GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 17 



pasteurizers working but part of the day with fifty sets of 

 employees and fifty different inspections. There is not 

 only an economic advantage in the production, transporta- 

 tion, handling, and distribution of milk through coopera- 

 tion, but there is also a hygienic safeguard, as will be show^ 

 further on. i 



The final solution of the milk problem will require 

 mutual cooperation between the farmer, the consumer, 

 the middleman, the health officer, the transportation agent, 

 and the legislator, in order to achieve real, constructive 

 progress. 



The harm of exaggeration — truth is mighty and will prevail 



There is a temptation on the part of the popular ex- 

 ponents of science toward overstatement. When all the 

 indictments are brought together we find that milk is an 

 enormous criminal. The dangers are real enough and bad 

 enough without the need of exaggeration. The facts speak 

 for themselves. There is need of moderation. The state- 

 ment is often made that danger "lurks" in milk. This 

 is quite true, but every portion of milk is not a potion of 

 poison. Experience teaches us how to read human nature 

 and distinguish between the good man and the bad man 

 in this world. But no amount of experience would ever 

 help us to distinguish between a glass of good milk and a 

 glass of infected milk, for they may look alike, taste alike, 

 smell alike. In other words, while milk is the most inno- 

 cent-looking, it may occasionally be the most dangerous 

 of foods. 



After a discussion upon the subject of bacteria in milk 

 we often hear it said, "The wonder is that any of us are 

 alive." As a matter of fact, one of every four or five of our 

 babies perish before they are able to walk or talk. This is 

 not all due to milk, but some of it is. The plain fact is that 

 some lives might have been prolonged by the avoidance of 

 dirty or infected milk. 



