164 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 
not at present seem to be ordinarily either advisa- 
ble or acceptable for American cities. Un- 
der this method the municipality would own and 
operate its own dairy business. It is true that 
to a limited extent municipalities have tried to 
manage the sale of milk, but so far as the writer 
is aware they have not attempted to own and 
operate milk farms. On the other hand, public 
slaughterhouses have been maintained, but gen- 
erally as purely commercial concerns, and not for 
health supervision. 
The second method, much in vogue among Eng- 
lish governments both in the British Isles, and in 
the colonies, is through the use of the courts, mak- 
ing dealers liable for any injuries sustained by 
their patrons. According to this system civil 
actions in damages are brought against offenders 
by those injured, without statutory enactment, and 
under the usages of the common law. ($13.) This 
efficient aid in sanitation has been too much neg- 
lected in the United States. A dairyman, or 
dealer in animal foods, frequently runs the risk 
of such harm as may result from his lack of care. 
He may ignore statutes, in the hope that he will 
not be caught, or with a calculation of the relative 
financial advantage of paying occasional fines, 
rather than to bear the cost of expensive equip- 
ment and operation. He may ignore the orders 
of a health department, and when prosecuted he 
not seldom sets up the cry that he is being perse- 
cuted, rather than prosecuted, and he thereby 
gains the sympathy of the jury. If fined, he still 
may be able to convince his customers that it was 
for some technical and non-essential point. But 
