146 PROTECTION OF THE CONSUMER. 



nishing milk to the company. These inspectors have the 

 authority to make such suggestions and changes in the con- 

 ditions of the dairies as may seem necessary, and the differ- 

 ent dairies are obliged to conform to the directions that are 

 given by the inspectors, under the penalty of having the com- 

 pany refuse to receive their milk. In Switzerland, also, the 

 dairymen themselves have combined together for the purpose 

 of introducing some such general dairy inspection. This is 

 done for their own protection and for insuring the production 

 of an especially good quality of dairy product. In a few 

 other instances private dairy inspection has been adopted, but 

 nowhere at the present time has such an inspection been made 

 obligatory by public statute. 



There is a manifest difficulty in obtaining legal statutes for 

 a similar public inspection and even greater difficulty in their 

 enforcement. In the first place, there is in general a lack of 

 appreciation of the value of such requirements. The public 

 has been educated to believe that milk that does not contain 

 a certain quantity of fat is not good food, and that they are 

 being cheated if they purchase milk with a smaller quantity 

 of fat than the standard. People generally are fully in sym- 

 pathy with the rules for milk inspection which involve the 

 chemical analysis of milk. The public, however, has not as 

 yet become fully familiar with the fact that the bacteria in 

 milk are a source of even greater danger than the falling off 

 of the fat percentage. This lack of appreciation would make 

 it difficult to carry out any regulations which might be sug- 

 gested. 



Again, the manifest possibility of abuse in the application 

 of such rules will be an obstacle in the way of their adoption. 

 At best, the enforcement of regulations that may be adopted 

 by a dairy inspection will depend upon the judgment of 

 individual inspectors. The requirements as to the conditions 

 of the dairy are not like those of chemical composition, 

 capable of exact formulation. It would be impossible to 



