NEW YORK MILK COMMITTEE 107 



precautions can be taken in choosing the proper kind of cows. 

 These cows are examined carefully to see whether they are suf- 

 fering from any infectious diseases. They are tested to see 

 whether there be any tuberculosis. Proper precautions are 

 taken to exclude any possibility of infectious diseases among 

 those people handling the milk on the farm, and they are kept 

 under strict hygienic conditions. If a cow is to be healthy, it 

 must be kept under as good conditions as we are ourselves, or 

 even better. Then, the milk must be collected in vessels that 

 are clean and sterilized by clean people, and protected from 

 dust, and then, afterwards, kept free from putrefaction by 

 keeping the milk cold at all times until it is delivered to the 

 consumer. 



Now, that involves a great deal of care and precaution. It 

 is possible to get milk from cows practically sterile, with only 

 a few bacteria per cubic-centimeter. If it is kept cold until it 

 is delivered, these bacteria are thus kept from growing, and the 

 milk can be delivered to the consumer with very little change 

 in the number of bacteria. 



Now, that milk is considered good safe milk, but there is 

 even doubt as to that. A baby can take that milk with very 

 little risk, except that it might not be the proper kind of food 

 for the baby. But what happens with the other kind of milk, 

 that is collected under all sorts of conditions? You saw those 

 pictures on the screen. They were no exaggeration at all. 

 You see very much worse conditions when you go around in- 

 specting milk farms where milk is produced. The cows are 

 herded together in a dirty barn yard, that is not cleaned more 

 than once a year. The water stands in the yards, and the 

 cows get muddy all over, and the cows are not cleaned until 

 their hair falls off, or until they rub it off on the barn door, or 

 after they get out to pasture. The stables are practically 

 never swept. The gross matter is forked out, but the rest is 

 left behind. The place is full of cobwebs and other dirt. The 

 hay comes down from above, dropping to the floor, all over the 

 place. You go into such a place when the cows are driven in, 

 and you see dust flying all over it. You can hardly recognize 

 a man at the other end of the stable, and it may only be forty 

 feet long. The cans are washed out without any special pre- 

 cautions. A dipper full of warm water is put into them and 



