135 



League (Advertiser, December 20, 1913), shows a reduction in 

 the death rate from tuberculosis of all classes and ages (1911- 

 1913) of from 3.5 per 1000 to 2.7 per 1000 inhabitants, which 

 makes the increase in mortahty among children under five years 

 of age except in the one district where non-tuberculous milk is 

 available, so much more conspicuous, and forcibly accentuates 

 the fact that the said pamphlet, entitled "Fighting the Great 

 White Plague in Hawaii," in no place on its fourteen pages men- 

 tions either cows or milk or the danger of transmission of bovine 

 tuberculosis to children with infected milk, but simply ignores the 

 efforts of this Board to assist in the fight along the lines which 

 are now recognized the world over, that is, the eradication of the 

 tuberculous cow. This statement is made with regret as there 

 can be little doubt that, had the League embodied in its educa- 

 tional campaign a single paragraph urging the necessity of pro- 

 viding the children with milk from healthy tuberculin-tested 

 cows, the milk producers all over the Territory would long ago 

 have been forced to clean up their herds and stables in spite of 

 the lethargy of the various municipal sanitary authorities, and 

 more than a few lives might have been saved. 



To attempt to eradicate human tuberculosis while the children 

 are being fed milk from tuberculous cows is futile. Consequently 

 the first step must be the eradication of bovine tuberculosis, and 

 that can only be accomplished by teaching the parents the danger 

 of tuberculous milk. Pasteurization cannot be relied on, especially 

 not home pasteurization. To protect the children the parents 

 must .therefore refuse to buy milk from any but tuberculin tested 

 cows, guaranteed professionally or preferably officially, to be free 

 from the disease and kept in sanitary surroundings. The first 

 dairyman in Honolulu to receive a clean bill of health from this 

 Board found the demand for his milk doubled within one month 

 even though he advanced the price from 10 cents to 12^ cents 

 per quart. There are at the present time few families left where 

 tuberculosis has not claimed one or more victims, and no mother 

 will, after once being taught the danger, willingly buy milk from 

 untested or diseased cows if wholesome milk can at all be obtained 

 for her children. 



There is consequently no reason why any individual or any 

 community should wait for official action in order to get clean 

 milk. In every district or community there is at least one dairy- 

 man who has a clean herd or who is progressive enough to clean 

 up his herd the moment there is any agitation for clean milk, and 

 it may safely be said that an application from a dairyman to have 

 his herd tested and cleaned up. addressed to the proper local 

 authorities, would hardly be denied at the present time. If it 

 should be denied there is still the practicing veterinarian, who, if 

 he is at all progressive, is the one who should take the initiative 

 in everv district or community where the authorities are slow 

 about attacking the problem. 



