DISEASES CAUSED BY INFECTED MILK 111 



The Borden Company also objected to the ordinance for 

 the reason that it goes farther than is necessary for the pro- 

 tection of the public, and hence farther than is warranted 

 by any power that can be given by a statute that by its 

 title relates only to health. The court does not accede to 

 this argument, and says that "to protect the public against 

 danger from impure milk some practicable method of as- 

 certaining its purity must be devised." The court further 

 recognized that one of the most serious dangers that may 

 arise is the spread of a communicable disease such as tuber- 

 culosis. That the ordinance is not necessarily oppressive is 

 proved by the ready compliance therewith by the other 

 milk dealers in Montclair. 



The court was not impressed by the suggestion that 

 healthy cows may and diseased cows may not react to the 

 tuberculin test; that many cows react that have had tuber- 

 culosis and recovered; that many that now have tuber- 

 culosis are likely to recover; and that it is possible for the 

 producer of milk to destroy the value of the test by a trick. 



The court further believed that it is beside the point to 

 suggest that if this test were applied to human beings, 

 eighty per cent of mankind must be condemned as dis- 

 eased. Judge Swayze said, "In dealing with human beings 

 a different rule is followed from that which is applied in 

 dealing with cattle, because men make the rule. The test 

 might be applicable to human beings if it were proposed to 

 use the produce of their bodies as food for others. A wet- 

 nurse might probably be subjected to a more stringent 

 examination." 



The court fully considered the validity of this legislation 

 under the Federal Constitution and compared it with the 

 constitutionality of the Compulsory Vaccination Act of 

 Massachusetts and other similar acts to protect the public 

 health. 



Surely milk from cattle that react to a tuberculin test has 

 been exposed to disease, and if the cattle themselves may be kept 



