The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-03-31
THE NEW MILK LAW.

in Bennington me mllkuen here
are taking hold of {; in the right spirit
and cooperating with the board OF
health i'm an EFFORT 10 give Jhe people
of Bennington lac hes; To he han
For years the average Of mix fur
nished by Bennington uilkmer. as
tested at the state laboratory has
shown up the best of any IF the larger
towns of the state. The uilkmen
naturally have pride in this and Go
not wish to fall behind under the new
law.
The regulations provided by the
state board OF health are decidedly
stringent, more so than the law con
templates or provides Tor and there
are probably not hale dozen milk
dealers in the state that could score
perfect under these regulations. But
while perfect scores are aC present
impossible. the essential points are
reasonably easy Of attainment and no
more than is now being asked in well
governed communities everywhere
These essentials are light, air and
cleanliness in the stables and care
and cleanliness in handling he milk
The principal expense that the milk
men will be put to is that they will
be compelled to put more windows
into their stables, to keep the stables
clean, and to protect the cows and
the milk from the dust and dirt of the
barn. and these once done will be
easy to maintain without increasing
the cost Of production
The public in the main approves
the new conditions. II has been
shown in recent years that people by
proper mode Of living can lengthen
their own life and can remain active
and able to earn a living until much
older. The essentials for this are
pure air, pure water and pure milk
K and proper sanitation. In this con
nection some recent Investigations OF
T. life insurance experts will be Of inter
h est An extract from one OF their
e findings is as follows:
!. In Western Europe, during the
o. seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
~ the average of human life increased at
/ the rate of four years a century dur
n. ing the first three-quarters of the nine
N teenth century, 1t increased AT the
h rate of nine years a century; and it is
4 now increasing al the rate of seven
teen years a century; and. in Prussia
It is calculated that the increase is
= now at the rate of tyenty-seyen years
century
in the United States we have sat
isfactory statistics only for Massachu
sets, and in that state the lengthen
ing is going on at the rate of about
fourteen years a century.
so much for the better ways of liv
ing that have already been adopted
But still longer steps can be taken
OF the deaths from tuberculosis, Il
per cent, can be prevented from
pneumonia, As per cent, from typhoid
Q cent BY decreasing the number o
the deaths that occur from these dis
eases, and by inducing the insured Il
e seek pure air pure water, and pur,
! milk. the death losses of insured I'm
u der thirty years of age could be reduc
ed by nearly one-half and OF insure
between thirty and sixty by abou
e one-third
i This surely is true--as fast as tn
prevention OF disease is reducible t
d definite economic terms-as fast a
;, men realize the profit of 1.-THE ave.
II age of life win become greater. 1t
n worth much to bring the knowledg
to every intelligent person that hi
L own life may be heightened by car,
u full living and by proper preyentiv
measures taken by city and count
and state and national authorities-b
corporations. too and by ones neigi
bors and by everybody. A healtl
conscience is an incalculable force.
- The overwhelming decrease of tn
= death-rate at Havana under America
sanitary management after our wa
with Spain, a similar decrease in Par
anna, the decrease of infant mortalit
IN cities where a pure milk supply ha
supplanted an impure one, show wha
can be done Some European lif'
insurance companies maintain SAM
tariums for their policyholders.
The proposal that the great American
companies help to educate the public
can be reduced to defniteness and j
it fall within the law. such hell
would go far to drum the idea int
the peoples heads that sanitation ant
careful living are worth money; ant
when the community comes clearly L
understand this obvious fact, we shall
have a new sort of issues in loca
politics. Republican and Democrats
typhoid fever are equally deadly; an,
we may have local campaigns turn OF
= sanitary questions"
:. A step in advance like this new Vel
| mont milk law means some bothe'
trouble and care, but after once in
4 augurated 1t is largely matter o
4 routine and the routine of doing RICH
is just about as easy as the routine O
doing wrong.
Congress is making brilliant a
tempt to revise the tariff, not onl