MILK SUPPLY : OPENING ADDRESSES 163 



but had exercised those powers by virtue of the control 

 which it had on the sale of milk in New York. It said in 

 substance to the companies, " If you do not permit us to 

 inspect milk in the country you cannot sell it in New York." 

 The question of dairy inspection was also taken up. There 

 were about 40,000 dairy farms which sent milk to New 

 York and they would realize that the inspection of those 

 dairies was a very stupendous task. When they started they 

 had fifty county inspectors. Of course, that number was 

 totally inadequate to the proper inspection of such an 

 enormous number of dairies scattered over a very large 

 area, but as a result of their work a very great improvement 

 in the character of the milk supply was brought about. 

 About four or five years ago the Board began to feel doubt- 

 ful as to the protection that was really afforded to the 

 milk supply by their system of inspection, and it became 

 doubtful first of all because of outbreaks of scarlet fever 

 and diphtheria which occurred in the city of New York 

 traced to the milk supply. They were never able definitely 

 to trace the outbreak in New York City to the milk supply, 

 but there were such outbreaks in the immediate vicinity of 

 New York where infected milk was found. Then they had 

 a number of outbreaks of typhoid fever and finally, four 

 years ago, there was a very extensive outbreak of typhoid, 

 which occurred on the east side of the city, in which nearly 

 300 cases were definitely traced to the milk. It was found 

 that the milk in question came from the northern part of the 

 State, about 350 miles from New York. The inspectors 

 went to the collecting stations from which it had been 

 shipped. They found that the conditions there were gener- 

 ally good, they examined every dairy that supplied that 

 collecting station and could not find any case of typhoid 

 fever. They then went into the town and found that there 

 had been a great deal of typhoid fever there and they found 

 that almost all the cases were from one milk. Inspectors 

 went to the dairy where that particular milk came from 

 and requested permission to make an examination of the 

 dairyman and his family and employees. The permission 

 was readily given and it was found that the dairyman him- 

 self was the carrier of the infection and microscopical 

 examination revealed the fact that more than 60 per cent, 

 of the organisms in the first cultures were typhoid bacillus. 

 They found that the dairyman had had typhoid fever in 

 1864. He had been a dairyman in Camden City for many 

 years, and they found that on looking up the history of 

 Camden they had had typhoid fever there so continuouslv 

 that it was not called typhoid fever, it was called 



