The Milk War of Kennewick

Ordinance No. 193, prohibiting the sale of all dairy products from cows which have not passed the tuberculin test, is open to severe condemnation. The purpose of the ordinance is, supposedly, to safeguard the health of the citizens of Kennewick, but the effect will be much more far-reaching than the council evidently contemplated, for it will doubtless turn eighty per cent of the cream away from the local creamery and either bankrupt that institution or drive it to Pasco or Finley. In larger cities where the milk supply is protected in this way, the municipality, county or state not only pays the cost of testing but also partially reimburses the dairymen for any loss in their herds. The ordinance provides that all the cows tributary to Kennewick, estimated at 2000, must be tested prior to July 24th, a physical impossibility. Figuring on the same percentage of reactors that have been found among herds already tested, viz three per cent, this means a loss of some sixty cows, valued at, say $4500. Dairymen are not going to pocket this $2250 loss when the markets of Attalia, Tacoma, Spokane, Walla Walla and Seattle are begging for their cream. We challenge any citizen to produce a case where human tuberculosis has been traced to butter, and even the cases of infant infection are hardly definitely proved. We would prefer an ordinance providing for an annual license fee and sanitary standards that would put an effectual stop to the little one-horse dairyman who peddles a mixture of milk and filth at cut rates.