NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE Bethesda, Maryland o. DV THE 5y MILK TRADE $Uto ||0rk aitfo idriiritg, AN ACCOUNT OF THE SALE OF PUKE AND ADULTERATED MILK—THE DAILY AND YEARLY CONSUMPTION—THE AMOUNT OF PROPERTY INVESTED IN THE BUSINESS— THE MILK-DEALERS AND DAIRYMEN OF ORANGE AND OTHER COUNTIES—INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF IMPURE MILK ON CHILDREN—ADVICE TO COUNTRY DAIRYMEN, BY JOHN MULLALY. OTitf) an EntroTmctfon, Br R. T. Trah, M.D. NEW YORK: FOWLERS AND WELLS, PUBLISHERS, Clinton Hall, 131 Nassau Street. Boston. I« WimljiiiRton-st,] lH'lS [London, No. 142 8tianA U)ft Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by FOWLERS AND WELLS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New Tork. NEW YORK STEREOTYPE ASSOCIATION, 201 William Street, NLM % n t r n u a x t i a n. BY E. T. TEALL, M.D. The intrinsic importance of the facts and figures so well presented in the following pages, ought to secure for this little book the earnest attention of the community, without introduction or commendation from any one. But, unfortunately, there is a degree of apathy abroad on the subject of milk-food, from which it has hitherto been impossible fully to arouse the public mind. It is a matter of common conversation among our citizens; it is a source of continual apprehension on the part of moth- ers and nurses ; it is frequently asserted in the newspapers; and it is the unanimous iv Introduction. declaration of medical men, that thousands of children annually sicken and die in this city, from the effects of bad milk. And the same sad story is told, and the same medical testi- mony is repeated year after year, and yet the evil goes on unchecked—because, by this traffic men can " put money in their purses." Were placards to be posted around the streets of this city and its suburbs, announcing in glaring capitals that the inhabitants of New York, Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, and Jersey City, pay annually the sum of three millions op dollars for adulterated and distillery or slop milk; and nearly half a million of dollars for the water with which both pure and impure milk is diluted; and that nearly two thirds of all the milk consumed in the above-named places is a spuriously manufactured article, would not the people, think you, reader, gaze at the appalling proclamation in utter incre- dulity or inexpressible astonishment ? Would they not wonder at the indifference of the Introduction. v swindled sufferers; be amazed at that silence of our municipal authorities which is equiva- lent to consent, and exclaim, more indignantly than usual on occasions of outrage, "Where are the Police?" But, fellow-citizens, these statements are diabolical facts and disgraceful realities. The records of our city mortality for the last five or six years show an average number of deaths of about seventeen thousand. Of these seventeen thousand nearly one half are of children under five years of age, while infants less than one year old make up almost one fourth of the whole number. Thus we may calculate, so long as the present order of things continues, with almost unerring cer- tainty, on the deaths of eight or nine thousamd children annually, which number will, of course, augment as our population increases. We do not see, among the returns made to the Inspector's office, any deaths from a disease called milhpoison. The majority are desig- Introduction . nated as having died of convulsions, maras- mus, diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera infan- tum. Yet physicians tell us, most truly, that a large proportion of all the above prevalent diseases are caused by impure or adulterated milk. It is very difficult for unprofessional persons to perceive and understand the pri- mary or predisposing causes of infantile dis- eases. The immediate or exciting causes are sufficiently apparent: as taking cold, indigest- ible food, etc. But in most cases these excit- ing causes would only induce temporary and trifling indisposition, were it not that some morbific agent or agents, operating like a slow poison, had produced a predisposition to dis- ease ; and the force of the morbific influence is proportioned always to the extent of the pre- disposition. The physician can, therefore, readily comprehend how the habitual use of swill milk will so impair the digestive organs, and derange the nutritive functions, that, in the warm season, when the organic Introduction. vii fibers are relaxed, and the determination of irritation is from the external surface to the internal mucous membrane, the slightest er- ror in regimen may develop a fatal form of bowel complaint; or in case no material error in the voluntary habits and nursing manage- ment is committed, how the young child shall gradually pine away, decline, and die of atrophy, marasmus, or scrofula. In hundreds of cases the symptoms of pois- oning by swill milk are so obvious, that phy- sicians at once impute the disease to this cause, and prohibit the use of milk entirely. And to this abstinence from bad milk are the patients mainly indebted for their recovery. In my own practice I have every year grown more suspicious of distillery milk, whenever I have seen a child presenting a sickly appear- ance, loose, flabby flesh, weak joints, capricious appetite, frequent retchings, and occasional vomitings, irregular bowels, with tendency to diarrhea, and fetid breath. This assemblage Vlll In TRODUCTION . of symptoms is often attributed to worms; but my experience has fully satisfied me that slop milk is much more frequently the cause. I have known these symptoms defy all medi- cation, even of the Water-Cure kind, until the milk part of the diet was entirely abandoned, the parents all the while having the utmost confidence in the special honesty of their milk- man, and fully believing that nothing but " Pure Orange County," ever came into their houses. Infants and young children, however, are not the only sufferers from the swill milk trade. Those who have ingenuity enough to sell the filthy secretion from slop-fed cows, un- der the name of milk, have also sufficient skill in the way of dealing to make a compound of swill milk, calves' or hogs' brains, molasses, and chalk, which they sell under the name of " Sweet Cream." This, too, is always fresh from " Orange" or " Westchester" counties, " Long Island" or " Connecticut!" Those who Introduction. ix patronize ice-cream saloons, even the most fashionable resorts, would have a better assur- ance that real cream was employed in the preparation of cream cakes, cream pies, cream ices, and other dainty "delicacies," if they should personally see to the milking, and watch the process of setting, and skimming, and marketing, and cooking, with their own eyes. But this subject has not merely a sectional, it has a national importance. It is not in and around New York alone that fortunes are made by the manufacture and sale of swill milk. All of our large cities, we have reason to fear, are extensively engaged in the nefari- ous business. And in most of the principal cities of Europe, it is known to be among the chief causes of infant mortality. And surely, if there were no other causes of infantile dis- eases in the civilized world, we would have no occasion to marvel that children are hurried from their cradles to their graves at a rapid 1* X Introduction. rate, however much we might deplore that ignorance which imputes to a " mysterious Providence" that which may more rationally and less blasphemously be charged to human cupidity and fraud. And here a principle of immense import- ance and of universal applicability suggests itself—the relations of property to humanity. Nothing can better illustrate the grand fund- amental error of the world's legislation thus far, than the people's acquiescence in the right of a rich man to get richer, although the busi- ness by which he swells his coffers costs the lives of hundreds or thousands of his fellow- beings ; and this abuse of our social system has one of its strongest demonstrations in the spurious milk business. Our statute laws and city ordinances declare, and the common law ordains, that no mail shall sell poison to his neighbor under the name of food or drink; nor an article which is in any material respect different from what Introduction. xi it is represented to be. Yet two hundred thousand quarts of distillery slops are distrib- uted among our citizens every day in the year, at four or five cents a quart, labeled " Pure Country Milk." Nor is this stupenduous cheat done in a cor- ner. It seeks no hiding-place, but braves the open day. Even in the densely populated parts of our city, the huge piles of dark, dingy, brick walls, from which thick clouds of smoke and vapor ascend continually, denote the dis- tillery, where thousands of bushels of grain are daily converted into intoxicating liquor. But this is not enough. The object of the distiller is to get money. Why should he not econo- mize? He has invested fifty or a hundred thousand dollars of capital. Why should it not be made to pay to the utmost ? His prof- its in liquor-making, though great, can be vastly increased by using up the refuse slops in milk-making. Why should he not do so 3 Whosoever alleges that humanity requires of xii Introduction. him not to do this thing, must recollect that he has a property interest in the matter. The milkmen's carts are seen, too, standing around the long rows of pestilential cow sta- bles, and going to and fro, at all hours of the day. And, what is more remarkable than all else, these things are seen by and known to all men in the city having authority in the premises; to the Mayor; to the City Inspect- or ; to the District Attorney; to the Alder- men and Assistant Aldermen; to the Chief of Police, and to the Board of Health. Why do none of them interfere ? Should any poor man, whose whole property consists in a single cow, shut that cow up in a dark, damp, close under-cellar, feed her on the slops of his kitchen, or even on the swill slops brought from the neighboring distillery, and support his family by peddling out to his neighbors fifteen or twenty quarts of such milk a day, does any body believe, that after the nature of his business was known, it would Introduction. xiii be suffered to exist for a single week? No. The strong arm of authority would come down upon him. He might beg or starve, and his family go to the poor-house or die, before he, being a poor man, and hence of little conse- quence in the world, would be allowed to cause the death of any body. But the rich man erects a large and costly edifice. He keeps one or two thousand cows on his distillery slops. His milk trade amounts to ten or twenty thousand quarts daily. He is a wholesale dealer, and hence is not to be classed with the retailer above men- tioned. If the milk sold by the retailer should cause the death of one person he would be a fair candidate for the gallows, or liable to con- viction for manslaughter in some of its degrees. But the milk manufactured and sold by the wholesaler does actually cause the death of scores or hundreds; yet who ever thinks of arraigning him for murder? He walks in " high life," flourishes among the " upper ten," XIV Introduction. goes in the " first society," and moves among us a very paragon of respectability ! Let me draw a brief picture for his especial benefit. Suppose a very poor man, who gets his living, as the manner of some is, by selling ginger cakes—five for a penny—should, in order to enhance his gains, use old, sour, musty flour, plaster of Paris, saw-dust, and impure sugar, instead of sweet, fresh flour, pure ginger, and good sugar, in the manufacture of the food he sells. Suppose, further, that this man should sell a penny or two's worth of his mer- chandise to some rich man's child—the dis- tiller's in Sixteenth Street, if you please—and the child should eat the cakes, and be thrown into a fit of sickness in consequence, finally resulting in death—would not summary pun- ishment be meted out to the offender, the villain, the murderer, on proof of such facts ? Is there, in any moral sense, any difference between the poor cake-vender, and the rid swill milk-maker, except that the latter can Introduction. xv not plead the temptation of want, nor the pal- liating circumstance of seeming necessity ? Legislators have not yet, at least not gene- rally, become sufficiently intelligent nor hu- manitarian, to perceive the principle of eternal right and universal justice, which asserts that no one man can have a better right to prop- erty than another has to life. As yet, in the most enlightened countries, almost the whole scope and tenor of legislation places the protection of property far above the sanctity of life. On what other supposition can any one account for the existence of such a nuisance as a distillery among us, or the toleration of the impure milk traffic, which every body knows is carried on exten- sively among and around us ? Our law makers and law administrators evade responsibility by affecting some vague and indefinal >le regard for the rights of prop- erty, the interests of business, the reserved rights of individuals, etc., as though nobody xvi Introduction . had any business with rights save those who work mischief and scatter misery. The dis- tiller, too, has a way of proving himself in no way morally, though he may be pecuniarily, associated with his own business. And, indeed, all parties to the fraudulent traffic seem to have conveniently easy and elastic consciences, which enable them to shirk all moral ac- countability. The distiller himself does not directly sell any of his swill milk. His hands, he appears to think, are clear enough of that murder. He only sells his refuse slops to others; or, rather, he keeps other persons' cows on this food, at so much a head per week. For all he cares, his customers, who own the cows, may feed the milk they take away from the stables to their cows or pigs, or eat it themselves. He hnows they will sell it to the people under the fictitious name of " Pure Milk." But does his knowing it make it so ? Such is his "lower law" subterfuge. And then the peddler who owns the cows, has an 1 N T R O D L OTION. Xvii equally legitimate method of " whipping the devil round the stump." He buys the milk- making slop, and pays for it. The people buy milk made of slop of him. Isn't this a fair business transaction ? It is no worse for him to sell it to the people who are willing to pay for it, than for the distiller virtually to sell it to him; and as for the label, " Orange County," that is only the way of trade; and so he logically twists himself out of all orig- inal or imputed sin or iniquity in the trans- action. But I am perhaps expatiating too largely on such thoughts as the reading of the work before us can hardly fail to suggest. I will remark, however, in conclusion, that the chief and great excellency of the work, consists in its giving a fair, faithful, and impartial view of the whole milk trade—its uses as well as abuses. Other works have dwelt with just severity, yet almost exclusively, on the evil effects of impure milk. But this author has xviii Introduction. given us a complete history of both good and bad milk. And unless our City Inspector, whose special duty it is to see to the abate- ment of all nuisances, shall turn his attention officially to distilleries and their accompani- ments, the cow stables, there is little hope of any beneficial change, except in arousing the public mind to the importance of pure milk, and spreading abroad such general informa- tion as will increase the supply of the pure article, for which purpose the work now com- mended to the public is admirably adapted. JDantenta. © j)aji tcr ©rte. First EstabUshment of Country Milk Dairies—Adulterated and Swill Milk—Trans- portation of Milk over the Harlem, Erie, and Hudson Biver Railroads. .Page 21 ©tjaptet Stoo. Increased Supply of Pure Country MUk—The Milk Freight of the New HaTen Railroad—The New Jersey Country and Swill Milk—Daily Supply of Country Milk................................................................. 81 @ t> a rp tcr 3Ctree. Fraudulent Practices of Swill Milkmen—Description of a Swill Milk Establish- ment, and its Internal Economy—Disgusting Practices and Brutality of those Employed in them.................................................... 89 <£ i) a p t e r rffour. Profit of the Swill Milk business—Great Mortality and Disease among Cows fed on Swill—The Drivers of Milk Carts, the Stable Keepers, and the " Small Deal- ers"—Process of Adulteration.......................................... 49 C£ J) a p t e v jMbe. Cow Stables of London—The City Inspector and the Swill Nuisance—Diary of a Cow Stable—The Fortieth Street Establishment......................... 68 XX Contents. ©fiarpter Sty. The SwUl MUk Business in Williamsburg, WaUabout, and Brooklyn—MUk Trans- ported from those Places to New York—The Milk Carrier—Manufacture of Buttermilk—The Jersey City Milk Business.........................Page 65 Ctliaj) ter Sebcn. The Milk and Dairies of Orange County—The Quality of MUk Affected by the Diet of Cattle—Bovine Instinct and Antipathies—Process of Cooling MUk.. 78 ©iiajiter 3StgJ)t. Profits of Country Dairymen—Great Increase in the Supply of MUk by the Erie Railroad—The Stabling and Food of Cattle—A Word of Advice to Dairy- men ................................................................. 86 ffitap ter Wfne. Estimate of Capital Invested in the MUk Business—Yearly Receipts from the Sale of aU kinds of MUk............................................... 98 <£ J) arj 111 5Ten. Necessity for an Ordinance to regulate the Sale of MUk, and to prevent its Adul- teration—History of the Orange County Milk Association................. 101 ®tarptcr 2E U b e n. Importance of MUk as an article of Diet—Infant Mortality produced by Impure Milk—Chemical Analysis of different kinds of Milk—A Case of Fatal MUk Sickness—Nutritious Properties of MUk—Conclusion.................... 110 Cju DP Ik Crata. Cjjapitt #nt. First Establishment of Country MUk Dairies—Adulterated and Swill Milk—Trans portation of MUk over the Harlem, Erie, and Hudson River Railroads. It is now about fifteen years since the importance of this subject was first brought to the notice of the public, in a series of lectures delivered by Mr. R. M. Hartley, upon the use of impure and unhealthy milk, and its pernicious effects upon the general health. The facts that were then made known caused consid- erable excitement throughout New York and its vi- cinity, and the gentleman who had the hardihood to expose the evil with a view to its correction, me not only with the opposition of those interested ir the manufacture of what is called "swill milk," but was actually assaulted for his temerity. The excite- ment, however, was productive of good effects, and resulted in attracting the attention of the public to 22 The Milk Trade. the best means for the removal of the grievances complained of. Dairies for the* sale of pure country milk were then, for the first time, established, and despite the exertions of the distillers and others interested in the sale of the bad milk to injure them in every pos- sible way, they have succeeded, to a great extent, in supplying the city with the healthy article. It will hardly be credited that, at the time the subject was first agitated, there was not one dairy in the city for the exclusive sale of pure country milk, and the only means by which it could be obtained was by having it conveyed direct from the country, in cans, to the persons requiring it. In this way the custo- mer is always certain of obtaining it pure from the cow, for we never knew of a case in which it was adulterated by the farmer. This seems to be a prac- tice which belongs exclusively to our city dairies and milkmen. In fact, so apprehensive are some families as to the quality of milk that is sold in New York, that they will not purchase it at the dairies, but must have what they require for their own use sent in from the country; and these apprehensions would Pure and Impure Milk. 23 seem to be well founded, if we might judge from an instance that recently occurred in this city, where swill milk was furnished in place of the pure article, and in direct violation of the contract made between the parties. The great caution of such persons is not to be won- dered at, when we consider the deleterious effects of bad milk upon the human system, and particular- ly upon the health of infants, whose weak constitu- tions render them more liable to be affected by it. Milk is the principal article of food of all chil- dren, and when it is impure it is not reasonable to suppose that they can be healthy. Hundreds of them die annually in New York from sickness pro- duced by it alone; but as this is a subject that would require a separate chapter, we will leave its consideration for another time. We have said that there are dairies for the sale of pure country milk in this city, and we know, from actual experience, that it can be purchased as it is procured from the cow, but at a somewhat higher cost than it is generally furnished by milkmen. The number of persons and companies engaged in the sale of pure milk, is estimated at two hundred 24 The Milk Trade. and fifty, or about one half the number of those who sell the impure kind. When we speak of pure milk in connection with city dealers, we mean to be understood as speaking only of milk that is not adulterated by the admix- ture of chalk or whiting, magnesia, molasses, flour, starch, and other foreign substances, but which is simply diluted with water and flavored with a little salt to keep it sweet. After all, this diluting it with water is perfectly innocent in comparison with the horrible, murderous system that some dairymen adopt to make the pure milk profitable to themselves and injurious to their customers. Water weakens the article, but does not render it unhealthy and uniit for the use of human beings; but when we come to speak of drinking a compound of milk, chalk, molasses (and some say calves' brains, but this we can not believe), it is another thing. The quantity of milk manufactured in this way is not so large as that made from distillery grains and swill, and which, as we have already intimated, forms about two thirds of the quantity consumed in New York, Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and Jersey City. A great proportion of the swill milk itself is Westchester County Milk. 25 rendered even still more unhealthy and pernicious by adulteration. We have, at great labor and trouble, been enabled to collect the following sta- tistics in relation to the amount of milk conveyed by the different railroads to the city. We find, from the freight account of the New York and Har- lem Railroad, that the quantity sent from the differ- ent stations along this route exceeds that received over any other road. The milk is chiefly from Westchester county, which is said to contain some of the finest grazing land in the state of New York, and it is believed by some to be equal to the far-famed Orange county milk. The milk is by some considered^ more healthy for children; but this may be regarded as a mere matter of fancy. The subjoined table gives the exact quantity re- ceived by the Harlem road, and the amount of re- ceipts during the year 1851. Receipts. Quarts. January..................... $3,52114 704,228 February...................... 3,332 04 666,408 March......................... 4,10136 820,272 April......................... 4,938 31 987,662 May........................... 6,590 77 1,318,154 June.....................-..,. 7,124 08 1,424,816 Total................ . $29,607 70 5,921,540 2 26 The Milk Trade. Receipts. Quarts. Amount brought forward. . $29,607 70 5,921,540 July....................... .. 7,546 94 1,509,388 August..................... ... 6,457 22 1,291,444 ... 5,392 50 1,078,500 ... 4,963 68 992,736 ... 4,538 89 917,778 ... 4,613 96 922,792 Total................. . $63,120 89 12,634,178 This table gives us 12,634,178 quarts as the quantity sent over this road in one year, or a daily average of 34,614 quarts. The revenue which the company derives from this one article of freight is very considerable, amounting, as may be seen by reference to the table, to $63,120 89. Five years ago the receipts were not more than half as large; but so great has been the demand for the pure milk, that during the present year there has been a great increase in the amount. For one day—the 11th of July, 1851—we were informed by one of the agents of this road, the total receipts of milk amounted to 40,800 quarts. The cost of trans- portation throughout the route is about one half cent per quart, and the milk is sent in cans capable of containing from ten to twenty, and sometimes as many as thirty gallons. To the facilities presented !>y this road for the transportation of milk, the pub- M i l k Statistics. 27 lie are much indebted for the increased supply ob- tained during the present year. As a proof of this, it is only necessary to refer to the following table, and to compare it with that already given. It pre- sents an accurate account of the milk receipts during the first six months of the present year : Receipts. Quarts. January.......................$4,767 29 953,458 February...................... 4,673 14 934,628 March......................... 5,602 86 1,120,572 April.......................... 6,129 07 1,225,814 May........................... 8,226 28 1,645,256 June.......................... 9,547 95 1,909,590 Total.................. $38,946 59 7,789,318 During the first six months of 1851 there were 5,921,540 quarts of milk received at the Harlem Railroad depot, or 1,867,778 less than the amount transported over the same road for the first six months of the present year. The amount of milk transported over the Erie Railroad from the date of its opening in 1842 to the close of June, 1850, amounted to 53,713,244 quarts. In 1843 it did not exceed 3,181,505 ; but each suc- ceeding year it increased more than a million of quarts, and in 1851 the quantity supplied from the same source was 12,610,556. This presents an in- 28 The Milk Trade. crease of 9,439,051, for the transportation of which alone $47,195 26 were received. The following table, however, gives the monthly receipts, which will be found more satisfactory, as exhibiting the great increase which has taken place : Receipts. Quarts. January ___ ..................$3,260 90 652,180 February___ .................. 3,342 60 668,520 March....... .................. 4,208 55 841,710 .................. 5,007 25 1,001,450 May........ 1,360,500 June........ .................. 7,403 30 1,480,660 1,686,290 .................. 7,248 55 1,449,710 September ... .................. 5,734 20 1,146,840 ..................4,505 95 901,190 .................. 3,703 80 740,760 ................. 3,403 70 680,740 Total.. ................$63,052 78 12,610,556 The increase for the first half of the year 1852 is very large, being more than one half the amount received during the year 1851. The comparison may be made from the following table, presenting the receipts during the first six months of 1852: Receipts. Quarts. January......................$3,340 95 668,190 February...................... 3,463 05 692,610 March.........................4,389 95 877,990 April.......................... 4,995 75 999,150 May.......................... 7,119 95 1,423,990 June.........................- 8,701 50 1,740,300 Total...................$32,011 15 0,40^230 Statistics Continued. l;9 It is, comparatively speaking, a very short time since the Hudson River Railroad was opened, yet the amount of milk now sent over it from the differ- ent stations, to a distance of about eighty miles from Eew York, is very considerable. The road, it will be remembered, has not been more than three years in operation, and the receipts for the first two years were small in comparison with the amount at present received. The first milk freight did not exceed four hundred quarts, and the re- ceipts therefor amounted to about two dollars. Of the many stations along the route, the greatest quantity is sent from Sing Sing, Peekskill, Starks- burg, and Stuyvesant. The other stations are Dearmans, Tarrytown, Croton, Crugers, Garrisons, Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, and East Camp. The annexed table gives the amount conveyed to the city by this road for the year commencing Au- gust, 1851, and ending July, 1852 : I Receipts. Quarts. August............................$630,05 144,012 September.........................510 26 116,518 October...........................404 86 92,540 November......................... 337 68 77,184 $1,882 85 430,254 30 The Milk Trade. Receipts. Quarts. Amount brought forward .. $1,882 85 430,254 December.........................332 87 76,084 January.......................... 332 89 76,096 February......................... 304 27 69,548 March............................ 373 82 85,220 April............................. 399 49 91,312 May.............................. 695 17 158,896 June............................. 890 80 203,616 July..............................906 12 207,112 Total.................... $6,118 48 1,398,138 This, it must be admitted, is a large addition to the annual amount of milk consumed in the city. It tends to the partial decrease of the impure and adulterated milk, and we may look forward with hope to the time when, through the agency of steam, the whole traffic in it will be destroyed. Increased Supply of Pure Country Milk—The Milk .Freight of the New Haven Railroad—The N-ew Jersey Country and SwUl Milk—Daily Supply of Country MUk. In the preceding chapter we gave the amount of milk brought over the Erie, Harlem, and Hudson River Railroads during one year. From those sta- tistics, it will be seen that the supply received in the city during the three months of summer is more than double the quantity received in winter. For instance, the number of quarts transported over the Erie Railroad in July of 1851 amounted to 1,686,290, while during the month of January of the same year it did not exceed 652,180. This is attributable to the scarcity of the proper vegetable diet in the winter season, and to other causes, which will be explained hereafter. In 1841, as estimated by Mr. Hartley, the daily supply was about 45,000 quarts, or 16,405,000 for 32 The Milk Trade. the twelve months; and of this but a very small proportion was pure. In fact, it was impossible then to procure it from the country, for the whole business was monopolized by the swill milkmen. The quantity of the pure article at present received from the country exceeds the aggregate of all kinds in 1841, when New York had a population of 312,000. When it became generally known, however, that pure milk could be obtained at a little more than the price paid for the manufactured article, all that could be transported over the railroads met with immediate sale. But still, strange to say, there was no perceptible reduction in the quantity of the im- pure and adulterated kind, and the slop and swill establishments were as flourishing as ever till about five or six years ago, when the daily distribution was diminished by a few thousand quarts. This, though a trifling decrease, is still sufficient to prove that a larger supply of the pure country milk would diminish the sale of the unhealthy kind, to a great extent, if it should not wholly abolish it. By the ISTew Haven road, during the year 1851, there were 907,332 quarts sent to the city, the Increased Supply of Pure Milk. 33 transportation of which cost $4,336 69. This is small in comparison with the quantity received by the other roads, but it is only a few years since milk was first transported over it. The following table exhibits the monthly receipts during 1851: Receipts. Quarts. January..........................$217 04 43,408 February......................... 222 38 44,476 March............................ 277 07 55,412 April............................. 317 69 63,536 May.............................. 426 19 85,236 June.............................500 40 100,008 July.............................. 574 12 114,824 August........................... 552 61 110,524 September........................ 362 40 72,480 October........................... 315 37 63,072 November......................... 29194 58,388 December......................... 279 48 55,896 Total......................$4,336 69 907,332 The increase for the first six months of the pres- ent year (1852) is very large, as may be seen by the annexed table. The quantity received during that period was 621,220 quarts, or more than double the receipts for the first half year of 1851. Receipts. Quarts. January..........................$418 65 83,608 February........................--- 405 42 80,884 March............................489 51 97,888 April............................. 475 40 95,288 May.............................. 607 70 117,540 June.............................. 730 26 146,012 Total.......................$3,126 97 621,220 34 The 2vIilk Trade. The report of the freight business of this road next year will, it is expected, show a still largei increase. The farmers whose lands lie sufficiently near any of the stations along the route, to enable them to transport their milk to New York, are only beginning to enter into the business with spirit. They perceive how profitable it may be made, and many who possessed only a dozen head of cattle a few years ago, are now rapidly increasing their stock to supply the constantly increasing demand for milk. The land is excellent, and peculiarly adapted for pasturage, and there is every reason to believe that in four or five years hence, it will become to New York what Westchester county is now. The milk received from Jersey is very limited in comparison with the quantity procured from other quarters. The country does not afford such good pasturage as either Orange or Westchester county, and the farmers do not devote so much of their attention to the raising of cattle. But although Jersey can not in any sense be called a " land flow- ing with milk and honey," the city supplies New York with a considerable proportion of its swill milk. Jersey Milk. 35 Several thousand quarts of this stuff are brought to us by the boats weekly, although, strange to say, the people of that city are themselves supplied by New York milkmen, who, we understand, furnish them with the pure article. This is certainly re- turning good for evil, a Christian magnanimity for which it is hoped the Jerseyites will ever hold us in grateful remembrance. The pure country milk is chiefly obtained from New Brunswick and Eliza- bethtown, whence it is brought over the railroad to Jersey City and thence to New York. The cost of transportation from Elizabethtown is six cents for every forty quarts, and eight cents for the same quantity from New Brunswick. The following is the report of the freight agent, of the amount of milk brought over the road from those places since the 1st of January, 1852: Receipts. Quarts. January............................$84 96 42,680 February.......................... 120 96 61,760 March............................. 119 68 60,800 April.............................. 133 76 67,720 May............................... 177 84 91,320 June.............................. 154 08 78,560 July............................... 153 92 79,360 Total $945 20 482,000 36 The Milk Trade. In addition to this, there are about one thousand quarts brought to Jersey City every day by the Ramapo and Paterson Railroad, which, added to the foregoing, gives a total of 695,000 quarts trans- ported over the two roads from the 1st of January, 1851, to the end of July. From Elizabethport, the steamboat Red Jacket brings to this city 1,500 quarts daily, and about fifteen hundred quarts are received from Newburgh by barges. That our readers may perceive at a glance the quantity of pure milk transported to this city from the country by the railroads and boats, we give the following table, exhibiting the daily average for the year 1852, down to the end of June : Receipts. Quarts. By the Harlem road................ $213 99 42,798 By the Erie road.................... 175 89 35,177 By the Hudson River road........... 16 46 3,762 By the New Haven road............. 17 18 3,413 By the Jersey road.................. 444 2,263 By the Ramapo and Paterson road___ 3 00 1,000 By steamboat Red Jacket............ 5 00 1,500 By barges from Newburgh........... 7 50 1,500 Total......................... $443 46 91,413 The apparent disproportion of the prices of freight by the various conveyances, is caused by Daily Supply of Pure Milk. 37 the difference in the distance from which it is brought. We find from this table that there are 91,413 quarts of pure milk received in this city daily, but it would be a great mistake to suppose that this milk is supplied as pure as it is furnished from the country. Those only who are initiated into the mysteries of the milk trade here can have any adequate idea of the frauds perpetrated upon the public. We are certain we do not overesti- mate the quantity, when we say that of the milk used by private families one-fourth is water, and a mixture of chalk, flour, molasses, and other ingre- dients. There are a few companies in New York which sell the milk as it comes from the cow, but the quantity is very small when compared with the adulterated kind. A well-practiced eye can tell at a glance what proportion of water is added, and we have been informed by a person experienced in these matters, that he has seen milk one third of which consisted of water mixed with chalk, magnesia, or some other substances, which gave it an appearance of consist- ency. The adulteration of milk, however, is too important a matter to be discussed in a single 38 The Milk Trade. chapter. We merely mean to show here, that the quantity of country milk, both pure and adulter- ated, consumed daily, exceeds 100,000 quarts, for which about $6,000 is paid, by private families, hotels, confectionaries, restaurants, etc. It must not, however, be supposed that the practice of adul- teration is confined to country milk, for a large proportion of the produce of the swill stables is subjected to the same process. The ninety thou- sand quarts sent in from the country, is increased to about one hundred and twenty thousand, with the aid of the ingredients already named. Fraudulent Practices of Swill MUkmen—Description of a SwUl MUk Establish- ment, and its Internal Economy—Disgusting Practices and Brutality of those Employed in them. We have already stated that the swill milk daily consumed in this city, Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and Jersey City equaled about two thirds the quan- tity of the pure country article, that is, near one hundred and eighty thousand quarts. This, how- ever, it must be understood, is not produced in New York alone, for there are extensive cow stables in the neighboring cities, from which the city re- ceives large supplies by steamboats. Every morn- ing about three o'clock, the boats upon the different ferries are crowded with milk wagons coming from the " sister cities" to distribute the poison among our people. Some of these vehicles are labeled " Pure Country Milk," " Westchester County Milk," " Orange County Milk," etc., so that those 40 The Milk Trade. who receive it are under the impression that it is the pure article with which they are supplied. This system of deception, although frequently exposed through the press, is still in fatally successful ope- ration. It is true, that some of the milkmen driving these wagons do supply their customers Avith excel- lent milk, but the number is very small when com- pared with those who do not. There was one man engaged in the business who put up a notice that he sold " only pure milk and water" and so implicit was the confidence placed in his word that his business was very extensive. We have computed, as accurately as possible, the number of cows on this island which are fed upon grain, swill, and other slops, and find them amount- ing to about four thousand. Of these, more than one-half are kept in stables connected with distiller- ies, and the remainder are to be found in various sections of the city where stable rent is cheap. Some are as far as three and four miles beyond the city limits, and to these the swill is carried in bar- rels upon carts. The most extensive distillery in the city is that owned by a Mr. Johnson, at the foot of Sixteenth Street, on the North River. It pro- Frauds of Milkmen. 41 duces more swill than any other in New York, and it is said, even "more than any other in the United States. Whether this is correct or not, it is not necessary to inquire, but of one thing we are certain, that it is one of the greatest nuisances which has ever been tolerated by our authorities. We do not refer to the manufacture of spirits, for with that we have nothing to do in this connection, we simply allude to the production of swill for the use of cattle, and the evils inflicted on the commu- nity thereby. Thousands of barrels of this horrible stuff are consumed weekly by the miserable-looking and diseased animals confined in the stables to which we have referred. This, of course, is a source of considerable revenue to the owner of the distillery, whose interest it is to support the sale of the swill milk, and to discountenance that of the pure article from the country. He makes thousands of dollars yearly by this branch of his business alone. The price paid for the board of each cow is six cents per day, or about twenty dollars a-year, and, estimating the number of cows kept in the Sixteenth Street stables at two thousand, the yearly income will be found to amount to forty thousand dollars. This is 42 The Milk Trade. an immense sum of money, and it would require more than ordinary strength of principle to resign a business so lucrative, from motives of public philan- thropy. The sale of swill, as we have stated, is not confined to the stable in the immediate vicinity of the distil- lery, but extends even to a distance of three or four miles from the city. Some of our readers, doubt- less, have seen the vehicles in which it is carried— heavy lumbering carts, with one or two barrels, be- smeared with swill and dirt, and emitting a most offensive odor. They are drawn each by one old, brokenrdown, spavined horse, and occasionally by a team of oxen. Crowds of these carts during " swill days" may be seen around the distilleries, waiting their turn, and so large is the quantity sold in this way that a whole day is often consumed in its distri- bution. The price per barrel is about a shilling, and many thousand barrels are disposed of weekly for the use of cows and pigs. As the only object of the men who keep these cows is, to turn them to the most profitable account, the expense is curtailed in every possible way. They are allowed no straw for bedding, but a very A Modern Augean Stable. 43 small quantity of dry feed, consisting of hay and grain, is given them, and the floor on which they are compelled to lie, is generally covered with ordure. As comparatively little is known of the internal arrangements and general management of these establishments, we will give a description of the one to which we have referred as the largest in the city. This stable is situated at the foot of Sixteenth Street, between the Tenth Avenue and the North River. The buildings and ground are owned by Mr. John- son, the proprietor of the distillery adjoining, from which the cattle are supplied with the swill or slop. There are, properly speaking, three stables running parallel with each other, from the avenue to the river. They were all originally constructed of wood, but it was thought prudent, in consequence of a fire which broke out in one of them about four years ago, and which destroyed a considerable amount of property, to rebuild some of them with brick. Their length is from five hundred to seven hundred feet, and each one is made to contain be- tween six and seven hundred cows. Their appear- ance outside is any thing but inviting, and the stench can sometimes be perceived at a distance of 44 The Milk Trade. a mile ; but the exterior, disgusting as it is, conveys no adequate conception of the interior. The cows are ranged in consecutive rows, of four- teen or fifteen to a row, and are separated by wood- en partitions which do not extend further than the animals' shoulders. At the head of each row is the trough which contains the swill, and to one of the boards which forms the frame-work immediately above this, the cows are secured by a rope fastened round their necks. The unfortunate animals are so placed as to be almost constantly over this trough, except when lying down; and even that position, instead of affording them rest, only subjects them to a new torture, for the ground-floor of these stables is saturated usually with animal filth. It is almost needless to state that stables kept in this condition can not be wholesome, and that the atmosphere which pervades them would, of itself, be sufficient to taint the milk, and render it unfit for use. The ceiling is from seven to eight feet high, and gener- ally at one end of the stalls is a small room where the cans, and other utensils required in the business, are kept. This room serves also the purposes of an office, Swill Diet—Its Effects. 45 and although it is something cleaner than the ad- joining stalls, it is not free from the stench. As ground rent in this locality is very high, the econo- my of space is a great desideratum. Thus the same building in which the cows are kept is also used as a stable for the horses employed on the milk routes. They are, however, more carefully tended, get better food, and their stables are kept cleaner. The cows are occasionally fed with hay and grain, but the latter is always mixed with the slops in their trough, and the former is most sparingly distributed. When the swill is first served it is often scalding hot, and a new cow requires some days before it can drink it in that condition. It instinctively shrinks from the trough when the disgusting liquid is poured in, but in the course of a week or two it becomes accustom- ed to it, and, finally, drinks it with an evident relish. The appearance of the animal after a few weeks' feeding upon this stuff is most disgusting; the mouth and nostrils are all besmeared, the eyes as- sume a leaden expression, indicative of that stupid- ity which is generally the consequence of intemper- ance. The swill is a strong stimulant, and its effect upon the constitution and health of the animal, is 46 The Milk Trade. something similar to alcoholic drinks upon the human system. Of this swill, each cow drinks about twenty-five or thirty gallons per day, so that the total consumption in the stables is about fifty or sixty thousand gallons. The quantity of milk given upon this food, varies from five to twenty-five quarts daily, that is, in every twenty-four hours. The cows are milked twice, once at three o'clock in the morning,