DAIRY INSPECTION. 145 



more reliable than that from the ordinary source of supply, 

 and this method of dealing with the subject has much in its 

 favor. 



All of these plans, however, involve expense, and the ex- 

 pense must, in the end, be borne by the purchaser of the milk. 

 Practical experience has shown that anything that increases 

 the price of the milk is sure to decrease its consumption, and 

 the fact faces the milk supply companies that any of these 

 methods designed for protecting the quality of the milk 

 but involving extra expense will not be popular on the part 

 of the general milk consumer. The extra expense appeals 

 more strongly to the majority of milk consumers than does 

 the extra reliability of the milk. The methods outlined for 

 improving the quality of the milk cannot, therefore, be 

 looked upon as applicable to the general milk supply, but 

 will probably always be confined to a comparatively small 

 part of the supply unless they can be enforced by public law. 



DAIRY INSPECTION. 



The question, therefore, arises whether it is not possible 

 by public statute and legislation to exercise a control over the 

 general milk supply, which will have the same relation to the 

 wholesomeness of the milk from a bacteriological standpoint, 

 that the existing statutes already have to the chemical nature 

 of the milk. In other words, is it not possible that a public 

 dairy inspection should be organized to control the milk pro- 

 duction? Such a dairy inspection has been frequently pro- 

 posed and rules and regulations for such inspection have 

 been suggested. Hitherto, there have been serious diffi- 

 culties in the way of organizing such public inspection. 



Dairy inspection has, however, been adopted by private 

 enterprises in quite a number of places with considerable 

 success. In some cities large milk supply companies have 

 organized their own dairy-inspecting corps and employed 

 men at considerable expense to travel among the dairies fur- 

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