258 
In many cases the tenants have much to contend with and report 
that their landlords are wholly unwilling to make alterations or neces- 
sary improvements, and if such are made it must be done entirely at 
the expense of the tenant. Sometimes, however, the fault does not lie 
exclusively with the landlord. Very frequently the basement in these 
establishments is used not only for the manufacture of ice cream and 
frozen dainties but also as a storage room for all the old waste which 
may have accumulated for years past — old broken furniture, scraps of 
metal, cast-off clothing, broken boxes, barrels, moth-eaten rugs, mat- 
ting — in fact one may find just such worthless stuff as generally col- 
lects about the dwelling house in the course of time. Such articles 
must of course pollute, and most dangerously, any food products 
which are brought into their proximity, and the nature of the bac- 
terial flora found in the foodstuffs manufactured in these insanitary 
surroundings fully bear out the truth of the above statement. 
While the premises are themselves of insanitary construction an 
immense benefit would accrue to the consumers of ice creams, char- 
lotte russes, cream puffs, custards, etc., if a general house cleaning on 
the part of the tenants were demanded and enforced. 
An analysis of the individual findings in the 53 places visited and 
the classification, so far as possible, on the basis of “ clean, dirty, fair, 
and filthy ” shows the following results : 
Clean. 
Fair. 
Dirty. 
Filthy. 
3 
a 5. 6 
16 
a 30.1 
19 
a 35. 8 
9 
a 16. 9 
a Per cent. 
While undoubtedly the insanitary conditions prevailing in and 
about the ice cream manufactories of Washington must influence the 
wholesomeness of the product from the bacteriological point of view, 
it is not entirely responsible for the great number of organisms which 
are ordinarily found in such foods. As previously stated, the cream 
and milk supply of the city has been investigated by the Bureau of 
Chemistry, and although the detailed results will not be reported here, 
it is advisable to consider briefly the findings of the bacteriological 
examination of 130 samples of cream collected in the city of Wash- 
ington from February 1 to July 27, 1907. 
Samples showing — 
Less than 10,000 organisms per cubic centimeter 0 
From 10,000 to 50,000 organisms per cubic centimeter 3 
From 50,000 to 100,000 organisms per cubic centimeter 6 
From 100,000 to 250,000 organisms per cubic centimeter 20 
From 250,000 to 500,000 organisms per cubic centimeter 19 
From 500,000 to 1,000,000 organisms per cubic centimeter. 15 
