Vol. I.XIX. No. 4037. 
WEEKI.Y, Jl.00 PER YEAR- 
NEW YORK, MARCH 12, 1910 
FARMERS TURN ON BOARD OF HEALTH. tion, it promises to bring the ridiculous and para- 
[dissatis faction with ixspection methods. doxical actions of some of the city inspectors before 
. c i- tx ^ ie Public for their final judgment. While some of 
Dairymen Sue For Damages. these inspectors are good sensible men, and act on 
The farmers of Roxbury, Delaware Co., X. Y., the square, there are some others who would look 
are thoroughly aroused over the actions of some of much more at home if they were running an East 
the representatives of Xew York City’s Board of Side pawnshop. Such men may disgrace them- 
Health who claim to have the authority 
to inspect the dairies from which the 
milk is shipped to the city of Xew 
York, and cause the owners of such 
dairies' all the trouble and expense 
their sweet wills and consciences seem 
to dictate. This authority is disputed 
by good legal talent, and at least two 
suits for damages have been brought 
against the representatives of the 
Board of Health as test cases. The 
suits brought by Mr. Sniffin K. Bel¬ 
lows and Mr. James White are clearly 
caused by the incompetence of the of¬ 
ficials of the Board of Health to do 
the work assigned to them in a proper 
man ner. 
The farmers welcome intelligent in¬ 
spection by competent men clothed 
with the proper authority. They re¬ 
sent the dictates of city dudes who 
know as much about a cow stable as a 
cow knows about chemistry. They 
agree that much good has been accom¬ 
plished in the past by cleaning up the 
creameries and stables from which 
Xew York’s milk supply is derived. 
More light and ventilation have been 
provided where required, and cleaner 
methods have been adopted in the care' 
of milk, making it more wholesome in 
some cases; but when it comes to the 
exercise of arbitrary power by the 
Board of Health of New York City, 
in Delaware County, where it is as¬ 
serted they have no jurisdiction, the 
farmers have come to a point, driven 
by a desperate struggle to produce five- 
cent milk for four cents per quart and 
tiiree-cent milk for two cents, where 
they refuse to accept the dictates of 
the Board of Health and have appealed 
to the courts for redress. It is as¬ 
serted by a farmer writing in the 
Roxbury I imes” that: “The present 
system of inspection is inimical to the 
best interests of dairying; that compel¬ 
ling a farmer to remodel his barn or 
sustain financial expenditure because 
his barn may be lacking in some desir¬ 
able feature, under threat of rejecting 
his milk, is one of the w’orst forms of 
taxation without representation, espe¬ 
cially when done without any lawful 
authority, and without even testing the 
milk to prove it impure. Such pro- 
' edure is tyranny. It is unconstitu¬ 
tional. It is subversive to the rights 
and privileges of American citizens. 
\ l * s diametrically opposed to the death- 
Iess principles enunciated in that im- 
1NTERIOR OF JAMES WHITE’S BARN AT ROXBURY. Fig. 117 
INTERIOR OF MR. BELLOWS’S BARN—MILK REJECTED. Fig. 118 
mortal document, the Declaration of Independence. 
Such a system of inspection as the above is wrong 
j n Principle, wrong in operation, wrong in effect. 
1 ou £ht to be abolished and inspection placed under 
•late control, a new score card devised and present 
evils corrected.” 
Although this is not the first opposition the Board 
selves and the Board of Health, and can do untold 
damage in their fruitless efforts to earn $ioo per 
month. 
In the cases under discussion we will not attempt 
to pronounce judgment before trial, but we will con¬ 
sider the merits of the two cases separately. We 
present a picture of Mr. Bellows’ barn in Fig. 118, 
by the Cold Spring Creamery by the order of Russell 
Raynor, Chief of the Bureau of Sanitary Inspection of 
the Board of Health of Xew York City, because of 
alleged unsanitary conditions in the stable and milk 
room. The barn is in practically the same condition 
as it was when inspected by Mr. Hocklener. No 
score card was given Mr. Bellows. He was, how¬ 
ever, notified by Mr. Raynor that the 
sanitary requirements of the Board of 
Health must be complied with, but no 
specific directions were given, so Mr. 
Bellows decided to await the action of 
the Board of Health. The milk from 
this dairy was accordingly rejected on 
Dec. 0, 1909, and legal proceedings 
began soon afterward. After bringing 
action against Mr. Raynor, and before 
improving his barn in any manner 
whatever, Mr. Bellows received notice 
from the defendant stating that he 
could resume delivery of his milk to 
the Cold Spring Creamery, if he 
would get a veterinary to certify to 
the health of his dairy. This request 
was complied with on Jan. 11, 1910, 
when Dr. Wheeler of Stamford visited 
Mr. Bellows’ premises, examined his 
herd and certified to the health of 
the same. On. Jan. 14 Mr. Bellows re¬ 
sumed the delivery of his milk at the 
Cold Spring Creamery. Mr. Bellows 
also received a long list of rules and 
regulations, recommendations and sug¬ 
gestions from Mr. Raynor, together 
with a short letter to the effect that 
such were enclosed, and that a com¬ 
pliance with same would increase his 
score proportionately. The dairymen 
who supply milk to New York City’s 
market, and who are familiar with 
these rules, regulations, recommenda¬ 
tions, etc., know that to comply with 
all of them would require the expendi¬ 
ture of hundreds of dollars by prac¬ 
tically every dairyman, and would re¬ 
sult in the production of milk good 
enough to be sold as certified. This 
grade of milk has been found to cost 
over 10 cents per quart for production 
alone. Do the people of New York 
City want certified milk, and are they 
willing to pay 13, 14 or 15 cents per 
quart for it? Let us see for a moment 
how they take an increase in price of 
one cent quart after the Board of 
Health has carried on its inspection 
work for the past four years, and 
caused the producers all the trouble 
and expense they could stand, to in¬ 
crease the quality of the milk. Early 
in the Winter the retail price of milk 
was raised from eight cents to nine 
cents per quart by most of the large 
distributors in the city. The people’s 
protest against this increase in price 
was general before it was proven that 
the dealers were making plenty of 
money at the eight cent rate. This 
fact proves conclusively that the people of New York 
City look at the price of milk first and the quality 
comes in for second place, except in the eyes of the 
Board of Health, where the opposite is true. Of 
course, this agitation over the price of milk in New 
York City was greatly augmented by the discussions 
in the city papers, which have since subsided, follow- 
of Hen 1 tli w • •: 77 .. “ i^uuc ui ivir. oenows Darn in rig.Tis, in tlie city papers, which have since subsided, follow 
in 1 s crusa e ° countr y inspec- which was taken shortly after his milk was rejected ing closely the appearance of large illustrated ac 
