196 THE COMMON SENSE OF THE MILK QUESTION 



modified milk from the depots is distributed through 

 the medium of such voluntary agencies as some of the 

 smaller social settlements and charitable societies, 

 conditions are worse still. In short, there is a good 

 deal of bungling in connection with the distribution 

 of modified milk by some small charities and room 

 for great improvement in connection with the very 

 best. As a whole, our methods of distribution lack 

 the efficiency of the French. This is all the more 

 regrettable as I believe we have a much better supply 

 to distribute than the French have. 



(3) Municipal Infants' Milk Depots. These require 

 no special description. In the French and Belgian 

 cities where there' are municipal depots the only dif- 

 ferences between them and the depots maintained by 

 private philanthropy subsidized by public funds is 

 that their maintenance is a public function and they 

 are controlled by the municipal authorities. Fre- 

 quently the volunteer committees are retained to 

 assist in the distribution of the milk, visiting the homes 

 of the children, and so on. The difference is one of 

 fiscal policy mainly. Less hampered by lack of funds 

 than those dependent on voluntary contributions, 

 they are sometimes more efficient and generally better 

 able to meet the demands for service. 



