164 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 



not at present seem to be ordinarily either advisa- 

 ble or acceptable for American cities. Un- 

 der this method the municipality would own and 

 operate its own dairy business. It is true that 

 to a limited extent municipalities have tried to 

 manage the sale of milk, but so far as the writer 

 is aware they have not attempted to own and 

 operate milk farms. On the other hand, public 

 slaughterhouses have been maintained, but gen- 

 erally as purely commercial concerns, and not for 

 health supervision. 



The second method, much in vogue among Eng- 

 lish governments both in the British Isles, and in 

 the colonies, is through the use of the courts, mak- 

 ing dealers liable for any injuries sustained by 

 their patrons. According to this system civil 

 actions in damages are brought against offenders 

 by those injured, without statutory enactment, and 

 under the usages of the common law. ( § 13.) This 

 efficient aid in sanitation has been too much neg- 

 lected in the United States. A dairyman, or 

 dealer in animal foods, frequently inins the risk 

 of such harm as may result from his lack of care. 

 He may ignore statutes, in the hope that he will 

 not be caught, or with a calculation of the relative 

 financial advantage of paying occasional fines, 

 rather than to bear the cost of expensive equip- 

 ment and operation. He may ignore the orders 

 of a health department, and when prosecuted he 

 not seldom sets up the cry that he is being perse- 

 cuted, rather than prosecuted, and he thereby 

 gains the sympathy of the jury. If fined, he still 

 may be able to convince his customers that it was 

 for some technical and non-essential point. But 



