The state of Nebraska contributed to progressive thought in the 1880s. Like the other states in the Great Plains, Nebraska was heavily involved in the livestock industry. When contagious diseases threatened Nebraska's livestock, the state advocated a Federalist-Whig policy by requesting federal assistance. The national government's powers were limited, however, and Nebraska took action by creating an agency called the Live Stock Sanitary Commission. In 1888 Nebraska began calling for federal regulation of the large-scale meatpacking industries in Chicago.