Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-17
The Milk Supply.

An impressive array Of arguments in ia
Sor of the enactment of legislation fol-
the regulation of the milk supply of the
District was presented at the symposium
at the Public Library Friday night under
the auspices of the Association for the
Prevention Of tuberculosis and the wom-
ans welfare department OF the National
Civic Federation. Ten speakers, each
having a technical acquaintance with the
subject of public health preservation, dis
cussed various phases of this question,
and all to the point of demonstrating that
the District is at present unprotected with
regard to its milk supply. and that the
remedy lies at hand in an enactment en-
larging the powers of the Commissioners
for the regulation of the milk traffic.
As to the fact that disease is trans
whatever. Repeatedly proof has been ad-
duced in Washington by the development
of Affections of an infectious nature along
certain milk routes supplied from con-
taminated sources. Only recently large
number of cases of typhoid fever were
traced directly to certain dairy farm in
Virginia. The Districts safeguards are
not sufficient TO protect it against such a
iiieBdNt II tdiiIIOl d SuIuCleUt
force of inspectors to examine all the pos
sible sources of milk supply. and the
states of Maryland and Virginia afford
practically no protection through the
maintenance of dairy inspection systems
of their own.
TWO remedies are proposed, one the
elimination of unfit or suspected cattle
from the herds from which the District s
milk supply is derived and the other the
pasteurizaton of all milk brought into
the District to be sold. The former ex-
pedient is extremely expensive and is
vigorously attacked by dairy owners who
regard it as of questionable value More
over, it affects only the transmission Of
one particular disease, and leaves the
milk available for the transmission of
others through the corruption of the sup
ply in handling and transmission. For
this reason the sentiment Of those quail
fled by expert experience TO pass upon
this question centers upon the adoption
of method of publication as near as
possible to the point of use; tina. is to say,
a pasteurizing treatment within the Dis
triet Of Columbia which will reduce to a
minimum the danger of disease trans
mission through the milk.
1t may be true, as opponents of the
pasteurization system aver, that the milk
may be contaminated during and after
this process. But that does not weaken
the argument for the adoption of that
process, which will in any event cut off
all the dangers to which the supply is
now exposed between the dairy and the
distributing agencies. If pasteurizing is
adopted it will probably be accomplished
at central points, which can be kept under
close inspection. An ideal method. of
course, would be the maintenance Of a
municipality managed central milk depot,
possibly with branches. where the entire
supply could be treated under uniform
conditions and the most rigid regulation.
But. whether that point is reached or not,
certainly some method must be adopted
TO insure a high standard of milk purity
and to give the municipal authorities
power TO regulate the supply and distri-
button.