THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 15 



other substitutes for raw milk, besides incidentally driving the small 

 producer and dealer out of business; that the present and proposed 

 regulations of the health department have, on account of their rigid- 

 ity, served to greatly reduce the number of licensed dealers selling 

 milk in the District of Columbia ; that the infant-mortality statistics 

 of the District are inaccurate and unreliable, the records showing in 

 some instances a greater number of deaths than births within certain 

 specified periods; that the health officer has, in violation of law, 

 refused to issue permits to ship milk into the District, although the 

 sanitary requirements have been complied with ; that he has, without 

 a scintilla of authority, cited members of the Dairymen's Association 

 to appear before him and explain why milk claimed to have been 

 sold by them contained excessive numbers of bacteria (this in the 

 absence of any law or regulations specifying a given number of bac- 

 teria as allowable), and has threatened to have them summoned to 

 court; that he has made misleading statements to the District Com- 

 missioners, as determined by the replies of the latter to complaints 

 offered by the dairymen ; that the policy of refusing to issue permits 

 and summoning dairymen to court for having excessive numbers of 

 bacteria in milk sold by them and the requirement of a compulsory 

 tuberculin test will, if proceeded with, drive producers and dealers 

 alike out of business or result in their shipping to other markets; 

 and that the recent attempt on the part of the health officer, with 

 the approval of the commissioners, to compel the application of the 

 tuebrculin test to all cattle (not only those within the District bound- 

 aries) from which milk is derived for local consumption, which con- 

 templation has been deferred after recent conference with representa- 

 tives of the producers, was without justification in law. 



The complaints of the Daymen's Association are partially set 

 forth in the appended letter from A. S. Trundle, chairman, dated 

 November 20, 1910 (Appendix J). 



FINDINGS OF COMMITTEE. 



Referring specifically to the complaints lodged by the representa- 

 tives of the Dairymen's Association, the committee finds that the 

 administration of the health department, under the supervision of 

 Dr. Woodward, health officer, has been unusually efficient and satis- 

 factory ; that the inspectors appointed to the service have been com- 

 petent and capable of discharging their duties with satisfaction; 

 that any lack of patience or courtesy on the part of inspectors has 

 been quite exceptional, and that tact and diplomacy have been cus- 

 tomarily exhibited in the execution of their responsible duties; that 

 dealers have not been persecuted by the health department or sum- 

 moned to court without reasonable cause ; that local grocers and other 

 merchants are neither required nor expected under the present law, 

 which is expressly applicable to dairies only, to obtain a permit from 

 the health department as a prerequisite to dispensing milk in the 

 District ; that the present and proposed requirements of law with 

 regard to the standards of milk, cream, and other dairy products 

 offered for sale in the District of Columbia are not unreasonable and 

 impossible of observance, but tend, in the judgment of the committee, 

 to afford that full degree of protection which should be provided tor 

 the public health; that such regulations as have been promulgated 



