80 CONFERENCE ON MILK PROBLEMS 



ject is so wide and has been so intelligently and thoroughly 

 covered by the essayists who have presented the various phases 

 of the topic assigned them, that my work must necessarily be 

 limited, and is, by request of the chairman of the committee, 

 to be brief. 



The topic assigned me, "The Milk Supply of Villages," is 

 one which has not been given the care to which it is entitled, for 

 it is a recognized fact that not only is the milk supply of vil- 

 lages a part of the food of the villages, but the environments 

 of the smaller villages furnish the milk supply for the larger 

 villages, towns and cities. I note in regard to the milk supply 

 of villages, first, that there is inadequate supervision of 

 the supply. Little or no suitable attention is given to the 

 milk supply by the health officers of the respective villages. 

 It is altogether too little thought of by the health officers of 

 the respective villages. Milk is brought in convenient, rather 

 than suitable receptacles, and is distributed too often in that 

 which is easier, rather than that which is best, in the form of 

 receptacle. There is inadequate supervision of the milk sup- 

 ply of villages by the consumers. The organization of this 

 New York Milk Committee is the outgrowth of the feeling 

 among the more intelligent citizens and their physicians that 

 supervision of the milk supply is an important matter, and 

 that it is not at present properly supervised. There should 

 be throughout the state in every village, under the direction of 

 some competent authority and by some competent organizer, 

 consumers' leagues whose duty it should be to know that the 

 milk supply is adequately supervised in all the stages of its 

 production from the pasture to the pail and from the pail to 

 the palate of the consumer. 



Again the milk supply of villages lacks intelligent care with 

 reference to buildings in which the cows are kept. Too often 

 tumble down sheds with filthy surroundings are the homes of 

 the cows that supply milk to villages. There is lack of intel- 

 ligent care of the animals themselves. Their food and water 

 is not as carefully provided as it should be. Too often the 

 cows go down to the swamp and after a hole has been cut in 

 the ice, drink the dirty water standing there, and from that 

 make our milk supply. They lie in stables that are filthy and, 

 a part of their excrement is transferred to the udder and from 



