- washing machines, conveyors, etc., are wonders of ingenuity,
and one needs only to see one of these modern plants to understand that in a large city milk can only be handled to advantage in expensive establishments.
Skim Milk is one of the cheapest of foods and under
proper regulations its sale should not be prohibited.
The reason why in times past skim milk has been discredited
and excluded from sale was that, as produced
by the old methods of raising the cream, before the
advent of the separator, it was always more or less
old and sour before it was available and certainly before
it could be distributed to consumers. Under such
conditions it was hardly ever fit for human food. But
when produced by the separator and pasteurized and
cooled immediately after—within a few hours after
milking, which is entirely feasible—it is an excellent
and nutritious food for adults and even for children
over two years of age. Ripened with a pure culture of
lactic acid bacteria, it makes a healthful, refreshing
drink, like buttermilk. Only when it is allowed to sour
without proper care or control does skim milk, as whole
milk does, become unfit for food or drink. On a cold
winter morning when men are going to work (or perhaps
are looking for work which they cannot find),
and children are on their way to school, often underfed,
a street-corner wagon or stand where boiling hot, fresh,
sweet skim milk might be distributed at a cent or two
a glass would be a blessing in any city.
CREAM
When new milk is left at rest the cream will rise to the top and after 12 to 24 hours a cream-line can be seen in the bottle. This cream-line is sharper
