38 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



as it has been endeavored by the Bureau of Animal Industry to pre- 

 vent the interstate shipment of tuberculous animals and to prohibit 

 the adulteration, artificial coloring, or misbranding of milk concerned 

 in interstate commerce. 



NATIONAL FOOD AND DRUGS ACT. 



The food and drugs act approved June 30, 1906, provides that it 

 shall be unlaAvful for any person to manufacture within the District 

 of Columbia any article of food which is adulterated or misbranded, 

 and prohibits the introduction into the District of Columbia, or from 

 the District into any State, of any article of food which is adulterated 

 or misbranded. Severe penalties are prescribed for the violation of 

 the provisions of the act, under the terms of which the Secretaries of 

 the Treasury, Agriculture, and Commerce and Labor are charged 

 with framing uniform rules and regulations for carrying out its pro- 

 visions. In accordance with this empowerment standards of purity 

 for food products have been issued by the Secretary of Agriculture! 1 

 A copy or the food and drugs act is appended (Appendix M). 



The act imposes upon the Department of Agriculture the duty of 

 publishing notices of judgments in cases brought for enforcement of 

 its provisions. An examination of the series of notices issued to date 

 reveals the fact that 94 cases have related to proceedings against per- 

 sons or corporations charged with violation of the provisions of the 

 act appertaining to the adulteration and misbranding of milk. It 

 appears that of these 94 cases 37 have been instituted against inhabit- 

 ants of the several States and 57 against residents of the District of 

 Columbia. The charges have been based upon the excessive skim- 

 ming of cream and butter fat from milk, dilution with water, the 

 addition of formaldehyde as a preservative, and of coloring matter, 

 designed to deceive as to richness. Indictments have also been pre- 

 sented in several instances based upon an excessive number of bac- 

 teria, and others on account of the milk being putrid. These cases 

 extend over a period from December 28, 1907, to May 17, 1910, the 

 notices of judgment referred to issuing between August 13, 1908, and 

 November 12, 1910. In the larger number of cases judgment was 

 confessed or collateral forfeited, the fines ranging in most instances 

 from $5 to $40. In a few prosecutions the defendant stood trial, 

 resulting in acquittal in some cases and conviction in others. 



There is appended a communication from Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief 

 of the Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture, under date 

 of December 2, 1910, inclosing a memorandum from Dr. W. D. Bige- 

 low, assistant chief of the bureau, dated the preceding day, referring 

 to prosecutions for violations of the provisions of the Federal pure 

 food law respecting the composition of milk (Appendix N). 



SANITARY ARRANGEMENTS FOR DAIRY FARMS. 



The paper by Mr. E. H. Webster, Chief of the Dairy Division of 

 the Bureau of Animal Industry, Department of Agriculture, on 

 " Sanitary inspection and its bearing on clean milk " 2 (Appendix O), 



1 Circular No. 19, Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



2 Bulletin No. 56 of the Hygienic Laboratory, Public Health and Marine-Hospital Serv- 

 ice, p. 559. 



