FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 73 



careful thought have come to appreciate that the man who is 

 most in need of a thoroughly sound herd is the owner. He is 

 the man who has the maximum interest in that situation, because 

 those of you who have given this subject attention, who have 

 gotten a good sound herd, one that is properly fed and cared 

 for, know that the marginal profit is not unduly wide in the 

 dairy business, and if you are handicapped by a sick cow or herd 

 there is a very large probability that your margin of profit will 

 be reduced to a very low point. The men who should have the 

 greatest interest in this matter are the owners of the cattle. The 

 public, insofar as that milk may be a source of danger to them, 

 also have an interest, but science shows very clearly that where 

 the milk is properly pasteurized the risk to the public can be 

 easily removed. Properly pasteurizing the milk is done 

 at a very small cost, a fraction of a cent a quart, smaller 

 when done in large quantities, and this item is in reality a saving 

 in the business rather than a loss. As the public can safeguard 

 itself at a minimum expense by pasteurization it has neglected to 

 look into the fanner's end of the tuberculosis problem. 



It is, of course, agreed that really sick cows should be ex- 

 cluded, but the majority of cows that react to tuberculin are not 

 sick in the ordinary meaning of the term. Milk from such tuber- 

 cular cows, properly pasteurized, is a safe article of food, and 

 the protection from the other diseases of typhoid and other 

 things capable of being carried in milk is also met by this ques- 

 tion of proper pasteurization. The preceding speaker called your 

 attention to the fact that there is no merit in the word ''Pasteur- 

 ization" on the cap of a milk bottle; that the presence of that 

 word on the w-agon does not affect or improve the quality of the 

 milk, but on the other hand it is only fair to say that where the 

 milk is properly pasteurized, its danger of carrying these dis- 

 eases of the various kinds is removed. 



I suppose there is a remote possibility that our potatoes or 

 apples or our bread, or any other article of food vshich we use 

 may rarely carry some disease germs — it probably does in rare 

 instances and I suppose there always w\\\ remain in the most 

 carefully handled milk that possibility, but we can speak of a 

 properly pasteurized milk as a thoroughl}' safe food from the 

 standpoint of public health. 



