MILK PRODUCERS AND PURE MILK. 



By Professor F. D. Hawk. 



Given Before the First Annual Meeting of the Milk Commission 



of the San Francisco County Medical Society, 



University Farm, Davis, Cal., 



Monday, April 18, 1910. 



The producer of milk is a business man, so, naturally, when he is 

 approached on the subject of pure milk he begins to ask questions 

 that are of vital importance to himself and not those of importance 

 to the consumer from his view point. 



First The questions to be met are, Can I make more money by 

 producing and marketing milk under the rules of certification than 

 I can by going ahead with an ordinary dairy, or will the market for 

 certified milk justify me to make the necessary expenditure to run 

 such a plant? 



Second Will I have co-operation in my venture to raise the 

 standard of milk? In other words, will the people who have certifi- 

 cation in charge, and who have the health of the cities uppermost 

 in their hearts, do as much as is in their power to get me a market 

 for my milk as they do to bind me to my contract to produce this 

 article of pure milk ? 



Third What are the results of the tuberculin test, and how will 

 it affect my business? 



In looking into these questions I find myself puzzled about just 

 what to say, when I stop to consider the conditions that exist in 

 our dairies as a whole. I will admit that there are all too many 

 of our dairymen who are producing milk under the most foul con- 

 ditions that can exist, and the article produced shows the unkempt 

 method in which it was handled in the dairy. 



One need not visit these dairies in order to get a mental picture 

 of yards covered with litter and filth ; of barns cleaned but once a 

 week and cobwebs hanging from every timber, probably never 

 brushed down from one year's end to another; even the cow her- 

 self in a poor condition, carrying tags all over her hind quarters. 



An article for human food produced under such conditions 

 should not be allowed upon the market under any consideration. 

 Such slovenliness cannot be excused or even tolerated on the 

 ground that it is a cheaper way of production. In the first place, 

 it is anything but cheap, even to the producer. Cows kept in 

 shacks filled with manure have great obstacles to overcome such 

 as impure air, uncomfortable quarters and lack of kindness, all of 

 which are necessary to cows before they can do their best. 



Another source of loss comes through the disgusted visitor who 

 tells his friend what he has seen, and in consequence customers 

 become fewer and fewer. 



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