The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-01-21
MILK AGAIN.
AdulteratiOn as Seen in Its
Simplest Form.
Frequent Introduction of Dele
teriOuS Foreign Substance.
Water Is AL avs the Most Popular
Ingredient Used.

Mix inspection Is prolific theme, and
what appeared in yesterdays NEws in 81 at
connection was hut small portion Of what
may Ne rnid. vi hout going into the Oh mical
analysis at all. there Is considerable Of inter
est TO tn" ordinary mor,"l ia the matter OF
milk iulteraticn In its simplest forms. Oc-
casio nilly milkmen are found who stoop 10
introducing some deleterious foreign sub
stance into the milk. but - Il rule 4 Gems 10
be reduced with water, or comb.n d w.ti the
condo n ed milk. The cows. too, differ greatly.
Inspector Potter has sepn, or knows OF, Hol.
stems giving as good milk as Jerseys, speak
ing Of the average cows, OF oo1rse. AID he
has know n COWS giving 20 or more quarts TO
give just good milk as those giving smaller
QIa Titles: so IL is sometimes difficult to Oh
tain much information by looking ut the cows.
1t j., however, quite important to SEQ that
their quarters -ro clan ana wholesome, and
an inspection OF all Providence barns where
COWS are kept whose m,lh is sold will te one
Of ihs earliest OF the inspectors next moves.
Massachusetts, seems to he a model State rs
regards legally controlling the milk business.
Each city has pretty stringent laws with
plenty of cash and force to carry them out:
ihe legal standard is Is per cent. of solids:
there Is State dairy commissioner with
5000 year 10 spsnd: there is an agricultural
board which includes looking after cows and
milk; there are suitable penalties, especially
in Boston where there is a fine Of from $50 to
800 for offense No. /; ESQ TO $500 for No.
nd a fine and imprisonment for the third
ffenso. Tho third always "brines them"
and the violators generally 60 out OF business
or einigrate To Rhode Island or New Jersey
or some other State where tbs staudai d Is
low enough to encourage them 10 adulterate
their milk. Even the United States Govern
ment requires milk to have 1874 per cent. OF
solids aud feis, while we drink much that Is
below that standard: but the United States
has nothing TO do with Rhode Island or Pro-
violence mink laws.
L. is pretty hard matter to watch the
milkmen. hey are supposed TO register once
a year between Feb. l and March /. At that
time cows are not apt to be giving as much
as in the summer, and customers are not apt
to be taking so much milk, so IL would be i'm
p siblo t. get at the exact quantity brought
into Providence and sold. A dealer may sell
50 quarts "A day wh'n he registers and 100
quarts day twofmonths later, but he never
reports the extra. Nobody knows unlefs the
inspector fnis ii out whether the extra 80
quarts cone wholly from the cows or in.
cludes some aduiteration. The inspector
would find il out In time, but q great deal of
harm might be done in tho met inc. ool-
lector 30 devote bis wh' le time to it, and
being empowered to demand samples, would
find " out much sooner.
Inspector Potter tells of the difficulty at
tending tho Identification Of somo OF the milk.
men he aceosts In the early morn, citing
case in which the laugh, fguratively speak
ing, was on him, He got a sample and the
milk was bad, very bad. The man in the
wagon said be vas the proprietor. When the
case got To court, q man was presented as the
proprietor by General Brennan, but the in.
sp"otor could not positively identify him. ana
thinks that tho Gen,ral put flake" up on
bin. However, the case was lost That the
IN 'peotor could not positively identify ne
man Is no great wonder. When he stopped
the wagon and oll,cted the sample 1t was
still dark. The man was muffisd for protec-
tion. The inspector saw other men the same
morning, and gr at care has to be taken with
the sampl.s to protect them. taking consider
able attention away from the milkmap. The
man who said he was the proprietor might
not have been, either. and in either the
prosecutor would amount TO nil As can b
seen, there are q great many drawbacks to
the milk inspettlr's trade.