Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 55.djvu/650

630 been definitely traced to milk have been in small communities, and none traced to the milk of large dealers. It is true that it would be difficult or impossible to trace to the milk a typhoid epidemic which might occur in a large city, No one is likely to receive the milk from the same source for two days in succession, and the mixing which the milk receives in the receiving station entirely obliterates the individual source. If there should be some milk brought to the city which contained typhoid bacteria it would be impossible to determine the fact, for such milk, after mixing, would be thoroughly scattered beyond any possibility of following it. We may, then, question somewhat the significance of the fact, but it certainly is true that while serious epidemics have been caused by milk in smaller cities no such instance has occurred in the large cities, or been traced to the milk furnished by companies that handle it in considerable amounts. It would seem that if milk has ever been the cause of such diseases in large cities there ought to have been some evidence of the fact obtained.

It is probable, therefore, that the small community can hardly feel itself any better off in regard to the milk supply than the larger city. It is, of course, easier to trace responsibility for bad milk if we know where it comes from, but it is less likely to be very bad if it comes from a large number of sources and is thoroughly mixed. The milk in the large city is perhaps forty-eight hours old when it is received by the consumer. But it has been kept on ice, has perhaps been filtered, and many of its bacteria may have been killed by the long-continued cold temperature. So far as concerns the bacteria question, our milk which is thus two days old, appears to be actually superior to milk delivered in European cities, which is only a few hours old. The free use of ice in our milk car produces a more favorable result than the more rapid handling which the milk receives in Europe. The milk company controlling a large territory, with great resources at its command, can put into practice rules which even public statute can not enforce, and which the individual farmer will rarely do by himself. One who is acquainted with the methods of handling milk in our cities finds that the companies are each year improving their methods, and that the milk is in most places becoming more reliable. The proper solution of the milk supply for our communities is in the formation of large companies, provided they are managed partly for the benefit of the public and not wholly for money-making.

There is little question that the public has become somewhat suspicious of milk, and that many hesitate to drink it as freely as in earlier years. This suspicion is more pronounced in Europe than in the United States. Upon the continent of Europe the