THE SANITARY FACTORS 91 



for composition, largely on account of the natural 

 variations in milk from individual cows. (See Fig. 1, 

 Chapter I.) Such cows not infrequently give milk 

 which fails to comply with official minima. Small 

 herds may sometimes give such milk. The objection 

 has been strengthened by the failure of authorities 

 to agree on any precise standard. Sometimes the 

 standards have been altered in an attempt at adjust- 

 ment. In New York State, for example, the dairy 

 farmers came to produce so largely with cows bred for 

 quantity but not for richness that the Legislature 

 lowered the total solids requirement from 12 to 11.5 

 per cent. Dealers may have to mix milks and creams 

 so as to meet a standard to which all the milk bought 

 by them does not attain. The tendency, especially in 

 the case of the large supplies, is to bring all milks down 

 to a level just above the legal minimum. Where the 

 producer has a rich milk there is temptation to skim, or 

 even to water when the authorities are not vigilant. 

 It is obvious that such a levelling-down of milks is an 

 artificially induced condition which operates to drive 

 the richer milks from the retail market. This makes it 

 more difficult for the consumer who desires the richer 

 kinds to obtain them. 



In view of such considerations it has been proposed 

 to abolish the legal standard and permit milks to be 

 sold on their merits. This was suggested as long ago 

 as 1907, by Mr. P. M. Harwood, Chief of the Massa- 

 chusetts Dairy Bureau, in a paper entitled "Has the 

 milk standard outlived its usefulness?" 16 The com- 

 mission on Milk Standards of the New York Milk 

 Committee has now suggested the regulation of market 



