86 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



ice unless such increase in the rates of transportation be exacted as 

 would make the retail price of milk to the consumer prohibitively 

 high. The committee appends copies of correspondence with the 

 New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railways relating to this 

 phase of its investigations (Appendix D). Officials of the Southern 

 Railway have informally assured the committee of their desire to 

 do everything possible to further the committee's recommendations, 

 but they feel that it is absolutely impossible, without the imposition 

 of prohibitive traffic rates, to maintain the necessary service. Milk 

 is at present hauled over the several branches of the Southern Rail-' 

 way at a flat rate of 2^ cents per gallon, which includes the return of 

 the can or other receptacle to the shipper. 



FEASIBILITY OF PROVIDING ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF ICE. 



Aside from the conditions affecting the feasibility of introducing 

 an appropriate service of refrigerator cars, it is contended by the 

 producers of milk that it is not practicable without a decided advance 

 in the price of milk received by the shipper to install and equip the 

 necessary ice houses for maintaining the low temperature from the 

 time of milking to the instant of actual delivery on board the train. 

 An examination of bulletins furnished through the courtesy of Prof. 

 Willis L. Moore, Chief of the United States Weather Bureau, shows 

 that it has been possible, with the exception of one winter, during 

 the past 30 years to collect from ponds, natural or artificially pro- 

 vided for this purpose, an abundant supply of ice 4 inches or more in 

 thickness, to enable the farmer to lay up a sufficient store to meet 

 this requirement of refrigeration from April 1 to December 1, the 

 interval during which in this latitude it is necessary to provide arti- 

 ficial means of maintaining a maximum temperature of 50 F. This 

 deduction is confirmatory of a letter on the same subject from the 

 Chief of the Weather Bureau under date of December 29, 1906 

 (Appendix AJ). 



It is claimed by local wholesale and retail dealers, furthermore, 

 that the insistence upon this requirement will have the effect of driv- 

 ing all of the small dealers out of business, as they allege that the 

 public is neither willing nor able to pay the increased price which 

 must necessarily be established in order to meet this proposed restric- 

 tion. 



So much for the mercantile side of the question. As to its scien- 

 tific aspects, it is a matter of general agreement among authorities 

 on the subject of milk production and distribution that, although milk 

 obtained from the cow under the most careful conditions contains a 

 minimum number of bacteria, these bacteria multiply with alarming 

 rapidity when milk is subjected to temperatures in excess of 50 F., 

 and this observation applies with equal force to pasteurized and to 

 raw milk. 



The failure to keep milk at a temperature below 50 F. provides 

 favorable conditions for rapid multiplication of bacteria. Milk is a 

 good culture medium for various pathogenic organisjns which rapidly 

 increase in high temperatures, making such milk dangerous, espe- 

 cially for infants. Dr. Wyman, Surgeon General of the Public 

 Health and Marine-Hospital Service, asserts that if milk happens to 

 contain a small number of typhoid bacilli or other organisms a great 



