The slip 'twixt law making and law enforcement is everywhere found. In 1864 New York state prohibited the sale of adulterated milk. Law after law has been made since that time, giving health officials power to revoke licenses of milk dealers and to send men to jail who violated milk laws. We now know that no law will ever stop the present frightful waste of infant lives, counted in thousands annually, unless dairies are frequently inspected and forced to be clean; unless milk is kept at a temperature of about fifty degrees on the train, in the creamery, at the receiving station, and in the milk shop; unless dealers scald and thoroughly cleanse cans in which milk is shipped; unless licenses are taken from farmers, creameries, and retailers who violate the law; unless magistrates use their power to fine or imprison those who poison helpless babies by violating milk laws; and unless mothers are taught to scald and thoroughly cleanse bottles, nipples, cups, and dishes from which milk is fed to the baby. We know that these things are not being done except where men or women make it their business to see that they are done. Experience tells us that inspectors will not consistently do their duty unless those who direct them have regular records of their inspections, study those records, find out work not done properly or promptly, and insist upon thorough inspection.
Whether work is done right, whether inspectors do their full duty, whether babies are protected, can be learned only from statements in black and white that show accurately the conditions of dairies and milk shops, the character of milk found and tested by inspectors, and the number of babies known to have been sick or known to have died from intestinal diseases chiefly due to unsafe milk. Any teacher or parent can learn for himself, or can teach children to learn, what steps are taken to guarantee the right to pure milk by using a table such as Table III. Whether conditions at the dairy make pure milk impossible can be told by any one who can read the score card used by New York City (Table IV).
MILK INSPECTION WITHIN NEW YORK CITY, 1906
| New York | Each borough | |||
| Stores | Wagons | Stores | Wagons | |
| FIELD | ||||
| Permits issued during 1906 | ||||
| Permits revoked during 1906 | ||||
| For discontinuance of selling | ||||
| For violation of law | ||||
| Average permits in force in 1906 | ||||
| INSPECTION | ||||
| Regular inspections | ||||
| Inspections at receiving stations | ||||
| Total | ||||
| Average inspections per permit per year | ||||
| Specimens examined | ||||
| Samples taken | ||||
| CONDITIONS FOUND | ||||
| Inspections finding milk above 50° | ||||
| % of such discoveries to total inspections | ||||
| Inspections finding adulteration | ||||
| Warning given | ||||
| Prosecuted | ||||
| % of adulterations found to inspections | ||||
| Rooms connected contrary to sanitary code | ||||
| Ice box badly drained | ||||
| Ice box unclean | ||||
| Store unclean | ||||
| Utensils unclean | ||||
| Milk not properly cooled | ||||
| Infectious disease | ||||
| Persons found selling without permit | ||||
| ACTION TAKEN | ||||
| DESTRUCTION OF MILK | ||||
| Lots of milk destroyed for being over 50° | ||||
| Quarts so destroyed | ||||
| Lots of milk destroyed for being sour | ||||
| Quarts so destroyed | ||||
| Lots of milk destroyed for being otherwise adulterated | ||||
| Quarts so destroyed | ||||
| Total quarts destroyed | ||||
| NOTICES ISSUED | ||||
| To drain and clean ice box | ||||
| To clean store | ||||
| CRIMINAL ACTIONS BEGUN | ||||
| For selling adulterated milk | ||||
| For selling without permit | ||||
| For interference with inspector | ||||
| Total | ||||
Table IV
Perfect Score 100%
Score allowed ...%
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