St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-15
And Cows Fed Upon Brewery
Refuse That Smells to High
Heavens. %
The Result Is Some Of the Milk
Is Daily Sold in "a
st. Paul. q
Commissioners Ives AlightS
Before an Establishment
Like This
And Orders the Enforcement
Of the Penalty Prescribed .
by Law. 70.

h
The milk supply of St. Paul is partly
furnished by country shippers, who
make business of gathering it from
farmers and shipping to the city.
There are occasionally dark rumors set
afi0at of the careless manner in which
much of this fluid is harvested, particu-
larry that which comes from the unit dy
Bohemian settlements. Doubtless a
fair percentage of the milk that comes
from the country is good. But there
is good deal of milk consumed in St.
Paul which never saw the country. In
the eyes Of the law, brewers malt is
considered unhealthy food, and any one
selling milk from animals fed On it
may be fined 500 for each offense, and
imprisoned for term of three months.
A GLOBE reporter happening to re-
Gently be in the vicinity of one of the
large breweries, noticed. that great
quantity of brewers malt is hauled away
by people who own cows. Women
from the fats who only have one COW
to feed take away the vile stuff in
wheelbarrows. Suburban dairymen,
with large droves Of mich COWS, send
after the flood" with two-horse wagons.
The reporter followed one of these
loads of malt to one of the largest st.
Paul diaries, and saw it fed to the
cows in the proportion of two
thirds malt to one-third bran.
Over the bin in which the
sour and vile-smelling flood" is kept
there lowered billions of flies, and the
reporter wondered how the malt could
be gotten into the COWS without taking
number of flies along with it. The
thought of feeding cows Oh flies was re-
voting, but not more SO than the dis
cOvery that the malt was heating, and
portions of it had reached an advanced
stage of decomposition. The flies had
into the lower strata disclosed that it
was
ONE MASS OF MAGGOTS.
Orders were given in the reporters
presence to increase the proportion of
malt in the feed in order to hurry it out
of the way.
There were Seventy-four- COWS in all,
and though they were driven out upon
the unfenced common twice day, and
allowed to sleep in the open air at night,
they were sorry-looking lot as they
stood in the stable, crowded so thickly
together that the mixers with difficulty
found working space between them,
Every COW was assigned a certain place,
and in getting them where they be-
longed the stable boys used clubs laYrj
iShly and Oaths profuSely. Some of the
animals were gotten into aperfect fever
and their teats felt hot to the touch.
The cows are driven into the stable
twice a day to be fed and 7milked. The
first milking takes place at $3.50 o'clock
In the morning; the second at l O'Clock
in the afternoon. After seeing the
milking process and the operation of
accelerating the exit of the herd with
clubs and blasphemy. the reporter eS-
pied number of small calves that were
kept constantly within doors, tied
with short ropes, so that they
were compelled to lie in their
own filth. These emaciated bovine
babies looked to be fit subjects for the
intervention of the anti-cruelty society.
Some of them had diarrhea, and one was
so sick as to be entirely ''otf his feed"
Nearly all of them were afflicted with
cough, which could only be accounted
for by the theory that-the conditions
all being favOrable-they were becom-
ing
VICTIMS OF TUBERCULOSIS.
This brewery annex. where milk is
-brewed, adjoins the driving course of
the Midway stables. 1t was visited
some time in the spring by Assistant
Dairy Commissioner j. A. Lawrence,
who found that malt was being used,
but construed the old statute to mean
that malt could be used in feeding milk
cows, provided it were not in
decayed state. Attorney General Clapp
was seen. however, and he read
the law differently. He said it was
perfectly clear that both the original
statute of 1885 and the amendatory act
of 1889 strictly prohibit the sale of milk
from cows fed on distillery waste or
brewers malt. The attorney general
could not see any crying necessity for
such law, but thought that, once it
was passed, it ought to be strictly en-
forced.
OVERHAULED BY INSPECTORS.
Assistant Dairy Commissioner Law
renee yesterday visited the dairy Oper-
ated by G. A. johnson, of the Midway
district-the dairy referred to. MI.
Lawrence was accompanied by, In
spector Fred W. Ives, and the two
made very close inspection of the
establishment. Mr.. Lawrence is
very OutSpoken in stating that the
eighty cows looked in excellent
condition. There was not a sore to be
detected ON any of the animals. The
condition in which the calves were
found did not fayorably impress Com
missioner Lawrence. He agreed they
were too crowded, and the malt feed
was bad-Stinking was the word used
by Dairy Commissioner Ives deputy.
Mr.. Ives was present when Commits
sioner Lawrence returned, and at once
gave instructions for the law to
BE PUT IN OPERATION
to enforce the penalty for feeding cows
upon brewers malt. The law, as
amended by the late legislature, spe-
officially prohibits the use of malt. 1t
says: Is,
The words impure and unwholesome
milk" include all milk obtained from ami
mails in diseased or unhealthy condition,
or fed on distillery waste, usually called
'swill.' or upon any substance i'll a state of
putrefaction or fermentation" g
The penalty for violation of this pro-
vision is fine of not less than $40. nor
more than 800, or by Imprisonment Of
not less than one month nor more than
three months. Commissioner Ives says
that he gives due warning to cow pro-
prietors against the use OF this brewers
''swill, "and that he will now introduce
a sweeping prosecution against ALI
offenders of the law. He has had the
matter for some time under considera-
ton and waited until now for the COM
pletiOn of details for the proper ands
successful operation of the law.