iff  • 
VOL.  LI.  No.  22  12 
NEW  YORK,  JUNE  18,  1892 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS, 
ifea. 00  PER  YEAR. 
Fat  Milk  ! 
An  Unfair  Law  Makes  Thin  Producers  and  Fat 
Dealers. 
How  the  Scheme  Works. 
Our  cartoon  tells  in  eloquent,  language  the  story  of 
an  evil  which  seems  hard  to  suppress.  On  the  one 
hand,  we  see  the  milk  producer,  who  sells  his  milk  to 
the  Exchange  creamery,  holding  aloft  in  his  hand  a 
tube  from  the  Babcock  tester,  which  shows  his  milk 
to  contain  4%  per  cent  of  butter  fats.  The  sleek,  big- 
bellied  Exchange  buyer  looks  on  the  .record  with 
smiling  face,  seeing  in  it  a  handsome  margin  of  profit 
for  himself,  in  addition  to  the  legitimate  margin  of 
see  it  shows  the  necessary  three  per  cent  of  butter  fats. 
What  would  you  have,  madam  ?  Are  you  greater  than 
the  law  ?  Do  you  presume  to  find  fault  with  milk 
which  the  statutes  of  this  great  commonwealth  declare 
to  be  pure,  and  up  to  all  legal  requirements?” 
With  a  severely  indignant  look  on  his  face  he  walks 
oft',  until  he  rounds  the  corner,  when  the  frown  melts 
into  a  smile  and  he  hugs  himself  complacently  as  he  re¬ 
flects  upon  the  beauties  of  the  law.  The  woman  is 
silenced,  but  not  convinced.  She  has  seen  milk  upon 
which  the  cream  would  be  thick  and  rich,  but  it  is 
never  so  with  the  milk  she  buys,  and  she  sighs  for  the 
days  when  better  was  so  easily  attained. 
Sec  how  easily  this  game  is  worked  by  unscrupulous 
to  which  any  water  or  other  substance  has  been  ad¬ 
ded,  is  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor.  This  is  right — is  as 
it  should  be.  On  the  other  hand,  the  man  who  sells 
milk  may  mix  skimmed  milk  or  water  with  his  pure 
milk  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  yet  if  it  shows,  on 
analysis,  12  per  cent  of  solids,  of  which  three  are  fat, 
the  milk  is  pure  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  and  he  goes 
free.  This  law  must  be  changed  at  the  next  session 
of  the  legislature.  Whether  the  standard  is  to  be 
changed  or  not,  is  a  matter  for  careful  deliberation, 
but  the  clause  making  it  a  misdemeanor  for  the  farmer 
to  add  water  or  skimmed  milk,  or  to  remove  cream 
from  his  product,  must  be  made  to  apply  to  the  dealer 
also.  Under  the  present  one-sided  law  many  thou- 
HOW  THE  DEALER  GROWS  FAT  AT  THE  EXPENSE  OF  THE  PRODUCER  AND  CONSUMER.  Fig.  179. 
Dealer  to  Farmer:  “  Don’t  want  your  milk  unions  it  tests  4 %  per  cent  of  fat.  I  can’t  sell  sklm-mllk  !  ”  Dealer  to  Consumer:  “  My  milk  tests  three  per  cent  of  fat.  That's  legal  milk  anti  the  best  out !  ” 
sands  of  quarts  of  skimmed  milk  are  daily  sold  in  this 
city  for  pure  milk,  being  skillfully  blended  with  the 
genuine  article,  and  there  is  no  law  to  stop  it,  so  long 
as  the  swindlers  keep  within  the  mark. 
We  must  have  better  milk — not  cheaper.  We  be¬ 
lieve  the  time  is  rapidly  approaching  when  every  quart 
of  milk  will  be  sold  on  the  Babcock  test — when  every 
can  which  comes  to  the  city  will  bear  on  it  a  certificate, 
duly  verified,  certifying  to  the  percentage  of  fats  and 
that  the  price  will  hinge  on  this  certificate.  Such  a 
method  is  practical.  It  would  remedy  great  abuses. 
The  markets  under  the  present  unwise  methods,  offer 
small  inducements  to  the  producer  to  furnish  better 
milk.  The  herd  of  his  neighbor,  scrubs  all,  give  milk 
that  shows  barely  three  per  cent  of  fat,  while  his  herd 
of  Jerseys  or  Guernseys  or  Ayrshires,  turn  out  a  flow 
the  business.  Turning  to  the  other  side,  we  see  the 
dissatisfied  look  on  the  face  of  the  mother  who  buys 
the  milk  in  New  York.  She  holds  it  up  to  the  light 
and  calls  the  attention  of  the  same  big  milkman,  to 
the  fact  that  the  milk  is  very  thin,  that  it  is  cerulean 
in  hue — very  much  attenuated.  She  has  lived  in  the 
country  and  knows  what  good  milk  is.  The  honest 
cows  rarely  turn  out  so  unsatisfactory  a  product  as 
this  upon  which  she  gazes  with  such  an  uncertain 
look.  But  the  wily  dealer  is  equal  to  the  emergency. 
He  has  a  great  respect  for  the  law.  Naturally  he 
should  have,  for  he  has  on  one  or  two  occasions  felt 
its  ire  and  been  mulcted  in  heavy  fines. 
“  The  law,  madam,”  he  says,  “  puts  three  percent 
of  butter  fat  as  the  standard,  below  which  milk  must 
not  go.  Look  at  this  Babcock  test  tube,  madam.  You 
milk  buyers,  whose  market  is  in  the  Metropolitan  dis¬ 
trict.  Thirty  quarts  of  pure  milk,  with  four  per  cent 
of  butter  fat  and  10  quarts  of  skimmed  milk  will 
show  by  the  test  of  mathematics  or  the  chemist,  three 
per  cent  of  butter  fat — enough  to  make  the  milk  pure 
in  this  State,  under  the  statute. 
30  quarts. 
10  quarts. 
40 
1 
4  per  cent  fat. 
0 
120 
00 
120 
3 
The  fine  hand  of  the  scheming  milk  dealer  is  seen 
in  the  laws  regulating  this  milk  traffic.  They  are 
made  to  bear  rigorously  on  the  farmer  while  they  let 
up  on  the  dealer.  The  law  provides  that  any  farmer 
who  sells  to  a  butter  or  cheese  factory  milk  from 
which  any  portion  of  the  cream  has  been  removed,  or 
