Evening star., 1941-09-24
Higher Standard
Cream Urged
AT Hearing
City Heads Told
Not to Relax
Milk Rules

NOT to keI0x
Milk Rules
District milk regulations should
not be relaxed in any respect, anc
rules applying to cream should be
strengthened, the Commissioner.
were advised today by DR.. Joseph S
Wall, chief Of staff of Children'i
Hospital. as the city heads con-
tinued their hearing on the pro-
posal to permit milk and cream
importation from distant States.
DR.. Wall, past president of the
District Medical Society and chair
man of the Legislative Committee
of the American Academy of Pedia-
tricianS, said there was need for
the District to insist on a lower
bacterial count in the cream mix
ture brought here for ice cream
manufacture.
1T seems passing strange" he de-
clared that ice cream mixture can
have a higher bacterial count than
that in the fluid cream we permit
to be imported for use in our cof-
fee. The freezing merely inhibits
the growth of bacteria, nothing
more"
Other Witnesses Heard.
Other witnesses supporting the
prevailing high milk requirements OF
the District today included DR.. Will
liam C. Woodward, former District
health officer, who devised the first
Health Department score card for
measuring the sanitation and quality
of milk producers shipping supplies
to the District.
Elwood H Seal, counsel to the
Maryland and Virginia Milk Pro-
ducers' Association. who called DR.
Woodward as a witness, also pre-
sented w. E. McCann of the Ma
tional Cooperative Milk Producers
Associa ton, and Chester F. Bletch
a field man for the Maryland and
Virginia Association, to support the
case of the District milk regulations
Mrs. Harvey w. Wiley, president
of the Housekeepers Alliance and
owner of a 1,000-acre farm in Lou
doun County, Va. said the Mary
land and Virginia association had
done "a fine piece of work In
stabilizing milk. She also declared
no city has better milk than the
District. and few can compare with
it." She added that milk producers
are due a fair return" for their
work.
DR.. Wall Files Protest.
Saving the strengthening OF the
District milk regulations through a
long period of years had been
matched by a gradual lowering Of
infant mortality rates here. DR.. Wall
filed a protest against any measure
to lower the milk standards.
To counteract some of the testi-
mony given yesterday by A. w.
Fuchs. senior sanitary engineer for
the United States Public Health
Service, who supported adoption of
the Federal model code of regula-
tions, DR.. Woodward said the use
of the grading system in the Federal
plan as punishment for milk pro-
ducers was both novel and unjust"
DR.. Woodward also said there was
a lack of figures which would show
a reduction in death rates in COM
munities which have depended on
the graded milk system embodied
in the Federal code. He did not
offer this as denunciation of the
Federal model code, but to illustrate
his belief that the Washington
standards assured an even better
milk than should be retained.
Statistics Presented.
Mr.. McCann, at the request of Mr.
Seal, submitted statistics to show
that prices charged by milk and
cream producers in this milk shed
compared favorably with those of
other large cities, particularly in
view of the more stringent regu-
lations here. He concluded that
local farmers are not overcharging
for their fluid cream or milk.
Indications that the Commits
sioners are concerned over reports
that costly and mon essential rules
are maintained by the Health De-
partment for the Districts milk
supply were given as hearings re-
sumed.
One of the city heads declared
they would make study OF specific
requirements in the Health Depart
ment score card system to deter
mine if it contained any non-essen-
tials before deciding if the code
should be modified to permit i'm
portation of milk and cream from
any State in the Union, meeting
only Federal rules.
While not vet reahcing any con-
clusion, Commissioner John Russell
Young said he was impressed with
the comparative statement pre-
sented yesterday by Mr.. Fuchs
as to the different requirements Of
the District and the United States
for their separate approvals on milk.
Mr.. Fuchs, in analyzing the Dis
trict's farm score card system,
showed how 30 out of 100 points are
determined by ratings for conditions
of the barn, how many sliding win
dows it has, how far the cows are
stalled from horses, etc.
Commissioner Guy Mason indi-
Gated he felt present District regu-
lations, while achieving high quail
ity of milk for this area, had foster
ed maintenance of monopoly in
the field here.
Schultz Bill Assailed.
Mr.. Fuchs denounced the bill of
Representative Schultz, Democrat, of
Indiana and principal champion of
the move to open the Washington
market to importations from any
State where producers meet require
ments of the United States Public
Health Service, as inadequate. He
said it should be rewritten. At the
same time he questioned whether
Washington milk regulations were
up-to-date and whether they in
cluded rules which were costly but
which did not provide better safety
than afforded by the Federal rules.
Mr.. Fuchs. however, later testi-
fled that milk "mlIch safer" than