112 THE MODERN MILK PROBLEM 



sold raw must meet the requirements which the Com- 

 mission classification prescribes for the highest grade. 

 The centralization of pasteurization, bottling, and dis- 

 tribution at a few plants or a single plant in the smaller 

 cities and towns would promote economy and simplify 

 sanitary supervision. (See pages 171 and 250.) 



The value of pasteurization in making possible the 

 use of milk from cows which would otherwise be ex- 

 cluded by the tuberculin test is not sufficiently recog- 

 nized. In the East pasteurization has gained a foot- 

 hold which seems likely to be permanent. In other 

 parts of the country, especially in the South and in 

 the far West, agitation for the tuberculin-testing of 

 dairy cows and opposition to the pasteurization of 

 milk appear to be in full sway, and the conditions seem 

 to be very similar to conditions in the East five and 

 ten years ago. It is certain that in due time the South 

 and West will come to realize the importance of pas- 

 teurization and will give it the same prominence which 

 it has already gained in the East. 



In brief, pasteurization is the most powerful single 

 instrument that milk sanitation possesses to-day. Com- 

 bined with adequate bacteriological control, it meets 

 conditions which cannot be met by unsupplemented 

 clean milk methods. Theorists may say that it should 

 be unnecessary, but inexorable conditions leave no 

 choice. 



In summing up the matter of pasteurization we can- 

 not do better than quote the remarks of Professor 

 William T. Sedgwick, in his presidential address before 

 the American Public Health Association, on American 

 achievements and failures in public health work: 



