147 



to the test, that is, were found to be infected with tubercu- 

 losis. Without exception the owners of these infected animals 

 have taken steps for their immediate segregation and ultimate 

 disposal for slaughter, no reacting animal, so far as can be 

 ascertained, being left on premises from which milk is pro- 

 duced. It seems now to have become a well established rule 

 for all milk consumers here to look into the source and origin 

 of the milk served at the table or used in the household, and 

 to inquire diligently of the vendor or dealer: "Have your cows 

 been tested, and are they free from tuberculosis?" 



As every milk producer is well aware that his answer to 

 these questions can be verified in a moment by calling up this 

 office on the telephone, there is little to be gained by evading 

 the truth, and the fact is that many inquiries are being received 

 by the ofhcers of this division in regard to the state of health of 

 the dairy animals, as well as of the hygienic and sanitary con- 

 ditions under which milk is being produced by various dairy- 

 men. In replying to such inquiries it has been made a rule not 

 to discriminate or to draw lines as to whose milk is produced 

 under the most satisfactory conditions, but if a dairyman 

 neglects to clean up his herd by removal of reacting animals 

 or if he fails to disinfect after such removal, or in other ways 

 emits or forgets to provide improvements, when requested to 

 do so, the facts will soon reach his customers, at least tbose 

 who insist upon having clean milk from healthy animals. 



The rule established by the Honolulu Dairymen's Associa- 

 tion to refuse absolutely to receive or in any way handle the 

 milk from dairies where reacting animals have been retained, 

 or even where untested animals are kept, has had a sab.itary 

 efifect on the entire local dairy industry, and obverse or con- 

 trary reports notwithstanding, it must be admitted that the 

 dairymen of the city and county of Honolulu have responded 

 most admirably in their concerted efifort to suppress this most 

 destructive and dangerous of all scourges — animal as well as 

 human. The report of this division for the month of Sei)tem- 

 ber, 1910, when the first annual tuberculin test of the dairy 

 herds of the city of Honolulu had just about been finished, 

 shows 556 reactors out of 1715 animals tested, or 32.42 per 

 cent. The present test of the same herds, those of the city 

 alone, shows 1761 animals tested with 94 reactors or 5.34 per 

 cent. This latter figure is, however, somewhat misleading as 

 it is unproportionately influenced by the number of reactors in 

 one herd, where little or no effort has been made to stamp out 

 the disease, and where no less than 76 reactors were found 

 among 138 animals. If this one herd is eliminated in calculat- 

 ing the results, we find that the percentage of reactors is only 

 4.77 for the city and 2.89 for the city and county. In regard 

 to the number of dairies in which the disease \vas found, more 



