SPECIAL SESSION. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF KANSAS. SPECIAL SESSION, BEGINNING MARCH 18, 1884, AND END- TOPEKA, KANSAS: KANSAS PUBLISHING HOUSE: T. D. THACHER, STATE PRINTER. 1885. SENATE JOURNAL, SPECIAL SESSION. SENATE CHAMBER, TOPEKA, KANSAS, Tuesday, March 18, 1884. 4 o'clock P. M. Pursuant to a proclamation by the Governor, the Senate was called to order by Lieutenant Governor D. W. Finney, President thereof. The proclamation is as follows: STATE OF KANSAS, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, TOPEKA, March 13, 1884. WHEREAS, There are about 2,000,000 head of cattle, valued at $50,000,000, and sheep valued at $2,300,000, that constitute a large and valuable part of the wealth of this State; and WHEREAS, A very contagious and alarming disease known as the footand-mouth disease has been brought into the State, and has attacked a large number of cattle in Woodson, Coffey, Lyon, Allen and Anderson counties, and said disease is declared by competent and reliable veterinary surgeons, whom I have had examine it, to be highly contagious and incurable, and that it is spreading from the infected localities; and WHEREAS, There is no power or authority vested in the Executive or other branches of the State or local government to quarantine, destroy, stamp out or prevent the spread of that contagion, or punish persons who knowingly spread the same to other localities, and when cattle and sheep are turned out on pastures, public highways and ranches, it will spread with alarming rapidity, to such an extent that its eradication would be impossible, and cause vast and irreparable loss; and WHEREAS, The local authorities and citizens of the infected localities have done all they could to stamp out such disease, but without avail, owing to the absence of authority to enforce quarantine regulations, or destroy diseased stock; and WHEREAS, If the spread of the disease is not stamped out and wholly eradicated, other States may quarantine against the sale, export and shipment of our cattle and sheep to their markets; and WHEREAS, The Executive has been requested by a number of boards of county commissioners, and by large and respectable public meetings, letters, telegrams, and personal requests to convene the Legislature in special session, so that it may pass proper laws and take such measures as it may deem advisable to eradicate and stamp out the disease: 179474 |