Mr. Secretary of State: Mr. Theodore Runyon,
the recently deceased United States ambassador at Berlin, repeatedly,
and for the last time in his note of September 18, 1895, called the
attention of the foreign office to the question of the importation of
cattle and beef from the United States into Germany, and stated in this
last note that no case of lung disease (pleuro-pneumonia) had occurred
in the United States for years; that at that time the cattle of the
United States were free from Texas fever, and that even in case of the
accidental occurrence of Texas fever no infection from that disease was
to be feared, because the exported cattle, as a rule, were intended for
immediate slaughter.
I have received instructions to transmit to your excellency, in reply to
the above-mentioned note from Ambassador Runyon, the inclosed
memorandum, which is based upon a decision of the imperial sanitary
bureau, and from the contents of which your excellency will gather the
reasons which make it appear to the Imperial Government, in the
interests of the German cattle breeding, unadvisable to repeal at the
present time the prohibition in question.
The United States, by section 17 of the tariff act of August 28, 1894,
still in force, prohibited, in the interests of its own cattle industry,
the importation of cattle from any country in the world, and it is only
a short time ago that an exception was granted in the case of some few
countries by the proclamation of the President of the United States,
dated November 8, 1895. The United States Government must therefore
admit the right of other countries to protect their own cattle industry
in like manner. That, however, such protection, especially against [Page 165] Texas fever, still appears
necessary, in spite of Ambassador Runyon’s assurances to the contrary,
is shown with certainty by the fact that certain States of the Union,
as, for example, Kentucky, by the quarantine proclamation of July 25,
1895, of the State board of health, have entirely closed their territory
against the importation of Southern cattle during nine months of the
year. Moreover, a quarantine proclamation of the State of Colorado,
dated February 13, 1896, and consequently subsequent to Ambassador
Runyon’s last note, asserts the existence of Texas fever in the Southern
States.
With regard to lung diseases among the cattle of the United States, I may
at the same time call attention to the fact that the State of New
Hampshire, only a few days ago, issued a quarantine ordinance expressly
prescribing the “tuberculine” test for all cattle hereafter imported
into New Hampshire. It thus appears that the existence of lung diseases
among the cattle of other States of the Union is regarded there as
certain.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Memorandum concerning the prohibition of the
importation of American cattle and fresh beef into
Germany.
The prohibition of the importation of American cattle and beef was
issued in consequence of cases of Texas fever having been officially
ascertained in two cargoes of American cattle at Hamburg on the
28th, 29th, and 30th of September (steamer Persia), and on the 20th of October, 1894 (steamer Prussia).
The veterinary police views, taken into consideration as the basis of
the prohibition of the importation of American cattle, are stated at
length in the opinion of the Imperial sanitary bureau, dated
November 7, 1894, which was communicated to the United States
Government. Since that time no change has taken place in American
relations that could justify a repeal of the prohibition. The Texas
fever has, on the contrary, increased considerably in
development.
While, according to the order of the Secretary of Agriculture at
Washington, dated February 26, 1892,1 only those sections of
the United States lying south of latitudes 36° to 38° and east of
longitude 100° were regarded as infected, that territory has been
extended to the west coast by the order of February 5, 1895.2 This boundary now extends through the whole
continent, chiefly between latitude 32° and latitude 37°, and
reaches its most northern point at San Francisco, in the West, under
latitude 38°, and at the Potomac, in the East, under latitude 39°.
The whole of western Texas, Mexico, and the southern half of
California are thereby added to the infected territory.
The American authorities have not, therefore, succeeded in confining
the disease to the former territory, much less in checking it.
Moreover, it has not been made known whether and what measures have
been adopted for the extirpation of Texas fever within the infected
territory. The regulations issued by the Department of Agriculture
at Washington against Texas fever are chiefly confined to the
prevention of the spread of that disease to those States of the
Union lying north of the boundary designated. During the period from
February 15 to December 1, 1895, cattle may be exported from the
infected district to other parts of the United States only, subject
to certain precautionary measures and for the purpose of immediate
slaughter, but freely at any other time. On the other hand, with the
approval of the Secretary of Agriculture, cattle from certain parts
of the infected territory, when they have been there since January,
1895, and have not come into contact with cattle from the infected
territory, may be brought to the States of Colorado, Wyoming,
Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota for pasturage. In the State
of Kentucky, which borders immediately upon the infected territory,
the prohibition of the importation of cattle from that territory
during the period ending December 1, [Page 166] 1895, and from March 1 to December 1 in future
years, was enacted on the 25th of July, 1895; and it was further
ordered that all real or suspected cases of Texas fever among the
native cattle be immediately reported and the animals in question
separated from the others. By an ordinance of April 15, 1895, cattle
may be imported from Mexico into the territory of the infected
Southern States only under certain conditions, partly for slaughter,
partly for pasturage. (Special order concerning importation of
cattle from Mexico. Rules and Regulations, etc., p. 31.)
In order to prevent the transmission of diseases of animals to
foreign countries the Secretary of Agriculture, by an order of
October 20, 1890 (publications of the Imperial sanitary bureau,
1891, p. 248), ordered a sanitary inspection of the living cattle
and sheep intended for exportation to Europe at specially designated
ports, and renewed the order, with unimportant changes, on the 7th
February, 1895. (Order and regulations for the inspection of cattle
and sheep for export. Rules and Regulations, etc., p. 13.)
The measures mentioned are not to be regarded as sufficient to
prevent the transmission of Texas fever, as, according to the
scientific investigations of Smith and Kilborne, the cattle in the
Southern States are to be considered entirely infected, and even in
the absence of external symptoms of disease dangerous to foreign
cattle as transmitters of the infectious matter. (Investigations
into the nature, causation, and prevention of Southern cattle fever,
United States Department of Agriculture, Eighth and Ninth Annual
Reports, etc., p. 177.) Moreover, there are no means of preventing
the cattle from the infected Southern States from being exported by
sea, owing to the extent of the coast. Under these circumstances, it
is not surprising that Texas fever sometimes breaks out in the
Northern States, and is even transmitted to Europe. Thus, according
to the statements of the Hamburg state veterinary surgeon, Vollers,
the importation of such diseased cattle and of the American cattle
ticks, which are the means of communicating Texas fever into British
ports, has repeatedly occurred. Apart from the cases of evident
sickening, all cattle coming from the infected Southern States, at
least, must be regarded as dangerous, as transmitters of the
infectious matter, and all cattle that have been in company with
such must be considered suspicious. The view held by the Americans,
that the shipment of cattle affected by Texas fever can be entirely
prevented by the measures adopted by the American Government,
appears, therefore, incorrect. So long, however, as the measures
adopted in the United States do not suffice to check the disease and
to prevent the exportation of sick and suspicious cattle and of the
cattle ticks which communicate the contagion, the danger exists for
Germany that, after the repeal of the prohibition of the
importation, the disease may obtain a firm footing here, too, and
that it may spread more widely. In that case it would still be a
question whether, in view of the peculiar nature of Texas fever, the
veterinary police arrangements in Germany would be sufficient for
the effectual extirpation of the disease, or whether they would
prove as ineffectual as the measures adopted in the United States of
America must be assumed to be.
It is asserted on the American side that Texas fever is not
contagious, and that it does not spread in northern climates.
Attention is called to the fact that during the cold season the
importation of Southern cattle does not involve danger, and that it
is therefore freely permitted in the Northern States of the Union
during the winter months. It is to be remarked, in reply, that the
views of scientists as to the nature of Texas fever are not yet by
any means fully cleared up. In particular, the statements of Smith
and Kilborne as to the mode of transmission [of the disease] are in
many respects still obscure, and have not yet been corroborated by
the testimony of experts.1 Frank Billings, of
Nebraska, an investigator who, as well as those specialists, has
published very minute investigations as to Texas fever, has arrived
at very different conclusions. According to these the infectious
matter also exists in the excrement of the diseased animals.
Although Billings does not undervalue the importance of the ticks as
the transmitters of the infection, he is of opinion that the
infection is most frequently effected by the soiling of sores with
the dung of diseased animals. The fact that Smith and Kilborne have
shown the blood parasite at liberty in the kidneys gives reason to
presume that it is ejected with the urine and thereby causes an
infection of the places on which diseased animals have stood.
As regards the communication of the disease by ticks especially, the
question is not yet decided whether European species of ticks and
other insects may not undertake the part of the American cattle
tick. Moreover, the characteristics of the various species of ticks,
according to sex, stage of development, and according to whether
they have sucked themselves full of blood or not, vary so much as to
size, color, and form that in the opinion of experts it is difficult
to identify the various species with any certainty. Under these
circumstances scientific investigation is still needed as to whether
the American cattle tick (Ixodes bonis,
Riley’s; Boophilus [Page 167] bovis, Curtice) is really a peculiar
species confined to the Southern States of the Union. The mode
described by Smith and Kilborne of the transmission of the
infectious matter from the diseased animals to the ticks, from the
ticks to their eggs and the young, which in their turn are said to
transmit the infection to the healthy cattle, requires further
corroboration, the more so because a process of this kind is
remarked nowhere else in nature, least of all among the skin
parasites, and the ticks, in particular, have been known heretofore
only as vexatious bloodsuckers.
During the cold season part of the ticks perish and the surviving
portion are prevented from propagating. All experience is wanting as
to the effect of the cold weather upon the blood parasites of Texas
fever. If the authors of the disease, like the transmitters of the
infection, retain their vigor during the colder season even
partially, then there is a possibility that they will produce their
injurious effects in unison in the following summer.
Besides, the danger of the introduction of lung disease
(pleura-pneumonia) is involved in the importation of American
cattle. The American Department of Agriculture has, it is true, in
its order of September 26, 1892 (United States Department of
Agriculture, Eighth and Ninth Annual Reports, etc., p. 72), declared
the country free from the disease. Still, numerous cases have been
discovered since that time among the cattle imported into Europe.
For instance, according to the official records in Great Britain,
there were discovered:
|
Cases. |
In the year 1892 |
33 |
In the year 18931 |
36 |
In the year 1894 |
5 |
In the year 1895 (to September 30) |
5 |
The correctness of the diagnosis of the British experts is disputed
by the Americans. It appears, however, from a piece of the lung of
an American ox in the collection of specimens of the Imperial
sanitary bureau that, in the importation case at Liverpool in
November, 1894, there was no doubt of the existence of lung disease.
Importations of this disease from America were shown to have
occurred in Belgium also in the year 1894. The Belgian minister of
agriculture consequently, by order of December 29, 1894 (Moniteur
Beige, p. 4189; Publications of the Imperial Sanitary Bureau, 1895,
p. 56), prohibited the importation or passage of cattle from the
United States until further notice. There is, besides, in the
Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) of March 23, 1895, an article by
Professor Mayo, from which it appears that, as a matter of fact,
lung disease is still prevalent in Kansas.
There are the following objections to the importation of fresh beef
from America:
It appears from what has been said that the importation of cattle
involves the danger of the introduction of Texas fever. Now, in the
case of Texas fever it must be remembered, on the one hand, that the
blood is regarded as a communicator of the diseased matter, and on
the other hand, that even those animals which have not caught the
disease arc looked upon as communicators of the infectious matter if
they come from the infected territory or if they have been in
company with such diseased animals. As the disease producer has its
seat in the blood, it is in all parts of the body and consequently
in the flesh. Nothing certain is known as to its further action in
slaughtered meat. It can not, therefore, be at once taken for
granted that the disease producer loses its injurious qualities with
the cooling of the flesh. According to scientific experience, such
very small animalcule frequently withstand even very high degrees of
cold. It has been proved that diseases of animals may be
communicated by the meat. Erysipelas in hogs, especially, is in many
cases communicated by the meat and refuse of diseased animals. Under
these circumstances, and in view of the great diffusion of Texas
fever in the United States, great caution is requisite as regards
the importation of fresh beef from America, in spite of the measures
adopted there recently for the inspection of animals and meat.
By an order of the Secretary of Agriculture at Washington, dated
February 7, 1895 (Regulations for the inspection of live stock and
their products—German Commercial Archives, 1895, p. 377), which was
supplemented by one of June 14, 1896, (Regulations for the
inspection of livestock and their products—German Commercial
Archives, 1895, p. 858), the owners of slaughtering establishments
(salting establishments, etc.), the meat from which is to be placed
on the domestic or foreign market, must apply to the Secretary of
Agriculture for the inspection of the animals and meat. A number is
to be given officially to each establishment, and a cattle
inspector, with the necessary assistants, appointed for each
establishment, whose duty it is to inspect the animals both before
and after they have been slaughtered, and to remove the animals and
meat which have been found to be diseased. By the order of August
28, 1895 (order concerning the exportation of meat), these
regulations were to go in force on the 16th September, but the time
for their going into force has been postponed several times, the
last time to July 1, 1896.
[Page 168]
Apart from the fact that there may be difficulties attending the
filling the positions of the cattle inspectors and their assistants
with the required number of thoroughly schooled and reliable
persons, we must first wait to see whether the regulations can, in
point of fact, be strictly carried out in every case, and whether
the exportation of meat from those slaughtering establishments
(salting establishments, etc.), which are not subjected to
governmental inspection, will really be prevented.
Lastly, it may be remarked, that no microscopical examination of the
meat as to the presence of the blood parasites of Texas fever is
ordered. Without such an examination the animals which have been
infected, but which appear to be healthy under the ordinary
inspection, can not be ascertained.