New-York tribune., 1895-09-04
RESPONSIBILITY FOR SLOP NILk.

Some years ago n popular cartoon depicted the
rnembers of a certain corrupt ring standing in
n circle each pointing with his thumb nj DIS
ncighbor. as If to say, 1T wasn't |; II was ne
Distinctly reminiscent Of this. in the putting
blame upon Others, is the present attitude OF the
men engaged in supplying to the people OF thlS
city the fluid which is by courtesy called milk
The resemblance might. indeed. be extended so
as 70 include the magnitude of the crime COM
mtted From moral point Of view II certainly
Is no worse 10 steal money from the city treas
urv than 10 defraud individual customers win
boe,,s goods. and to mperil health and life with
unwholesome food For the present. however,
the irstnamed consideration is sufficient.
Tho retailer sells milk that Is half slops
Rrourht 10 book he says: 1T wasn't l. it was
the iobber | sell It just as got it from him.
The iobber. in turn, being called to account,
saws. eft wasn't /: it was the wholesaler. The
wholesaler. when the investigation reaches him,
stoutlv protests his innocence 1T wasn't l;
r. was the up-country agent" The up-country
agent is not TO be outdone by any Of these. 1T
wasn't l." he says: 1T must have been the farm
..er I send the milk down just as get 1t from
"bim" The farmer can lay the charge 10 no
one but the COW. and the cow. unable to speak
,ormer. and so the accusation is sent down the
line again to the agent. the wholesaler the Joo-
her and the retailer Not one of them will con-
fess IL belongs to him. Each sends 1t on TO the
next II Is always the other fellow who is guilty
What Is certain is that some one Is guilty ana
knowingly guilty, of a detestable crime mat
Is proven by the simple fact that grossly adu
terared milk is being sold. What Is prODaDie
and In some cases certain, is that two or three
partes Of the series are guilty mat is proven
by the fact that there exist agreements between
the parties that one will she'd the other from
prosecution ar any rate, pay MS hhes ior
him In some cases such agreements cover three
parties. the wholesaler guaranteeing the joDDer
and the iobber guaranteeing the retailer NO
more conclusive evidence could be desired OF
wilfnl corruption on the part Of all three. Men
do not ask nor give bonds Of ndemniyfor the
sale OF goods which they know to be honest.
or all the members Of the milk-purveying
series the farmer who stands at one end, Is
least subject to suspicion Indeed. it Is scarcely
conceivable that he is the guilty party. For
warding agents are pretty careful 10 examine
rho milk delivered To them by the farmers, and
sure to reject It If they find 1t adulterated Inc
retailer at the other end OF the line, Is frst 10
be accused because il is he who actually dis-
tributes the unlawful stuff to the public The
presumption on the face Of the case is that he
did the adnlerating himself Whether he did
or not. he knew 1t had been done and SO deserves
punishment If it can be proven that he re-
cclvcl the milk in an impure condition from the
iobbcr the jobber should be punished too
whether he personally did the adultcratlns or
not and so on to the end Of the series. Every
man through whose hands the adulteratcd milk
passed should be brought to book. for every one
Of them either did the deed himself or know
jngly consented 10 the doing Of il.