CLEAN MILK 179 



has also accomplished much good in prosecuting those who 

 sell adulterated milk in interstate traffic. The Public 

 Health and Marine Hospital Service has shown its inter- 

 est in the situation, through scientific research and other- 

 wise. It has published a comprehensive volume upon 

 "Milk and Its Relation to the PubUc Health." In this 

 and other ways the Government is lending a helpful hand. 

 The Washington authorities will always cooperate with 

 state or local authorities, and much good has been accom- 

 plished in this way. 



State, and local inspection. The duty of inspecting milk 

 devolves either upon the state or local authorities, since 

 the Federal Government lacks authority to deal with the 

 whole question. Whether the inspection should be done 

 by the state alone or by the cities and counties alone, or by 

 both, is often a confusing and perplexing problem. There 

 are advantages and disadvantages which must be con- 

 sidered. To my thinking, however, the problem will best 

 be met by the state taking the active and predominant 

 r61e, in cooperation with a system of local inspection. 



The advantages of a state-wide system of inspection are 

 manifold. A central system promotes uniformity in meth- 

 ods and economy in operation. The inspection is also apt 

 to be more efficient, for the reason that a state inspector 

 has a wider experience and broader horizon and comes to 

 the farmer unprejudiced as a stranger. The state system 

 of inspection further reaches certain phases of the problem 

 that the local authorities alone may neglect. For example, 

 the local authorities in Worcester may forbid the sale of 

 milk in that city, coming from a dairy farm situated in 

 Worcester County. Without state stewardship over the 

 situation, there is nothing to prevent this farmer sending 

 his milk to Boston, Springfield, or some other city in the 

 commonwealth. As a matter of fact there is nothing in the 

 present laws of Massachusetts to prevent such a transac- 

 tion. Instances are on record in which milk forbidden in 



