The problem of the milk supply in the smaller cities is quite different from that of our larger cities. In the smaller cities, even those with populations of one hundred thousand, there may be commonly found a number of milkmen who bring into the city the milk from their own farms and personally distribute it. Such a business is a small one, and the dealer and the producer may be held directly responsible for the quality of the milk. In large cities, however, the business is very different. The individual milk dealer who brings in milk from his own farm has almost disappeared, and his place is supplied by the milk-supply companies that control the product from hundreds of farms and regulate the large part of the milk which the city consumes. These companies send milk trains into the country in all directions, and collect milk from thousands of farms. The milk is brought into the city in cars in which it is cooled by ice. It may be already many hours old when it reaches the city. It is taken from the cars, and the milk from many different sources is mixed in large mixers to insure greater uniformity. It is again packed in ice, and remains thus until the individual dealer is ready to put it into his cart and distribute it through the city to the customer. As a result of this the customer no longer knows whence his milk comes. If he is a citizen of New York, he may receive milk from his own State, or Connecticut, or Pennsylvania, or New Jersey. It may come from a thrifty farmer, or from a slovenly, filthy farm, or, for all that the consumer knows, it may come in part from a farm where there is a contagious epidemic. There is no method of tracing responsibility, no method of even knowing the source of any lot of milk. One morning we may receive milk from northern New York, and the next from New Jersey. One morning, for all he knows, it may come from a model dairy farm, and the next from the most unhygienic surroundings imaginable.