CLEAN MILK 165 



as well as for the^farmer. Without a score card the mem- 

 oranda made at the time of inspection are time-consuming 

 and later confusing in editing, and mistakes readily creep 

 in while working up the report. In brief, the score card is a 

 convenient time-saving and part of a modern card-index 

 system. 



At first blush the score-card method seems to be a kinder- 

 garten procedure. It is evidently impossible to express 

 biological conditions and grades of sanitary excellence in 

 exact mathematical figures. The advantages of the score 

 card, however, far outweigh its limitations. It is now in 

 universal use wherever a good system of milk inspection is 

 carried out. The history of the score card is somewhat 

 doubtful. It was conceived by Dr. William C. Woodward, 

 the efficient health officer of the District of Columbia, and 

 was probably first put into effect by Mr. Lane, an officer 

 of the Dairy Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry in 

 the Department of Agriculture. 



The score card should not be looked upon as a set of 

 arbitrary rules, but rather as a system of rating. It be- 

 comes a record of the conditions. The score card promotes 

 cooperation between the producer and the health authori- 

 ties, for it brings the inspector and the farmer close to- 

 gether upon the details of the problem. Further, the score 

 card promotes uniformity, which is one of the essentials 

 of good administration. 



The score card is the salvation of the producer in the case 

 of an incompetent or dishonest inspector, because he has 

 a written record of his faults of commission and omission. 

 On the other hand, the score card protects the inspector 

 against unreasonable attacks from the producer. 



The score card has sometimes been objected to for the 

 reason that it expresses its results mathematically. Theo- 

 retically this is a fault, but practically is one of the advan- 

 tages of the system. It is evidently much better to say 

 that a dairy scores fifteen, fifty or seventy-five per cent 



