The Washington herald., 1921-02-14
HEALTH OFFICER
FIGHTS DECISION
TO IMPORT MILK
Fowler Endeavors to Bar
Product Not Tested
For tuberculosis.

While the announcement of the
granting of permission for entrance
Of New York milk and cream into
the District by the District Supreme
Court was being commended by
/ leading local milk dealers yester-
| day, members of the Maryland and
! Virginia Producers Association
were laying plans to battle the court
decree to the limit.
Destruction OF the alleged mo-
nopOly enjoyed by the Maryland and
! Virginia Milk Producers AssOcia-
ton in the District was heralded by
| the dealers, while the producers de
cried the lOssl of thousands OF dol
lars which would come to their
members II the court order is al
lowed to stand.
support Milk Test.
Surgeon Gen. Hugh S. Cumming,
| OF the Public Health Service, and
| DR.. J. w. Schercshewsky, chief of
the research division of the Public
Health Service, last night agreed
with DR.. William G. Fowler in sup
porting the tuberCulin test for cat
tic. The fight between the local
I health officer and the New York
producers had its inception in the
refusal Of the New York dairymen
to comply with the tuberculin test
The District Supreme Court held
the test was not required by law.
TubercuIIn Test Approved.
/ Both public health officials ap-
proved the tuberculin test on the
ground that it gives double safe
guard to milk, insofar as tubercu-
lOsis is concerned. DR.. Schereshew-
sky said the tuberCulin test applied
rigidly throughout the country
would work to eliminate the dis
ease in cattle. The system has been
used with marked success in Den
mark, leading dairy country. and
Sweden, he said.
He pointed to the ever-present
possibility of imperfect pasteuriza-
tion. Other diseases for which milk
is an apt culture, he said, are diph-
liberia, scarlet fever and typhoid.
Milk is safeguarded against these,
he explained, through the regular
methods of sanitation.
To carry out the tuberculin test.
Or. Schcrcshewsky explained. cows
arc inoCulated with germs Of the
malady is determined by the tenn
perature thus produced. fever be-
ing considerably higher in the case
of an affected COW than in a nor
NAL one.
Wiley cites Danger to City.
DR.. Harvey W. Wiley declared last
night that residents of the District
will be subjected to Imperfect and
dangerous" milk and cream as a re-
suit of the courts decision.
Il believe" continued DIR. Wiley,
that DR.. Fowler has a perfect right
to enforce his regulation prohibit
ing the shipment into the National
Capital of milk and cream from
cows which have not passed the
tuberculin test, and 1 will support
him in his fight to have the courts
action reversed. Every member of
the Maryland and Virginia Milk Pro-
ducers' Association, in fact, will
stand by him to the finish.
Producers to Fight Decree.
T. f. Mclaughlin, secretary of
the Maryland and Virginia Milk
Producers Association, announced
that this organization would fight
to the last ditch with DR.. Fowler
to reverse the action granted by
Justice Gould"
Joseph A. Wise, president of the
Chevy Chase Dairy, said he was
pleased that the outside milk and
cream could now be marketed in
the District, declaring that it
would keep him from overstockinr
as he must now.
Being dependent on milk only
from Maryland and Virginia." Wise
pointed out, "conpels the retail
milk dealer to carry more than he
needs because he can never tell
when the supply will drop off and
he will be left high and dry"
w. A. Simpson, president and gem
eral manager of the Walker Hill
dairy, declared the bringing of the
New York milk here will, in INV
opinion, break up the monopoly now
enjoyed by the Maryland and Vir-
ginia Milk Producers Association"
Simpson said that undoubtedly IL
would also result in the price of
milk and cream being reduced
slightly, but he said that this re-
duction would probably, not come
before spring. He said that the-pre-
war prices for milk and cream
would never be restored as bottles
now cost three times the former
price.