Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 5, 1881

No. 355.
Mr. Blaine to Sir Edward Thornton.

Department of State,
Washington , March 9, 1881.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 7th instant, addressed to my predecessor, in response to his note of the same day to you on the subject of the alleged prevalence of hog-cholera in the Western States.

While most fully appreciating your promptness and courtesy in taking such energetic steps to investigate the authority for the strange announcement made by Mr. Crump, late acting consul of Her Majesty at Philadelphia, I regret that the further report on the subject looked for by you from the consul at Philadelphia should not have yet been communicated to this Department, in view of the urgency of the matter.

Confirming the statement Mr. Evarts’ note of the 7th that all means of information at the command of the Department concurred in showing the late published report as wholly without foundation, I hasten to transmit copies of resolutions of the Merchants’ Exchange of Saint Louis, and of the Chamber of Commerce of Cincinnati.

I am also, to-day, in receipt of a communication from my colleague, the Secretary of the Treasury, conveying explicit denial of the report published in the Times, and asking that the character and source of the information on which Mr. Crump’s dispatch was based be ascertained. It may be that, as stated in the telegram you have received from the consulate at Philadelphia, credence has been given to what appeared to be “good authority”; but all that this government can learn, after searching inquiry, leads irresistibly to the conclusion that the good faith of Her Majesty’s representative at Philadelphia has been imposed upon by designing speculators, in their own selfish interests, and to the incalculable injury of legitimate commerce.

Should this be so, I trust you will concur with me that no steps can be too urgent or imperative to overtake and contradict this false statement, and that this government cannot too confidently look to Her Majesty’s legation for an authoritative denial thereof.

I have, &c.,

JAMES G. BLAINE.

[Inclosure 1.—Telegram.]

Saint Louis , March 7, 1881.

Hon. James G. Blaine:

The board of directors of the Merchants’ Exchange of Saint Louis to-day adopted the following:

“Whereas a report has been made public to the effect that a disease of malignant character is prevalent among the swine of this country, tending to intimidate foreign and local buyers of the product; and

“Whereas all experience and knowledge of this year’s packing warrant the opinion that never before, in the annals of the pork-packing trade, was there comparatively less disease among swine or less cause for apprehension on the part of the consumer than at present: Therefore,

“Resolved, That in the opinion of the directors of the Merchants’ Exchange of Saint Louis the alarm caused by said reports is entirely without foundation, and the assurance is given that the hog product of this season is more free from disease and more healthful generally than ever before.”

MICHAEL McENNIS,
President.

[Inclosure 2.—Telegram.]

Cincinnati, Ohio , March 5, 1881.

Whereas it is currently reported that the British consul at Philadelphia has sent a dispatch to England, completely false in character, to the effect that seven hundred thousand hogs have died from cholera: Therefore,

Resolved, That the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce hereby gives, to the official representatives of Great Britain in this country, its most positive assurance that the hogs of the State of Ohio and of the whole West have been during the past year singularly free from disease of all kinds, and respectfully asks the members of the legation to take such action as would immediately correct the effects of the reports which are calculated to inflict great damage on the provision trade of both the United States and Great Britain, and which doubtless have had their sole origin in mercenary motives.

• HENRY C. URNER,
  President.
• JOS. H. FOOTE,
  Secretary.
• SIDNEY D. MAXWELL,
  Superintendent.