No 4.] MILK SUPPLY AND PUBLIC HEALTH. 55 



the world. I also find, on comparing notes with people from 

 other States, that the Massachusetts milk supply, Massachu- 

 setts dairy laws and the enforcement of them stand well in 

 other States. Only a few months ago, while in Detroit, at 

 the National Convention of Dairy Commissioners, I took 

 some pains to investigate the Detroit milk supply. I found 

 that Massachusetts milk legislation and its enforcement stood 

 high there. Still further : the exigencies of the case are 

 such that the supply must be fairly good. Milk cannot be 

 transported seventy to one hundred miles and delivered to 

 customers when it is twenty-four to thirty-six hours old with- 

 out a fair amount of care ; it must have been cooled soon 

 after being drawn, carried in that condition to the cars, kept 

 in refrigerator cars en route, and then kept in cold storage 

 till delivered, to ensure its delivery in a satisfactory condi- 

 tion. Of course I admit that among four thousand to five 

 thousand producers there will be many degrees of cleanliness 

 and care, and that there is much opportunity for improvement. 



The trouble with using the word "down" in relation to 

 the milk supply, as Professor Sedgwick does, is that it may 

 lead the public to draw unwarranted conclusions, especially 

 if the criticisms of city milk should get into the daily 

 papers and possibly be dressed up with sensational head lines. 

 The milk supply ought to be improved, and yet milk has 

 been for years a cheap, popular and in the main beneficial 

 article of food. We all want to have it better than it is, but 

 we may unduly injure the business by stating the case from 

 such a stand-point as to fill consumers with unwarranted 

 alarm by presenting to them the most repulsive side of milk 

 production as represented by the most filthy and careless 

 surroundings. There is hardly any food product that would 

 stand such a test, even the making of bread by some city 

 bakers could be described so as to be very repulsive. 



I am glad that the matter comes up for discussion here 

 before the State Board of Agriculture, before the representa- 

 tives of the milk producers, because here is a very proper 

 place for the reform to begin. 



The freshness of the supply has been alluded to. Now 

 here is something which we can agitate among the con- 

 sumers. Boston consumers have the idea that milk must 

 be delivered in the morning, and would resent an afternoon 



