#^ BANCROFT LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ADDRESS OF S.^'^WATERHOUSE (Of Wasbinston Universit.r.) BEFORE THE First National Convention of American (jattlemen, ST. I.01JIS, NOY£]»IBER IStli, 1884. ST. LOUIS, MO.: R. P. Studley & Co., Printeks and General Stationeus. 1885. Address of Professor Waterhouse; Mr. President and Members of the First National Convention of American Cattlemen : Gentlemen: — The present number of live stock in the United States is probably above 180,000,000, and their appraised value more than $2,900,000,- 000. t If all of these animals were arranged in single file and the average space of only four feet was allotted to each, the unbroken line would extend more than five times around the globe. The distinctive interests which this Convention represents, though narrowed by the exclusion of horses, sheep and swine, are still colossal in their proportions. The approximate number of neat cattle in this country is over 51,000,000, and their worth exceeds $1,260,000,000.$ The United States raise more than one-half as many cattle as all Europe, and the territory on the west side of the Mississippi exclusive- ly devoted to pasturage is more than double the combined area of Germany and France. The estimated extent of these grazing lands is more than 780,000, 000 acres. There are potent reasons for believing that the present bewilder- ing vastness of our live stock industries is destined to a rapid expansion. The great interests of mankind are now so closely inter-related that the effect of an important industrial change in any one country is felt all over the world. Remote influences are powerfully affecting the agricultural interests of the United States. The enormous cereal products of Russia, India and Australia are glutting the grain markets of Europe, and reducing the profits of American husbandry. The rate of the yield apparently exceeds the growth of the population, and as the lowest cost of production controls the market prices, the tens of millions of bushels which the cheap labor of for- eign countries is pouring into the granaries of Europe will soon render the cultivation of wheat in the United States less profitable than other kinds of business. Too many American farmers are now engaged in this branch of agriculture. Compelled by the excess of cereal production and by the suc- cessful rivalry of foreign nations, they will seek more lucrative industries. The reduction of the number of cultivators and the change of labor to more * Delivered in response to an invitation by the Executive Committee of the Cattle- men's Convention. t These are the figures of a practical stock man, Col. R. D. Hunter. The government esti- mates ol' the number and value of the live stock in the Unite afford to neglect. Among all the wonderful achievements of man, few things are more usefully remarkable than the marvelous changes which his skill has wrought in the qualities and forms of vegetable and animal life. In some instances the primitive character has been so greatly altered that the results seem more like distinct creations than improvements of the original type. The variety and richness of flavor which intelligent cultivation has imparted — 3 to fruit regale the human taste with its most delicious luxuries, and the special excellencies which judicious selection has produced in animals have materially increased the usefulness and value of modern breeds. A wise ap- plication of the laws of heredity will develop and perpetuate the particular qualities which the ranchman desires his herds to possess. The gaunt cattle which are found in many parts of the United States are more difficult to fat- ten and less valuable in the market than those animals in which scientific breeding has rendered a tendency to flesh hereditary. The capital invested in the improvement of cattle is a profitable expenditure. The higher prices which the tender and juicy beef of thorough-bi-ed stock commands richly re- wards the outlay. Official reports assure our government that the cattle of Australia are superior to those of the United States. The stockmen of this country ought not to permit the inferiority of their cattle to increase the ad- vantages of foreign competition, and endanger the prosperity of their own business. But in the Southwest, where cattle ranges are most numerous and extensive, eff'orts to improve the native breeds by the introduction of blooded stock meet a serious discouragement. Thorough-bred cattle imported into the infected regions are almost certain to contract the Texas fever. Stock- men, disheartened by their frequent losses, hesitate to repeat the dangerous experiment. The foregoing statement introduces, by relevant transition, the topic of cattle diseases. The subject is as important as its treatment is difficult. There can be no ultimate gain in ignoring the presence and under-rating the danger of these maladies. Pleuro-pneumonia and the Texas fever* from time to time decimate American herds. The only wise course is to confront the plagues and take sanitary measures to arrest their progress. It is stated that since 1880 the direct and incidental losses which cattle diseases have in- flicted upon Great Britain have averaged $5,000,000 a year. According to the estimate of our Agricultural Department, the value of the cattle that in Virginia alone are annually destroyed by disease is not less than $200,- 000. A proportionate loss throughout the United States would reach an ag- gregate of many millions. The magnitude of the damage should be the measure of organized eff'ort to prevent the prevalence of these destructive contagions. The ravages of Pleuro-pneumonia have thus far been chiefly confined to the northeastern States. The malady has baffled the skill of veter- inary science. The isolation of herds and the slaughter of the infected ani- mals seem to be the only eflectual means of arresting the spread of the dis- order. The Texas fever perplexes the pathologist with mysteries that elude ex- planation. Facts which a costly experience has made familiar to many mem- bers of this body may not be so well known to men unacquainted with the business of grazing. It is surpassingly strange that only cattle in apparently perfect health ti ausmit the disease, while animals sick with the fever do not spread the contagion. Cows dying of the plague do not communicate the disorder to their sucking calves. In uninfected pastures, northern herds, though separated from Texas cattle only by a wire fence, do not catch the fever- — 4 — Migration seems to be an especial source of dana^er. Cattle born in the in- fected districts are not usually liable to attack, but sometimes when healthy southern animals are driven in the hot season only a short distance from their native pastures, they fall victims to the malady. The losses of stockmen are aggravated by the fact that the contagion selects the most valuable animals for destruction. Fat cattle are peculiarly subject to the distemper. The pes- tilence is most prevalent and fatal in the months of July and August. The germs of disease, which may long have lain inert in the system, are devel- oped into deadly activity by the heats of summer. These facts are enigmas for which science has no present solution to offer. Meanwhile, according to the Department of Agriculture, the plague is spreading. With insidious and aggressive marches, it is slowly extending its conquest over northern territory. It is of paramount importance that efficient steps be taken to resist its advance. On western ranches, the damage would be chiefly restricted to the value of the cattle that perish, but the additional loss of dairy products which the prevalence of the disease among the milch cows of the North would involve must amount to a startling aggregate. But the actual losses by death are not the onlj^ injury which the presence of con- tagions in this country inflicts upon the cattle trade. The number of beeves which the United States annually export to Great Britain is now more than 154,000 head. What influence the spread of a pestilence among our herds would have upon the English demand for American live stock may be in- ferred from the effect of the recent European alarm upon the exportation of American pork. Again, the preservation of human health imperatively requires the pre- vention of diseases among cattle. Motives of gain urge unscrupulous men to send infected meat to market. The consumption of such food cannot have a salutary effect upon the public health. Commercial and sanitary considera- tions of the highest moment stimulate science to the solution of its difficult problem. But though investigators have not yet discovered an effective rem- edy for the diseases of cattle, they have made encouraging progress. Never before, in the history of the world, was so much scientific intelligence de- voted to the study of contagions. Whether the bacterial and bacillic organisms which French and German inquirers have found are the cause or conse- quence of disease, it will require further investigation to determine. But apparently we are upon the eve of important discoveries in the pathology of plagues. In the case of the Texas fever, all the observed facts indicate that cattle contract the disorder not by inhaling tainted air, but by feeding upon grasses that have been infected by fecal poison. Whether the disinfection of the pastures or the inoculation of the herds will prove to be the most effective remedy only the further researches of science can decide. * Since the necessary brevity of this paper does not allow even an allusion to all the numerous disorders that afflict American cattle, it deemed best to confine this discussion to the two princi- pal maladies. The Rinderpest and Foot and Mouth disease which stand next to Hleuro-pneumo- nia and the Texas fever in destructive importance, still delv human skill, and are seemingiy capa- ble of prevention only by the quarantine and slaughter of the plague smitten animals. In ttiese remarks, the word plague does not distinctively refer to the Rinderpest, but is employed in a gen- eral sense to denote any pestilence among cattle. — 5 — The United States Government shows an active interest in this matter. A veterinary division has been established in the Agricultural Department at "Washington, and an appropriation of $150,000 has been granted for the investigation and repression of cattle diseases. Under the auspices of the Government, veterinary science will actively seek to explore the cause of bovine epidemics and to devise efficient means of prevention. The boundaries of the infected districts will be accurately defined, and the limits within which it is safe for herds to be moved will be carefully ascertained. The efficacy of vaccination and disinfectants will be exhaustively tested. A critical study of the symptoms of the animals sick with the distemper and a microscopic exami- nation of the bodies of those which have been destroyed by it must eventu- ally lead to important disclosures. The discovery of the virus and the ability to inoculate healthy animals with the germs of the contagion would mark a new era in pathological inquiry, and enable investigators to continue their researches under the most favorable circumstances. With these efforts of the Government the professors of veterinary science in our agricultural colleges will heartily co-operate. Those who are stationed within the districts where the epidemics prevail will enjoy exceptional ad- vantages for the prosecution of their investigations. The stockmen themselves can render a valuable service. They have the best opportunities for notiicng the symptoms of the contagion, and they can collect data which may be of great value to the scientific pathologist. No circumstance is too minute for observ- ation. A knowledge of facts, apparently insignificant, may guide a skilful investigator to important results. isf^-ictiot^i db^ ,^. The progress that has recently been made in the study of contagions en- courages the hope that science will soon discover some means of destroying the virus, or at least of weakening its deadly energy. But there are measures of whose immediately practical efficacy there can be no intelligent doubt. Safety can be insured by selecting the right season for transportation. The Department of Agriculture assures stockmen that Southern herds which are carried to market in the months of December and January do not communi- cate the splenic fever to Northern cattle. But, at other seasons of the year, animals which have been transported from the infected regions by rail are very apt to spread the contagion among cattle that graze upon the grounds which have been occupied by the Southern herds. Experienced stockmen assert that, if Texas cattle are driven slowly, they lose, before they reach the Northern markets, the power of difiusing disease. Dodge City and Ogal- lalla are the great distributing points from which the droves are generally transported to Eastern cities by rail. The drive from Texas to Dodge City varies from 30 to 90 days, and to Ogallalla from 60 to 120 days. It is alleged that this gradual exposure to the influences of a Northern climate destroys the morbid force of the virus. But even if this statement should prove to be unfounded, there is still another means of safety. It is apparently certain that Northern cattle which have been carefully excluded from pastures occupied by Southern herds are never attacked with the Span- ish plague. If it were feasible to establish a trail from South to North, broad enough to afford ample pasturage for myriads of animals, and so — 6 — strongly fenced as to prevent the access of Northern cattle to the enclosure, then there would be at all seasons of the year a safe outlet for the vast herds from Texas and New Mexico. Doubtless the experience of stockmen will submit an array of facts that will enable this Convention to judge of the prac- ticability of the plan. If it be true that there is an actual saving in preparing beeves for market near the ranges on which they were raised, then every successive year will exhibit an increase in the canning and packing interests of Texas. The measure of relief from this source will be proportioned to the expansion of the business. For obviously the cattle slaughtered in Texas will never infecf the pastures of the North. But the great need of our stockmen is a national cattle law. In Europe the rigorous enforcement of wise enactments has done much to check the spread of contagious diseases. State laws are apt to vary in their require- ments, and these differences might tempt dishonest men to violate the stat- utes. But a national law would afford no excuse for evasion. It would impose upon every State the same duties, and everywhere punish with equal penalties an infraction of its provisions. It would regulate the movements of herds, establish systems of isolation and quarantine, and authorise the pur- chase and slaughter of distempered stock. It is clearly competent for Con- gress, by virtue of its power to regulate Inter-State commerce, to pass a national law, and the importance of such legislation to the cattle interests of the United States can scarcely be exaggerated. The experience of Great Britain attests the value of such acts, and this country may profitably imitate the wisdom of English cattle laws, and the judicious rigor with which they are enforced. It is not the purpose of these remarks to inspire alarm. There is no dis- position to over-rate our perils or our losses. No contagion is now raging among the cattle of the United States. But every year, in a country where there are so many millions of live stock, the losses by disease, though so scattered as so escape the public attention, reach a startling aggregate. It has seemed best to confront the danger and advocate measures which tend to avert- it. Another peril, but of a far less seiious nature, besets the cattle business. The activity of foreign competition will enforce economy in every detail of management. The sources of English supplies will afford a sufficient range of illustration. Great Britain now imports about $45,000,000 worth of meat, and 386,000 head of cattle. The most active rivals for this business are Den- mark, Canada and Australasia. In the absence of exact statistics, reports of doubtful accuracy estimate the number of cattle in South America at 49,000,- 000. Yet with all of its myriads of herds, South America has never been a formidable rival. But the aggressive enterprise of the English race has ren- dered the Australian colonies dangerous competitors. The facilities of steam navigation have brought all parts of the world into comparatively near neigh- borhood. The colonies of Australia are now within forty five days of British markets, and every year they are exporting larger supplies of food to the mother country. To protect their meat from the danger of the tropic climate 7 — to which it is exposed on its way to market, the Australian packers have largely resorted to canning, and to the novel device of freezing the meat. A single vessel has, in some instances, been freighted with 10,000 frozen car- casses of sheep, and the meat, reaching its destination without injury, was sold in the markets of England at rates which permitted a profitable competi- tion with beef from the United States. It has been officially stated that the Aus- tralian colonies are able to export annually 700,000 tons of meat. But the insufficiency of their merchant marine to transport so vast a freight has been a source of American profit. The increasing activity of foreign rivalry ^H exact from the cattlemen of this country a careful observance of minute economies. Every improvement in facilities for transportation implies larger profits, or a better chance for successful competition. It is stated that the injuries inflicted by branding and by wire fences cause a serious depreciation in the value of hides. It may be possible to devise means of identification and enclosure that will obviate this loss. There are important sources of economy in an intelligent system of pasturage and protection. Cattle that feed on innutritious grasses and are exposed to all the inclemencies of the weather are not reared under the most favorable conditions for fattening. Flesh cannot be formed from food which is expended in resisting cold. There is a profit in an enlightened regard for the comfort of cattle. Shelter for the countless herds of the far West is obviously impracticable, and the vastness of the ranges on which they graze will prevent a general culture of improved grasses. But further East, the difficulties are not equally insuperable. Here the pastures are not too boundless for cultivation, nor the herds too large for protection. The enormous numbers of live stock in Texas and New Mexico have naturally attracted the attention of the nation, but in 1880 almost ex- actly one-half of the cattle of the United States was on the east side of the Mississippi river. On the innumerable farms and plantations of this region nutritious and rapidly fattening grasses can be cultivated, and the bullocks sheltered from exposure can convert into flesh the food which would otherwise be squan- dered in repelling cold. It is a pleasant thought that the merciful treatment of helpless brutes is rewarded with a generous recompense. There is econ- omy in kindness. It would be instructive to exhibit the domestic distribution and consump- tion of American cattle, but unfortunately by an inadvertence, due to the sudden illness of the Secretary of the Executive Committee, the invitation which conferred upon me the distinguished privilege of addressing this Con- vention, was delayed until it was too late to collect the requisite data. But a single statement will aflTord a suggestive illustration. According to the esti- mate of the efficient statistician of our Agricultural Bureau, the number of cattle annually slaughtered in the United States is more than 6,000,000 head, and their weight is upwards of 3,000,000,000 pounds. Of this enormous aggregate of animal food, only comparatively small quantities are exported to foreign lands. Gentlemen: You have come together from all parts of the United States, from the Dominion of Canada, and even from the Eepublic of Mexico. This — 8 — body represents the cattlemen of the whole North American continent. Never before, in the history of mankind, was there a Convention of stockmen which represented values of such gigantic magnitude. The metropolis which you have honored by your presence welcomes you to its hospitalities, attests by the cordiality of its greetings its full recognition of the vast importance of your industrial interests, and earnestly hopes that your deliberations may effectively promote the material greatness of the United States.