The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1912-05-14
And VIII Ask City Council
To Pass An Ordinance
Physicians OF City To Co.
operate With The Board
What The State Dairy And
Food Commissioner Says

The city board Of health is to make
a determined effort to have pure milk
for the consumers of Mt. Vernon and
steps will be taken at once towards
this end.
The Knox County Medical Society at
a meeting Friday afternoon appointed
a committee of three physicians to CO.
operate with the Mt Vernon board of
health in its plan for pure milk for
the residents of the city.
The first step to be taken by the
board of health will be to ask council
to pass an ordinance having the con-
troll of all milk supply in the hands of
the Mt Vernon board of health. This
will probably consist in the licensing
of all persons engaged in the selling of
milk and cream and the inspection of
all milk and cream offered for sale.
This will include dairymen and milk
dealers.
Numerous complaints have been re-
ceived by the members of the local
board of health recently regarding the
condition of some milk offered for sale
in Mt. Vernon. Health Officer H. w.
Blair has been conducting an investi-
cation for several days and has found
that some of the milk offered for sale
in the city is not the best
Hence it has been determined to
have the matter placed in the hands
of the city board of health and at an
early date the local board will ask
the state department to send an in
spector to this vicinity and all the
milk coming into Mt. Vernon will be
inspected and tested.
The test will cover the purity of
the milk and also for any trace of
tuberculosis.
Along this line the city board of
health also expects to take up the mat
ter of the inspection of all meats and
vegetables offered for sale in the hot
summer months. The board will ask
council to pass an ordinance prohibit
ing merchants and meat dealers from
offering any kind of fresh meats and
vegetables exposed to the sun and dust
during the summer months.
The matter of pure milk is most i'm
portant at this season of the year and
on Saturday State Dairy and Food
Commissioner s. E. Strobe issued the
following bulletin concerning the milk
question, apropos of the hot months
and it comes right along the line of
work which the Mt. Vernon board of
health is endeavoring to carry out:
During several weeks just passed
inspectors of the state dairy and food
department have filed nearly two score
affidavits against violators of the dairy
laws in almost a dozen of the larger
counties. About two-thirds of these
affid Wits were for selling adulterated
milk and the other third for selling
oleomargarine and process butter for
dairy or creamery butter,
Trials have been held or pleas of
guilty entered in nearly one-half of
these cases, and in no case has the
fine been less than fifty dollars and in
one case fine of 500 was assessed.
State Dairy and Food Commissioner
Strobe calls attention to the fact that
the law relating to dairy products is a
drastic one. The reason for this is
that it is so easy to skim some of the
cream off the milk or put the milk can
under the pump spout. A stringent
law against such accidents" is nee
essary to keep them from multiplying.
Swimming off the cream or adding
water to the milk may slightly increase
the profits, but every act of the kind,
if discovered, means fine of not less
than fifty dollars for the first offense,
and a subsequent offense might mean
$500 fine and sixty days in Jail. The
same is true when oleomargarine or
process butter is sold for butter, dairy
butter or creamery butter
1t is not necessary to find any wrong
full intention on the part of a person
selling or Offering to sell dairy pro-
ducts below the legal standard. The
duty is imposed upon the seller to
know that what he sells for offers to