(Witnesses: Melvin, Zappone.)

where different diseases are being investigated, for fear of carrying the disease.

The CHAIRMAN. For fear of transferring the contagion?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Does that medical fact-if that is the proper way of speaking of it

Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN (continuing). Does that medical fact involve the employment of more than would be otherwise necessary?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes. Their time is utilized as far as possible, when they are not engaged in caring for animals, in the improvement of the grounds. These animals are necessarily confined to small paddocks, and if it is in the summer we feed them green fodder, which we raise on the premises, and these men do that farm work besides taking care of the animals.

The CHAIRMAN. That is at your experimental station out in Maryland?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you more than one experiment station?
Doctor MELVIN. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. Has your bureau any stations or offices for demonstration or experimental purposes except in Washington and the one in Maryland that you have been speaking of?

Doctor MELVIN. We have offices in various cities where we have meat-inspection stations, and then we have a number of experiments that are being carried on in connection with State experiment stations. Of course they are carried on upon the premises of the State experiment stations.

The CHAIRMAN. But the only experiment station that your Bureau has for itself, per se, is this one in Maryland? .

Doctor MELVIN. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. When was that constructed?

Doctor MELVIN. About six years ago-six or eight years ago. The CHAIRMAN. Could you state, approximately, about how much of an investment it represents?

Doctor MELVIN. No; I do not remember. I think probably it would be originally in the neighborhood of $15,000 or $20,000; maybe more than that. The first purchase included 20 acres, and a subsequent purchase included 30 additional acres, or 50 acres in all, representing about $30.000.

The CHAIRMAN. About what is the annual cost of maintenance? Doctor MELVIN. Is that given here?

Mr. ZAPPONE. No; it is not given in the projects.

Doctor MELVIN. I think I can get it for you.

Mr. ZAPPONE. It is not here. The expenses of that come in under your general fund.

Doctor MELVIN. It is $29,574.

The CHAIRMAN. That is annual maintenance?

Doctor MELVIN. That was for last year; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Then approximately it is $30.000?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Does the Government own the land and the build

ings there?

(Witnesses: Melvin, Zappone.)

Doctor MELVIN. Yes, sir.

Mr. SAMUEL. Do those laborers receive promotions?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes, sir; we have had to promote them to keep them.

The CHAIRMAN. When they get promoted they are not called laborers?

Doctor MELVIN. They are promoted as laborers.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have grades of laborers?

Doctor MELVIN. No; possibly they may receive in the course of a year or two or three years a promotion of $5 a month in pay.

Mr. SAMUEL. What is the difference between the laborers at $30 a month and $40 a month and $50 a month?

Doctor MELVIN. Their skill and efficiency in caring for the animals makes that difference in their pay. That is determined by the superintendent of the experiment station.

Then there is a difference in their class of work. We have some who act as watchmen, night watchmen and day watchmen. Some act as laborers, and others do a little higher class of work. They understand more about the class of experimental work they are engaged in, and can be trusted to do more careful work.

Mr. ZAPPONE. Here is an illustrative case, at the top of page 64, W. F. Pugi. He was a laborer at $50 a month and was promoted to watchman at $60 per month.

Mr. SAMUEL. Do those laborers work every day?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes; Sundays and all.

Mr. SAMUEL. I should imagine so, from the character of the work. Doctor MELVIN. Of course there is a great deal of their work that is dispensed with on Sunday.

Mr. SAMUEL. You make it as light as possible?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

Mr. SAMUEL. When a laborer reaches a salary of $50 a month, he is eligible to promotion, then, to some other position besides that of a laborer?

Doctor MELVIN. No, sir; I think not without a civil-service examination. These men-the majority of them-are merely laborers and are not capable of a much higher class of work.

Mr. SAMUEL. A large percentage of the employees in Washington are scientific men, are they not?

Doctor MELVIN. On the lump fund?

Mr. SAMUEL. Yes.

Doctor MELVIN. Yes, sir.

Mr. ZAPPONE. In fact, outside of the laborers, watchmen, and the messenger force you can very properly say that all the lump sum employees in Washington are scientists or connected with the scientific staff. Am I not correct?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

Mr. SAMUEL. I notice that you have two architects. What are their duties?

Doctor MELVIN. One of those was employed but a short time, and we have but one now. This architect was originally obtained by us by transfer from the Treasury Department to supervise the building of some quarantine stations for imported animals that we have at Athenia, N. J. He was returned to Washington and was for some

(Witnesses: Melvin, Zappone.)

time engaged in preparing general plans of dairy barns and dairy buildings that might be generally suited to farm conditions. Recently he has been assigned to investigations, making an investigation with regard to sanitary materials to be used in the construction of abattoirs and meat-curing establishments.

Mr. SAMUEL. I notice that several persons employed are designated simply" experts." Are they experts in any particular branch? They are simply marked "experts."

Mr. ZAPPONE. Take Mr. Bolton, at the bottom of page 63.

Doctor MELVIN. He is an expert in bacteriology. I think he has since qualified through civil-service examination and is regularly appointed.

Mr. ZAPPONE. Yes; this shows his promotion from an expert, at $1,800, to an assistant in bacteriology, at $2,000.

Mr. SAMUEL. Then here is Mr. White, who is an expert.

Doctor MELVIN. He was also employed in our biochemic division. Mr. SAMUEL. What is this special agent? What are his duties? Doctor MELVIN. You mean Mr. Pitney?

Mr. SAMUEL. Yes; Pitney.

Doctor MELVIN. This man was employed to prepare an exhibit made by the Bureau at the Portland exposition. He is an artist.

The CHAIRMAN. I notice that Mr. Wray, inspector, is apparently receiving a large salary as foreign inspector. Will you explain why? Doctor MELVIN. Doctor Wray has been stationed for a number of years as a representative of the Department in Great Britain, and his salary is rather large on account of the numerous incidental expenses to which he is subjected.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, there are expenses necessarily incident to the discharge of his duties over there that are intended to be covered by the increase of compensation as compared with other inspectors? Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. What are his duties over there? What does he do?

Doctor MELVIN. Originally there were three inspectors stationed in Great Britain. They were sent there in 1890. The purpose was to determine whether pleuro-pneumonia of cattle was being found among American cattle, as reported by the English veterinarians. I was stationed at Liverpool, and another veterinarian, Doctor Ryder, was stationed in Glasgow, and Doctor Wray was in London. Doctor Wray was in charge of the work. The other two were afterwards transferred back to this country. Doctor Wray remained. His services were considered sufficiently valuable in the way of obtaining general information for the Department, so that it was desired to keep him there; much information regarding trade conditions and the manner in which our animals were arriving, whether the ships were properly equipped, and information of that nature is reported by him. The CHAIRMAN. Does he have any assistants; that is, are there any other employees besides himself there?

Doctor MELVIN. There is one assistant now in Liverpool-Doctor Geddes. In addition to overlooking the receipts of American live stock, he tests, with tuberculin, cattle which are intended for export to the United States, in order to reject any that may react to the tuberculin test.

(Witnesses: Melvin, Zappone.)

The CHAIRMAN. Do they collect any data outside of this service that they render in inspection?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes; they furnish more or less information which they consider of value to the Department. It is frequently from personal observation, but very frequently from printed matter which they forward to the office in Washington.

The CHAIRMAN. The per diem of the inspector in London is based on every one of the 365 days?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Is that on the basis of service being rendered every day, or simply for the purpose of getting the lump sum as annual compensation. That gives him both week days and Sundays.

Mr. ZAPPONE. May I answer that, as I handle the account?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. ZAPPONE. It is based on a per diem rate, and Doctor Wray certifies that he renders service on each and every day in the year, including Sundays.

The CHAIRMAN. So that he certifies to it?

Mr. ZAPPONE. He certifies over his own signature that he performs services each and every day throughout the year, including Sundays, and on that the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry approves the voucher, and it is paid.

Doctor MELVIN. And I think that is correct, that he does render service every day.

The CHAIRMAN. The duty is such that it involves service every day?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, will you explain the character of the experiments at the experiment station?

Doctor MELVIN. Probably the largest investigation which we have under way at the experiment station is with reference to tuberculosis, studying the different phases of the disease, and the modes of infection, and the manner in which it is communicated from animal to animal.

Mr. SAMUEL. Do you manufacture antitoxins at those stations?

Doctor MELVIN. Not there. In our laboratory in this city we do. We did for several years prepare an antitoxin for the treatment of hog cholera, but this was found to be inefficient and it was abandoned. The study of tuberculosis among hogs has been carried out there quite extensively, and the fact was determined that tuberculosis could be communicated from tuberculous cattle to hogs through the eating by the latter of the feces from the cattle. An extensive experiment was made with reference to the parasitic infection of sheep. We have an experiment under way regarding Malta fever, or Mediterranean fever, in some goats-milch goats.

A number of Texas-fever experiments are being conducted at the station, and also an experiment for the raising of hogs immune to hog cholera.

Mr. ZAPPONE. All of these experiments were conducted at the experiment station at Bethesda, were they not?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes; that is, all at the experiment station at Bethesda, Md.

(Witnesses: Zappone, Melvin.)

Mr. ZAPPONE. There is really only one experiment station in that bureau, that at Bethesda, Md.

Mr. SAMUEL. These experiments are conducted with a view of the discovery of some preventive, are they not?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes; and to determine the exact nature of the diseases, so as to prevent their spread among live stock.

Mr. SAMUEL. You disseminate this information to the general public, of your discoveries?

Doctor MELVIN. Yes; it appears in the various publications, bulletins, and farmers' bulletins, and in the annual reports of the Bureau and of the Department.

Mr. SAMUEL. What advance have you made along those lines during the past year?

Doctor MELVIN. The very valuable fact was established, as I previously stated, that hogs could contract tuberculosis by following cattle. It is the general practice in the sections where corn is raised to have the hogs follow cattle, and the undigested part of the corn that passes through the cattle is eaten by the hogs, and in that way, if hogs were to follow cattle affected with tuberculosis they would undoubtedly contract the disease.

We are also carrying on an experiment to determine the practicability of vaccinating young stock to prevent their subsequently acquiring tuberculosis. Quite an extended experiment was made some few years ago regarding the susceptibility of monkeys to bovine tuberculosis. The statement has been made by prominent authorities that bovine tuberculosis was not communicable to man, and this experiment was conducted to determine whether monkeys might be affected with bovine tuberculosis.

Mr. SAMUEL. What success have you had with the experiments in vaccination for tuberculosis?

Doctor MELVIN. That which we are now conducting has not progressed sufficiently for us to obtain definite information. It will probably require about three years to do that. It has now been under way about one year. At this station we obtain flesh from calves that are inoculated with black-leg vaccine, and this is afterwards prepared in our laboratory and distributed for the vaccination of calves for the prevention of that disease. This is sent out upon application of stock owners without expense. We require them to furnish us with information regarding the number of stock and the number of deaths, and information of that sort.

Mr. SAMUEL. Are all cases of suspected disease forwarded to the station here, or are experiments conducted at stations elsewhere? Doctor MELVIN. Many animals suspected of disease-small animals are sent to our laboratories in Washington, particularly dogs that are presumed to be affected with rabies. We have many cases of disease in poultry sent to us. We have had in one instance a horse placed in our charge at the experiment station that was bitten by a rabid dog. The horse was retained until he subsequently died of rabies, and the experiment was conducted and carried on through several other animals, each of which died with rabies, establishing the contagious nature of the disease through inoculation.

Mr. SAMUEL. Do you experiment as to the effect of medicine on those diseases?