28 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



early in 191 9 a government investigation showed that of 

 1,327 cities and towns only 265 had regular dairy and milk 

 inspection. Less than one-seventh of the cities with a pop- 

 ulation between five thousand and twenty-five thousand 

 reported any dairy inspection. ^ 



It is a question, however, whether in a state like New 

 York or like Illinois the larger cities would be satisfied with 

 such inspection as the state would be willing to give.^ Al- 

 though in most states with no large cities, state inspection 

 would doubtless be found satisfactory and adequate, under 

 existing conditions the states can dq, most good by co- 

 operating with cities, especially with those cities which do 

 not have adequate facilities for inspection. 



Federal regulation, of course, is out of the question, 

 since it can regulate only such milk supply as crosses state 

 lines. Instead of improving the milk supply, federal reg- 

 ulations would merely keep milk within state lines and 

 often give farmers in one state a practical monopoly of the 

 milk business for certain cities.^ 



An attempt was made in 1916 to determine the extent 

 to which the marketing of milk is regulated by the various 

 cities and villages of Wisconsin. The results are more or 

 less typical of conditions in other sections of the country. 

 Letters were sent to 128 cities and incorporated towns. 

 Replies from 120 of these indicate that milkmen are re- 

 quired to be licensed in 26, and 1 2 of the 1 20 stores which 

 deal in milk are required to be licensed. Through the Mu- 

 nicipal Reference Bureau of the Extension Division of 

 the University of Wisconsin an attempt was made to 



' Creamery and Milk Plant Monthly, May, 1919, p. 37. 



' New York Report on Dairy Products, Livestock and Poultry, 1917, p. 672. 



» Address of Dr. Carl Alsberg, Chief of Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Dept. of 

 Agr., Twenty-third Annual Report of Ohio State Dairymen's Association, 1917, 

 P-94- 



