The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-07-27

supply which reaches the city. There
is no central distributing dairy In the
city. 1t is therefore necessary for each
farmer who produces milk to bring his
supply to the city and to distribute II
in person. The milk Is obtained pri
marily from a radius of three miles
and is brought TO the city. in many
cases, twice "A day. MIX which Is Sc
fresh should contain an unusually low
number of bacteria, If 1t has been pro
duced under clean conditions and l.
thoroughly iced Immediately after pro
duction.
Best Dairy In State
Although II is true that the dairies
i'm Ardmore represent the best group
of dares found in any of the cities
in Oklahoma, in which health surveys
were made, still it is quite obvious
that there is sufficient room for i'm
provement i'm almost every case. II
will be gratifying for the citizens oil
Ardmore to know that there is one
dairy which is undoubtedly the best III
the state. This dairy is operated in a
highly scientific way and every precau
tion is taken to produce both clean
and safe milk.
Ten Diaries Below Standard
out of the IA dairies which We're in
spected, l2 obtained a score less thai'
60 per cent. The minimum score which
is required of dares before they can
be considered satisfactory is 60 per
cent. 1t is therefore obvious that most
of the daries supplying milk do not
employ scientific methods, as only
four received grades above 60 per cent
Still, the situation is quite hope
full for at least eight of the IA dair'
les car be brought above the 90 per
cent grade with but little effort and
direction. These dairies scoring below
30 per cent will require a good deal
of education before they can be con
sidered satisfactory. Two or three oil
the dairies are so hopelessly poor that
their milk ought to be ruled out from
the general supply
insufficient Milk Testing
One of the things observed as a
result of the inspection was that the
tuberculin test Is made at infrequent
intervals In every case but two, the
tubercuin tests have been made over
n year ago. In a few cases the test
had never been performed; and III
most of the cases the tests has been
performed either two or three years
ago The tuberculin testing OF cows
is exceedingly important, in order 10
prevent the use of milk cows that are
tuberculous. 1t is well-estapilsheu
fact that milk obtained from tubercu-
lous cows may be the direct cause OF
infection, among infants and children
particularly.
Polluted Milk Being Sold
SAMPLES of milk were collected and
analyzed for bacterial content. butter
fat and specific gravity. Eight samples
were tested. one had a bacterial con
tent of over a million bacteria per
cubic centimeter. Three had from
200 900 to 100000 and three
had less than $4,000. The best was
that obtained from the model dairy
mentioned above. This milk had only
12. 900 bacteria per subic centlneter'
and did not have b. coli even in one
hundredth of cubic centimeter. Ihe
other milks all showed the presence
of B. coli in one hundredth of cubic
centimeter. This indicates that these
milks are polluted with material of in
testinal origin.
For milk which comes from such a
short distance, the bacterial content at
the time of the delivery should not be
greater than 10000 per cubic cenu-
meter. This can be accomplished quite
readily if the milk is obtained from
clean COWS in small-top milk pals which
have been thoroughly sterilized, and II
it is then Immediately cooled and Kept
cold.
No Milk Inspector Employed
All of the milks showed a fat con
tent greater than that required by
law. but the specific gravity of four
of the milks was lower than the mini
mum standard required. 1t is possible
that in some cases water or ice WAS
added to the milk.
The city does not employ any IN
specHor to visit the dairies and super
wise the production OF milk. Lapora
tory tests on the milk supply are not
made. 1t will be necessary FOR the
city to provide an Intelligent ana
trained milk inspector, who appreciates
the important relationship between the
milk supply and the public health ana
who will be able to conduct bacterio-
logical and chemical tests on the milk
supply.
CITY Public Health Department
The Board of Health consists of the
mayor, city clerk and city physician.
The city physician serves as health Of
ficer. He is paid s125 per month and
serves only on a parttime basis. There
are no other employees connected with
the health department Sanitary IN
spections that are conducted are made
by the city physician. These. however
are made infrequently and no record is
kent of the condition that are found.
Communicable diseases are reported
very unsatisfactory. The only disease
that il reported to any extent is small
pox. Thus the community Is entirely
without definite information or the
OF typhoid fever, tuberculo-
sis. diphtheria, scarlet fever. pneumonia
and other important and serious dis
eases. Smallpox is usually prevalent
at some time during the year, and Is
not controlled by vaccination.
In 1917 the city of New York. with
4 population of five and one half mil
lion. had only II cases of smallpox. II
Of which were transported from out of
town. Ardmore with a much smaller
population has many times this number
II cases during the year. New York
practices compulsory vaccination and
A rdnore does not. 1t is for this reason
thnt New York does not suffer from this
disease.
CONTAGIOUS Diseases Not Reported
Not only are the communicable dis
,ases reported very unsatisfactory. but
No informa tion could be obtained regard