l62 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



THE VALUE OF MILK INSPECTION IN THIS STATE. 



By Russell S. Smith, State Dairy Inspector. 



The value of almost anything would necessarily be the de- 

 mand for that thing, and I think that the value of the milk 

 inspection in this State depends upon the actual need for that 

 inspection. There can be" no question in any of our minds but 

 that there is a great value attached to such work as this, because 

 it not only protects the public, but helps tjie honest milkman. 

 Unscrupulous milkmen will impose upon any community to 

 almost any extent if there is not some law or some means by 

 which to curtail them. So, in the first place, the public is pro- 

 tected, and in saying the public of course all classes of people 

 are taken into consideration but first and foremost would be the 

 younger generation, — the infants and the young children. 



In protecting the public, the system of inspection endeavors 

 to punish all offenders, and like all progressive movements it 

 has its friends and enemies. Many of its so-called enemies are 

 made so, not through any personal grievance but through a lack 

 of understanding what its object is, along with mis-statements 

 of others not }X)Sted. Its friends are not always placing the 

 dairy farmer in a subordinate dirty class with no respect for 

 the rights of others and "willing to dispense dirty milk and dis- 

 ease. Such persons do the cause much harm by arousing the 

 contempt and antagonism of the dairy farmers. Inspection's 

 true friends are those who have the dairy industry at heart, 

 who recognize the defects of an inspection system but who see 

 what can be accomplished if inspection has the backing of our 

 better dairymen and leading dairy papers. 



As I have stated, the need of inspection must be apparent to 

 all if cleaner milk is to be had. In my annual report I have 

 shown that out of nearly 800 samples of milk collected, over 

 one-half or 51.6 per cent were reported either dirty, or slightly 

 dirty. These figures are convincing when the dirt is contained 



