THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 21 



tions this may be safely used to a limited extent. Brewery products 

 other than wet malt are not believed to be injurious to the milk, espe- 

 cially if they are fed in dry form. 



POSSIBLE MILK FAMINE IN DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



The fear expressed by certain interests represented before the com- 

 mittee that the insistence upon the tuberculin test, pasteurization, a 

 prescribed bacterial count, and a temperature below 50 F. would 

 have the tendency to create a temporary or permanent milk famine 

 in the District is discounted by the statement on the part of most of 

 the authorities consulted by the committee that, so far as the tubercu- 

 lin test is concerned, if the movement be locally confined to the juris- 

 diction from which milk is presently supplied or if the test be gradu- 

 ally introduced there is no sensible reason for anticipating such an 

 outcome from this source. The officials of the Department of Agri- 

 culture premise that if the test be suddenly and injudiciously en- 

 forced a temporary shortage in the milk supply would probably be 

 caused. Ravenel proposes that time should be allowed for the farmers 

 to adjust themselves to the new conditions. The District health offi- 

 cer is convinced that, under ordinary conditions, if the application 

 of the test in the first instance be extended over a reasonable length 

 of time, its enforcement would not diminish the local milk supply. 

 This position is corroborated by the health officer of Atlanta, Ga., 

 who informs the committee that such requirements are now being in- 

 sisted upon in that city without an observable shortage in the supply. 

 The State and municipal officers at Jacksonville, Fla., share the view 

 that these requirements, if enforced slowly and with judgment, will 

 result, if at all, in a milk famine of the most transitory character. 



Dr. Hamill observes that the insistence upon the proposed require- 

 ments for the further regulation of milk production will not result 

 in a famine, either temporary or permanent, unless the producers 

 and dealers combine to create it. The chance of such a famine would, 

 he states, be lessened by requiring the same standards for milk used 

 for making butter as are prescribed for milk for general consumption 

 in its raw state. 



Dr. Woodward states that he can conceive of no reason why com- 

 pulsory pasteurization should reduce the amount of milk daily sup- 

 plied to the District. 



It has been suggested before the committee that the extra feeding 

 of animals, in addition to pasturing, during the periods of scarcity 

 of milk, would serve to obviate, or at least to diminish substantially, 

 the shortage resulting annually from drought and other perhaps 

 natural causes toward the end of the summer months. The com- 

 mittee has not been able to obtain sufficiently definite information on 

 which to base an intelligent conclusion regarding this suggestion. 



It has, furthermore, been suggested in the hearings before the com- 

 mittee that the practice of farmers in this vicinity of breeding their 

 cattle at a certain specified period of the year, with a view to provid- 

 ing calves for the market at a time when advantageous prices may 

 be commanded for veal, is also responsible, to a limited extent, for 

 the shortage in the local milk supply. The committee has not been 

 able to establish that this practice is a material factor affecting the 

 paucity of the milk supply. 



