Report of Dairy Commissioner. 77 



while had it been handled properly, the cows could have been moved from the premises, 

 and dairying could be continued by another party for a few months. 



In my visit I have talked over the various conditions above mentioned with many other 

 problems in a heart to heart manner with each man, with a view to educating him, at the 

 same time pointing out improvements which can be made with little expense and giving 

 good results, not only to the dairymen, but to the consuming public. 



Each dairyman has taken to my suggestions and treated me with hospitality. Many 

 of them will follow up my suggestions, while there are probably others who will continue 

 in their usual way. Tliese may be the ones that are now in the worst condition. 



For the protection of the man who is doing the right thing and for the good of the dairy 

 industry, I recommend to the city council that they pass a rigid ordinance covering all 

 phases of the dairy work. 



This will protect the man who is trying to do the right thing and it will line up the 

 crook or close him out with continued and increasing fines. The good dairymen of Sedalia 

 will back the city in this movement. 



After the ordinance is passed, a qualified inspector should be employed, one with modern 

 ideas, to help the dairyman who wants help, and at the same time with backbone enough 

 to line up the crook, the man who poisons your babies or sells you water for milk, or handles 

 his product in an insanitary manner. 



Milk, if embalmed, watered or handled in an insanitary manner, can be sold cheaper 

 than good milk, and it is this fact that is causing many prominent families of Sedalia to 

 compel their milkmen to do things which are unlawful or lose their trade, because some other 

 crook has offered them a few more tickets for a dollar. I consider seven cents a quart for 

 summer milk and eight cents a quart for winter milk a fair price to the dairymen for retailing 

 bottled milk which has been produced from cows free from tuberculosis, kept in clean barns 

 and handled properly. 



Late in the summer, owing to the prevalence of typhoid fever 

 in Springfield, the president of the State Board of Health requested 

 the Dairy Commissioner to make an inspection of the dairies 

 around that city, including the water supply, with a view of elimi- 

 nating possible danger from that source. 



The Commissioner and two inspectors went to Springfield in 

 response to this invitation and spent several days there. With only 

 one exception, the water supply of each dairy was contaminated, 

 and each dairy so affected was required to make a different arrange- 

 ment, in many instances new deep wells being dug. These dairies 

 scored as follows : 



Number of dairies inspected, 31; total number of cows, 708; 

 number milking, 615, producing 973 gallons daily; each dairy 

 averaging 22.84 cows; average number milking, 19.84, producing 

 31.39 gallons daily, with an average score of 49.21. 



Some time since, this department appealed to the Federal 

 Government to secure help in the matter of inspecting the milk 

 shipped into St. Louis from southern Illinois. An astonishing re- 

 sult was found in the matter of cleanliness in this milk. For 

 example, according to the report of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, as high as 200,000,000 bacteria to the cubic centi- 

 meter — relatively a quarter of a teaspoonful — were found. As 

 high as 1,000,000 of the Coli group, which is the bowel germ and 

 is an indication of the presence of typhoid, were found. Also, as 

 high as 1,000,000 of the streptococci or pus germ, were found. 



