26 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



capable of actual attainment, considering the present status of the 

 dairy industry. The committee is disposed without hesitancy to 

 commend the present practice of our local health department, which 

 fixes a reasonable standard, as opposed to an ideal standard of per- 

 fection. This attitude is assumed by the committee not only on 

 account of the embarrassment and dissatisfaction which must obvi- 

 ously attend any endeavor on the part of the dairyman or producer 

 to maintain his dairy or farm in accordance with idealistic require- 

 ments, but also the prejudicial effect upon the business of the shipper 

 or dealer, and indeed the deception instilled in the public mind, 

 when a relatively low rating is shown based on an ideal standard. 

 It is, in the judgment of the committee, manifestly unfair to the 

 farmer and to the city dealer that practically unattainable standards 

 should be fixed. 



PROPOSED INVESTIGATION OF HEALTH DEPARTMENT, DISTRICT OF 



COLUMBIA. 



The committee takes pleasure in reporting that no valid reasons have 

 been presented before it, nor has it been able to observe the necessity, 

 for an investigation of the administration of the local health depart- 

 ment as proposed by the Dairymen's Association. The department 

 has, in its view, not only been conducted with the single aim of jeal- 

 ously guarding the health of the residents of the District of Colum- 

 bia and lending an educational influence toward improved sanitary 

 methods throughout the whole country, but it has, in the unanimous 

 judgment of the committee, attained a remarkably high standard of 

 efficiency under the unusually intelligent and energetic supervision 

 of the present health officer. 



ALLEGED EVIDENCES OF MILK TRUST. 



Referring to the contention of the representatives of the milk 

 dealers, both at the hearing before the District commissioners and 

 before this committee, that a vast milk trust, backed by $30,000,000 

 of capital, was endeavoring to gain control of the raw milk product 

 of the country, the committee begs leave to state that it has been 

 unable to find any evidence whatsoever of such a combination, nor 

 has it transpired, as the result of its investigations, that any of the 

 officials of the Federal or District Governments or others appearing 

 in a private capacity before the committee have been controlled or 

 influenced in any manner by the manufacturers of pasteurizing ma- 

 chinery or by other commercial interests. Dr. Melvin, chief of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, perhaps facetiously remarks in this 

 connection that the local milk dealers have an organization, but that 

 this is not regarded as a trust or combination in the usual sense of 

 those terms. Freeman may be quoted as saying that the Milk Ex- 

 change in New York fixes the price paid to the producer, and Wins- 

 low observes that there is some indication of such a combination in 

 Boston. 



Borden's Condensed Milk Co., which has been charged with per- 

 haps monopolizing the condensed milk output, argues that a combina- 

 tion to control the raw-milk production or supply would be an im- 

 possibility by reason of the economic conditions surrounding the 



