292 THE COMMON SENSE OF THE MILK QUESTION 



friends in the movement for milk reform who demand 

 compulsory pasteurization of the entire milk supply 

 of our cities. That seems to me to be a retrogressive 

 step and not a progressive one. 



The municipalization of the entire milk supply of 

 any large city is out of the question for many years 

 to come. But I do believe in the establishment of 

 municipal farms for producing, under the very best 

 conditions and most scientific direction obtainable, 

 the milk necessary for such municipal institutions as 

 hospitals and asylums, and for such other institutions 

 of a like nature which may not be actually under 

 municipal management and control, but which are 

 essentially public institutions. As I have tried to 

 show,* such a system of municipal production would 

 not only make it possible for these institutions to se- 

 cure a pure and wholesome milk supply, but would 

 also set a standard for private enterprise to follow. 

 That the proposal is a perfectly practical one the 

 experience of English cities shows. 



I believe as firmly as any of the advocates of 

 pasteurization that, until we can get a better milk 

 supply than any city now has, wise parents will pas- 

 teurize the milk fed to their infants. Even if I lived 

 in Rochester, I think I should continue to pasteurize 

 the milk given to my baby, unless I could get a supply 

 of extraordinary purity and cleanliness. Therefore? 



♦ Chapter VII. 



