244 THE MILK QUESTION 



mered at from all sides. He is inspected and re-inspected, 

 preached to, lectured at, scolded, and the object of legal 

 action. He is pestered with the enthusiast, the reformer, 

 the sanitarian, the lawyer, the baby's mother, and the 

 baby's doctor. He is showered with advice, some of it con- 

 tradictory. In this predicament he does not know which 

 way to turn. If the attitude of the farmer is often unfortun- 

 ate, the attitude towards the farmer is frequently equally 

 unfortunate. Too often he is regarded as a back number, 

 unprogressive, incompetent, and even dishonest. As a 

 class no finer stock is to be found in the world than the sons 

 of the soil. The city replenishes its wornout and effete in- 

 habitants with the brawn, brain, and character of the 

 country boy and girl. The harsh, arbitrary methods some- 

 times directed against the farmer are not only unjustified, 

 but delay and complicate the solution of the milk question. 

 Much quicker progress will be made through mutual re- 

 spect, a helpful attitude, and a certain amount of patience 

 necessary for all large sanitary reforms. 



Confidence in the producer is an important link in the 

 chain. As soon as the public has this confidence and is 

 satisfied that the milk is produced by clean methods and 

 handled in sanitary surroundings, there will be more milk 

 consumed than there is to-day and at a better price. The 

 farmer cannot be expected to rebuild his barn, pay higher 

 wages for better help, buy more ice, and put in improved 

 equipment without some recompense. This should come in 

 a higher price for a higher quality of milk. 



It is only fair to the farmer, in case his milk is refused 

 and denied a market on account of contagious disease upon 

 the farm, that he should be compensated for the loss. The 

 farmer cannot be blamed when a case of typhoid fever oc- 

 curs in his family or among any one of the farm hands. More 

 often the infection is contracted as a result of negligence of 

 the community to afford proper sanitary protection. Many 

 of the large dairymen not only compensate farmers for milk 



