which would have enhanced the value of all
domestic animals and furnished, instead of a mortifying fact,
a proud exhibit.

The causes of a decline are not found in high prices at home
nor in inferior product; rather in suspicions of diseases,
and the clamor of interested parties which led to arbitrary
restrictions, oppressive quarantine regulations, and
forbidding beeves which were ripened for the highest markets
to pass beyond the shambles; and the egress of young immature
cattle on the English pastures. Pork products up to the
Chicago meeting were prohibited by France, and they are
inhibited now from Germany, our long-time valuable customer.
It was their whims, caprices, jealousies, commercial
restrictions and bans which decreased our exports and led the
Commissioner of Agriculture to call the Chicago meeting of
November.

The convention developed facts and was fruitful in results:
That there were solitary cases of pleuro-pneumonia, and
limited to the eastern border States; that Western herdsmen
had just cause of alarm on account of the shipment of young
stock West from the narrow pastures and dairy districts of
the East. It was shown that across the ocean there was a
morbid appetite for suspicions and facts which would justify
severe restrictions and an absolute inhibition of our
products.

The Cattle Commission formed by the Treasury Department gave
decided opinions and imparted valuable information, but they
were constrained to admit that they were powerless in an
emergency to stop the spread of contagious diseases, and that
it was a vain hope that there would be an increased foreign
demand for our cattle and meat without radical Congressional
enactment.

Skilled veterinarians, fancy breeders, political economists,
and savants from the East met the alarmed ranchmen,
enterprising breeders, and delegations and officials from
many agricultural and State associations, representing
millions of cattle and hundreds of millions of dollars,
resolved that a meeting should be held at Washington, and a
committee was appointed to secure appropriate legislation.

In the discharge of duties assigned to the Secretary I at
once repaired to Washington for consultation and to gather
pertinent facts. The heads of the State Treasury and
Agricultural Departments