Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-04-26

Modern investigations in dairy san
itation have shown the Importance of
producing and handling milk under
clean conditions, and significant fac
tor in attaining that result is the
score-card system of dairy inspection,
according to Messrs. Clarence B. Lane
and George M. Whitaker in report
just published by the bureau of animal
industry of the United States depart
ment of agriculture. The main advan-
tage that they attribute to the score
card system is that it deals with item
lied conditions. City milk inspection a
few years ago was merely matter of
detecting added water or preservatives.
With recent progress in sanitary SCI
ence the work has broadened, and
boards OF health are now investigating
the sanitary phases Of milk production,
transportation, and distribution.
In the smaller cities most OF the milk
consumed is retailed by the producer,
and even in places of considerable size
many producers are also retailers. In
cases where the functions Of producer
and retailer are merged In one person
an inspection of the dairy farm dis
closes the methods of distribution as
we'll as production, and the dairy farm
score card answers all purposes under
such conditions.
AS cities grow. middlemen become a
necessity and their places Of business
are more Familiarity known as "plants."
These plants have wide range of capa-
city, equipment, and methods. One ex-
IRENE is a building 800 ito 400 feet
long on spur of a railroad where milk
is received by the train load, cooled.
mixed, filtered, perhaps pasteurized,
canned or bottled, and held in cold
storage until retailed in the city. The
other extreme is the dealer retailing
only few gallons who may have no
plant and his equipment consists of
only a carrier can and a quart meas
ure which were washed in the kitchen
sink with the family dishes; or he may
have fitted up the dark, lily ventilated
basement of his residence as a milk
plant" with wooden tank for cool
ing the milk, few dozen bottles, a
washtub in which to cleanse them, a
dipper for filling, and brush to agi-
tate lukewarm water inside the bottles.
1t does not necessarily follow that all
small dealers adopt improper practices,
but the chances are that the ordinary
milkman with small capital and only
a little at stake will not take as much
care as a person differently situated.
For the past two years the bureau
of animal industry thru Its dairy divis-
ion has been making a study of dairy
inspection with view to developing
system that would be practical and
comprehensive, and has assisted the
authorities of number of cities in
different sections of the country in APP
plying such methods for the improve
ment of their milk supplies. Some re-
suits of this work, together with in
structions for using the score card sys-
TEN, are given in the publication re-
ferred to, which may be had by adj
dressing a request to the bureau at
Washington, d. c., for circular 1879.
A striking example of the POSSIBLE
ity of improving dairy conditions thru
the score card system is shown in the
Va. which made the greatest percent
age of gain from the first score to the
last during period of six months. The
lowest score was twenty points on a
scale of 100. This place." said the
health officer, "was indescribably bad.
Seventeen cows were huddled into two
dark, foul sheds, with about 200 cubic
feet Of air space to each COW. The wa
ter supply was grossly contaminated.
The milk was poured from dirty milk
pals into cans which stood In manure
in a dirty stable yard. Everything was
in keeping with this partial picture"
This dairyman Immediately took steps
to meet the requirements of the scor-
ing system in use, and his scores
showed steady improvement visit by
visit, the last score showing 62.5, which
was above the average. The same
health officer further states:
Common Justice demands that full