19O9 MILK COMMISSION. 117 



developed more and more by modern thought each year in the protection of pro- 

 perty and the safeguarding of human life, and in the larger cities it is now impos- 

 sible to even run an elevator without having it frequently passed by an inspector. 

 As regards milk, the principle of inspection of vendors and farms is now recognized 

 in the statutes of Ontario, as 1 indeed it is recognized in a greater or lesser degree 

 in the statutes of almost every other civilized country. But in Ontario, at least, it 

 has been for the most part only perfunctorily enforced as regards vendors, and 

 scarcely at all as regards the sources of supply. Yet is it not as important to 

 supervise the source of the supply of the milk we drink as to supervise the source 

 of the supply of the bread we eat? Are not the invisible, insidious germs which 

 milk may convey as great a menace to the health of thousands of consumers as 

 the whirring, crushing machinery to the hundreds of .employees of the factory ? 

 Inspection cannot do everything, but it has been proven that inspection does do 

 much. 



CIVIC CONTROL OF MILK SUPPLY IS BEST PLAN. 



Admitting the principle, therefore, what of the plan? Inspection to be of 

 value must be thorough, must be systematic, must be backed by authority. How 

 then can it be most effectively accomplished ? We have no hesitation in saying that 

 it can be best accomplished by each municipality looking after its own supply, and 

 inasmuch as the responsibility is already on the municipality to protect its citizens', 

 we believe they should be given authority commensurate with their responsibility. 

 We would strongly recommend that every city and town be given the utmost free- 

 dom to make inspections at every stage from the cow to the consumer, and should 

 have power to keep out of their municipality any milk believed to be contaminated. 

 At present, consuming municipalities 1 have partial inspectoral powers, but their 

 hands are tied; we would urge that the tether be cut, and we are confident such 

 freedom would not lead to friction any more than the freedom of the average man 

 incites him to quarrel. Local autonomy was -the argument at the basis of the 

 "crazy quilt patch work" amendment of 1900, by which the officers of both muni- 

 cipalities concerned must go together and concur. The results of that policy should 

 be sufficient condemnation. Furthermore, it is absurd to expect a township, for 

 instance, to go to the trouble and expense of maintaining a system of inspection 

 for the benefit of a neighbouring city. We respectfully submit that it is not a 

 question of municipal rights ; it is a question of buyer and seller. If it were pos- 

 sible for the individual consumer of the city to go to the producer in the country 

 and say "if certain simple regulations are adopted, I shall purchase from you," 

 no possible objection could be raised. That would merely be a matter of agree- 

 ment between producer and consumer, between seller and buyer. Moreover, it 

 would be merely what is done every day here in Ontario by the big dairy companies 

 of the larger cities and by our condensing factories, who send inspectors regularly 

 to the farms. It is not possible for the individual consumer to take these precau- 

 tions to protect himself, and so in our system of governmental organization the 

 responsibility of protecting the individual in such matters has been placed on 

 the body corporate, which in turn has appointed a health officer for this purpose. 

 This recommendation therefore resolves itself merely into giving the municipalities 

 machinery to adequately discharge the responsibility imposed on them. That they 

 are anxious to do- the work is shown by the practical unanimity of view expressed 

 by health officers in preceding pages. 



