The San Francisco call., 1897-12-21
Oakland Office of The Call,

QUO broadway, Dec ~
The Dairyman's Association of Ala
media county held an important meet
ing last night. 1t was the prevailing
opinion of those present that the
Board of Health of this city had fully
stated their side of the milk question,
but that the dairymen had been too
quiet.
A c. King, one of the leading dairy
men OF Fruitvale, was authorized to
prepare statement for publication.
1t was decided to submit the state
ment to The Call so that it would re-
ceive the largest possible circulation.
Mr.. Kings statement is as follows:
We wish to state where we stand on
the tuberculin test, and these views ex-
press the position of majority of the
mllkmen of Alameda County. We do not
want TO sell milk from diseased cows as
the Board of Health and some doctors
would like 10 make the people believe
ana we never have objected TO a physical
examination of our cows by a competent
veterinary, and to-day we stand ready to
remove any COWS that may be con-
But is the tuberculin test a test that
can be relied upon? How many doctors
VINO now champion its cause have ever
SIuued sI II or had any experience with it?
The United States Government does not
regard 1t as infallible. 1t seems il is
more of an experiment as yet than any-
thlng else, Tor why would the Govern
ment be so particular as to getting the
reports and post-mortem examinations if
they were SO sure of it's success? And
does It seem Just that the nilkmen
should be thus forced to stand up and be
abused because few cranks wish TO ex-
ercise fad.
Now. all records would show there is
no oppoSltlon TO the tuberculin test from
the dalrymen, and is it any wonder the
most of them feel that to oppose a Board
OF Health would mean TO be ruined in
business? If they were not it would not
be the Board of Healths fault, as their
action in Alameda County would indi-
cate, for 1t is their boast that any dairy
lose all his customers through their ef-
forts. Now, / am not man of science
put my experience with the tuberculin
test shows that it has many faults and
not many virtues.
In the first place. my cows were tested.
out of thirty-three | lost eighteen-or,
they were condemned. Most of them /
sold to the butchers, and they passed the
government inspector as fit for human
food. When the, test was made 1 had
only one that l thought would not stand
the test. She had been removed from the
herd as not fit to milk longer but I had
her tested, and she stood il all right /
knew she was not all right and called
the testers attention to it. l have since
had her killed, and found her lungs were
IN a terrible state Now, this is the kind
of cow from which the Board of Health
wants us TO sell milk-one which ANYBODY
who knows cow from a goat would con-
denim.
There is dairyman near me who had
his herd tested and had the same experi-
ence. and offered to bet the man that did
the testing So to 81 that one cow passed
by him as healthy was in an advanced
stage of consumption. The veterinary did
not have the faith in the test TO take if
up. There was another man. whom T
can produce. who condemned one of his
cows some time ago and gave her over to
be killed. She found her way into a herd
and was recently tested and stood the
test. -S
Then, again, Drs. Pierce and Archibald
tested three cows for Anton Gonzales
and they all stood the test In a few
weeks DR.. Carpenter tested them again
and condemned two that had stood the
test before.
Now, L would ask If it is not possible
that the danger from tuberculosis in milk
from cows that are to all appearance
healthy Is not greatly exaggerated ard if
the doctors stopped to consider a minute
that the babies who die might have been
unhealthy when born? l certainly do
not remember where very many babies
on my route have died in the last eight
years, and where they did. as a rule they
were fed on some patent Slop.
And how is this test run-in whose in
terest? Some dairymen do not lose more
than five or six out of a hundred, while
others lose as many as twenty-three out
of thirty. From what / can learn, where
this test is made with Government tuber-
culin the loss is over a third.