Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-11-09
MILK INSPECTION.

An inspector of milk has recently beer appointed in San Francisco, and the re- suits have more than justified the appointment. In many of the eastsrn cities the inspector of meats, fruits and milk is an important official and San Francisco is waking up to the necessity of such officials. Although Dockery, the milk inspector, has been in office but a month, he has done wonders in the way of exposing fraud. In recsnt interview In the San Francisco Call, he sums up the result of his work as follows:
 I have stopped something like 45C wa gons. In addition to this, have secur- ed lo2 samples of milk from restaurants, many of which are still in the hands oi Bscteriologist Spencer. In all, l have dumped about 2000 gallons of milk, which is not a bad beginning when all the difficulties are considered.
 1 have prepared few figures, which
 will convey some idea of the eXtrsv8gant way adulteration was carried on before this office was created. There are about 90C00 gallons of milk used in San Fran cisco daily. During my first week in office all samples taken showed from 30 to 70 per cent water aGulteration. These samp es, mind you, were taken from all parts of the city-from along the water front, out Mission and San Bruno roads, aud downtown residents.
 Taking the average at 30 per cent 1t shows that these Q 900 gallons of milk contained no less than 27 GOO gallons of water, to say nothing of preservalihe, foreign fats and other 8dulterants. IL is mere matter of arithmetic for one to determine just how much San Fran ciscans were paying daily for the water in their milk.
 ''I 6m not suprlsed that the inspection has brought about an increased demand for milch COWS. This 27 ,000 gallons of water must be supplied in some way, and it can only be done legally by pure article Of milk. f'roouuaIrS- -tuot -v1cb COW will give an average of three gallons Of milk daily it means that 9C10 milk givers must be bought by the dairymen to take the place of the 27 ,000 gallons of water. Appreciate the fact that these gre startling figures. but they are none the less true for all that"
 We learn upon inquiry that there are between twenty-five ard twenty-seven milk wagons run in Tucson, and it is but reasonable to suppose that at least two thirds if not three fourths of them sell adulterated milk. Unfortunately much of this is not adulterated with water only but with other decoctions deleterious and injurious to the public health. The CITIZEN has it on good authority that one Tucson milkman of- fered to sell another a receipt for milk making for $50. He justified the offer on the grounds thst no dairy could | maintain its custom the year around | without resorting to artificial means. | Another milkman on twenty-two quarts Of milk sold forty eight quarts. Ten | cents quart IS too high price to pay for water, even when it is disguised as milk. We do not by any meaDs wish to be understood as saying that all milk men are dishonest, for on the contrary we are far from it, but we do say that the greater number of them are open to suspicion of wrong doing. The blue faced fluid that is hawked around and sold for pure milk bear abundant proof in this direction. It plainly is the duty of the city council to investigate bus lness that so largely affects the health of the city. The cost of Bahcock test er would be small and it could be made the duty of the chief of police or other official to test the various milks sold in the city. Those found to be selling the adultersted stuff should be arrested and punished by law. The health of the ,ity demands that an investigation of his kind be made. .