702 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOKD. 



The work of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations in re- 

 lation to a better milk supply was a topic assigned to Prof. W. A. 

 Stocking, of the Cornell University and Station. The relations of 

 milk inspection to other forms of food control were outlined by Dr. 

 C. L. Alsberg, chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, who spoke with 

 special reference to the policy of that Bureau in dairy and milk in- 

 spection under the Food and Drugs Act ; and Dr. John F. Anderson, 

 president of the American Public Health Association, discussed milk 

 standards or grades. The committee reports likewise covered a wide 

 range of subjects, such as bovine and human diseases in their rela- 

 tion to the milk supply and to the public health, dairy farm and city 

 milk plant inspection, the chemical examination of milk and milk 

 products, methods of appointment and compensation of inspec- 

 tors, and legislation and legislative limits for the control of milk 

 and cream. 



This program amply indicates the manifold phases and breadth 

 which this subject has assumed within recent years. From being 

 primarily an examination by rather crude methods to detect watering 

 or skimming, milk inspection has become a far-reaching and many- 

 sided function, involving the health of the animals producing the 

 milk, the sanitary conditions under which it is produced and handled, 

 and the large question of disease transmission, quite as much as the 

 strictly chemical control. All this has developed through and along 

 with investigation, much of it in the field of agricultural investiga- 

 tion. 



The response of dairying to the progress of investigation has per- 

 haps been more rapid than that in almost any other branch of agri- 

 culture. Here, to a very notable extent, the rule of thumb has given 

 way to the rule of reason, and the progress of the industry has been 

 with and as a result of a clearer understanding. As it has become a 

 more intelligent industry, so it has likewise become a more technical 

 and complicated one, success requiring higher skill and superior 

 judgment, and more attention to the ultimate use of the product. 



The relations of the producer and consumer have become increas- 

 ingly evident as investigation has developed, and this has led to 

 larger reliance upon the inspection service to look after the consum- 

 ers' interests, and at the same time to instruct the producers. As- 

 sistance to the producer has not been overlooked, for success does not 

 flourish under an attitude of antagonism growing out of compulsion, 

 but under one of cooperation. The inspection agencies have thus 

 been a medium of instruction, and the experiment stations and this 

 Department, in their investigations, have had the producer in mind 

 quite as much as the consumer, in order that he might improve his 

 business in producing a better quality of product. This dual rela- 



