The Washington herald., 1916-04-05
Investigate the Farms.

msScA6oa~ haN "a hAcs
Representative Linthicum, of Baltimore, pro-
poses Federal inspection for dairies and cream
cries. and he has presented to the House some
serious complaints against both milk and butter,
with intimstions that neither is good as it
might be- 1t is not clear at what point Mr. Lin
thicum will begin this Federal regulation. Some
Of the complaints that the milk has too nti-
mate relations with the town pump and the hy-
drant, and some go back to the feeding of the
cows and the manners of the maids at milking
time. Some of the complaints against butter are
the uncertainty of age. its intimacy with cotton
seed oil, oleo and coloring matter.
If Uncle Sam takes charge of milk and butter
he has meat, lard, oleomargarine and other
food products, he will have to add large force
of inspectors and extend the Civil Service ex-
animation, have Inspectors every farm and at
all the pumps and hydrants between the farm and
the ultimate consumers.
The government will not only have to super
intend the milking of the cows, but their feeding.
for a Michigan woman complains that the COWS
in her neighborhood are fed on fermented ensi-
lage, which shows its effects on the meek-eyed
cows and also the people who consume the
milk. OF what avail will be the Sheppard pro-
hbiton law for the District of Columbia, if some
dairyman over in Maryland feeds his cows on fer
mented ensilage? But farmer friends have
helped along so many campaigns for the regula-
ton of every industry except their own that many
ultimate consumers will sympathize with Mr.. Lin
thicum's plan to regulate the production of that
first food OF the race; but it is an investigation
that without great care can ramify to embar-
RAISING proportions and it should be carefully
guarded and limited in its scope, or it will lead
directly to that great desderatum of the reform
ers who want to reconstruct the work of the Gre
ator when He finished with man.
The ultimate consumer has undoubtedly been
imposed upon by the honest farmer, not only in
milk, and butter, but in lard cider, vinegar,
apple butter and maple syrup; yet, curiously
enough, the medical experts have found more
health and longevity among the ultimate con-
sumers in the city than among the honest pro-
ducers of adulterated foods on the farm These
experts have discovered that more babies are
saved in the crowded city than in the open coun-
try; more rosy-cheeked boys and girls are in the
city slums than the farm; more healthy men
and women in the shops of the metropolis than
at the country crossroads; and more healthy and
happy old people living in the smoke of industrial
centers than out under the clear blue sky Of the
country.
In the city we know that the milk is half
water, the eggs aged, the butter a stranger to the
old family churn, but we grow fat and live longer
or this diet than do the people who take long
draughts from the pail at milking time. suck eggs
fresh from the nest after they hear the triumphant
cackle of the hen, and spread their pure wheat
bread with butter fresh from the churn. 1t is
one OF the mysteries of modern life, and it may
carry US back to the philosophy of taking no heed
OF what we shall eat or drink But the granger
has so long monopolized the business of reguIat-
ing every business but his own that it may be
poetic justice to regulate the old farm When we
have Federal inspector in every farmhouse, cow
stable pasture and milking lot we NAV know lust
what we are eating and drinking, or we may not.
But we ought to be able to learn something about
the cost Of production and fix responsibility for
the high cost of living.