The Washington herald., 1908-03-20
MILK AND PUBLIC HEALTH
By FREDERIC ]. HASKTN.

A remarkable volume has just been Is
sued from the United States Public
Health and Marine Hospital Service. It
deals with the subject of the milk sup
ply OF the cities OF the United states.
and makes a showing which is at once
valuable 20 public health and alarming
10 the consumer OF the lacteal fluid. Ev-
cry time a railroad train meets with an
accident and some one is killed, storm
Of protest goes up about lives neediessiy
sacrificed. Every time a mine explosion
or fire takes place, one hears much
about our industrial Juggernaut. and the
person or persons who are responsible
are sought cut and carge Of criminal
carelessness brought against them. 1t
Is well that it is so. But there is far
mere insiduous and dangerous enemy to
the land than these. II is bad milk
Where railroads XIII their hundreds, bad
milk takes of It's thousands; and where
mine horrors snuff out the little candle
OF life for its few, bad milk lays low
its many.
In this book. milk as a disease-carrier
is on trial. Science is the prosecuting at
torney. Never has a prosecutor followed
his case more closely. Never was there
gathered together stronger army Of cir
cumstancial evidence. every iota OF it
pointing with unerring force 10 the guilt
Of the defendant, and none OF it COM
patable with a conclusion OF innocence
The evidence IS conclusive. the conclu-
sion Is inevitable Pure. clean, uncon-
taminated milk never gives person a
contagious or infectious disease. IN
clean. contaminated milk usually does.
Hundreds Of epIdemics have been traced
10 one milk source in each case. This
applies 10 typhoid fever, scarlet fever,
and dlphtheria.
Listen 10 the evidence. Last October
there was an epidemic OF typhoid fever
at Cresson. noted health resort at the
western end OF the big tunnel above the
famous Horseshoe Curve on the Pennsyl-
vania There were nine cases in eight
families. No two OF the families had the
same water supply All OF them got
their milk from the same dairy. where
there were two cases Of typhoid In the
family OF the dairyman. The dairy was
closed and the outbreak ceased. Exhibit
No. > relates 70 an outbreak in Savan-
nah. Ca, In May. 1907. Only nineteen
cases OF typhoid had occurred Ia Sa-
vannah from January TO May. During
May ninety-fve cases were reported.
Sixty-three came from one dairy. while
the other thirty-two were scattered
among eighteen other milk supplies. The
dairy involved did a wholesale and re-
tail business. and one of the depots sup
! piled by y was in a bakers shop. over
which a typhoid patient lived. The cans
sent 20 this depot were returned and used
again without being sterilized.
IN October. 1906 there was an outbreak
OF typhoid in Newark. y. J., where the
average OF cases a year Is about 90. With
] in a month there were 1o3 cases reported.
Investigation showed that 90 Of those
cases used milk from one farm. and that
preceding the outbreak fever subject
had MIXED cows at the farm The sale
OF milk from this place was stopped, and
By December there were only s9 cases
left IN August OF the same year an ex-
plosiye outbreak Of % cases occurred at
Salt Lake City. None Of these bad a
common water supply. and all patronized
typhoid on the farm supplying this dairy.
The premises were set in sanitary order
and the outbreak came 10 an end.
In April. 1915. there was on outbreak OF
typhoid at PalO Alto, Cal or the 800
people using milk from one dairy, 232 had
typhoid. The milk cans had been washed
] in a creek infected by sewage, and the
milk was diluted with the same water.
Such IS the record OF milk as a carrier
OF typhoid A hundred similar instances
might be mentioned in the case Of scarlet
fever and diphtheria. But the crimes Of
/ infected milk are so numerous as 70 make
Il monotonous 10 recite them all Every
/ case Is as conclusive as the ones men
/ toned.
When II is remembered that there are
I q. .00o. 600 mich COWS in the United States,
/ and that each OF these must yield abou;
46 gallons Of milk year. over and above
what is used by the farmer and that
which is made into butter and cheese
/ IL viii readily appear how important The
/ question of a milk supply IS. II amounts
/ 10 Just about l. 900. coo 900 gallons a year
and that means that every urban and
suburban inhabitant Of the United States
/ consumes between . and 80 gallons OF
/ milk a year. The amount used by the
nonfarming population OF the country il
a years time is as great as the quantity
/ Of water consumed in a city like Wash
ington in twelve days. In 1906 II was
| estimated that the annual consumption o,
milk in Philadelphia amounted TO % gal
/ Ions per capita. In London the annual
| consumption was placed at 1i.5 gallons
showing that nowhere else is so much
milk consumed as in America.
/ Mix holds peculiar position among
| foodstuffs. in that Il is an excellent me-
dium for the growth Of many micro-or--
! ganisms In the hygienic laboratory OF
/ the Public Health and Marine Hospita
/ Service, examinations have shown as high
as 30, 100000 bacteria in a single cuhi,
| centimeter Of milk If milk were trans
parent instead OF Opaque. such a luxur-
liant growth would be visible 20 the naked
eye. Besides being an agent for tht
spread OF the germs of typhoid fever
1 scarlet fever, and diphtheria, milk also
has in il tubercular baciln- Out of q 90
cattle tested in Massachusetts there wer,
1900 which had tuberculosis About 4
per cent of the cows from which Wash
! ington gets its milk supply are said to b
Infected.
Perhaps one-half of the infant mortal
! lty In the United States is due to the US,
OF cows milk So high is TIE death rat'
among infants that the chances of a new
born child surviving week are, accord
| ing to Bergeron. less than those of a MAJ
! OF ninety. while its chances Of living +;
year are less than those OF a man o.
fourscore. One OF the most beautiful
charities in New York is the Nathai
Strsus fund for the purchase OF pasteur
lied milk fer infants. Mr.. Straus started
this charity in 1885 by dispensing 81 -
bottles Of prepared milk from one depot
In 1894 1t was increased tenfold. BY 100
it had reached 3,142252 bottles and l,07S,
4e5 glasses Of pasteurized milk. there be
ing seventeen stations from which II wa
dispensed Prior TO the beginning Of thi