JSo. 4.] MILK SUPPLY OF CITIES. 69 



tice of the Massachusetts standard. I do not see how any 

 one can dispute the proposition that the purchaser of any 

 article of variable composition is entitled to receive average 

 quality. The consumer who pays the regular, or average, 

 price for milk, and docs not get an average article, — 13 

 pounds of food in 100, — is wronged ; and so far as his 

 rights go it makes no difference whether the wrong is due 

 to the physical inefficiency of the cow or the moral delin- 

 quency of the milkman. 



But I understand well what the word " average" means. 

 I admit that injustice is sometimes done by basing con- 

 clusions on averages. An employer who overpays one man 

 by giving him fifty dollars per week and who underpays 

 another with only ten, does an injustice to both, while he 

 averages to pay reasonable and fair wages. We all have 

 heard of the tippler and total abstainer who averaged to 

 drink brandy and water, but one drank the brandy and the 

 other the water. I know that, though the average com- 

 position of milk is 13 per cent of solids, much milk is below 

 the standard ; and I will not be so hasty as to assume that 

 I have proved the justice, or even the expediency, of the 

 statute standard by the fact that it represents the average 

 quality of milk. I am willing for the sake of fair play to 

 follow the discussion a little further. Is any injustice done 

 by the law? Why is a change demanded? The 13 per 

 cent standard being on the statute books and being the 

 average composition of milk, the burden of proof is upon 

 those who ask for a change. What are the claims which 

 they make ? 



Objections to the Standard. 



First. — " The law makes illegal the sale of much whole- 

 some food." This claim at first glance seems to have much 

 force, and there would be much common-sense in it if the 

 advocates of a change in the law were asking for an oppor- 

 tunity to sell low-grade milk at a low-grade price. But 

 that is not what is wanted. The opponents of the pres- 

 ent law ask to have it modified so that they can sell 11 

 or 12 pounds of food at the same price which the average 

 producer receives for milk of average qualify. If some 



