The suburban citizen., 1900-07-28

Sumef, Weu-lnfOrmed Qalrymen say
that there is not the slightest doubt
that such would be the result of the
enforcement Of the law.
This is made perfectly clear when
| the regulations contained in the new
law respecting the examination of cat
| tie and their sale to the local dairy
men are taken into consideration The
| imposition of fees for inspection and
compliance with other burdensOme re-
quirements which pr Woodward has
! seen fit in his wisdom to incorporate
! in the measure of which he is the au-
! thor, will, the very moment it becomes
operative, compel the cattle dealers to
| add several dollars per head to the
price Of the stock which they purchase
| in Maryland, Virginia, and frequently
in sections Of the country much more
remote from the National Capital than
those States. Thus the producing
! dairyman would be under the neces-
sity of increasing the price of his milk
and cream or selling at a forced reduc-
/ tiCn of profit which would quickly
cause his business TO become unprohta-
! Bile, If, indeed, should he attempt to
| continue It under the new conditions,
( he did not find that he was conducting
it at a considerable loss
! But another way in which the new
1 law deals unfairly with the producing
/ milkman Ii found in the fact that it
/ discriminates against him. 1t is well
| known that his product, instead Of be-
| ing sold to the city dealer who owns
no stock, is supplied to families direct
/ ly from his own wagon. AS the city
mlllman buys his supply Of milk from
! Maryland and Virginia farmers who,
of course, are free from the burden
/ some restrictions placed upon the
| business by the District Health De-
partment, the local producer is forced
/ into n position Of disadvantage by rea-
son of the increased cost of production
( due to the rigid requirements Of the
! dairy law. The fact that he has to
pay more for his cattle, that he is sub
/ iect to the whims and caprices of in
competent inspectors as is shown by
| the experience of a number of dairy
people in the city; that his cattle are
| liable to condemnation, albeit he may
! know that they are in perfectly
! halthy condition, and that, for pre-
sumng to object to the insolence of
| Health OGlce officials, he places himself
| liable to fine and perhaps imprisOn-
ment, together with other annoyances
| too numerous to mention, makes him
| the victim of form of discrimination
which. whether it be so or not bears
| upon its face the sign of glaring in
! justice.
There is no argument for the Health
| Department in the statement that
there are dairymen who can not be
trusted There are also bad doctors
{and bad dollars, and, judging Dr..
! Woodward by that rule, there are hun
dreds of people in the District who
would brand the entire medical fra
| ternity as a gigantic humbug For
tunately however, there are good doc
/ tors, despite the unfortunate circum-
| stance that now and then a bad one
manages to creep into a fat official po-
! sitiOn 1t is safe to say that during
, Dr. Woodward's term of service the
! dairymen of the District have been
put to thousands of dollars expense
which has contributed nothing what
ever toward increasing the health
standard of the city There are nu-
merous well-authentcated instances
| in which changes In the construction
and arrangement of barns were order
ed for the purpose, as alleged, of in
| creasing the comfort Of the animals
housed within them, to be followed
fortnight later by new order direct
ing an immediate removal of the So
called Improvements. The writer of
this article recalls the case Of a woman
VINO lives less than half a dozen miles
! from the Centre Market, who was
called upon by a superciliOus inspector
and Informed that her barn, a mod
ern structure recently erected, was not
in proper condition to insure the
health Of a score or so Of as fine
and fat cattle as could be found in the
/ District. The lady whose list of daily
customers embraced some of the most
| fastidious people of the city prided
herself upon the excellent quarters
she had provided for her wtll-grOomed
| herd. and hence her astOnshment may
be more easily imagined than describ-
ed when she was pompously informed
that the whole thing was failure,
| The inspector, a native of another
| land. directed her to proceed at once
to board up certain portions of the
dairy barn in order to prevent con-
taminaton from that part of the
building occupied by the horses, with
which communication was impossible
except by mounting a ten-foot wall or
passing through the doorways But
the good woman, knowing it was use
less TO desist, proceeded to obey or
ders, and in the course of week the
work had been completed and was
ready for fresh inspection. In due
time the inspector came and the i'm
provement was officially passed upon
and pronounced unsatisfactory The
owner Of the barn, who had spent a
hundred dollars in carrying out his in
structions, ventured to inquire the rea-
son Of his dlsapproval, and was told
that by boarding up the wall the dairy
section Of the building had been de-
priyed Of proper ventilation, a result
which the lady had predicted in the
inspectors presence when he ordered