24 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



effort is being made to induce the consumer to return clean bottles 

 to the dairymen. 



LABORATORY FACILITIES OF HEALTH DEPARTMENT. 



The committee is clear that the laboratory facilities of the health 

 department should be such as to enable the making of analyses of 

 samples of milk offered by producers and dealers or by consumers, 

 a reasonable fee being charged for the purpose. In this way the 

 dealer or consumer will be able to ascertain from time to time whether 

 milk offered for sale is up to the standards prescribed by law and 

 regulations. 



It is understood from Health Officer Woodward that by virtue of 

 authority newly contained in the appropriation act for the current 

 fiscal year (approved May 18, 1910) the District laboratory is per- 

 mitted to undertake the bacteriological examination of milk and other 

 dairy products and of the water supplies of dairy farms. The appro- 

 priation act in question carries $500 for the equipment and mainte- 

 ance of this laboratory during the year ending June 30, 1911. 



Though the lack of funds and adequate laboratory accommoda- 

 tions has greatly handicapped the work, the committee is convinced 

 that the District health department has made an excellent showing 

 with the limited facilities at its disposal. An examination of the 

 present conditions of dairy farms contributing to the Washington 

 milk supply affords ample evidence of this. Barns have been planned 

 and located with forethought and consideration for the health of the 

 cows and precautions against the pollution of the milk. Whitewash 

 has been liberally applied, both interiorly and exteriorly, cement 

 floors have been laid, and system has been observed in the milking 

 and the subsequent handling of the product. A number of dairy 

 houses have, at the suggestion and through the influence of the health 

 department, been equipped with appropriate hot-water appliances 

 and facilities for rapid cooling of the milk. 



REPORTING OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES. 



No routine has ever been established by the local health depart- 

 ment for procuring reports of communicable diseases among dairy 

 farmers and their assistants shipping milk to Washington. The re- 

 porting of all cases of this nature occurring within the District of 

 Columbia is, with but few exceptions, already required by law. Out- 

 p'^fi the District, however, cases of communicable disease are not re- 

 pc ted to the health officer, whether occurring on dairy farms or 

 otherwise. The employment in and about dairies and dairy farms of 

 anyone who has been exposed to diphtheria, scarlet fever, erysipelas, 

 smallpox, or other dangerous contagious diseases is, however, forbid- 

 den by law. 1 



SCORE-CARD SYSTEM OF RATING DAIRY FARMS AND DAIRIES. 



The score card devised by the present health officer of the District, 

 and which has been so generally adopted throughout the several 

 States, represents the first systematic attempt to record in graphic 



1 See section 3, "An act to regulate the sale of milk in the District of Columbia," etc., 

 approved March 2, 1895. 



