back home and take a
look at his cows, and it later developed that foot and mouth disease
made its appearance among his father’s entire herd.
Q. Have you found that some proportion of the infection were
caused by the use of diseased or infected cholera serum ?
A. Not the serum. We have instances where virus had caused
outbreaks of the foot and mouth disease.
. How many cases or what proportion?
. Forty-two cases were found.
In the entire State?
. In the entire State.
How many of those cases were from Mercer County?
I do not know the number of cases.
What later cases were infected from that source?
I should judge 20 affected herds in Mercer County; I don’t
know what the percentage was in Mercer County. The most of it in
Mercer, Henderson and Warren came through the virus, as I understand
it. There were 65 herds in those three counties.
Q. How many herds have you got that were affected in McLean
County ?
A. Fourteen in McLean County.
Q). Is there any medical treatment that would relieve the disease?
A. The disease will usually run its course, as a rule, in about 15
days. It does not need much treatment. That is not the contention,
you know. We don’t claim these animals won’t make a kind of recovery.
We are simply trying to prevent the introduction of a new disease in
this country that is going to cost an enormous sum of money if it ever
gets a foothold here.
Q. Do you know whether or not they used virus on those farms in
McLean County?
A. I think possibly that you had two cases produced by virus there.
Q. Do you recommend the virus treatment for hogs?
A. Yes, sir, they use the virus for them.
Q. In the preparation of this plan the great question of the people
of Chicago—and it has spread widely over the city—is that in taking
these hogs to the yards to make this virus, is it possible that the hogs
_POrorores
27
were affected with the cholera at the time, and also the foot and mouth
disease? Or did the veterinary or inspecting agent say it was cholera
when it was actually the foot and mouth disease ?
A. The chances are the hogs had been exposed to the foot and mouth
disease and also had cholera, but the disease had not developed.
Q. What is your opinion of treating effectively the dairy herd of
eattle now in the stock yards?
A. I don’t know. I don’t know a thing about those cattle. I saw
the first one that was taken out, but I haven’t seen them since. I haven’t
been in that barn at all.
Q. Is it advisable for farmers to disinfect their premises where they
have not been declared affected ?
A. Yes, sir, that is one of the big things of the farm in this country
today. ‘There are very few farmers that realize the importance of sani-
tation; it is one thing the farmer should take up.
Q. You think that by proper sanitation you could stay the progress
of the disease ?
A. You would stay the progress of a great many diseases of that
kind that we have to contend with.
Q. A herd of cattle belonging to a neighbor was killed on Saturday.
A neighbor’s cattle were shipped to Chicago on Saturday night. What
my neighbor wants to know is how he can keep these cattle from being
shipped out.
A. I do not know the circumstances. What was the relation of the
two herds?
Q. They were on adjoining farms.
A. Were they in a pasture next to these cattle?
Q. Yes.
A. I couldn’t tell you as I know nothing about the circumstances.
The chances are, if they were allowed to be shipped, they were pretty
well satisfied that they had not been discovered.
Q. They were with these cattle on Wednesday in the same stalk
field ?
A. I would have to look into that first, I don’t know.
Q. What the neighbors are anxious to know is how they can prevent
these cattle from being driven over the public highway. There are five
or six miles of road along there over which this stock was driven before
they were shipped to Chicago.
A. If they were mixed with the other cattle and these cattle were
sick, a thing of that kind should not take place. If that is the facts in
the case—and I don’t doubt what you say—it should not have been
allowed to have happened. Will you give me the particulars of that, I
would like to find out myself. ;
. The cattle were shipped to Chicago.
. By whom?
Mr. Riding. They were shipped with a lot of other cattle.
. Where from?
. Morris, Ill.
_ In ease that is true, what remedy would you prescribe to take
care of the rest of the fellows and not have these cattle driven over the
public highway ?
DOPOPO
28 «
A. I think a rigid quarantine ought to be put into effect there.
Q. Would you advise doing that?
A. That is something outside of the jurisdiction of the Federal
Government. The quarantine is within the State of Illinois.
Q. In my county we have about the same condition, and the State
Veterinarian and Government Veterinarian, cooperating together, made
a county atlas, and wherever this occurred they made a circle around
that farm for three miles, and quarantined everything inside of that
circle and nobody was allowed to move a hoof within that circle into
or out of it.
A. That would remedy the situation.
(). A lot of the farmers over there would like a little light as to
how the stock yards are operated. As I understand it, part of ‘the stock
yards are under quarantine, and those cattle coming from a quarantined
part of the State are put into one division and the cattle that come
from a non-quarantined part of the State are put into another division
of the stock yards. Now, the farmers don’t understand why such a
condition of things exist; as long as all these cattle are slaughtered
together. They can’t see why they should be separated. It has an
effect on the price of cattle and that seems to create a considerable dis- .
turbance on the part of the people throughout the State.
A. Dr. Dyson is here and he can probably explain that to you
better than I can.
Q. Has there been any of that disease reported in Cook County?
A Ves sir:
Q. How many cases?
A. One man came out with a gattling gun and chased an inspector
off, in Cook County.
Gentlemen, I thank you. I am very glad to have been here this
afternoon and I hope you will come along and help us out on this.
Mr. Stevenson: Dr. U. G. Houck, Inspector of the Bureau of
Animal Industry, is with us, and right from the seat of war. In fact,
he is a conquering hero. He comes direct from Northern Indiana and
Southern Michigan, where he has succeeded in eradicating the foot and
mouth disease entirely.
Dr. Houck: I deem it an honor to have been invited to annear before
the Governor of the great State of Ilhnois and the representatives of the
people of this State to express my humble views on a matter of so much
importance to the live stock industry of the United States and this State
in particular, since it is the center of the live stock interests of the
country.
I appreciate the honor of being permitted to appear with such men
as Dr. Moore, who enjoys an enviable reputation, not only in this coun-
try, but abroad, and is recognized as one of the foremost educators, and
an authority on animal diseases; such men as Dr. Marshall, who occupies
an important chair in the University of Pennsylvania, and whose opinion
and advice is sought on matters of national importance relating to the
control of animal diseases; such men as Dr. Mumford, also an educator
29
and authority; also Dr. Bennett, whose receding forelocks bares the sears
of two similar foot and mouth disease campaigns. From his fluent
speech this afternoon, it is evident he was at least exposed to the mouth
disease in his first campaign.
Dr. Moore has today traced for our benefit the history of foot and
mouth disease from Asia into Europe, and explained its cause, course
and termination, and how the disease has swept over Europe in periodical
waves, the great damage it has wrought, and he has called attention to
the great sums of money that have been spent in efforts to control the
disease in foreign countries. It appears that when the disease abated
sufficiently to make it practicable, European countries have seized the
opportunity to resort to slaughter in connection with disinfection as a
means of eradication. It is noteworthy that the disease has never been
eradicated from any country that attempted it without slaughter of the
infected and exposed animals. It has, however, been eradicated from
some of the European countries that have adopted the slaughter method
in connection with rigid quarantine, and the cleaning and disinfection of
infected premises. We have ourselves, in 1902 and again in 1908, eradi-
cated the disease from this country in a surprisingly short time, and at
a comparatively small expense by the same methods which we are using
in this outbreak. I believe there is not a country in Europe but that
would welcome such a situation as now faces us and consider it a favor-
able opportunity to resort to the slaughter measure as a part of their
policy for eradicating the disease, and I believe they would gladly make
the financial sacrifice, which it would be necessary to incur through the
slaughter of infected and exposed herds in such new outbreaks as has
visited this country, for it costs these countries in unavoidable losses
under their present methods more in one year in efforts to control the
disease than it has cost us to eradicate all the foot and mouth disease
together that has ever occurred in this country. But under present con-
ditions, owing to the wide dissemination of the disease in European coun-
tries, it would be as impracticable for Germany or France or Russia to
attempt to eradicate foot and mouth disease by slaughter, quarantine
and disinfection as it would be for us now to attempt to eradicate hog
cholera from this country by those radical measures without the aid of
hog cholera preventive serum. If we had as much foot and mouth
disease in this country as exists in Europe we would no doubt employ
the same methods of control now in vogue in Germany and some other
European countries.
It has cost us about $600,000 to eradicate from this country the
outbreaks of 1902 and 1908, and as a result of our promptness in attack-
ing the disease and our efficiency in handling the situation our live stock
industry has enjoyed 12 years of freedom from the disease at an expense
of less than $50,000 a year. What would our losses have amounted to
during the last 12 years of uninterrupted prosperity if the disease had
been allowed to take its course in 1902? You stockmen of Illinois can
figure it for yourselves. The latest published statistics show that on
January 1, 1914, there were on the farms in Illinois 1,216,000 cattle
other than milch cows; 1,017,000 milch cows; 984,000 sheep, 4,358,000
swine. This live stock was estimated to be worth the enormous sum of
one hundred seventy to one hundred seventy-five million dollars.
30 *
We have been told today that there is a depreciation in the value
of animals that pass through the disease and recover. In Denmark
this depreciation in value is estimated by Danish authorities to be $8
per head; German authorities place the estimate for Germany at $7 per
head; and in Holland it is placed at $10 per head. An English prac-
titioner of wide experience states that it is none too high to place the
loss on each animal that becomes affected and that ultimately recovers
at $20, when milch cows or feeding cattle that are nearly finished are
under consideration. I give you some data, now figure for yourself what
the live stock industry of Illinois is now facing, and what we have
escaped during the last 12 years through the energetic measures that
were employed by the State and Federal authorities in the eradication
of the disease. Further I would mention in passing, that we might not
be able to measure our losses in this country by the same measure that
Europe employs in measuring her losses. Foot and mouth disease has
been bred in the animals of Europe for 200 years, at least according to
what Dr. Moore has just told us. Our animals of the bovine specie,
bred in the southern part of the United States, where Texas fever
infection exists continuously, inherit an immunity to Texas fever, and
the disease does little damage to the offspring of cattle born and raised
in the south. Some of you no doubt know from experience what loss
results from death of animals if the infection of Texas fever is allowed
to get into a herd of Illinois cattle. I do not know that any scientific
investigation has been conducted along this line, but it is suggestive that
the cattle of Europe are probably more resistent to foot and mouth
disease than our cattle would be, and that our losses from a spread of
foot and mouth disease would be greater than the losses from a spread
of the disease in Europe.
The European estimates of depreciation in value of animals that
have passed through the diseases are based upon the conditions that
prevail in thickly populated Denmark, Holland and Germany, where
the live stock is confined to buildings or limited enclosures, where they
can be under observation, and where they can be treated and receive
proper care. This condition is not comparable with what I saw in the
state of Montana in the month of December, 1914.
The disease had made its appearance on the open range in that
state, and the news of its appearance there was terrifying to all those
in this country who engage in the live stock industry and allied enter-
prises. Fortunately, fortunately it seems we have been able to bury
the diseased in Montana with the last infected herd that was slaughtered
before I left the state on the 23d of December. This herd consisted of
154 animals of mixed sizes, grades and sex, rustling for a living on a
range which skirted the banks of the Yellowstone River. The dry grass
which constituted their only food, was covered by about 8 inches of
snow; the thermometer oscillated between 12 above and 30 degrees
below zero during the whole timé this herd was under our observation.
The animals had no shelter for themselves or their newly born offspring
except the “draws” and “washouts” which nature provided along the
river bank. Such protection seems inadequate to those of us who have
been accustomed to seeing animals stabled and fed, and as I stated
before, the only feed accessible to these animals was the frozen dry
31
grass they were obliged to nose from under the hard snow. While we
were in the pasture looking for a suilable place to dig a trench to bury
the herd, and while we were digginz to ascertain to what depth the
frost had penetrated the ground, the affected animals that could walk
gathered in a semi-circle amound us on the side of a knoll so that the
claws were separated, thus exposing to view the foot lesions of the
disease. I have never seen worse foot lesions on animals affected with
this disease. Many of these animals had blisters and sores over the
entire muzzle and the skin was hanging in shreds from their tongues.
I saw enough to convince me that the disease would assume a much
more severe form on the plains than we have yet seen in any of our
farming communities, and the loss necessarily would be much greater.
Besides it would probably be impossible for us to eradicate the disease
if it once got a good start on the range.
Dr. Moore in his address read quotations from some of the most
eminent authorities in Europe on animal diseases, men who were born,
reared, and educated and have studied the disease for years in the coun-
tries of Europe, where it prevails in spite of the millions of dollars that
have been spent in futile efforts to control it without resorting to the
slaughter of the diseased and exposed animals. All of these authorities
concur in opinion that the disease is very destructive; that at times it
assumes a very malignant form and the losses are very heavy; that it is
dreaded by farmers and stockmen of the British Isles more than all other
epizootic diseases combined ; that quarantine and disinfection alone have
always failed to eradicate the disease and that it is their opinion that
slaughter in connection with other measures that may be employed, is
an indispensable feature in the eradication of the disease and no country
has succeeded in eradicating it without slaughter.
We have frequently heard people say during this outbreak that they
have been told by Germans, Hollanders, Danes, ete., who have come to
this country, that foot and mouth disease is not regarded seriously in
Europe; that all they do there is to inoculate all the susceptible animals
so that it will pass through the herd quickly, and in a couple of weeks
the animals are entirely well, and in as good condition as ever. I am
glad that Dr. Moore and others have today refuted that statement, and
quoted for us the opinions of such eminent and reliable European
authorities. We, in this country, know very little of the disease. Our
farmers know nothing from experience of the complications, secondary
infections, and bad results that follow in its wake. We have been suc-
cessful in eradicating the disease so promptly that our farmers have
been spared the bitter experience and the price so often payed for lessons
we learn from experience.
I perhaps cannot use the remainder of my time to better advantage
than to relate a personal experience with a herd that had passed through
the disease in Massachusetts in the outbreak of 1902 and was spared.
The herd passed through the disease the latter part of October. I
arrived at Boston, on December 9th, and my first assignment was to
investigate the condition of a herd located near Sharon, Mass. This
herd belonged to a prominent business man who resided in Boston. He
called at the office some time.before my arrival in Boston, and requested
of Dr. Salmon, who was then chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry,
that his herd be spared as it had passed through the disease several
32 &
weeks before, and was now in good condition. He stated’that the lesions
were all healed, that the animals were all eating, cows were all coming
back to their milk. On examination of this herd, I found no lesions
or conditions of consequence. I did find some old scars in the mouths
of a few of the animals and a lump in the udder of one of the
cows, which indicated the beginning of gargot due to infection from the
disease. I reported the conditions to Dr. Salmon and to Dr. Bennett,
who had immediate charge of the eradication of this outbreak. No
action was taken immediately. It was finally decided to clean and dis-
infect the premises, spray the animals with a disinfectant, apply a dis-
infectant to their feet and allow the herd to live. In about three weeks
the owner again called at the office and stated that his herd was not
doing as well as he expected; that some of the cows had gargot, many
of them had aborted; the calves had died; he had lost one of the cows;
they were not giving more than one-half to two-thirds of the milk they
gave before they had the disease and, in general, the results were prov-
ing very disappointing to him. He was advised that the fact that this
herd was proving a financial disappointment was no good reason why
the Federal Government and state of Massachusetts should now buy and
slaughter the animals if there was no danger of their disseminating the
infection of foot and mouth disease. The owner again returned in a
couple of weeks and stated that if we did not slaughter some of the
animals he would do so himself as their condition was such that he could
not keep them on his place. I again visited the herd and found, as I
recall it, 19 gargot cows. Two of them in particular showed udders so
distended and sore that they shifted their weight from one hind foot to
the other so as to avoid pressure on the sore udders which were filled
with pus. These animals were not eating and had become very thin—
so thin they would not be recognized as the same animals I had seen at
my first visit. Many of the animals were lame, and the soles of the feet
loosened so that a knife blade could be passed between the sole and the
foot from the heel to toe, and when they placed their weight on their
feet, there was a sound similar to that of a man walking in boots con-
taining water. After I made my second report to Dr. Salmon and
Dr. Bennett, it was finally decided to slaughter the affected animals as
there was danger of their being sold to some butcher and probably start
infection in new places. I have personal knowledge of eight herds that
were spared in this outbreak. The owners of six of them reported the
unfavorable conditions and it was necessary to slaughter some of the
animals in each of these herds in order to prevent the further spread
of the disease. Later in the spring an owner of one herd that had been
spared came to Boston and reported that he had been a “fool” in not
reporting his herd and having them slaughtered, as it had been found
necessary for him to sell seventy (70%) per cent of them to the butcher
in the spring, as their usefulness for dairy purposes had been impaired
by the disease so that they were no longer profitable.
All in all, it appears that our present methods of strict State and
Federal quarantine, the slaughter of infected and exposed animals and
the prompt and thorough cleaning and disinfection of infected premises
is the most sane and economical method of handling the disease, if we
seek to eradicate it.
33
QUESTIONS TO MR. HOUCK.
Q. Do you know where this disease originated ?
A. It is supposed to have started in Michigan. The source of the
disease is unknown today. There have been several clues, but we have
been unable to trace it to any definite source.
Q. Do you know where the Illinois people got it?
A. We presume it came from the outbreak in Michigan or Indiana.
Q. What percentage of the dairy herds in Chicago had the disease?
A. I think practically 100 per cent.
Q. In the New England cases cited by you, were those conditions
from the first attack, or from a recurrent attack ?
A. Those conditions were from the original attack. They are condi-
tions that follow the first attack. The period of immunity lasts as low
as 12 days up to five or six years in some animals. That is one reason
there are enough of those animals that are susceptible to in a short time
keep the disease smouldering in a community, and others gradually
become susceptible.
Q. The disease is recurrent in its nature?
A. Yes, the disease is recurrent in its nature.
Q. A herd may be attacked the second time?
A. We have two instances in Michigan where the disease appeared
in the herd four weeks after the first attack.
Q. In all attacks in this country has slaughter been resorted to?
A. I was talking to Dr. Moore on that subject and he can perhaps
give you better data on that than I.
Dr. Moore: In the first outbreak which occurred in 1870 slaughter
was not resorted to, but we had a very different condition then from
now. The herds were widely scattered. It occurred in the fall and there
was a severe winter, according to Dr. Law’s reports. The herds were far
apart and there was little intercourse between them during this long
winter. We had some five or six months of it and then the disease died
out. In the second outbreak of 1880, between 1880 and ’83, there were
several places where animals were imported into this country and the
herds into which they were introduced, largely in New York and New
England, developed this disease. They were isolated and whatever
animals died, died, and that was the end of it. The third outbreak
occurred at Portland, Me., and that was due to the introduction of
animals suffering from the foot and mouth disease on ship board. They
were apparently well when they landed, and were driven to quarantine
which had been established the year before, and cattle which were driven
over those roads they went on, developed the disease. Those cattle were
all slaughtered, and that was the end of that. The next outbreak is the
one you have been told about—the one in Massachusetts.
Q. This last outbreak broke out in Niles, Mich. ?
A. Yes.
Q. Was there any attempt made to get at the source of the trouble
as to where it came from?
A. We have made some inquiries to date, but have been unable to
find any clue that seems positive,
—3 FM
34,
Q. I understand there is a tannery down there and that some of the
hides were infected. Is this information correct ?
A. That is one of the things that is drawn to our attention, but look
at the great number of tanneries all over the country where they have
been doing the same thing, bringing hides in from different parts of
the world and we have not had an outbreak. Of course, there is a
bare possibility, but nothing definite. It does not seem very probable. |
Q. Are there being any cattle imported in this section ?
A. No.
(). Have you any suggestions for quarantine or suggestions regard-
ing inspection after the disease is discovered ?
A. The quarantine, of course, as Dr. Moore pointed out, is the first
step in fighting the disease; then the slaughter, then disinfection. That
is the policy that has been followed by all countries adopting the slaugh-
ter method.
Q. In this case at Niles, Mich., there was a newspaper report which
went over the country to the effect that these hides that were imported
came in bales, and that the bales were wrapped in straw and they laid
around a couple of weeks before they were ready to put them into the
vats, and they were then unbaled and the straw taken out and thrown
over a wall. A couple of dairy farmers came in and:‘bought the straw
for bedding and took it away, and it was in those herds that the disease
broke out?
A. I haven’t heard that—the story has ‘been twisted in various
forms—but all we can say to date is that we do not know the source of
this outbreak.
Q. What was the later history of the balance of the Martin herd
which was not slaughtered—the one you spoke of near Boston?
A. I cannot tell you. I left there in April. J don’t know if Mr.
Bennett has any later information in regard to that herd or not.
Mr. BENNETT: I went away soon after you did. We have no record.
Q. May I ask how many recurrent attacks an animal may have?
A. Well, I read in one veterinary work where the same cow went
through the disease three times in one year, and by the time they get
through it three times, there is not much left of them.
Q. May I ask Dr. Moore in regard to that? How many recurrent
attacks may an animal have? Have you any statistics or data in relation
to that?
A. I am sorry to say I have nothing except the statement that was
made of a certain animal going through the disease three times in one
year. In connection with the hides carrying the disease into this country,
I would say that the hides are disinfected before they are brought into
this country, and extra precautions are taken, because it is expected that
the disease may have been imported through the hides, and precaution is
taken in regard to their disinfection.
Q. What about the source of the trouble in Montana?
A. From the Chicago Yards.
Q. In what month?
A. October 26th.
Q. You were in charge of the work in Indiana arid Michigan, I
believe, I assume in Indiana, the same as in this State, there was some
35
territory known as “closed area” and others known as ‘“‘quarantined
area.”
A. Yes, sir.
Q. The open or free area in Indiana—where there was no disease
and no infection—was the shipment between uninfected and unquaran-
tined points, the shipment of pure bred stock, stopped entirely ?
A. It was.
Q. What is your notion, Doctor, in territory that is widely removed
from any infected territory, for instance, regarding the movement of
hogs for breeding purposes, between uninfected points? I am asking for
my own information.
A. You say, what is the danger ?
Q. Yes.
A. In the first place, there are very few states that would accept
those shipments.
Q. I mean within the State.
A. Within the State? Simply the danger of carrying the infection
- from one point to another. After we have a quarantine established
in a certain area and have time to get the disease curbed, I think the
only way is to kill the diseased herd and get them under the ground and
the place cleaned up and disinfected. Then we make a house to house
inspection of all the animals around there within a radius of probably
three to five miles; that is called the closed area. Now, then, from that
section we are not supposed, under our regulations, to allow anything
to be removed for the first 30 days. For 30 days after the inspection,
nothing is allowed to go into or without this radius of from three to five
miles without inspection and certification so that we have 60 days inter-
vening between the time that the place is disinfected and the time that
the territory is free.
Q. Doctor, take territory where there has not been any disease.
For instance, Franklin County of this State. There has been no disease
over in Jefferson County. Would there be any reasonable excuse for
preventing the shipping of pure bred hogs from one of those counties
to the other?
A. Franklin County has been entirely released from quarantine.
Q. I only used this simply for an illustration.
A. There is nothing to prevent it.
Q. The counties that are far removed from the infection, for
instance several counties removed, there is no reason, Doctor, in your
mind why those and adjoining counties that are also far removed should
be prohibited from making shipments of live stock for breeding purposes,
is there?
A. Dr. Bennett is familiar with this territory. The territory is
released as soon as it is considered safe. Dr. Bennett knows of the
specific instances in this territory.
Q. The reason I ask is, that express companies refuse to transport
cattle or hogs for breeding purposes from uninfected points that are far
removed from the quarantine area. I was trying to get at the reason
why they would not.
A. I do not see any reason. I would like to say this: The mor-
tality in a regular outbreak is not necessarily so very large. As I stated
awhile ago, that was not the worst part of the disease; it is the secondary
36 y
conditions that follow. Further than that, if you allow the disease to
exist you have that loss to go through every year. In the outbreak of
1902, it cost about $300,000 to eradicate it, and in the outbreak of 1908 it
cost about the same. Therefore, we have the same intervening period
of six years between each outbreak, which amounts to about $50,000
a year that it costs to keep free of the foot and mouth disease. What
would it cost if the disease had been allowed to go on?
Q. How soon after the animal has had the disease and is pronounced
cured is he liable to take the disease over again?
A. We have specific instances on record of twelve days, and I have
seen them in four weeks. There is no cure. There is no medicinal
treatment. The treatment is too expensive, and further than that it
does not give immunity for a period of more than two months.
Q. Who looks after and sees that this quarantine is kept?
A. The State authorities establish a quarantine embracing a suffi-
cient area. For instance, if you had a township that was infected,
they would quarantine that township and the surroundings and hold
them under State regulation. They would send out their constables into
each township and patrol the township and explain to the people the
requirements of quarantine.
Q. Who enforced it in Michigan?
A. The State authorities.
Q. Wasn’t this done by your county sheriffs?
A. They acted under the instructions of the State authorities.
Q. Dr. Moore, are there any authorities who have a different theory
than slaughtering ? If so, who are they?
A. You mean for the eradification and control, for the handling of
the disease? I suppose there might be those who feel that if you should
quarantine sufficiently tight to hold the germ inside the territory until.
it died, that that would be a way of handling it. Most of the European
people followed that method until they found it was not effective, as I
tried to point out. They now recommend the more strenuous measure
of slaughter.
Q. Are there any instances of any herds that you can point out
that have been quarantined and been successfully treated and the dis-
ease conquered? The reason I ask that question is that within the last
day or two the Chicago press has been printing articles to the effect
that the farmers in certain parts of the State are objecting to the
slaughter of cattle and claim it can be met and conquered in another
way than by slaughtering. Is there anything in this position, or are
they mistaken ?
A. I do not think their position is well taken. Undoubtedly you
could pick out here and there small herds, if they were quarantined, and
not in severe form, where perchance the after effects would not develop.
I do not doubt but that there are places where that would work, just as
an outbreak of smallpox. Undoubtedly a great many individuals would
recover after a sufficient length of time, but you don’t know which
individual is going to recover.
Q. Has the British Government changed its course?
A. In the last outbreaks the British Government has been slaughter-
ing. I suppose there may be some who would say they could quarantine
37
and control this disease just as there are people who say it can be
treated.
Q. I want to know whether or not there’are any recognized scientists
who take the other side of the argument and say slaughter is unneces-
sary?
A. I do not know any of that kind.
Q. Has the quarantine idea ever been successful where it has been
tried ?
A. No, sir; not that I know of.
Q. Now, if this is an assured fact from a veterinarian standpoint,
as vaccination is for the prevention of smallpox, then that is the only
thing to do, and if there is no other recognized branch of the school
which has a better remedy to offer than this, then we can take this as
a fair representation, and no man who does not hear this discussion
before this body can later on say that only one branch of the school
was heard before the Legislature ?
A. I tried in my remarks to point out that this thing had come up
in Europe—had gradually crowded in—and they tried to cure it by
quarantine; and then in 1899 at the International Congress at Baden
Baden, these men who had been making a study of the disease, men who
‘had it at heart, were unanimous in the opinion that this. method was
not effective, as was shown by the enormous and heavy losses of 1891,
where the Germans lost $25,000,000, and, as Prof. Bang says, “In 1911
she is going to lose more.” I do not think we can take this as a guidance
to be followed, anyway. Every one, except the ignorant, who is
acquainted with the handling and history of infectious diseases, knows
that every outbreak is not as severe and serious as every other outbreak.
They run in cycles, and the policy, as the doctor has pointed out, is
that we do not want another epidemic of this disease. We don’t want
another disease that is going to cost millions and millions of loss every
year. We want to get rid of it. It is the policy of the Government and
of every state to get rid of it.
Q. Does Dr. James Law take a pronounced stand against slaughter
and quarantine?
A. I think the doctor has got to the point where he looks back to
his boyhood days, when everybody in his home town had the foot and
mouth disease among their cattle sometime during the year, sometimes
twice a year, and perhaps he feels—I cannot analyze his reasoning—that
it might be better to take a loss of twenty-five, fifty or a hundred million
dollars a year, as a consequence, than to sacrifice certain animals.
Q. The gentleman from Illinois stated that after the cattle were
disinfected, within a day or two he considered the disinfected process
perfected, and the danger of the disease removed. The gentleman from
Michigan said the hides that were shipped in here had been disinfected,
and consequently the danger of importing the disease had been removed.
If those two conclusions are correct, is it not unnecessary to have the
loss of the hides of the cattle which are being slaughtered? Could they
not be disinfected and utilized and by so doing several thousand dollars
be saved to the State of Illinois?
A. I think it is possible that that could be done, but the danger
of spreading the virus, in the cleaning of these animals, and the expense
of disinfecting them—I think Dr. Bennett could answer that better than
38
I. I have not had the experience in the slaughter work in the field to
answer that, but I have raised that question w vith several of the govern-
ment men and they have told me that the matter was carefully con-
sidered, but they felt the danger of getting it around, and getting the
disease spread further, and the difficulty of disinfecting them, and the
possibility of not disinfecting them properly, did not make it worth
while to bother with it.
Q. There seems to be a prevailing impression among some of the
German farmers in my part of the country, that in Germany they treat
this disease and treat it successfully. I would like to know for my own
information whether or not that is true.
A. Undoubtedly a good many people there try to treat it.
Q. Does the government take the measure our government does?
A. No, sir; as I have already stated, they have not done that, but
they have stated specifically that the quarantine which they say is neces-
sary they cannot carry out even in that government, and their losses,
as given in their official records, are something enormous, amounting to
way up in the millions. The great loss is in the young animals and a few
adult animals that have died, and then these secondary conditions, the
loss of flesh, milk, ete. j
Q. Isn’t it a fact that the German government, in experimenting
with this foot and mouth disease, found it so difficult a process to
handle that they established a quarantine station on an island in the
North Sea and attempted to treat the animal so as to cure it. What
were the results that were obtained from that?
A. So far as I know they have not been at all successful. The
danger of working with the disease as I understand it—I am not positive
of this, but have been told—that official investigations were stopped, and
they secured this island and then went up there to work on it. So far
as I know they have gotten nothing out of it except serum. I am advised
they have been able to get a process that will immunize an animal for a
month or two. That has been the extent of their success.
Q. It lasts about 60 days?
A. Yes, sir.
Gentlemen, I thank you.
Mr. StevENson: Gentlemen, Mr. Gregory, of Chicago, Editor of
the Prairie Farmer, one of the foremost farm journals of this State,
will now address you.
G. A. Grecory, Editor Prairie Farmer, Chicago.
GENTLEMEN OF THE ILLINOIS LeGIsLATURE: The few words I shall
have to say will not be those of an expert on foot and mouth disease, but
will be said simply from the standpoint of a farmer and a farm paper
editor.
I have studied the foot and mouth situation carefully, and i in regard
to the future policy to be pursued, it seems to me that only two courses
are possible—to cease all attempts to control the disease, or to get rid of
it as quickly as possible.
39
The impression had gained currency that this is not a dangerous
disease, since the fatalities are not usually over 2 per cent. The total
value of cattle, hogs and sheep in Illinois January 1, 1914, was $154,-
000,000. A 2 per cent loss annually would be $3,000,000, or practically
twice the total cost of stamping out the outbreak completely by present
methods. If left unchecked, a disease so virulent and easily spread as
this would soon spread all over the State, and no herd would be safe.
Neither would a herd be safe after it had once had the disease, since the
immunity lasts only a short time.
The deaths from this disease are the smallest part of the loss. Addi-
tional losses from loss of flesh and milk, ete., would add to this total,
until we should face the tremendous annual losses that Germany fears
from this disease.
You will see that it is unthinkable that we should abandon the
attempt to eradicate the disease. The question then remaining is, shall
we continue with the methods now being followed, or shall we take the
advice that certain farmers and others are offering, to combat the disease
by quarantine?
No other country has ever succeeded in stamping out the disease by
quarantine, even though some of them have tried it for over two hundred
years. Therefore an attempt to stamp out the disease in this way here
would be an experiment, with no assurance that it would end successfully.
If we try this method, it will mean that the present quarantines,
perhaps doubled in severity, will be kept in force six months, a year, or
perhaps longer. It will mean that all live stock growers in the State will
be compelled to sell their stuff on demoralized markets for an indefinite
time to come. It will mean that pure-bred men, many of whom have had
their fall and winter business almost ruined, will face an indefinite
continuation of the same conditions.
Since November 30th, when the Chicago Stock Yards were divided
into two.sections, $13,000,000 worth of Illinois stock has been marketed
in quarantine division. The discount in prices in that section has been
10, 15 or 25 cents a hundred—sometimes even more than that. The
loss from this source alone has been probably more than half a million
dollars. Every day that the quarantine remains in force adds to that loss.
Can we afford to submit to these inevitable losses—to market another
year’s live stock crop on a demoralized market—in order to try out a plan
of handling the disease that has never been successful elsewhere ?
There is another serious feature to be considered. The disease has
been practically eradicated in other states. If we harbor the infection
here, intercourse between Illinois and these other states, as far as live
stock and live stock products goes, will be cut off. The action will be
enforced by both the separate states and the Federal Government. Our
live stock industry can hardly exist, much less prosper, with intercourse
with other states cut off.
Now, what about the slaughter method? It seems very severe. It
is a terrible thing to go onto a man’s farm and destroy a herd that he
has been years in building up. It is hard to explain to a man who has
given the matter no thought the necessity for such action, especially in
view of the fact that most of the animals would recover if left alone.
40
But I believe all persons who have seriously considered the matter
are agreed that we must exterminate the disease, and that as quickly as
possible. The slaughter method, severe as it is, is the only sure way of
doing this. It is the only way that offers any promise of success. The
expense is heavy, but it is the cheapest way out of a serious situation.
This method has eradicated the disease in previous outbreaks in
the United States. It has succeeded in most of the 18 states that were
infected in this outbreak. Success is in sight in Illinois. Out of the 53
counties originally infected, the disease remains in only 12, and in serious
form in only three.
We have killed a million and a quarter dollars worth of stock in our
attempt to conquer the disease by this method. We have been 90 per cent
successful. It would be the height of folly now to reverse this policy. I
am very sorry that the present controversy has arisen. I am sorry that
injunction proceedings have been allowed to delay the work of stamping
out the disease. Every, day’s delay adds greatly to the loss.
Undoubtedly many mistakes have been made by government and
state officials. ‘There has been delay in slaughtering, and longer delay
in cleaning up premises after slaughter. Not all the inspectors sent out
have had the necessary diplomacy to get on well with the farmers. Some
of them have gone out like a bull into a china shop, and have aroused
opposition wherever they went.
But this is no time to discuss mistakes, to air personal grievances,
or to quarrel among ourselves.
There is only one thing to do, and that is to get together, continue
with the slaughter polic¥, and get rid of the disease as quickly as possible.
When that is done we can spend all the time necessary in fixing respon-
sibility for mistakes. But let’s get the disease eradicated first.
Perhaps the principal difficulty in getting many farmers to agree
to have their animals slaughtered is the fact that: no money is available
for compensation. It is a hard thing to slaughter a farmer’s stock and
leave him nothing but an appraisal statement, which has no bankable
value. I am sure that this fact is appreciated by Governor Dunne and
by the members of the Illinois Legislature, and that a sufficient appro-
priation will be made at the earliest possible moment.
I hope that no effort will be spared to get rid of this serious epi-
demic as quickly as possible.
I wish to thank you for this opportunity of presenting this matter
for your consideration.
QUESTION TO MR. GREGORY.
Q. Doctor, in this injunction suit in Kane County. Since that
injunction was brought, it has been disseminated through the news-
papers that an investigation has been made of the herd at Geneva, and
it is found they did not have the foot and mouth disease. Do you know
anything about whether that is true, or not?
A. It is true that the herd at the Girl’s Home did not have the
foot and mouth disease, and I am informed by the State and Federal
authorities that that herd has never been reported as having the disease.
41
It was quarantined on suspicion only, to make sure, and when the second
inspection was made it was found it did not have the disease.
Q. If that is true, then that injunction suit cannot be considered
as opposition to the course adopted by the administration ?
GoverNor Dunne: The bill does not charge that there was any
mistake in diagnosis. The bill does charge that this herd was infected
with foot and mouth disease and ordered killed. As a matter of fact
_ it was not ordered killed. The first diagnosis was that it was foot and
mouth disease.
Mr. Gregory: The bill admits that.
GoverNorR Dunne: The bill alleges that we were killing animals
affected with the foot and mouth disease.
Mr. Grecory: I understand that.
Q. Now Mr. Gregory, with reference to the quarantined section of
the Stock Yards, why are quarantined sections maintained in the Stock
Yards and also a free market?
A. Quite a large percentage of the stock that goes into Chicago is
not slaughtered there, but is bought by Eastern shippers. The Stock
Yards felt it was not safe to allow stock to come into the quarantined
area and then go out again. It has been permitted to go into the quaran-
tined section, but has to be killed within 36 hours. In the open section
the shippers compete on the market, making the price higher.
Q. Do we understand that cattle are allowed to be shipped into
Chicago and shipped out again ?
A. From the free section they are allowed to be shipped out to
Eastern slaughter houses, but not to farmers.
Q. There is danger of infection, isn’t there?
A. It is felt that going into the Stock Yards under inspection from
non-quarantined territory of the United States, and going out under
inspection, that there is not much danger, and there have been no cases
of the disease being spread, so far as known.
Q. Is it not practical then to permit these cattle to be shipped to
different farms. ‘They allow the disease to be spread by the germs in
the course of shipment. The Illinois farmers have the impression that
the Stock Yards Company and the packers, have a little bit to do with
this quarantine section, in order to affect the price, so they may get
cattle cheaper. :
A. I could not say as to that. I haven’t any information.
Q. That is the impression throughout the State among the farmers.
GoveRNoR DuNNE: Have you any evidence as to that?
A. No.
GovERNoR DuNNE: Have you ever heard of it?
A. No, except that he states that is the opinion held by some
people.
Q. Do you know of any foundation for that suspicion ?
A. No foundation, except that the packers do benefit by it.
Q. Then the packers do keep the price down?
A. Naturally, if somebody had a cow to sell and you were the only
buyer, you would pay what you wanted.
Q. The complaint has been made to me by numerous shippers that
their stock has gone to the yards and into the quarantine section, and
42,
in some cases sold for $1 per hundred under the price of the non-
quarantined section, and I have heard men say they have seen their stock
sold and then seen them driven from the quarantine section over to the
non-quarantined section and sold again. I have had a complaint of that
kind from as many as half a dozen shippers. I want to know whether
there is any truth in it or not, and there are men here who have had
the same complaint made to them. In fact, it is in my section of the
State a general complaint of the shippers, and they seem to believe and
talk very freely that the quarantine is kept merely for the purpose of
reducing the price of their stock that goes to the yards. That is not an |
occasional rumor, but I find since I came to Springfield, in conferring
with other gentlemen here, a very wide-spread feeling of that kind.
Mr. Stevenson: The papers represented by Mr. Young and Mr.
Brown are of rather a different nature. Mr. Brown, who will follow Mr.
Young, is the Editor of the “Drover’s Journal,” which deals altogether in
stock and is the daily stock market quotation for stockmen. I think he
will be in position to answer your question.
Mr. CHAIRMEN: Q. I desire in making that statement, to say that
I know absolutely nothing about it, but that the same complaint has
come to me from other members.
Mr. Grecory: If that situation exists it is a very serious one and
can only exist through collusion between packers and shippers. I think
if anything of that kind has been done it should be sifted to the bottom.
As I said a few moments ago, those are some of the things to take up
when we get the disease eradicated.
Mr. SteveNson: Mr. H. E. Young, of Chicago, Editor of the
Farmers’ Review, which makes a specialty of live stock matters, will
address you.
H. E. Youne, Editor of the “Farmers’ Review,” Chicago.
Mr. Secretary, Members of the Illinois General Assembly:
My only excuse in appearing before you at this time is my interest
in the protection and perpetuation of the live stock industry of Ilinois—
an industry which must be recognized as basic and fundamental in all
agricultural prosperity. The live stock interests of Illinois are up
against the biggest problem they have ever faced. Conditions were never
as serious as now and never has there been greater need for sane, safe,
sound, conservative deliberation on the part of this Legislative Assem-
bly. The primary question is whether or not the State of Illinois is
going to uphold the work of the State and Federal authorities and
cooperate with them in providing for this State a clean bill of helath
for its live stock. The question is on the justification of the work of the
State and Federal officials in completely eradicating foot and mouth
disease in this State. These officials are men who ought to know what
is best in this case. I believe they do know. I believe that you believe
they know. They are convinced that the only way to meet the situation
is by immediate slaughter of all infected animals, rigid quarantine, and
43
thorough disinfecting of all premises. Until it has been demonstrated
that there is a better way, it is the part of wisdom to give them every
support in their work. Unless this is done, it means the existence of a
permanent menace to the live stock business, which would necessarily
result in perpetual paralysis of practically our whole live stock industry
so far as profitable business is concerned.
Others who have preceded me have dealt with various phases of this
_ problem, especially the scientific side. I submit that it has been conclu-
sively shown by the eminent authorities whom you have already heard
that the only way to successfully meet present conditions is by the
slaughter method, and that the quarantine method, which has been sug-
gested by those opposed to the work of the government authorities, is
absolutely inadequate and ill-advised in this State and country at this
time.
I want to particularly call your attention to and emphasize the
fact that practically all of the other states in which the disease has
occurred have gone ahead and cleaned up. The trouble is practically
under control and to all practical purposes eliminated in all of the states
where disease outbreaks have occurred, with the exception of Illinois.
Naturally these other states are looking to Illinois to do likewise. They
expect it, and I may say are amply justified in this position. It must
be expected that they will demand that Illinois go ahead and successfully
eradicate all foot and mouth disease. It is the logical and reasonable
position for them to take in behalf of the live stock interests in their
respective states. To better illustrate this attitude, which other states
are bound to take, and to emphasize the point I wish to make, I want
to mention a letter which I have recently received from the president
of the Live Stock Breeders’ Association of Pennsylvania. He says:
“Down this way we are getting scared at your State’s failure
to handle foot and mouth disease effectively. I note the protests
from banks, congressmen, and farmers against wiping it out,
demanding that cattle be kept. If that is done, our State, which
now has control of the disease, after killing about 16,000 animals,
will quarantine against anything from Illinois. So will other states
which have had the nerve to go ahead and clean up. There is no
doubt about such action in case Illinois does not wipe it out.
We are not going to spend a million dollars to get a clean bill of
health for our live stock and have it all spoiled by the monkey
business of your State officials and others out there.”
This letter simply shows the attitude which is going to be taken by
other states in reference to the situation in Illinois. It-is a fair state-
ment of how live stock men and live stock interests of other states view
the present serious condition existing in Illinois. It shows not only the
dire necessity of an immediate and thorough eradication of the disease
in this State, but also the magnitude of our responsibility in properly
and effectively meeting these conditions. The procedure in IIlinois is
not alone going to affect the live stock industry of this State, but the
live stock business of the entire country. Unless the disease is immediately
stamped out, Illinois will very soon be isolated by quarantine. I do not
have to suggest what such a disastrous situation would mean to the live
stock industry of this State and the entire country.
44
In conclusion I want to say that thinking farmers of this State are
in favor of supporting the heroic measures adopted by the State and
Federal authorities in their effort to eradicate foot and mouth disease.
The great mass of thinking farmers of Illinois is ready to stand behind
these officials in providing a clean bill of health for Illinois live stock.
They realize and appreciate the importance of an immediate and thorough
clean-up of the disease and what it means to them and the great industry
which they represent. I speak advisedly on this point, because of the
fact that I am in particularly close touch with the live stock and agri-
cultural interests of Illinois. The Farmers’ Review has vigorously and
persistently supported the State and Federal officials in their efforts to
effectively stamp out this disease. This stand has been taken because
we are convinced that it is the only right stand to take and I can assure
you of our continuance in this stand.
In behalf of the farmers and live stock men of Illinois, whom I
have the honor to represent, I would respectfully urge your serious
attention and consideration of this great problem, looking toward the
State’s cooperation with government officials in the work which is being
done. Particularly would I urge your most serious and favorable con-
sideration of immediately and adequately meeting the necessary appro-
priation which must be made by the General Assembly to take care of
the State’s share in the settlement of all just claims for the slaughter
of animals in completely eradicating this disease in Illinois.
I thank you.
Mr. STEvENSON: Gentlemen, I would like to call your attention to
the fact that after the next speaker addresses you, including a telegram
read by the Governor, from Mr. Goodwin, that you will then have heard
from the editors of four of the principal farm journals of the State of
Ilinois, all of them unqualifiedly upholding the attitude of the Federal
and State government. We now have Mr. J. R. Brown, editor of the
Farmers and Drovers Journal, the largest daily live stock journal in the
world, making a specialty of live stock quotations, ete.
J. R. Brown, Editor “Farmers’ and Drovers’ Journal,” Chicago.
Mr. Brown: My views on the foot and mouth disease and the neces-
sity of eradication, rather than temporizing with it, were expressed
clearly and concisely in the paper which I represent, the Farmers and
Drovers Journal of Chicago, last Friday, a marked copy of which we
sent to each member of the House and Senate, and which I sincerely
hope that you read, since this is a situation more serious than has con-
fronted almost any industry in the history of this State.
The gentlemen who have preceded me pointed out to you their
views, formed as professional men, upon the proper means of handling
this situation. It would be presumptious on my part to attempt to
elaborate upon any of the points they brought out.
I merely wish to say that I have been “on the firing line” since the
start of this battle; I have been at the field headquarters of both the
State and Federal bureaus which have been directing the eradication
45
campaign and have had opportunity to watch the work of these bodies
and, as well, have had my finger on the pulse of public opinion, or at
least that portion of the public most vitally interested, the live stock
grower.
I have had dozens of letters from producers, some complaining
strongly that the eradication process was too severe. ‘“T'emporize with
this disease,” they urged. “Let us demonstrate that we can save our
eattle.” Gentlemen, such arguments come alone from the laity, and in
clinic the layman is usually supposed to be the subject for operation.
He places his confidence in the ability of men who have spent a lifetime
studying ailments such as afflicts him. Now, let the farmers of Illinois
impose like confidence in the men who are conducting this campaign of
disease eradication. There isn’t one of them who would destroy a steer
if he concientiously believed it could be allowed to live and not become
a menace to the health of other animals in nearby territory.
Veterinary science has fought foot and mouth disease for genera-
tions in Europe and has as yet found no effective means of stamping it
out other than the slaughter and burial of the carcasses. We hire a
physician to treat us when we are ill because we believe he knows more
of the nature of our ailment and the curative measures necessary than
we do.
I believe the veterinary scientists are on the right track. They have
demonstrated it thus far in the- campaign, since they have cleaned up
nearly all other states affected, and Illinois, which had 46 per cent of
the total number of outbreaks in this country, now has above ground
only 8 per cent of its cases.
Viewed purely from an economic standpoint, the slaughter of in-
fected and exposed herds must go on, and from the same economic stand-
point, as affects agriculture in Illinois, this body must speedily make
appropriation of an adequate amount of money to fully reimburse the
farmer for one-half of his loss, the balance to be paid by the Federal
Government, in accordance with its established custom.
In the Chicago Farmers and Breeders Journal of yesterday there
was a statement giving the views of the Chicago Live Stock Exchange,
which clears for the farmers of Illinois and surrounding territory more
live stock than any other journal in the world. They sold last year
$375,000,000 worth of live stock on the Chicago market. I will read it:
“The Chicago Live Stock Exchange, through its committee han-
dling the foot and mouth disease quarantine matters, today made
clear its position relative to the quarantine in Illinois, and the
necessity of prompt legislative action for the reimbursement of
owners of live stock which has been slaughtered thus far in the
State and Federal campaign of disease eradication.
“Here are the cardinal points in the disease eradication cam-
paign to which the Chicago Live Stock Exchange gives its strong
endorsement :
“The action of the Federal inspectors in their work in Illinois
and other states is heartily endorsed. The Exchange believes that
speedy destruction of infected and exposed herds is absolutely neces-
sary if the live stock industry of this country is to avoid fighting
the foot and mouth disease—the scourge of Europe—indefinitely,
and to conserve the value of investments in live stock.
46
o
“It maintains that the State of Illinois and the Federal Gov-
ernment must pay every man who owns an animal that has been
slaughtered the appraised value of his animal; the State and Fed-
eral Government to share alike in this expense, and other states to
share with the Government the losses in their respective states.
“These payments must be made as soon as possible, and the Live
Stock Exchange urges prompt action by Congress in making provi-
sion for the Bureau of Animal Industry funds for this purpose, and
as well the State of Illinois and all other states whose farmers have
suffered losses.
“The foot and mouth scourge is one which affects indirectly
all the people. Its continuance, through temporizing with it, would
lead to a much more severe shortage of live stock in this country.
“The Live Stock Exchange urgently requests the state legisla-
tures to make these appropriations as speedily as possible and feels
that there can be no reasonable opposition to such appropriations on
the part of the public and tax payers generally.
“In handling the foot and mouth disease among live stock it is
a more humane, as well as economical, process, to slaughter every
animal infected or exposed—clean up once for all and let the Federal
and State Governments come forward and stand the expense as they
have done previously, rather than to adopt lax methods in handling
the situation and be forced to fight the disease indefinitely. The
cost to the public at large will be much less, from an economical
standpoint, if prompt destruction of the animals is continued until
all infected or exposed herds are under ground.
“There have been slaughtered in Illinois up to-date 527 herds
of live stock, comprising 18,000 cattle, 23,000 hogs, and 500 sheep,
the total appraised value of which is $1,230,000.
“TIlinois has had 46 per cent of the cases in this epidemic that
a few weeks ago affected 16 states, and all but 8 per cent of the
Illinois herds infected or exposed have been slaughtered.
“Tt is the contention of the Chicago Live Stock Exchange that
to temporize with this 8 per cent of cases would mean quick spread-
ing of this disease over this State and possible re-infection in other
states.
“Tllinois cannot afford a Federal quarantine. It would mean
practical isolation of the live stock industry in this State and terrific
losses to stockmen. The alternative is speedy eradication of the
remaining cases of infection and a display on part of Illnois inspec-
tors and the live stock owners in this State of hearty cooperation in
establishing and maintaining county quarantine lines, and observ-
ance down to the minutest detail, of the quarantine regulations
which must necessarily be imposed.
“This action would mean a dwindling of supplies in the “quar-
antine area’ of the Chicago Stock Yards, since live stock from 55
counties which have been infected or exposed would shortly be
released by Federal action’ for marketing in the free section of the
yards.
“The Chicago Live Stock Exchange declares that the establish-
ment of the quarantine yards, November 30th last, and the continu-
47
ance of the dual market system here since that time was an absolute
necessity.”
It afforded an outlet for approximately 12,189 car loads of live
stock from November 30th until January 15th, inclusive, and the value
of that live stock sold was approximately $20,600,000. In the quarantine
division, out of a total of 1,054,000 head of live stock, 615,600 came
from Illinois. There were 71,789 head of cattle, average weight 1,026
pounds; average price 8 cents; the per head value was $81.81, and the
aggregate value was $5,878,083. There were 3,627 calves, average weight
154 pounds; average price per pound 9 cents; per head value $13.86;
total $50,893. There were 443,676 hogs, average weight 224 pounds;
average price 7 cents; per head value $15.68; total value $6,956,839.
There were 96,526 sheep with a gross value of $554,059.
The average prices of the stock were computed by experts at Chicago
and these, with a total weight of the stock passing over the scales, enabled
the statisticians to determine the approximate value of the stock sold in
the quarantined division.
“The Federal regulations provided that stock from infected areas
could not be shipped interstate, but the Illinois Board of Live Stock
Commissioners permitted it to be moved in this State for immediate
slaughter.
“Thus the live stock owner had the option of retaining his stock at
home and taking chances of it becoming infected or selling for local
and immediate slaughter.
“That the quarantine price discounts on a portion of the stock have
at times been severe is not disputed, but this was a situation not of the
sellers’ creation. It was the condition they had to face because of the
elimination of the shipping competition and by reason of the big supplies
which came into the quarantined division.
“Had there been no quarantine and free area divisions there would,
of necessity, owing to the Federal quarantine regulation, have been but
one area and that a quarantine area, because of the refusal of the Federal
Government to permit stock from infected areas to go into interstate
traffic, and thus, with the shipping outlet closed to all live stock in the
Chicago market, the prices would necessarily have been much lower than
has been the case either in the free area or the quarantined division
under the dual market system.
“These points should be carefully weighed in the minds of the live
stock grower and shipper. A crisis arose at market as it did in the
productive territory, one that required the best efforts of all interests
to be put forth in handling the situation in a time of stress that, for-
tunately, now gives promise of soon being remedied, provided there is
shown by all live stock interests that spirit of hearty cooperation to ‘clean
up, which good business sense demands must be put forth.”
Gentlemen, I thank you.
QUESTIONS ASKED OF AND ANSWERS BY MR. BROWN.
Q. It has been rumored around that there have been cases where
the farmers have taken their cattle and they have been put in the quaran-
48 .
tined section of the yards and sold, in some cases as low as a dollar under
the regular price paid for them in the non-quarantined section of the
yards, and that from there they have seen their stock driven to the non-
quarantine section of the yard and sold again.
A. That would be practically impossible unless the United States
Government is becoming lax in its methods and must have a man who
falls asleep at the gates.
When the proposition was put up to them they decided to put up
a fence 14 feet high from the easterly to the westerly side of the yards
in the section known as “Main Alley.” They have a gate there, and also
put up a temporary office and fumigating plant, and in that office and
at that gate, day and night there is stationed a representative of the
United States Bureau of Animal Industry with police power, and a
policeman from the stock yards with police power, and no animal can
get in or out of one of these sections while these men are at the gate, and
I haven’t seen any of those animals that are able to jump a 14-foot fence
from one yard to the other. I believe that whoever made that assertion
was not at all familiar with the conditions in the stock yards or else he
made it for the purpose of creating political capital.
Q. I would like to ask, I have heard the testimony of the various
experts here and it has been said that this disease can jump a number of
miles. There is nothing to prevent birds from flying from one part of
those yards to the other, is there?
A. No, sir.
Q. The disease can be spread from the affected cattle then to those
that are not affected ?
A. Dr. Bennett has declared to me that not one single case has been
found in the free section of the yards.
Q. These cattle could be shipped out from the free markets to
foreign countries. They may become infected and carry the disease
to a foreign country if the statement made by these experts is true.
_ A. To the best knowledge of the Federal inspectors there has not
been one single case of the disease transported from the free area of
the yards. ;
Q. Now, these cattle arriving in the morning or during the night;
when are they unloaded in the quarantine section ?
A. In bright daylight; they are not permitted to be taken out of
the cars at night.
Q. When are they slaughtered ?
A. They are slaughtered in the daytime.
Q. It has been claimed that sometimes they are not unloaded until
night in the quarantine section.
A. No, the cattle are unloaded in the daytime.
Q. Are they all killed within 30 hours?
A. No, sir; they have not been all killed within 30 hours; that
regulation has not been strictly complied with.
Q. I want to get some idea relative to the difference in price in the
quarantined and free areas. You are the editor and manager of the
Breeders’ Journal and your paper publishes each day the market quota-
49
tions of the sales of live stock in the Union Stock Yards. How do yeu
secure those quotations ?
A. Through personal investigation and acquaintance with probably
90 per cent of the buyers and sellers on the market and through a limited
knowledge of live stock values and qualities that I myself possess.
Q. Your chief source of information is from the commission men
and buyers ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is it true that the quotations in your publication show a less
market value for the great majority of the stock received in the yards
in the quarantined area, as compared with the free area?
Age wes. sir. It 18.
Q. About what per cent on the cattle and hogs?
A. We don’t figure per cent in values in Chicago. We figure a cer-
tain price—10 or 15 cents, for instance, per pound. In the general run
of selling in the quarantined division of the yards your cattle values
vary anywhere from 10 to at times as much as 50 cents on the hundred.
Q. In the two areas?
A. It depends on qualities and weights and the prime heavy cattle
suffer the most. The reason of that is this: The greater demand for the
prime heavy cattle from Chicago comes from New York and also some
“kosher” trade of a local character. When they are in the quarantined
section they have to be slaughtered before they are shipped out of
Chicago, which makes them unfit for this “kosher” trade. It must be
slaughtered in New York, the slaughtering to be done by a rabbi.
Q. Would you care to express your judgment before this body as to
the cause of or the reason for the less value of live stock in the quaran-
tined area as compared with the free area?
A. My personal opinion as to the reason of it is this: In the quar-
antined area the demand is limited to the Chicago packers—I mean the
four large packers in the yards—and a limited number of the smaller
packers ‘whose houses are on the outlying districts of the yards. The
four large packers have the only facilities for driving direct over the
chutes from the quarantined area into their packing houses, while the
outlying houses are compelled to take the free stock from the storage
yards to their slaughter houses under various conditions. To a creat
extent the demand in the quarantined section was by a limited number
of buyers and, as a rule, they had a big supply. The law of supply and
demand governs here the same as it always does when there is greater
‘competition and a lesser supply.
Q. You are in touch with the live stock interests throughout the
State, both from your correspondence and from your own persona!
- observation, and I would like to know what would be your conclusions as
to the lifting of the quarantine in the counties that are now free of the
disease ?
A. There have been 63 counties in Illinois under quarantine at one
time. Dr. Bennett informs me that there are 51 of those counties now
absolutely free from the disease as far as is known, and they have been
cleaned and disinfected for periods ranging from two to four weeks. It
is the belief of a great number of people in the stock yards in Chicago
—4 FM
50
om
that if the State Board of Live Stock Commissioners should place abso-
lute quarantine on the places where the disease is now known to exist
that the government would very readily release for interstate shipment
that portion of the State now free as soon as they could make a house to
house inspection. Dr. Bennet said this noon that if the quarantine were
placed on twelve counties absolutely, that within two weeks he would be
able to recommend to Washington that the greater number of the entire
number of these counties now free of the disease could be released for
interstate shipments.
51
HERDS SLAUGHTERED WITHIN THE STATE oF ILLINOIS ON ACCOUNT oF Foor AND
Name.
Adams County—
Welln OMG et cacscincs cciomacce
Chow: Wright: 2: .<..
Boone County—
Thos. Hanson.......
Bureau County—
SeaWievAnGris. (5.227
Wet nUrns=.-.- 2...
Wire O27 Brien) coco.
Wie Nem oe 5 5822 3
Horace Prior... .
Henry Showalter
Wm. A. Stablen.....
Carroll County—
Fred Allanson.......
Be Bolinger! =. o.c2-
Edward Carbaugh...
Chisholm & Rahn...
Walter Collins. ....-.
Simon Fisher........
Andrew Frey.......-
Frey & Bolinger... ..
Mourn DISEASE AND APPRAISED VALUE.
JANUARY; 22, 1915.
poate GaGearye Ns ooo tes alee
Josep
Poerter Heth........
E. xloeh inp aes eens
James C.
Casper Orth
videre
John & Albert Peters..........-.- ZEdOMG eee e wecaen ee
Railing & Fletcher.............-- Milledgeville. ......
Alpert Schriner sa. o-ciee seo oaceee WAN AN icc ayes eee
Charlesiyscbriner pss. -2seee cee Chadwiekwi:-..22.5
ATIVE. SCHEINOD. see cc-n sess Chadwitk.- <<...
MOSHE LOVED= coe oe ccc eens eerie es Milledgeville. ....-.
Henry SWitZer. ac cceeccceescsenee Wanarikess ocsssccen
Stephen F. VanBrocklin.-.....-... phanwon! => .-..2---
Truckmiller & Warner....-..---- Shannoniss-eec-s2-s
WAM WVARTION...- = eter toe - ces WANTS opel se sis eta
John L. Weitzel & Sisters.......-. MtiCarrolli-c- 325.
Miss Nancy Wilfong.........-.-.-- Milledgeville. ....-.
G. W. Wolfenberger.......-.-.---- Tanarke sso ecec =
Postoffice.
SWiVBNCU! |. \c.2 -seeseeocecconee OSCOLS os e- nee
Ei ghpArmstrongeeesese essen eee ATKINSON =e eee
Job nEB Od erase tet eer ee eae
Harry Erdman
JohnniC 1Glowesnee sche ess se ones ed
Henry Lewis...........
Park McHenry...
Z BE dOteeeeeee sete
Ravaltand elias se ea aed Ee (0 (oR oer See
ACH Millore A aceanceat eects sc Ota a cartece ate
AUR IN@ISONE ss ace eee ean ase Cambridge.........
CaweNelson Fes. s5iche seesee eee sedO Scone cep mciaceee
Deb OP AEMUS ms ae seen eae Genese0-¢-----.c--
CUA Olsonie ayers: oe enone seOO aida sci sccice oe
GrantiOlsonseee es eee see Face ae ee Se Sees
Wik wPaintersyocccee sae en eee (0 Co ape eae ea
Sas MRappe cre sasecote ce escacnene 5 dOsnmeenccmeeenee
RobertsonuBrosten.cseeeeee eee ee ambridge.........
owisiSchimolleseeeees sa een sidOe a cAliwiosecd ene
Mars Sedgelyscs-escn cee uents Geneseo!.\s2))2 25
ephomaswihorrencess= ce pesca eee SSMOuUsceMasmeteceue
Melvin) Vien Ehyitesasemmecnen eae Annawan.......-..
GustiVaniVioorenkss sense aneee Atkinson eee esenee
WiovET: (WillsOnee ts ema Suen S 0a tpl Geneseos sesso ee
GSW Wiolic eee Nias Shape We Los Ra eer ais
MD Oba ese rietr ck slic clecicyete te ee eel tae rchey em een
Troquois County—
Hrank Hramesace os sess ese Milford {eee sears
WENW.-LOVelessae eee ns een ena Milford’. so. cecsee:
Stanley E. Reeves................ ES COMe ER meee
Totals \Seie Sipe en Mees, SURE. LU ange ae
JoDaviess County—
Perry MeDeoksene sss see ance eee Stocktoneeeseeesee-
Kane County— '
A Sp ED, PAT emacs ey ev May ene WiASCOW ame e isos
IP CeAm Gersonwecssenenee eenenee WAT eT Berkel
Geo; Bartel is aacs ea. een Mi bimmn sae ae eee
RS Vi Bastian sees (etm) aaa Sugar Grove......-
CAME Bowers coac esse ee eee IBiguROCKee seer ewes
HranksBueltersoe: son cco} See iBatavias ieee ese.
Gustiby@anlsone ses.) Sh aie WiaSsC0s.- seem ensnies
Chapman|Harm Sons ul Gita mis Sugar Grove.....--
Sulvester/Cloneye- so.) aL sae nee Hiburnesssesecesee
Wier CLOSe ne eee aks ee Wiastoseeeceereeene
George Dauberman............... Maple Park.......-.
Mrs. Emily Hartman............- Batavia. -sc-eeeere
Wr
_
330
Sheep. ©
eer |
Appraised
value.
$11, 070 87
7,984 00
1,310 50
1, 053 37
1,704 25
2) 963 75
583 00
588 75
40 00
20 00
832 50
494 75
320 50
3,550 50
568 75
415 00
165 00
826 25
$2, 082 52
2,322 00
SESS RS
ean
obo
Don
26 14
ony
rs
_
°o
S
mWO Re
a7
Noo
>
as
Bos
on
38
ee
NAT We
55
ee ee
HERDS SLAUGHTERED WITHIN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS—Continued.
Name. Postoffice. Cattle. Hogs. | Sheep. | 4 hae
value.
Kane County— Concluded.
Johnson Bros...... WESCOs acces es NR Stress eae eee ee re $ 6000
HP, wonnson. ...- Sugar Grove....... 34 81 27 3,177 50
' N. P. Jorgerson Bim ROCK. woe scones 15 1b Ee eee 823 00
TENTH 2) CaN (Ge oe I PMUOC Keres wise asenic.c cen eke DIN lay ehh Sb 19 50
‘ (evi GnViONela acca sana clones BP ir eereeieeeree sein Pit aera ACER EASE er 1,633 10
. sith RUC OP Ge SR Shes aeemeoceoec Sugar Grove. .....- 18 Diese nae 1,186 25
. ieee aig Whe CI ee eed SRO Seed Ser eS vespacik 50 17 8 4,845 05
MUNG (ea Myers= ~~ <<. 2-3 =~ =~ == Big tO == 31 Palle. Osea R 4, 832 08
Henny SAO West ceneccewie wesc. Gilbertsss. 226.52. AE Ne a (en ae ee 3, 430 00
Ernest Schingoethe........-..-..- Sugar Grove......- 32 U7 et Ae 2, 282 50
Gharles Shavers... .2 2-2 ssossse5e St. Charles......-.. Bib Pere ees senate 1,631 00
AMES NALp os cote decs sonicecs cle Hlburmicce erecta cee 55 CO Base 3, 967 33
Clarence: @anners..0c-- eee Sugar Grove......- 25 10 33 2,239 12
1D} LNA UNE CL Sho mecaemamsaoueded| (ee Ge SsHenecdestse 39 1900 eae se ae 4,685 18
GreB Ten VAS DEOC Kia oie cnet ote era ala ieis ini Batavia...-.-...... 57 53 Resear 4,068 62
. MOlalowece ewan sess ec oee sees se\|S-asc come aeacsese sa 918 1,118 116 $76, 859 23
Kankakee County—
| Ray Greenawalt ..............-... Momence........-. 26 EUS |beceesaece 1,582 34
! SamuelyParliament)< oc. 2.ccc nsec |e = Oona se emt 58 Pl nee aera 2071 22
4 TIGL a Aa A eS ae A ll Ue See ee 84 TsO week sont ae $4,359 56
Kendall County—
Frank Austin Dill ataaterais eee | ce eats ae 1,613 93
| G. M. Bower......-- 8 LON see Seee 551 25
GG COMMS eS seseses cece Krommon.-o2 see. sees Piet 0 (0 eee a oe
Hredelauterbacheer ase ceceesce BGO hee cst eee
Johnaw- batterson=seceseeaese ese S202 cas ckeeeearee
WieDy Pattersons... 5. s-ntsnetec cee EGOS sane toe seteee
Clayton Smithweeeeseeeece essere Plainfield. ......-.-
hs Wis Stewarts.