76 BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND OTHER CATTLE DISEASES. 



giving offense that will eventually destroy his practice. Private 

 practice and efficient municipal work are incompatible. 



The man carrying on the testing must be proof against the 

 corruption to which he will be continually exposed. His pro- 

 fessional skill and judgment will be criticized by the dairy- 

 men and by jealous unprofessional aspirants for his ' 'job. ' ' The 

 officials or board to whom he is responsible must entertain 

 unswerving faith in his qualifications, else they will waver in 

 the face of the storm of protest and denunciation that will 

 emanate from the dairymen. 



Test by any licensed veterinarian. In some of the larger 

 municipalities the ordinance may require the dairyman to pro- 

 duce a report from any qualified veterinarian, but such a pro- 

 vision is an invitation to fraud and dishonesty. Under such 

 conditions the effectiveness of a tuberculin test ordinance is 

 likely to be entirely destroyed. 



In Berkeley, Cal., an ordinance was passed (Appendix A) 

 permitting any licensed veterinarian to make tuberculin tests, 

 but containing provision for subsequent tests by the repre- 

 sentative of the health officer in case the latter doubted the 

 accuracy of the reports. That this feature was undesirable 

 was fully recognized but it would have been quite out of the 

 question to have obtained the appointment of a city veteri- 

 narian to do all the work. The first attempt to exercise the 

 provision in regard to retesting resulted in litigation and the 

 invalidation of the ordinance on a legal technicality not con- 

 cerning the test. 



The Chicago tuberculin test ordinance is weak on this point, 

 for in the rules regarding the tuberculin testing of cows any 

 licensed graduate veterinarian is permitted to do the work 

 (Appendix B). The Duluth ordinance is stronger in this fea- 

 ture (Appendix C). 



Milk contracts. In the larger cities most of the retailers 

 are supplied by the producers or others, under the terms of 

 yearly contracts. Unless the health regulations have been very 

 rigidly enforced, these contracts are not liable to contain 

 clauses providing that the milk conform to health require- 

 ments. Any radical or sudden change in the law is apt to 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



