90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



spected by the New York City board of health, just 5,000 

 were asked to clean up and make improvements before they 

 were allowed to continue to sell. 



I am aware that you are making great strides in improv- 

 ing your conditions. As I have said before, this is strictly a 

 business proposition. What shall wo do about it ? We will 

 assume, first, that the health authorities are not going to ask 

 anything unreasonable, and are going to insist only upon 

 those things which are entirely practical and sensible; that 

 the dairyman will be protected from unfair prosecution; 

 and that dirty milk shall not be allowed to come into compe- 

 tition with clean milk. With these conditions, I believe that 

 every intelligent dairyman should fall into this line of prog- 

 ress, and welcome inspection, and say to the health officials, 

 We are ready to do our part, if you will do yours. What the 

 dairymen should not do is to get together and hold indigna- 

 tion meetings, and condemn those who are doing their duty, 

 besides working against their own best interests. It is true 

 that some of us will have to change our views a little bit ; 

 and it may be hard for us at first to see why conditions and 

 methods which have been approved for the last twenty-five 

 or thirty years are now condemned. We will have to realize 

 more fully that it is a food product which is being prepared 

 in the cow stable, and that the surroundings should be as 

 clean as the place where the bread is made or the potatoes 

 peeled. Our standards for clean milk to-day are not the 

 same as they were forty years ago. With increased knowledge 

 of bacteriology and of the dangers of impure milk our ideals 

 have changed, and the dairyman must advance and keep pace 

 witli progress along these lines. lie should lie in a reeeptive 

 mood. While he should secure as high a price as possible, 

 even at the present prices for feed and labor milk production 

 is a profitable business, if cows are properly handled, fed 

 and housed. I do not know of an instance where this does 

 not hold true. This does not mean expensive quarters, but 

 comfortable quarters, stables well bedded, lighted and ven- 

 tilated, with comfortable ties. 



The fact should not be overlooked, however, that feeds and 

 labor have greatly increased during the past few years. 



