The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-21
CONFERENCE ON PURE MILK.
PASTEUFIZSrTON BEST METHOD,
SAYS NATHAN STRAUSS
nut the PhHsIr,ans ana Health Omccrs
ThInk II should Not Use Made COmpuI-
sOry Duty, They Think. v TO
Teach Proper way Of Feeding Babies.

Teach Proper Way Of Feeding Babies.
A conference of forty Of the leading
physicians and milk experts of New York
and the health officers Of adjoin ing States
for the purpose q discussing the milk
supply OF New T9rh city WAS held yester-
day in the Academy of Medicine, II West
Forty-third street, ut the instance Of the
New York Association for Improving the
Condition of the Poor.
George W. Wickersham, one OF the vice
presidents of the association, presided.
The Questions of pasteurization, milk de-
pots for infants and model milk shops were
discussed at the afternoon session. The
conference resolved on the subject of
skinned milk, the sale of which is pro-
hibited in New York city, that its sale should
be permitted but not for consumption
by infants. b whom it X injurious, and
not In retail stores where whole milk is
sold. DR.. L. j. Lederle, fJ1ncr Health Com
missioner of New York, advocated the sale
OF SKINNED milk under these conditions
because of its nutritive value and cheap
price and its value in manufacturing, as
IN bakeries. Health Commissioner Darling
ton said that the Health Department could
only control the sale of SKINNED milk when
sold separately from whole milk.
A letter from Nathan Straus, who has
established stations in the city for the
distribution of pure milk to infants, was
read by DIR. Green.
Mr.. Stratus declared that the lives Of a
majority of children who die before reach
ing the age of 5 could be saved by the
pasteurization of milk.
You know" said Mr.. Straus 10 the con-
ference, "that in this country one child
out of every three that are born dies before
the age OF 5, and / claim that the majority
Of these deaths are ~preventable.
Il have been criticised for preaching
the danger of our milk supply, for saying
that the most destructive of all agents
of disease and death is the common ordinary
milk offered for consumption in our cities.
] welcome this criticism because it is only
through discussion and agitation that the
public is aroused"
Mr.. Straus said that in his personal ex-
perience he had found that tuberculosis
frequently developed among well bred
BOWS that were kept in high class diaries
where the most scrupulous cleanliness
obtained.
Thirteen years ago, he told the confer
ence, he was requested to write an article
for a publication on the necessity for pure
milk. He was requested to eliminate a
paragraph on the ground that it was too
radical, too daring. The paragraph read:
Milk is not always good in proportion to
the price paid for it, nor free from the germs
Of contagion because it has come from
cattle Of aristocratic lineage. The latter
au,altkxr - EaoaaN o~Raraa1A kaa ahN.-
carries with it a special susceptibility to
tuberculosis"
Thirteen years ago" said Mr.. Straus in
his statement. Il believed that the pas
teurization OF milk was the only remedy.
To-day l know it,"
Mr.. Straus recalled the success OF the
pasteurization plant he installed on Ran
dall's Island after he resigned the presi =
dency Of the Board Of Health. In the first
ear Of the plants operation the death rate
Of the children dropped from a. per cent. to
% per cent. The rate was reduced later
10 1875 per cent.
Scientists agree" said Mr.. Straus, that
O temperature Of 1876 degrees will destroy
the tubercle bacillus. II it were possible
20 secure. pure, resi- milk direct from
absolutely healthy COWS in any large city
there woulu be no necessity for pasteuriza-
ton. II it were possible to establish a sys-
TEN OF public inspection and examination
Of milk, which would prevent the supply
Of polluted milk, there would be no necessity
TOR pasteurization II 1t were possible by
legislation to obtain a milk supply from
clean stables, after a careful process of
milking, to have transportation to the city
In perfectly clean and close vessels, then
DQatPuriZa tlOD wOuld he nnDaraGGarv RUf
am compelled to conclude, after years Of
study, that these conditions are absolutely
impossible OF attainment.
Il believe the solution of the question
before us is not scientific, but practical.
1t is not cure-it is prevention.
When the public have been sufficiently
aroused to the fact that prevention of dis
ease ia quite as essential ar the erection
and maintenance of hospitals for the cure
OF disease, we shall have the first requisite
for intelligent legislationon this subject.
Surely, prejudice, Ignorance and criminal
neglect must lave had their day."
DR.. Darlington said Of pasteurization that
people should know that the process half
cooks the milk as well as the bacteria in il
and hat the city should leave it to the
people to say whether they want this kind
Of milk or not. He said that it was the city's
province not TO impose pasteurization on the
people but to see that the sources Of the
milk supply we're properly sterilized. Dr..
NJ N"JlNIt ICdbtu lllNr VI IbOCIthJtT,
said that from his experience pasteuriza-
ton was an invitation to milkmen to be
as dirty as possible. The conference voted
that pasteurizatioi should not be. made
compulsory.
On the subject of infants milk depots,
DIR. Goler said that the system Of distribut-
ing pure milk for infants used in Rochester
since 1897 had decreased the death rate
from 80 per cent. TO 20 per cent. DIR. l.. +.
Holt Of New York said that the Straus mix
depots had lowered the mortality among
infants chiefly by regulating the amount Of
milk and the manner of feeding. The poor
do not know how TO feed their infants. The
less these mothers have to do with feeding
their infants, the better the results"
DR.. W. p. Northrup spoke of the wonder
ful results IN reducing the mortality among
the precious French babies by a highly
developed system Of infants milk depots.
The conference decided that It is ques-
tionable whether municipal depots are de-
sirable, and that educational work should
be directed 10 the instruction of mothers in
how to feed infants properly.
DR.. D. Bensel, assistant sanitary superin-
tendent OF the Health Department. said
that IL was possible by inspection alone to
secure q pure milk supply, but that the
city needed eighty inspectors in addition
TO b fourteen now making the rounds
OF the country dairies- He dvocated under
the subject. legislation, a city ordinance
IN make the nnaaaaai0n If q dIfhv mill,