NATIONAL INSPECTION OF MILK. 
By Harvey W. Wiley', M. D., Pli. D., 
Chief Bureau of Chemistry, Department of Agriculture. 
Much can be done in improAung the character of milk by inspec- 
tion under the national law of June 30, 1906. This law applies only 
to milk sold in the District of Columbia and the Territories and the 
milk entering into interstate commerce. There are, lioweA’er, many 
large cities located on or near the boundaries of States, and in these 
cities a large part of the milk supply comes from without the State 
in which they are situated. Xew York, Philadelphia, Cincimiati, 
Louisville, Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are types of cities 
of this class. Under the j)i’Ovisions of the law steps have been taken 
to determine the character of the milk supply furnished some of 
these cities, in so far as its chemical composition is concerned and 
incidentally the inspection of dairies has necessarily been made. In 
all, about 3,500 samples of milk have been secured and examined. 
The number of producers, however, was not so great, as often a 
great number of samples were obtained from one j^roducer. The 
manner of conducting the milking and the shipping of milk into 
A^arious cities was studied and in all cases where samples were col- 
lected for prosecution the inspectors accompanied the shipments, 
riding in the milk cars so as to be certain to maintain the identity of 
the samples and to be able to swear to their genuineness after they 
had crossed the State lines. The samples were at once taken to the 
local laboratories of the Bureau of Chemistry, in the cities mentioned, 
and subjected to a preliminary examination, and those which showed 
adulteration or misbranding were afterwards submitted to a more 
careful examination in order to establish Avith certainty a case suffi- 
cienth" strong to Avarrant prosecution. It was deemed wise to prose- 
cute only the flagi'ant cases, but many samples were found by analysis 
to be watered or partly skimmed, and these were not prosecuted be- 
cause of the difficulty Avhich it was thought Avould arise in proving 
conclusively to the jury that the milk had been tampered with. 
Owing to the necessary delay in the prosecution of cases in the 
Federal courts only 57 cases so far liaA’e gone to trial. Of these, 53 
( 743 ) 
