44 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES 



value, upon cleanliness and upon the germ content as affecting 

 keeping quality and also as an index of healthfulness. 



After 1900 in milk inspection work attention was shifted 

 from the city to the country. This shift was made possible 

 by the development of the dairy score card. 41 The dairy 

 score card was originally an attempt to assign such values 

 to the equipment and methods employed in the dairy that the 

 resulting score would give a correct index of the general 

 desirability of the dairy. A dairy scoring 100 would be one 

 in which all items were ideal. The score of actual dairies 

 varied greatly but ordinary producing dairies had an average 

 score of less than 50 42 which at once suggested that they were 

 open to considerable improvement. 



There is little question but that the quality of milk is deter- 

 mined by two general factors, heredity and environment; the 

 former determines the food value of the milk and the latter 

 controls healthfulness, cleanliness, and keeping quality. The 

 score cards paid no attention to the food value of the milk 

 but took account of the environmental factors. 



While dairy score cards were originally designed as 

 measures of the general desirability of dairies, as such it is 

 easy to s^e how in the absence of better standards the dairy 

 score was taken by health officials as an index of the quality 

 of the milk produced from the dairy. The application of this 

 new means of rating and improving milk supplies seemed so 

 fascinatingly simple that the 'New York City Department of 

 Health was given an initial appropriation of $100,000 with 

 which to begin the system of farm inspection. 



The keen interest in this form of farm inspection lasted 

 about a decade. During this time it was shown that when the 

 dairy score became of financial importance to the producer, 

 either because he was offered a bonus for high scores or be- 

 cause he would be excluded from the market if his score was 



41 Wm. C. Woodward, Ann. Kept, of the Health Officer, Dist. of Colum- 

 bia, 25 (1903-4), p. 27, 1904. Another card independently proposed by 

 Dr. R. A. Pearson, Feb. 25, 1905. 



42 Geo. M. Whitaker, The Extra Cost of Producing Clean Milk, Ann. Rept.. 

 of Bureau, 26 (1909), pp. 119-131, 1911. 



