The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-20
MILK AND PUBLIC HEALTH


iera in "A single cubic centimetre o,
milk. If milk were transparent instcat
OF opaque, such a. luxuriant, growtf
would be visible to the naked eye
OF the germs Of typhoid fever. scarlet
fever and diphtherla. milk also has
nm n 1t tubereular baeilll. out Of "A.
there Were, 10000 which had tuberculo,
from, which Washington gets its mix
supply arc said to be infected.
tally In the United States lis due to
the u use OF cows milk. So high is the
death rate among infants. that the
ing q week are, according to Berger.
on less. than those of Il man OF ninety
While s,n l,s. its chances of living - year
score One Of the most beautiful char
tiles In New York is the Nathan strauf
FUND FUND FOR the purchase OF pasteurizet
hs charity IN ises Mr. by sraas started
depot. In 1891 It was i inereas se ten e,.
r I,n, liz. sy l9os i ha nd reached al42,.5i
teurlzed milk, there being seventeen
stations from which 1t was dispensed
Prior to the beginning of this chari
y me d fmd rate ate. among the infants
only ss,7. The milk is modified oSGf d a Was
certain formula and is sent out In
bottles that will not stand on the end.
SO that they cannot be left open. Only
one feeding is put into bottle.
The surgeon general of the United
states Public Health and Marine Hos
pital Service has made inquiry as to
the number of infants milk depots
/, IN the United States In cities of CO.,
900 population and upwards. He haa
that size there are twenty-one which
maintain such depots OF these only
four have them maintained ut public
expense In the others the cost is
OF the chief efforts. Of the public
health service now Is to encourage
maternal feeding and to point out tha
dangers OF departing from nature'a
methods.
Essential as pure milk is to this
health of city. 1t Is yet next to im-
possible to have 1t all pure. The
comes from over 1000 dairy farms sit.
uated in the adjacent counties OF thu
States of Virginia and Maryland. Some
Of the u cream ear comes from Y. as far as
gets a large portion OF her milk sup-
ply from a distance OF from forty to
! a hundred miles. The milk for tho
lefty OF New York comes from $4,000
different farms scattered over five
States. passes through 400 creameries
and reaches the city over five differ.
ent lines OF transportation. Some OF
\
| from Canada, and shipments of cream
arrive daily from Ohio. One hundred
and fifty Wholesale dealers are en-.
Jagged in the milk business. and tn.
daily consumption is 100000 quarts,
yet only 10000 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 sixty
points; Kansas 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 clean
er milk they would have to pay the
1t was shown that the people were not
willing to do this. since the few dairies
Iapproximating ideal conditions and
charging eorrespondingly higher
might have been expected.
The conclusions reached in the
twenty different papers incorpo-
conditions for handling milk cannot be
made perfect. If Il were possible 10
remove all contamination. milk might
be kept for weeks instead OF days
But this is impossible in the handling
lof commercial milk supply. More
than half OF the milk that reaches the
consumer is almost a day old. and is
mo. an unmixed blessing. While II
lessons the dangers of milk drinking
Tor the time being. the fact that IL
keeps sweet longer renders 1t fully an
harmful In the end. Furthermore. il
Is said that when the farmer and the
lmilk-hand conclude that the dirt In
the milk Is to be cooked and thereby
rendered harmless, they relax their
care somewhat.
Milk sanitarians may be divided
into two classes-those who believe that
pastuerization Is about the only feasi-
BILE remedy for bad milk. and those
who hope for better things by purify
ing all the diaries of the land. To the
layman- after going through the 500
pages of the report. 1t looks as If
the day OF really pure milk will come
when the millennium dawns. Yet great
progress has been made in recent
years. Cleanliness is next to godll-
I ness" ought to be the maxim of every
milkman. Nothing that the human race
eats or drinks is so readily as milk,
converted by careless handling into
dangerous article. 1t annually lays
: low Its thousands, chiefly because
somewhere on It's voyage from the COW
to. the consumer 1t has been improp-
erly handled.
81 o-morrow-Living Outdoors.