THE MILK QUESTION 



tion to supplant the city inspection, with a hope that the 

 state-wide system will be more dilute and therefore less 

 exacting. It is true that large cities with ample resources 

 are, as a rule, able to grant more generous ways and means 

 and concentrate their efforts with greater success than is 

 apt to be the case with a large and populous state. 



The relations between the state and city health author- 

 ities are somewhat analogous to the relations between the 

 federal and state authorities. In the last analysis it appears 

 that the milk question is so large, so complex, and so im- 

 portant that it requires the activities of all three agencies 

 with cordial cooperation between them. The Federal 

 Government has a distinct but limited place in the sit- 

 uation; the state authorities should have the large and 

 overshadowing power; and the local authorities must be 

 active and helpful. A strong pull and a long pull all to- 

 gether will give us better milk and will help to protect 

 the consumer, and will also safeguard the interests of the 

 producer. 



Neither the local authorities nor the state authorities 

 have direct power to inspect dairies in another state. This 

 question of interstate milk, however, may be reached 

 through a system of licensing; that is, a milk dealer in 

 Vermont need not submit to an inspection by an agent 

 from the state of Massachusetts or from the city of Boston, 

 but either the city of Boston or the state of Massachusetts 

 can say to the Vermont farmer: "You cannot sell your 

 milk in our city or state unless you permit our inspection 

 and comply with our sanitary requirements." The refusal 

 to permit the inspection may be taken as prima facie evi- 

 dence that the dairy is in unsanitary condition or the 

 methods unsatisfactory, and the milk may therefore be 

 refused. No out-of-state milk need therefore be accepted 

 except from licensed producers. As a great proportion of 

 the milk of all large cities comes from other states, the 

 control of this interstate traffic through the indirect method 



