The facts stated may be communicated so far as necessary to base upon
them the specific inquiry with which Mr. Rusk’s letter concludes, as to
the status of Canada under the British contagious diseases (animals)
act. Protest against treatment of American cattle may be reserved for
the present.
[Inclosure to No. 969.]
Mr. Rusk to Mr.
Foster.
Department of Agriculture,
Washington, D. C., November 16, 1892.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your note of the 14th instant, inclosing a copy of
dispatch No. 812, from the chargè d’affaires at London covering copy
of a note addressed by him to the Earl of Rosebery, relative to
restrictions upon the importation of American live cattle into
England.
Concerning this subject I would state that since my former
communication to you an inspector has been sent to each one of the
farms from which the cattle came that composed the lot shipped from
Cincinnati, one of which was alleged by the English inspectors to be
affected with contagious pleuro-pneumonia when it was slaughtered at
Deptford, on October 12, 1892.
All of these farms were found to be free from disease, and it is
conclusively shown that there never has been any pleuro-pneumonia in
the localities where they are situated. It may be stated with equal
positiveness that none of these cattle could by any possibility have
been exposed to the contagion of that disease on their way to the
vessel which transported them to Great Britain.
It should also be added that a specimen of the affected lung of the
animal in question has been received from our inspector at London,
and carefully examined by the experts of this Department. This
specimen presents a small area affected with inflammation, but it
has none of the peculiar appearances of pleuro-pneumonia. It is the
kind of lesion which might be expected to follow from an injury to
the animal or exposure to drafts or changes of temperature on board
the ship.
Such alterations of the lungs are not uncommon with animals which
undergo the discomforts and exposures incident to long journeys by
rail and steamship, and there is no doubt that they will be found in
a small proportion of American bullocks as long as they are shipped
across the ocean.
They have also been observed in English cattle shipped to the United
States. This being the case, it becomes a serious question if such
unimportant and noncontagious affections are to be accepted by the
Government of Great Britain as sufficient [Page 347] reason for continuing the restrictions upon
the live-cattle trade which have been in operation for so long a
period. It simply means that an unjust discrimination is to be
enforced for all time against one of the most important branches of
our trade with that country. Against such a discrimination this
Government has a right to protest in the most vigorous language at
its command.
It has recently been stated by the press of Great Britain that a cow
shipped to that country from Canada was officially pronounced to be
affected with contagious pleuro-pneumonia, that over 100 head of
cattle exposed to it have been slaughtered, and that an order has
been issued requiring all Canadian cattle to be slaughtered on the
docks where landed.
With these official statements before this Department it becomes
necessary to consider what restrictions are to be placed by this
Government upon cattle coming into the United States from Canada. By
the expenditure of a large sum of money we have eradicated
pleuro-pneumonia, and I am positive that the country is now free
from the contagion of that disease. It is an imperative duty to
protect our herds from it in the future, and if Canada is officially
declared by the British Government to be an infected country, there
is nothing left for us to do but to enforce quarantine regulations
in connection with all shipments of cattle from Canada to the United
States.
I should like to be informed if the Government of Great Britain has
any reasons to offer why the United States should not apply the same
measures to Canadian cattle coming to the United States which are
enforced when such cattle are landed in England or Scotland.
Personally, I am of the opinion that the same error has been made in
diagnosing the disease affecting the Canadian cow which was made in
connection with the American bullocks, and for that reason I have
delayed the quarantine restrictions in the hope that a further
investigation would be made and a more liberal policy adopted by the
British Government. If such is not to be expected, however, then I
see no alternative but to apply the same regulations, and for the
same reason, to cattle imported into this country from Great Britain
and its dependencies.
Requesting that the proper representation of this subject be made to
that Government,
I have, etc.,
