The Washington herald., 1908-03-20

cities Of that size there are q which main
tain such depOts. OF these only four
have them maintained at public expense.
In the others the cost osborne BY phil
snthropic citizens. One OF the chief ef-
forts Of the Public Health Service now is
to encourage maternal feeding. and TO
point out the dangers OF departing from
natures methods.
Essential as pure milk is TO the health
Of a city. it is yet next 10 impossible to
have it all pure. The Washington milk
supply. for instance. comes from over
i,oo0 dairy farms situated in the adjacent
counties Of the States Of Virginia and
Maryland Some OF the cream comes
from as far as Pennsylvania and New
York. Boston gets a large portion or her
milk supply from a distance Of from
20 20 100 miles. The milk for the city
OF New York comes from 5000 different
farms scattered over five States, passes
through 400 creameries. and reaches the
city over 1--WE different lines OF transpOr-
tation. Some Of the milk. at certain sea-
sons. comes from Canada. and shipments
Of cream arrive daily from Ohio. One
hundred and fifty wholesale dealers are
engaged in the milk business. and the
consumption is $4,000 quarts. yet only
ls.0o9 quarts Of this are certified as
clean milk.
Counting a perfect dairy as rated at 100
points. the average dairy In the United
States shows less than 50 points. A Kan
sas City dairyman Is quoted as saying
that the prices OF milk in that city are
based on the removal OF only the worst
forms OF dirt; that II the public wanted
cleaner milk they would have 70 pay the
added cost OF production, and that il
was shown that the people were not will
ing to DO this. since the few dairies ap-
proximating ideal conditions and charging
a cOrrespOndingly higher price. were not
so well patronized as might have been
expected.
The conclusions reached in the twenty
odd different papers incorporated In the
book are that at best the conditions for
handling milk cannot be made perfect
II il were possible TO remove all con-
taniination, milk might be kept for weeks
instead OF days. But this Is impossible
IN the handling OF a commercial milk sup
ply. More than half OF the milk that
TEACHES lile consumer ls almost Il Nd1
old. and Is not clean al all Pasteuriza-
ton IS not an unmixed blessing. While
il lessons the dangers Of milk drinking
for the time being, the fact that II keeps
sweet longer often renders IL fully as
harmful in the end. Furthermore. it Is
said that when the farmer and the milk
hand conclude that the dirt IN the milk -
TO be cooked and thereby rendered harm
less. they relax their care somewhat
MIX sanitarials may be divided into
two classes-those who believe that pas
teuTization Is about the only feasible rem
edy for bad milk. and those who hope for
better things BY purifying all the 6aifies
OF the land. To the layman. after going
through the 500 pages OF the report. IL
looks as II the day OF really pure milk
will come when the millennium dawns.
Yet great progress has been made IN re-
cent years. Cleanliness IS next 10 god
illness" ought 10 be the maxim OF every
milkman Nothing that the human race
eats or drinks Is so readily. as milk. con-
verted b. careless handling into a dan
geroUs article. Il annually lays low its
thousands, chiefly because somewhere on
its voyage from the COW 10 the consumer
it has been Improperly handled.
TO-mOrrOW-LiYinE Outdoors.