GOVERNMENTAL INSPECTION 165 



when action is brought against him for typhoid 

 fever, or for scarlet fever which has been com- 

 municated through the agency of the milk, the 

 sympathy of the jury is against the dairyman, and 

 the moral effect in the community of an adverse 

 decision is strong. A fine imposed through a 

 prosecution of the health department has little 

 deterrent effect; but damages assessed for harm 

 done by infected milk is injurious to his business. 

 A single damage suit, therefore, will have a pow- 

 erful deterrent effect, to prevent his future lack 

 of care; and it will influence all the dairymen of 

 the vicinity more than much inspection and many 

 prosecutions. This method, besides being more 

 effective, has the advantage that it is less ex- 

 pensive for the government, and it does not require 

 the enactment of special ordinances, or the issu- 

 ance of special regulations. While one weakness 

 of ordinances lies in the fact that adjacent 

 cities or villages may adopt different, and even 

 conflicting, regulations, the weakness of this 

 method consists in the fact that it must wait for 

 its operation until harm has actually occurred, 

 and this injury must often result in much sickness 

 and many deaths in the community before the 

 proof is sufficiently strong to warrant action. This 

 method, therefore, must be used chiefly as sup- 

 plemental to the third method. 



The third method, and the one universally 

 adopted in America, consists in governmental 

 supervision. Statutes and ordinances are enacted, 

 generally requiring the issuance of licenses, and 

 specifying under what conditions the business 

 may be conducted. These licenses are issued 



