The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-01-20
BAD MILK.
A Little Effort Would Cor
rect the Evil.
Plain Talk With Inspector
Potter on the Subject.
Some Intensely Interesting Material
for General Consideration.


low the natural gift OF the COWS 1t ia lit
tie wonder that Rhode Island milkmen
are encouraged to fina it practically easy
to quiet their consciences while they add
little water or something else TO the lac
tic fluid in order to make il as poor in
quality as the law requires. But it is a
wonder that people possessing average in
telligence Will sit ana submissively sip
the doctored stu when SO little effort
would be required.to correct the rapidly
growing evil. That it Is an evil Of the
most pernicious sort, nobody will hesi-
itate to admit after q half hours converse
tion with Inspector Charles A. Potter,
whose duty it ia to inspect and analyze
milk intended for city consumption and
prosecute all violators OF the milk law.
There are great many things to be con.
sidered in connection with the milk prob
lem, every side of which presents in
tensely interesting material for considera-
tion. In the first place there are in the
city Of Providence between 1000 and 100
milk dealers, counting stores and wagons.
For the inspection of these only $4,000
is appropriated annually. Boston has
but about 600 more to look after and s14-
900 to do it with. 1t will thus be seen
that the inspector is badly handicapped
at the start. Most of the milk Consumed
in the city comes from out of town, Of
course, there being but dozen producers
in town, more or less. The inspectors
labors are confined within the city limits
ha " haa nf
ing how the barns are kept, or whether
the cows are clean, or how the milk is
cared for. or IL the cans are properly
| purified, or anything else, and il he had
he has no authority to order a change for
! the better where desired. He may fire.
| quently run across foul milk wagons ana
| ell he can do Is to beseech the owners to
clean them. Very unirequently his
prayers are answered, but only to keep on
his right side, II is feared. He knows
one thing positively, however, and that
| is the average milk man does his level
best to have his outfit as well rs his stock
in trade as poo- as possible. The matter
of obtaining samples of milk is big un-
dertaking in itself and should have at
| then he might not be able to hgndle it
all. As 1t is the inspector, in spite Of all
his other duties, is the only one en-
powered to collect samples. This is
how he does it. He goes out these
cold winter mornings when the ordinary
mortal is asleep and manages to begin
! work about half-past four or fiye O'Clock.
1 ho 10 nj ~
Johnston milk, he goes out to Oineyville
square, but not over the line. lie is all
| muffled up and SO are the the milkmen,
so identification would be rather difficult
in either case. He makes himself known,
asks for a three-ounce botte full of milk
and gets 1t. 1t takes time for all this,
so that by 8 O'Clock he has been able to
rate 1t will take a long tins to go
through the entire list ana, of course, the
collections and analyses have to be made
many times over during the year to be
| productive of good results. AS it il,
however, Mr.. Potter has managed to col
lect over 600 samples during the past
three months. His predecessor only
collected something over 600 in three
years, so it is evident thut it is time
something was done.
| After the collection comes the analysis,
and Of the 500 odd the Inspector hss found
many adulterated samples, but has been
able to bring lbut few prosecutions be-
cause of the lsxity OF the law. The legal
standard here is l2 per cent OF milk
solids and 2. 5 per cent. of fats. Now very
few cows can be found to give a
| lower standard of milk. They can
be found, but the inspector
says one would have to look over a great
many herds. and large herds at that, to
| find one. Consequently the milkman di-
lutes and adulterates without fear OF pros
ecution. unless he brings 1t too low. This
is liable to occur any time, hence the ad-
visibility of frequent Inspections. One
| of the forms of adulteration now in
vogue, and one that is able to be pro-
ductiye OF grcat detrimont 10 public
health, IL the use of condensed skim
milk. And yet it does not form viola
tion Of the law, although II ought to. Tho
condensed milk is not sweetened and
evaporated In the process OF condensa-
tion, 1t presents large percentage Of
milk solids. When added to the milk
from which the dealer has alrady poured
the cream, the per cent. Of solids may
reach ~ or 10 and the inspector naturally
looks for four or i've Per cent. of fats.
but there is little fat to be found, as skim
mttt, -wfrtircr conden-ea- otherwise,
contains little. Still the percentage OF
fat may and probably does cover the law,
so there isIittle danger OF prosecution.
| But the danger does not lie so much in the
milk used as in the water. The condensed
/ fContfnuad ,,, p.o.QA a