693 
to their now somewhat general form, whether wisely or unwisely may 
properly be questioned. They have been amended from time to time 
and in the form in which they now exist appear elsewhere in this 
report. So also do various extracts from the building and police 
• regulations bearing directly upon the construction and management 
of dairies.® 
The milk law of 1895 represented at the time* of its enactment a 
departure from established precedent. It was a more or less experi- 
mental measure, and therefore it could not be expected that it would 
be found to meet perfectly all the requirements of the service when 
put into operation. Experience soon revealed defects, and efforts 
were promptly begun to correct them. As early as December 15, 
1896, bills were introduced into Congress for that purpose, and" 
legislation to accomplish the desired end has been pending before 
that body almost continuously ever since. The result, however, has 
not been encouraging. Bills introduced on the recommendation of 
the health officer, and receiving the indorsement of the Commissioners 
and of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, have been uni- 
formly opposed by milk interests. Unfortunately, it has been im- 
possible in the drafting of legislation to deal with the milk interests 
as with a unit. The men who are engaged in the production of milk 
and in some cases in its distribution, and those who are engaged solely 
in buying milk and delivering it to the consumer, are too numerous 
and too widely scattered, and their interests are too diverse, to have 
enabled them to come together in a compact organization which might 
be reached as a whole, through its meetings or through any trade or 
society journal. It has been impossible for the health officer to sub- 
mit to the Commissioners or for the Commissioners to submit to 
Congress any bill to regulate the sale of milk in the District with the 
assurance that it would not meet with more or less formidable op- 
position from persons interested in the production and sale of milk, 
either individually or as an organization. The fight to obtain better 
legislation to regulate the sale of milk has always been carried to the 
committee room, at the Capitol, and the fight has always been lost. 
Whilp it has been impossible to obtain needed amendments to the 
act of March 2, 1895, regulating the sale of milk, other legislation has 
been enacted that has modified the practice of the health department 
with respect to the supervision of the milk supply and the mainte- 
nance of the milk-inspection service. By the act of February 17, 1898, 
entitled “An' act relating to. the adulteration of foods and drugs in the 
District of Columbia,” * 6 the required chemical composition of milk 
was altered so as to raise the minimum allowable amount of butter 
® See page 742. 
6 See page 733 for full text of this act. 
