96 RURAL DENMARK 



Of course it may be answered that this milk- 

 supply company is not a purely business institution, 

 and it is true that Mr. Busck informed me that if 

 it were run solely on commercial lines it could easily 

 be made to return 15 per cent. Still, on the philan- 

 thropic basis it pays 5 per cent, and accumulates 

 capital, to say nothing of the value of such milk as 

 it distributes gratis. Moreover, I understand that 

 there are other milk-supply companies in Copenhagen, 

 where many precautions are reported to be taken, 

 which sell their milk rather cheaper than that which 

 I have been describing. Surely this is a matter that 

 the corporations of cities might consider in the in- 

 terests of the health of the population, and especially 

 of young children. If a corporation may supply water 

 or electricity, why should it not supply milk ? 



But the matter of municipal trading is one on 

 which I do not wish to enter. Therefore, I leave this 

 somewhat thorny question with the remark that those 

 who are alive five-and-twenty years hence will pro- 

 bably see in every large town an institution labelled 

 " The Corporation Pure Milk Supply Depot." 1 



1 I am told that the progressive Town Councils of Dundee and 

 Glasgow do supply pure milk for children. I have no information as to 

 the scale on which this is done and what success has attended their 

 efforts. Nor do I know whether their example has been followed 

 elsewhere. H. R. H. 



