Evening star., 1911-08-26
|C|TYS MILK SUPPLY MAY ACCEPT AWARD
Bulletin on Subject by Depart
ment of Agriculture.
BETTER THAN IN CHICAGO
Conditions Show Improvement, But
Still Fall Short of the
Ideal Methods.

Milk supplied In Washington and Chi
cago is undergoing an examination at
the hands Of the Department of Agricul-
ture. The result, declares bulletin
just issued by the department, is that the
sale Of milk In bottles Is being decidedly
restricted and the quality improved. The
milk sold in Chicago has been notoriously
below the natural standard. This is the
standard of butter fats and other in
gradients set by the Department Of Agri-
culture. During the past year IA per
cent Of the milk examined in Chicago
fell below this standard. This year only
AS per cent has failed to measure up.
The comment Is made that the condi-
tions in Washington are unsatisfactory
partly because there are SO many small
dealers and partly because the amount OF
milk many Of them distribute Is so small
that 1t does not even warrant having q
special room set apart for its preparation
and is often prepared for sale in the
midst OF the domestic or business part
Of the establishment.
Meant for Comparison.
The bulletin is intended more or less as
a companion work to q bulletin on mill
conditions in Boston. Philadelphia ant
New York, issued some time ago. Like
the preceding investigation. It dealt par
ticularly with the sources Of supply. the
enforcement OF local health ordinance.
governing the local retailers being par
ticularly under the health officers OF the
two cities.
The bulletin Is accompanied by map.
showing the area of surrounding country
from which the city's milk supply il
"A Tn vUoc ~ n ~ n
q radius Of forty or fifty miles. much
closer to the city itself than In the case
Of many large centers. In the New
York investigation. for instance. some
Of the milk shipping points were 4o'
The author Of the bulletin is George NJ
Whitaker Of the dairy division Of the
department. In speaking OF the genera
results Of the work he said that II wouJt
be easy to take q high plane. and. speak
that the conditions both In washington
and Chicago were far from satisfactory
But, he added. what one had to do was
to look at practical conditions as 1t wa!
this way and noting the improvement ir
conditions, they were fairly satisfactory
Improvement Is Noted.
There has been q great advance. he
said, in knowledge Of bacterology. and
both scientists and laymen now know
more than they did OF what conditions
are apt to be actually harmful. and
where the virtues OF cleanliness come In.
The department for several years has
been using q system Of score cards giving
the rating Of dairies around the big cities.
Something like the same system is used
by the Washington health authorities in
keeping watch on the city retailers. The
COMPARISON Of the scores made and those
made few years ago show a decided
improvement.
Dairy farms are cleaner and conditions
have been improved as the dairymen
were shown the need of improving them.
The same is true of retail dairies in
Washington, and some Of the worst and
most insanitary have been abolished al
together.
Conditions are not yet ideal. by any
MEANS but the tendency Is toward i'm
provement. Speaking generally, the sani-
tary conditions in Washington are rather
better than those In Chicago.