2 Horses from infected stable put in here. Three of the horses released contracted glanders later and were killed. 4 Died after first test. One of the most interesting tests was that at Revere, as these animals belonged to a Wild West Show from Oklahoma, which was giving exhibitions at Revere Beach during the summer. Glanders was discovered among these animals just before Decoration Day and 9 were killed at once. The remaining animals, 52 in all, were tested with mallein and 31 reacted. Later 8 new purchases were tested, none of which reacted. There were two stables on the grounds where the exhibition was given, and the animals were separated, the non-reactors being put in one barn, the reactors in the other, and were kept apart as well as circumstances permitted. One reactor was released on a second test and 16 were released on subsequent tests. Fourteen reactors were killed, of which 2 showed no lesions of disease on autopsy and were paid for by the State on a valuation of $100 each. The interesting feature of the case was that the proprietor of the show wished to leave the State toward the end of September with the animals that remained apparently healthy, and after writing to the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washington about the case a reply was received saying that animals that reacted to mallein could not be shipped out of Massachusetts. As a number were still reacting, this left the Chief of the Cattle Bureau with the choice of releasing them from quarantine, or killing them and having the Commonwealth reimburse the owner for the value of the animals in which no lesions could be found. The Chief of the Cattle Bureau could not allow them to be disposed of and undertake to keep track of these animals after the show broke up, as he occupied the peculiar position of a State official without authority over the whole State. After careful deliberation the following letter was written:— [U-71.] COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, CATTLE BUREAU OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, Dr. A. D. MELVIN, Chief United States Bureau Animal Industry, SIR: Your letter of August 21 duly received, relative to the horses and ponies in the Wild West Show at Wonderland, Revere. I find I wrote you promptly May 29 last relative to the outbreak of glanders in the stock at Wonderland. I have had the animals that have shown physical evidence of disease killed, and have kept the others under observation in quarantine since then, with the exception of half a dozen Shetland ponies which he has disposed of, only one of which ever reacted to mallein, and these were disposed of through a misunderstanding. Inasmuch as these animals came from Oklahoma, and seem to be only in transit through the State as a part of an itinerant show, and inasmuch as the owner is not a resident of Massachusetts, but is simply here with his exhibition, it seems to me a case where the United States Bureau of Animal Industry ought to step in and take charge of the matter. The reacting animals and those that have not reacted are still at Wonderland, and the owner is anxious to leave the State the 20th of September, and is desirous of taking his stock away with him, and wishes to stop in Virginia and Ohio on the way home and give exhibitions in those States before returning to Oklahoma. If he were a resident of Massachusetts, and had a permanent stable here, I should test his entire lot of horses, as I have already done, separate those that reacted from those that gave no reaction, and test them once a month until they ceased to react, or until they showed some physical evidence of glanders and I ordered them killed. I do not like the idea of ordering the reacting horses that he has here killed, and having to pay for those in which no satisfactory lesions of glanders could be detected out of the appropriation of the Cattle Bureau. At the same time, if he could not take them away with him from this State and wanted to sell them, I fear they might go into stables where I would have no control over them, particularly as I do not have jurisdiction over the entire State of Massachusetts; but if any of these animals were taken into the city of Boston they would be entirely beyond my control, as much as if they were taken to Oklahoma. If, therefore, there is any way for the Bureau of Animal Industry to send an agent here to investigate this outbreak, and determine what is best to be done in the matter, I would like very much to put the whole affair in your hands. Hoping to hear from you at as early a date as possible, I remain Yours respectfully, AUSTIN PETERS, Chief of Cattle Bureau. As a result of this correspondence the Chief of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry arranged to send an agent to test the animals that had reacted at the end of September, with the understanding that any that did not react to his test could be removed by the owner, and that the State of Massachusetts would kill the reactors. An agent of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry was sent from Washington the end of September to test the animals about which there was any question. He tested 22, of which 18 gave no reaction and were released, and 4 reacted and were killed by the State authority; lesions were found in 3; none could be found in 1 and the Commonwealth paid for it. Thus what at one time seemed to be a rather complicated state of affairs was cleared up. It seems to be another argument in favor of one general law for the State, and a repeal of the special legislation enacted a few years ago to please the Boston board of health by putting glanders and farcy and rabies under its control, when already a competent agency existed for the control of these diseases, supported by ample law, and stronger laws than the city board of health has to sustain it. For the past year an agent of the Cattle Bureau has been present at the horse auction in Lowell and examined all the horses offered there at the weekly sales, with the result that 7 cases of glanders have been discovered and killed before going on to do further mischief. Some of these animals had recently passed through the auction sales stables in Boston, others killed at other places outside of Boston during the year were purchased at auction in Boston, yet the Chief of the Cattle Bureau has absolutely no authority to employ an agent to inspect horses offered for sale in Boston, although many of them go to outside cities and towns. He has no authority to trace the history of a glandered horse after he traces it to a sales stable in Boston, or any power to investigate, and if he finds that the seller knew or had reasonable cause to believe that a horse had glanders, he has no right to prosecute him for selling such an animal. He has no right to prosecute any one for removing a glandered horse from Boston to another city or town, or to prosecute any one for breaking quarantine by removing a quarantined horse from Boston to another city or town. There is something more to the suppression of glanders than the authority to kill an animal because it has glanders or farcy, and it would seem that the changes made in the law in 1897 and 1899 should never have been made. To show how soon glanders develops in some of the cheap class of horse sent to these sales, it is interesting to note that 2 horses found to be glandered at the Lowell auction sales had been sold there two or three weeks before, and at that time passed inspection. There was quite a discussion before the committee on agriculture of the Legislature last winter as to whether the State should or should not pay for glandered horses. A change in the law to provide payment in a limited sum was favored by the Expressmen's League and some stable keepers and horse owners, and evidence produced to show that this |