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15
authorities; but some fair measure of compensation should be
provided when animals infected with tuberculosis have to be removed
from the herd and slaughtered. I am out of sympathy with the antagonism
evinced in many quarters against some measure of compensation
in such a scheme. The cost, having regard to the important
issues at stake, is small and would tend to grow smaller year by year;
and without it the scheme of veterinary inspection will be under a
great disability. Under most milk contracts with farmers, the farmer
is exempted from any loss which might result from his giving prompt
information of the existence of infectious' disease in anyone connected
with the cows and the milk. This is found to be a valuable concession,
as guaranteeing that the necessary information will not be
withheld. It is for a similar reason that I advocate partial compensation
for the compulsory slaughter of the milch-cow, and my opinion is
strengthened by the circumstance that the clinical diagnosis of Tuberculosis
is very often difficult. But the most urgent need at the present
day is a cleaner milk supply. To put it mildly, too often only the most
rudimentary precautions are taken at the fountain-head, and the
slovenly methods of the past must make way for more cleanly ones,
which involve the minute attention to detail which comes with educated
cleanliness.
It is the number of dirt germs and the opportunities afforded
to them for multiplying, that largely determine the keeping powers
of the milk and its safety or danger to infants.
The germs once in the milk, nothing at the farm premises will
separate them. The screener or filter will separate coarser dirt but
not the tiny germ , a regiment of which could pass through the smallest
pores of the finest milk filter. The most that can be done when
once they have gained access, is to prevent them from multiplying,
by cooling the milk immediately after1 it is drawn to a temperature as
much below 60 degrees Fahrenheit as possible and the adoption of
increased precautions to prevent the temperature subsequently rising