CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC MILK SUPPLY 387 



A prime requisite of effectiveness is that local milk laws shall not exceed 

 sanitary limitations. The commission has not entered into a discussion of funda- 

 mental State laws, but it recommends that State laws be amended wherever 

 necessary in order that every municipality may have the legal right to adopt 

 whatever ordinances it sees fit for the improvement of the milk supply. The 

 commission advocates that local health laws be carefully drawn with regard to 

 their legality under the general laws of the localities to which they apply, since- 

 a decision against a milk law in one locality is liable to be used as a precedent 

 against milk laws elsewhere. 



STANDARD RULES AND REGULATIONS 



The commission has drawn up a set of standard rules and regulations for the 

 control of milk. These are the result of a study of the printed rules and regula- 

 tions of the cities of the United States and of foreign countries and represent an 

 immense amount of work on the part of the special committee of the commission 

 to which the task was assigned. Some communities are in a position to adopt all 

 of these rules and regulations at the present time, while other communities will 

 be obliged to adopt a few rules at a time as public sentiment and local conditions 

 warrant. It is realized that some of the rules may have to be modified to meet 

 local conditions. It seems wise to the commission to divide the regulations into 

 two parts: First, requirements, under which head are set down those provisions 

 which are so fundamentally necessary that no community is justified in compro- 

 mising on them; second, recommendations, under which head are set down pro- 

 visions which are necessary for a good milk supply, but on which there can be a 

 certain amount of latitude for compromise by those communities in which public 

 sentiment is not ready to support more than a moderate degree of protection of 

 human life. 



ADMINISTRATIVE EQUIPMENT 



Another prime requisite is that the administrative departments shall be ade- 

 quately equipped with men, money, and laboratory facilities. In smaller com- 

 munities cooperation between local boards of health to the extent of exchanging 

 reports would eliminate much duplication. Where a community cannot maintain 

 a laboratory it can enter into laboratory arrangements with other communities, 

 and several can combine in the use of a common laboratory. Much of the ex- 

 pense of tuberculin testing can be borne by the National and State Governments. 

 The commission is of the opinion that results cannot be expected from laws where 

 there is not sufficient appropriation and where there is no machinery for their 

 enforcement. On this subject the commission passed a resolution as follows: 



Whereas the appropriations generally made for the purposes of carrying on labora- 

 tory analyses of milk are now in most cases entirely inadequate : Therefore be it 



Resolved, That this commission recommends for the consideration of the authorities 

 concerned an appropriation of funds commensurate with the importance of laboratory 

 methods, which are of paramount importance in the hygienic control of the milk 

 supply. 



GRADING OF MILK 



There is no escape from the conclusion that milk must be graded and sold on 

 grade, just as wheat, corn, cotton, beef, and other products are graded. The 



