42 REPORT OF THE No. 55 



CHAPTER IV. 



Being the Story of the Efforts on the part of Rochester, Syracuse, 

 New York and Detroit to Secure a Clean Milk Supply and of the 

 Working of the new Pasteurization Ordinance in Chicago, as 

 Gathered by a Personal Visit. 



In deciding to undertake a visit to large American cities, the Commission re- 

 cognized the fact that pure milk is primarily a problem of large populations, and 

 was actuated by a desire to acquaint itself with the methods being adopted by the 

 populous metropolitan centres upon which the problem has been forced. 



The feature of the Rochester supply is undoubtedly the infants' milk depot 

 plan as described in another chapter. For safeguarding the general supply, Dr. 

 Q-. W. Goler, the Health Officer, administers a system of inspection which extends 

 from producer to consumer. Dr. Goler is a strong opponent of pasteurization. He 

 described it to your Commission as resulting in "cooked dirt/ 7 as encouraging un- 

 cleanliness on the farm and as being injurious to infants by "killing the more harm- 

 less micro-organisms while leaving the more dangerous to multiply." "Commer- 

 cial pasteurization," however, is carried on by a number of the dairy companies of 

 the city. In addition to inspection, Dr. Goler believes in a bacteria count as an 

 indication of the conditions under which milk is handled and also in making a sys- 

 tematic fight against tuberculosis. 



Rochester's standards are as follows : For butter fat and total solids, 3 per cent, 

 and 12 per cent.; for bacterial count, 100,000; for temperature, 50 degrees. No 

 pretence is made to drag a man to the police court if his bacterial count goes above 

 100,000 or if the temperature of his milk runs above 50 in very hot weather. In 

 fact, in 1908, 1,015 bacteria samples only 42 per cent, were under 100,000 and 

 the average was 415,572. But as soon as a milk sample goes above 100,000, the 

 attention of the dairyman is called to the matter, and should it go above on three 

 successive counts', his milk is refused admission to the city. Similar latitude is 

 exercised in regard to the temperature test. It is desired to impress upon dairymen 

 the necessity for keeping the milk cold during transit to the city by either train or 

 wagon, and very gross violation is accepted as justification for keeping milk out 

 of the city. 



During 1908, W. 0. Marshall, Rochester's Chief Milk Inspector, visited 928 

 cow stables in the country and 457 milk rooms in the city, some of each more than 

 once. The score card system is used. During the year, 87 producers were refused 

 admission to the city because of the unsanitary condition of their barns or their 

 unsanitary way of handling milk. Almost all of these followed the suggestions 

 of the health officers, and in the course of a few weeks made s'uch improvements 

 as led to the rehabilitation of their reputation and the re-admission of their milk 

 to the city market. Of course, drastic action, such as keeping a producer out 

 of the city market, occasionally raises a storm and recourse to law is taken. But 

 Dr. Goler claims he has authority under the city charter to protect the health of 

 the citizens in this way, and although actions have been launched in the courts, 

 his authority has never been successfully disputed. Thus, by the gentle persua- 

 sion of visits by inspectors and by the more drastic persuasion of force, the Roch- 

 ester Health Department is peeking to educate the dairy farmer up to a high 

 standard of cleanliness. Thanks to the goodly strain of Jersey blood in the milch 



