THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 371 



organisms multiply in milk, whereas at a later period by reason of the changes 

 produced by the ordinary milk bacteria such disease-producing organisms are 

 either killed or inhibited in their action, or whether the injurious effect that seems 

 to follow in many cases from the drinking of old and partially soured milk results 

 from changes in the process of souring that follow its ingestion, is not clear. 



14. Has the health department expressed any views as to the desirability of 

 compulsory pasteurization? 



Answer. Yes. In the present state of the production and sale of milk com- 

 mercially, pasteurization seems to be the only way of safeguarding the public 

 health against milk-borne diseases. There will, however, probably always be 

 some use for raw milk, either as a medicinal agent or for culinary purposes, 

 or for use by the exceptional individual, similar to the individual who now 

 without any physical necessity uses raw meat and raw eggs, and therefore 

 there appears to be no reason why the sale of raw milk should be forbidden. 



15. Has a bacteriological laboratory been recently established in connection 

 with the health department, and on what date? 



Answer. This question was answered, it is believed, in the answers previously 

 submitted to the committee. Briefly, however, a bacteriological laboratory has 

 not been recently established in connection with the health department, but 

 such a laboratory has been used by the department for some years past. Until 

 the beginning of the current fiscal year, however, that laboratory was devoted 

 exclusively to the contagious-disease service, because it was maintained from 

 the appropriation provided for the maintenance of that service. With legisla- 

 tion enacted by Congress at its last session it became possible to use this 

 laboratory for other purposes, and with the beginning of the fiscal year its 

 use for such other purposes, notably for milk work, was begun. 



16. Are additional or better facilities desired for this laboratory? 



Answer. The laboratory is in need of additional room. It is possible to 

 operate it on its present basis only by the detail of a sanitary inspector to 

 assist the bacteriologist, and in order to obtain an inspector to do this work 

 it has been necessary to train him. There should be provision for an assistant 

 bacteriologist, with salary and prospects sufficient to bring into the service a 

 generally trained bacteriologist, say with an initial salary of $1,500 per annum, 

 with some assurance of promotion in event of giving satisfactory service. Pro- 

 vision should be made for the more general supervision from a bacteriological 

 standpoint of the milk supply of the District, by providing for from one to 

 four minor assistants in the bacteriological laboratory, and if such assistants 

 be provided it will be necessary to have additional equipment as well as addi- 

 tional space. 



17. In your judgment will the specification of 500,000 bacteria to the cubic 

 centimeter suffice as a maximum indication of acceptable milk, or should this 

 number be decreased, and if so to what figure? 



Answer. In the present state of the production and vending of milk, 500,000 

 bacteria per cubic centimeter represents a fair standard. Good raw milk 

 should contain not in excess of that number, but it will hardly be practicable 

 during the summer season to prosecute for every sample of milk that contains 

 a number in excess of the standard suggested. In the case of pasteurized milk, 

 a bacterial standard should be fixed not in excess of 50,000 per cubic centimeter. 

 If bacterial standards are to be fixed by law, it might be well to provide gen- 

 erally that no milk should be sold having a higher bacterial content than that 

 claimed for it by the vender, so that the producer and vender of special grades 

 of milk who claims for such milk a bacterial count not in excess of say 10,000 

 per cubic centimeter could not with impunity sell to his customer milk contain- 

 ing a greater number. 



18. Can you refer the committee to a statement of the present requirements 

 of the health department as to stabling cows, etc.? 



Answer. A copy of the regulations of the department relative to the stabling 

 of cows is inclosed herewith. 



19. Can you conveniently furnish copies of all orders of the health department 

 at present in operation governing the production and sale of milk? 



Answer. The production and sale of milk is governed rather by laws and 

 regulations, copies of which have already been furnished the committee, than 

 by orders of the health department. Orders of the health department are gen- 

 erally directed to the employees of the department, and thereupon departmental 

 interpretations of existing laws and regulations. Copies of all such orders 

 can not be easily furnished, but if the committee desires copies of such orders 

 relating to any particular feature of the milk-inspection work, copies of such 

 orders will be made and furnished. 



