42 



Adulterated Milk. 



Vol. XII. 



most said, — the beasts to which they are at- 

 tached, but more appropriately, the brutes 

 by which this poison is sold ! 



Reeking from the inflamed and half-putrid, 

 unnatural fountains of the diseased and swiil- 

 fed animals that produce it, odorous with the 

 peculiar scent of the distillery, aud nauseous 

 from the filth of the miserable stalls where 

 the cows are constantly imprisoned, this 

 wretched, fevered, and poisoned liquid is 

 served to the families of our citizens, carry- 

 ing with it the germs of intemperance, dis- 

 ease and death, and very essentially contri- 

 buting a generous part to the weekly bills of 

 mortality in the city. 



In these details we are not mistaken. The 

 fact is obvious to all who will take the trou- 

 ble to investigate the subject, and its truth 

 cannot be controverted. 



That we may not be mistaken in this mat- 

 ter, we will merely refer to one milk estab- 

 lishment in this city, without adverting to 

 some score of others in its vicinity, where 

 our " Pure Orange County" and " Premium 

 Dairy Milk" is manufactured. 



This establishment alone furnishes some 

 15,000 quarts per day, which may be distin- 

 guished from good milk by its peculiar smell. 

 It carries with it the odor of the slops from 

 which it is made, and no one, as we are as- 

 sured, need be deceived by it, at least no 

 one who is in the least acquainted with that 

 odor. 



The stalls in which the animals are con- 

 fined, are made to occupy the smallest possi- 

 ble space; the ceiling is laid within a few 

 inches of the cows' backs, giving no chance 

 for the fresh air to find its way to the impri- 

 soned beasts, which, having once taken their 

 places, never stir from them till they are re- 

 moved to be converted into beef, or what very 

 frequently occurs, death from the unnatural 

 and deleterious food and injurious keeping, 

 and their bloated carcasses are given over 

 as food to the hogs, which are, in their turn, 

 to become " wholesome food" for the stalls 

 of our markets. 



The swill with which the cows are fed, 

 already a thin and diluted substance, is still 

 further diluted with water, and this is used 

 hot to insure a more rapid operation of the 

 animal distillation, or rather filtration, 

 through the fevered and diseased animal to 

 the milk cans of ^the still dairyman. 



But such production is attained with the 

 loss of the natural colour of that article, 

 which now assumes a light blue complexion. 

 To restore it to the rich yellow white, which 

 is desirable, a process similar to that of the 

 liquor distiller is resorted to, and the same 

 substance is used to produce the effect that 

 is applied to colour "pure spirits" and manu- 



facture " Pure French Brandy" '■'^for medi- 

 cinal purposes,'''' viz., burnt sugar. This 

 colouring, however, is by tar the most inno- 

 cent article in the whole compound. 



The distillers themselves, generally, do 

 not engage in the milk manufacture, but 

 construct the stalls and let them out to 

 others, at about 84 per annum. These 

 stalls, says the Tribune — in an article on 

 this subject — are occupied by persons de- 

 voted to this branch of business, owning 

 from one cow to fifty, according to their 

 means. " Those who own cows enough 

 have a wagon painted 'Pure Orange County 

 Milk,' 'Bushwick Premium Milk,' or some 

 equally attractive rural title, disguise them- 

 selves as countrymen, and sell the product 

 of their own capital and labour to be con- 

 sumed by the families of the city; those who 

 have fewer animals sell their milk to the 

 more extensive dealers. 



" Beside the $4 yearly rent, the honest 

 milkman pays for the distillery slops which 

 his cows consume, at the rate of eight or 

 nine cents for a barrel, which is the daily 

 ration of one cow. He formerly paid six 

 cents, but as the demand is now greater, the 

 price has risen in obedience to th^ well 

 nown principle of political economy. To 

 produce a barrel of this liquid of good qual- 

 ity requires a bushel of grain; but here, as 

 in i-ome other branches of trade, competition 

 comes in to injure that honour which the 

 proverb declares to exist even among thieves. 

 The manufacturers of swill have, it is said, 

 discovered that water may be used to in- 

 crease the quantity of that as well as of 

 other fluids which they produce. Taught 

 by the sharp suggestion of interest, they 

 have thus in shrewdness gone beyond that 

 liquor dealer, who boasted that he had in his 

 yard a simple pump which netted him $2000 

 a year. By means of hot water properly ap- 

 plied, the distillers convert a barrel of gen- 

 uine slops into a barrel and a half. This 

 enables them to supply a greater number of 

 cows, and while for every bushel of innocent 

 grain daily forced to yield its contribution of 

 intoxicating spirits, they formerly provided 

 sustenance for one animal, they now make ' 

 two bushels do for three. Such is the inge- 

 nuity practiced in these establishments. 



"When the cows begin to cease giving 

 'milk,' the time approaches for them to be 

 slaughtered for the market. Indeed, they 

 could not long exist after they had ceased to 

 fulfil that function, which is a great channel 

 for the escape of the disease induced upon 

 them by the close confinement, and the food 

 which the troughs daily waft to them from 

 the distillery. When killed, their bloated 

 flesh is said to have the appearance of whole- 



