FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 541 



the great white plague and that they come in contact with its 

 victims and appreciate the importance of its prevention as no 

 others can. In these cities where this measure was instituted it 

 was not followed up and we know of no place where tests of 

 these same herds have been made since the initial test, until 

 within the last few months, and this in only one of these cities. 

 In one instance, a city passed an ordinance requiring that all 

 cows be tuberculin tested in the evening and arrested two milk 

 men the following morning, within twelve hours after the ordi- 

 nance was passed, for violation of this ordinance. You can readily 

 see that it would be a physical impossibility for these men to 

 have complied with the requirements of this ordinance within 

 this time, and the result was that there was a milk famine in 

 this city the next day. None of the milk men having had their 

 cows tested, they feared an arrest and conviction. After a spas- 

 modic effort along this line, in practically all of these cities these 

 ordinances have proved a dead letter. The usual procedure has 

 been for the mayor and city council to get together and upon the 

 advice of their local health officer, usually a young man who had 

 received his training in a drug store or laboratory, to pass these 

 ordinances without in any way consulting the men most in- 

 terested, — the milk dealers. 



These cities are hardly any two of them pursuing the same 

 method and we are pleased to have them try out the various 

 ways of handling this question with the view to finding out the 

 best way. We are inclined to think and believe from our ex- 

 perience in Iowa, that the best method of improving the milk 

 supply is to grade the milk practically as recommended by the 

 New York Milk Committee. However, it would be folly to in- 

 augurate this system except in cities where a number of dealers 

 could and w^ould qualify for "A" grade, and where inspection 

 is efficient. We find that the breeders of registered cattle prac- 

 tically all have their herds tested, not because an ordinance may 

 require this, but they do it for the protection of their herds 

 against the invasion of this disease. In one city where we have 

 graded the milk, a large per cent of the dairymen have had their 

 cows tested at their own instigation that they might be able to 

 qualify for the "A" grade, and when cows are tested in this 

 way, rather than under protest, to comply with some city or- 

 dinance, the testing is effectively done, and will probably be 

 followed up. In this city fourteen different milk dealers had 

 their cows tested during the month of April of this year. 



