Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-08

Paris baby Is regularly nourished, half al
the breast and half with the bottle. A few
weeks later. particularly among the work
Ing classes, all its nourishment comes from
the bottle. Now, when the baby's milk is
watered much depends upon the water. !
have demonstrated that IN Norway and
water IN abundance, the infantile mortality
Is half less than that of Paris. Again, wa
tered milk is not only less nourishing than
true milk, but 1t also sours more easily,
To prevent this they add bicarbonate Of
soda, which is Of no use at all to babies,
but the contrary. Again. the milk being
less nourishing, the babies have need TO alb
sorb greater quantities OF Il the stomach
dilates. and infantile diarrhoea sets in. to
END so often fatally. Think Of I'll There
died in Paris last year 1850 babies as the
result Of infantile diarrhoea alonel With
out exaggeraton l can affirm that three
quarters Of them at least took their diar-
rhoea from the absorption OF bad mhhy'
Other Towns Worse.
Prof. Budin. doctor-in-chief Of the great
Maternity Hospital of the Rue d'Assas,
and who, in 1897, was at the head Of a
municipal commission appointed to study
this same milk question, has created a
sensation by declaring that. while Paris is
poisoned by adulterated milk, other towns
in France are even worse off.
I'VE KNOW" he says, that the number OF
infants dying yearly in France from the
absorption of defective milk is great. / say
IN france, because 1t must not be mag
med that Paris has any sad pre-eminence.
InankS to the Municipal Laboratory's serV-
Ice. the fraud is kept down here more sue
cessfully than in other cities Out of !. 900
babies dying in Paris 167 are less than one
year Old; while at Rouen the figure is 25l,
at Lille 294, at Dunkirk 342 at Marc-en-
Bareul Ala and at st. Pol-sur-Mer 500,
These figures are frightful! Here is a COM
parative diagram OF infant mortality for all
france, established by two patient statis-
ticians, NM Balestre and Giletta de ST
Joseph. You Will see that out of !, 900 chill
oren $50 are carried of by gastro-enteritis,
directly attributable to defective milk. IL
the horse breeders of Normandy had such
results they would consider themselves
ruinedl What pains would they not take
TO avoid them? l Will give you one proof"
concluded the chief Of the great Maternity
Hospital Last year In this service 1 fol-
lowed 700 infants. Thanks to the pure milk
the hospital now gets direct from an hon
est country dairy, there was not a single
case of infantile diarrhoea There Won
nave 1t. When the milk is not watched $50
infants die; When 1t is watched not one
infant diesl And yet they talk about the
depopulation of France1'
Adds Seine Microbes.
1t is true that the "garcon laItier''-the
sinister hero of the hour-is accused only OF
adding microbe-laden Seine water to the
milk. The retailer skins off half the cream
and seals 1t up in bottles. The farmer was
the first to skim and water it. But the
great milk companies, what do they do?
Are they content to skim and water7 Ru-
NOR says no, adding the most sensational
detalls; yet the Municipal Laboratory
analysis in hand, makes no other accusa-
tlon. In Its excuse it must be well under
STOOD that the Municipal Laboratory can
not follow each one Of the 100000 litres of
milk that come into Paris each night from
the farm to the consumer. Again, the Mu-
nlc1pal Laboratory does not prosecute: II
cutor.
here are two sources of weakness that
are being agitated against With regard
10 the second, 1t Is said to be a mystery of
.ne palace OF justice; Having looked the
matter up In detail, Paul Delay is showing
that within certain period of late out of
l,3oO falsif1cations indicated to the parouet
only 2oo ever got before the courts. With
guy apparent reason the parquet itself has
estaplished the degree that watering and
Swimming constitute Justification Ana II
has established two rules
First-Retatlers: The Parquet pursues re-
.auers only when the municipal laboratory
mas shown that their skimming has been
more than 25 per cent, and the watering
mas been more than 20 per cent. Second
.Garcons laitiers:" The Parquet pursues
sarcons laitiers, or dairy companies. only
when the skimming has passed 20 per cent
ana the watering 10 per cent At "a ner
cent Of skimmng and 10 per cent of water
ing, delinquents Of the first category must
oe considered as perfectly honesti The same
act on the part of a "garcon latter would
SEND MIN to jail for two months Why is
this difference? Because the "garcon lai-
tier dilutes the milk with filthy fountain
water, while the Misunderstanding more con-
science, or more time-uses filtered water
for the purpose!
Twice Watered.
amount to tens Of thousands while the
"garcons laitiers" are fraudulently making
hundreds. have said in their excuse that
they are still more humane In their nro-
ceedings. Many Of them do not even add
water at all; they water the milk with
petit lait' Qittle milk. the refuse milky
fluid flowing from the centrifugal machines
when every particle Of butter has been
beaten from the milk. When.t the "water-
Ing Is done with his more-tfan-skimmed
milk, the lacto-densimeter is powerless to
Qetect the fraud And, In this connection
Parisians are being informed that no in,
strument or apparatus exists capable of re-
vealing such fraud. The chemists ANALYSIS
is necessary.
Naturally. many remedies for this terrible
state Of things have already been pronosed
The director of the municipal laboratory
suggests:
a. Instead of having the milk come to
should be cans, half-cans and quarter-cans
In such way that they could all be sealed
before starting and delivered to the retailer
still sealed. AS It now is, the "garcon
latter" must deliver half a can to this
small retailer, one can and half to an
other. and so on, which gives him his OBJ
portunity.
% The courts should be more severe
when trying cases and infiicting sentences
CD The milk companies who employ the
"garcons laitiers" should be made penalty
responsible for the frauds of their under
lings.
But all these are mere palliatives," saws
NJ G!rard- What is really needed is prt-
vate enterprise. Different quarters of the
capital ought to organize cooperative dali
ries. as they do in Switzerland and Eng
land"
Paul Delay himself suggests the following
practical plan. 1t has the advantage Of
being within the reach Of any one who de-
sires to help the movement:
Let any Partisan who wants to help de-
post sample of the milk served to him at
the police commissariat of his quarter He
need do 1t only once. The cellulah wagon
(Black Maria) will take these samples 70
the depot on their first trip. The chemists
of the municipal laboratory will analyze
them with enthusiasm; and IL you have
added your milk-furnishers name and ad-
dress. you will have done a particularly