80 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 







eminence as authorities on the subject in question was generally con- 

 ceded, and this commission, after thorough discussion and conference, 

 reported its conclusions. The findings constituted in the main a con- 

 firmation of the wisdom of the regulations then in force, certain 

 minor emendations being suggested by the commission, which have 

 been approved by the department and incorporated in the rules for 

 the disposition of meats now in operation. 



As felicitously expressed by Dr. Meivin at the preliminary meet- 

 ing of the commission, the department is required by law to stand as 

 the mediator between the slaughterers and the consumers, and its 

 only thought is to do justice to both. It may be observed, he ex- 

 plained, that if there was any error in Regulation No. 15 safeguard- 

 ing the public health, this was in favor of the public rather than in 

 favor of the butchers and packers, and that the requirements of the 

 department with reference to the condemnation of diseased animals 

 could be made less stringent without danger to the health of the 

 consumer. 



It frequently happens that an animal is infected with a localized 

 disease which may not impair to the slightest degree the nutritive or 

 food value of the parts of the carcass which are customarily eaten in 

 a community, and while it is evident that, from an economic stand- 

 point, it would be decidedly improper and wasteful to an extreme 

 degree to condemn as a whole carcasses affected in certain organs 

 only, vour committee is convinced that the regulations of the depart- 

 ment impose every reasonable safeguard 'for the protection of the 

 health of the public against possible infection from diseased meat. 



It should be observed, however, on the other hand, that milk (con- 

 sisting as it does of secretions from the mammary glands) from 

 any cow afflicted with almost any disease, however localized, is 

 fraught with danger of contamination, intermittently at least, by 

 death-dealing germs. The committee feels, therefore, that the sepa- 

 ration of a diseased animal from a herd of milch cows is justifiable 

 in every instance, while the use of portions of the carcass of the same 

 animal, when slaughtered, may be advocated as entirely unprejudicial 

 to the health of the consumer. Any attempt, therefore, to condemn 

 for food purposes cattle in the wholesale manner suggested in some 

 quarters would doubtless effect an absolute scarcity of the meat 

 supply, resulting in high prices for beef, veal, and other products of 

 the cow and calf, and serving to place them entirely beyond the reach 

 of the purchaser of moderate means. 



Aside from the generally recognized importance of eradicating 

 tuberculosis from among cattle on account of the contamination of 

 the milk supply derived from infected animals, and while assenting 

 to the proposition that the saving of human life affords the highest 

 motive for combating tuberculosis among animals, the economic im- 

 portance of its elimination with the object of relieving the tremen- 

 dous financial loss at present devolving from this cause upon the 

 live-stock industry of the country should not be overlooked. This 

 phase of the question is treated in a most convincing and capable 

 manner in a paper entitled " The Economic Importance of Tuber- 

 culosis in Food-Producing Animals," by Dr. A. D. Meivin, Chief of 

 the Bureau of Animal Industry, 1 read before the International Con- 



1 Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, 1908. 



