The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-16
Committee Has Tie Vote
on Throckmorton
Milk Bill.
SOLVE PROBLEM
THIS AFTERNOON
Citizens and Others Make Strong
Plea to Let Present System
Stand-Beattie D eclares
That Dairymen Are CO.
Operating With Health
Officials.

| Following many hours of argument
| for and against tho Throckmorton
dairy inspection bill, the House Com
mittee on Agriculture and Mining late
last night was forced to pass the mat
ter by until late this afternoon, be-
cause Of a tie vote on the proposition
to report the measure. The vote stood
8 to 6, and at o'clock this afternoon.
when tho question will be taken up,
1t Is expected that tho one absentee
will be present and decide the COM
nlittce's report.
Two hundred people gathered in the
hall Of the House of Delegates to hear
| the conclusion of a long and notable
/ fight It was fully demonstrated that
| public interest In the question has
abatcd not a whit. While one woman
| on each side was heard, the debate was
! confined in the main to Dr. Levy for
| the opposition and to. Mr.. Throckmo:-
| ton In support of his bill.
| Mistake to Change.
| The committee being anxious to dis
'cidcd to give each side only forty-flve
| minutes. the time as usual being ex-
| tended. The first speaker was Rev.
James Nelson, president of tho Woman's
| College, who occupied but a few mo-
| ments. He said he thought it would be
| almost a calamity to mako q. change
/ in the law governing the milk supply
! of Richmond, or to curtai1 the powers
| of the Board of Health.
DIR. Brooks, the Chief Health Officer
of Portsmouth. contended that each
| city knows best What is for its own
/ good. lie thought no Democratic COM
4 n nn iC a
| to take away the local rights of any
| community.
| A dairyman, Harry Beattie, spoke
| for the bill. He said that public health
/ was the greatest problem before the
i people. Saying that SO per cent. of
all the butter consumed inntllis State
is brought in from elsewhere, he urged
that the State build up its dairy in
terests SO that this practice might
be stopped. 1t was untrue, he as
serted. that the dairymen are fighting
regulation. They all want inspection,
but they want fair and honest one.
There should be, he argued, way
to consummate quick settlement of
differences between the dairyman and
the inspector. He did not think the
Board of Health ought to be called
upon to decide these questions. for
however sincere, they would naturally
lean to the side of the inspector.
Not Many Appeals.
Mr.. Beattie said he did not believe
there would be many appeals. He gave
the Health Board the credit for the
pure supply of milk which Richmond
enjoys, but said the dairymen were CO.
operating and should not be held up
as thieves and murderers.
In reply to question from City
j Attorney Pollard, Mr.. Beattie said that
if the City Council would create a
board of appeal, and in consideration
of the airing this matter has had, the
results would probably be satisfactory.
Closing the debate against the bill,
l DR.. Levy charged that 1t was. direct
insnuation tLat the Health Board was
. not competent to seiect It's inspectors.
Z. After praising the present State Dairy
Commissioner. he said that future
commissioners might require standards
with which the city board would not
; agree. He might ask that the man
be an expert In dairying, while the
Health Board might prefer him to
} specialize along the line Of the laws
) regulating milk supplies and public
health.
The board has the interests OF the
: city at heart, he said, and would not
) think Of keeping man as inspector
J who was unfit to have the position.
Revocation Useless.
: AS to the revocation Of the license,
; Dr.. Levy asked why this feature was
in the bill. Evidently. he replied. be-
, cause the Dairy Commissioners had
learned that the inspector was not so
t capable as he had believed at first,
, in spite of his additional experience.
i Therefore. he argued, this feature
: amounts to nothing. Then too, futuro
: l ,;rrl,t c1
y He objected strenuously to the ap-
: peal allowed in the bill, Standards
q he asserted, must be made to suit local
: needs Supposlng the State Dairy Com
O missioner and the State Health Com
1 missioner do not agree, there being
9 lbut two members-what happens? Th'
/. Dairy Commissioner has other dutte:
: prescribed by law Tt lis his bushes!
to build up the great dairy business
l of this State, which evidently needs
If the statement Is true that SIS pei
9 cent Of the butter used is brought II
from outside the State.
3 Helps Dairymcn.
The Board of Health, he continued
8 always tries Ito help tho dairynnen.
= It brought an expert here when the
= work OF inspection began, and all tho
: dairymen were invited to hear him
!. sneak. ..Of course" said DR.. Levy,
docking back now upon thousands OF
cases, / can see that there were mat
tors that could have been better han
g died Yet we have always had the
q hest interests OF all in View, and we
= have no apologies to make
tre quoted a law passed at the last
session OF the Legislature providing
that any person furnishing impure
milk should be guilty Of misde-
4 meanor This left the appeal, he
!. argued. only In the courts. He knew
IS that Mr.. Throckmorton was going ia
Al argue that the only appeal for the
: dalryman is in the courts, when he is
dned if he sells milk In tho city after
: his license IS revoked. In the court
he cannot show anything regarding
p the Justice of hts case. hut IT IS only