The herald., 1897-08-10
THE INSPECTOR OVERWORKED
AT LEAST THAT Is MR.. DoDSoN'S
EXPLANATION
Precautions to Be Taken Against Ty-
phoid Fever-Another Meeting
To Be Held Friday Night

Mayor Snyder presided, and Health
| officer DR.. Powers and Drs Cowles, Col
burn, Moore and Salisbury were on hand
and took part in reviewing the startling
statements contained in a communica-
ton from the secretary of the Merchants
and Manufacturers association. The
message was as follows:
by order OF the board of directors of
the Merchants and Manufacturers as
sociation I transmit the following reso-
| utions To your honorable body: Where
as, it has been publicly and clearly
demonstrated that the city ordinance
relating to the quality of milk that shall
be sold and dispensed in our city is being
daily disobeyed, and
Whereas, it is stated that the execu-
| tive officer appointed by the. board of
health has been and is derelict in the
duties imposed upon him by said ordi-
nance; be it
Resolved, That the Merchants and
Manufacturers association, through its
board of directors, insists upon it that
the officer whose duty, it is to do. so enter
at once upon the discharge of his duties
and performs them as instructed by ordi-
nance. Be it further
"Resolved, that the board of health
be asked to at once take up the matter Of
pure milk and see that their inspector
does his duty. Be it further
| Resolved, That a copy of these reso-
| lutions be sent to the mayor and the
honorable council asking them to CO.
operate with us in the reform desired
and a once take the matter up.
"W. H. KNIGHT, Secretary"
DR.. Moore said that the communica-
tion states that the, milk sold here is i'm
pure. "Our reports from inspectors in
dicate otherwise which shows, there's q
screw loose. eVV must have wholesome
milk There are 169 dairies in this city
and vicinity. The inspectors reports
show that there has been. gross derelic-
| ton of duty somewhere. The matter
must be looked into, for we cannot let
such charge go unanswered. In the
| past three months but Al dairies have
been inspected. and but 65 samples of
milk have been tested, none whatever
since July 7th'
| WHAT DODSON SAID
| Milk Inspector Dr. Dodson walked in
| just then and he was closely interrog-
ated concerning his methods of deter
mining the purity Of milk, and the num-
| ber of dairies he had inspected and the
number OF tests he had made. Dr. Dod-
| son justified himself by saying that his
duties were difficult and hard to perform
| satisfactorily, because of the vast
amount of work that devolves upon him.
Il am compelled to catch the dairy
man when he is delivering his goods"
said he. Besides I do not endeavor to
test every dealer at every turn. 7 must
catch them when opportunity offers 1t
is physical impossibility for one man
to inspect all the daries all the time,
in addition to the performance of my
other duties. Two inspectors should be
employed, one for meats and another for.
milk.
"The milkmen use separators by which
| they are enabled to make pretty good
guesses at the specific gravity of the
milk and the amount of butter fat it
contains. The butter fat should list
about 2-5 per cent, but they vary in
| spite of all that can be done through no
| fault of their own. I visit the daries
| often to ascertain their condition. But
many of the permits included in the list
| of 167 are issued to men who have but
one or two cows, and who dispose of
their surplus to people in the vicinity of
| their homes. Those small dealers it is
| scarcely worth while to see often, and
| the larger dealers of both milk and meat
| in addition to the restaurants butchers,
| chicken dealers and packers renders the
work laborious and tedious"
MAYOR SNYDER'S VIEWS
thorough and searching investigation,
saying: "This matter concerns all of us,
| and I believe the board of health ought
to go into such an investigation with
| firm determination to ferret out and
punish the guilty by revocation of his
| license if nothing else would accomplish
the end sought"
CORROBORATIVE VIEWS
DR.. Salisbury advocated strong meas
ures in dealing with the evil, and hoped
| the ordinance would be- enforced to the
| letter. Dr. Salsbury's views were en-
| dorsed by DR.. Colburn also, and revoca-
| ton of licenses will undoubtedly follow
| all convictions The board will meet
again on Friday night to continue it's
Investigations.
| The board listened to statement from
DR.. Powers to the effect that the acaGi-
emy of sciences was about to issue a
handsome bulletin, and he wanted the
endorsement of the board to enable him
| to secure a requisition from the council
| to have printed in it the ordinance relat-
irg to dairymen, all of whom were to be
served with copy. The request was
granted.
PETITION DENIED
| E. e. Walk of Alhambra addressed the
| board on behalf of preparation he
sought the board to endorse, for preserv-
| ing fruits. 1t transpire6 however, that
| the formula was in conflict with the pure
| food laws of the state, and Mr. :Valk,was
| compelled to withdraw without scout
ing the boards approval of his preserv-
ative.
TYPHOID FEVER
DR.. Powers presented statement, to
be published in full later, calling upcr
citizens to adopt certain measures for
the prevention of an epidemic of typhoid
fever. The season for such a disease to
manifest itself. is at hand, ana the ut-
most caution should be used to prevent
the scourge from securing a foothold il
the city. DR.. Powers detailed his plans
| at length and the board adjourned to
~