797 CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS 787 MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS Recessed Meeting November 15,1946 3:00 P.M. Council Chamber, City Hall The meeting was called to order, with Mayor Miller presiding. Roll call Present: Absent : Councilmen Bartholomew, Glass, Mayor Miller, Councilmen Thornberry and Wolf 5 None Present also: Guiton Morgan, City Manager; Trueman E. O'Quinn, City Attorney; and W. E. Seaholm, Director of Public Utilities. Present also: A large delegation of citizens. The Mayor announced that the meeting was called for a public hearing on the proposal to allow the sale of recombined milk in the City, the hour of the meeting having been changed, by request, from 7:30 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. of this day; and thereupon declared the meeting open to discussion. The following persons were then heard, substantially as follows: SAM R. WOOD, President of the Retail Grocers Association, declared that owing to the shortage of milk, the grocers were unable to supply their customers with sufficient milk to meet their needs, and that they were only asking for the sale of recombined milk until such time as the local dairymen could again supply the demand; and he further cited the fact that re- combined milk was being sold in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, El Paso, and other cities in Texas. D. A. SHIPWASH declared that as a groceryman, he was in a position to know that there was an acute shortage of milk; that the grocerymen had no other motive in asking for recombined milk except to secure enough milk for the consuming public; that if recombined milk is not fit for human consumption, it should not be permitted, but that if it is, then the food value as compared to fresh milk was the only thing to be considered and is a good substitute during this emergency; and that the grocerymen do not want recombined milk when fresh milk is again available in sufficient quantities to meet their demands. CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS 788 GILES SPILLER, Manager of Night Hawk restaurants, declared that they do not have enough milk for their customers and are having to resort to the use of powdered milk for cooking purposes; that he favors bringing in recombined milk if it is pasteurized to meet the shortage, but only until fresh milk is again plentiful, M. L. RAINES, Chief Field Milk Supervisor of the State Health Department, declared that Dallas is the only city that permits the sale of un- graded milk without so labelling same; that in a city recently visited by him, operating under an ordinance similar to Austin's, there were formerly eighty-two local dairy farms, all Grade A, but that after the sale of ungraded recombined mil was allowed, only fifty of those dairies were still Grade A, and that at the end of 12 months none of them will be Grade A for the reason that when they are degraded the plants continue to receive their milk; that in Texas, as in other states that have graded and ungraded milk, the graded milk goes into bottles and the ungraded to the plants; that no health authority in any city will certify that any of the contents of milk shipped into Texas is Grade A, B, or C; that when and if the health authorities decide there is a critical shortage, then they do not object to the sale of lower grades of milk, provided it is clean, wholesome food and properly labelled so that the consumer will know what he is buying; that the responsibility of the State is to consider health first, and the State cannot recommend ungraded milk after twenty-five years of recommending against it; that if and when milk is sufficiently short, in the opinion of the Health Officer, and he sees fit to declare an emergency and permit the sale of ungraded milk with recombined milk, by pasteurization, the same should be prohibited as soon as the supply of Grade A is up to the needs; and that recombined milk is potentially dangerous some of it is good; some, bad. - SAM SPEAR, dairyman, stated that if recombined milk is allowed, it should be recombined at one place and that place not allowed to sell Grade A milk, so that the public would know what was recombined milk and what was not; and, further, that a raise of 54 in price of milk would help the situation. MRS. J. L. DAUGHERTY dairy owner, declared that the dairymen have worked hard to comply with the strict requirements of the City inspectors to keep their dairies up to the standard; that they object now to seeing their good, wholesome milk put into recombined milk; and that the dairy business is improving and in a short time there will be plenty of fresh milk. P. J. YOUNGDALE, representing the Superior Dairies, declared that they were not asking for recombined milk, but were leaving it entirely to the Health Department and would cooperate with it, whatever the decision was. JOE CARRINGTON declared that all the dairymen were asking for was the same privilege of unloading ungraded milk on the public the same as the shippers of recombined milk; that this is a man-made shortage now, and in support of this contention, papers were read by John Todd and Bill Blackman, President and Manager, respectively, of the Austin Wholesale Milk Producers Association. H. L. KUHLMAN, consumer, declared that the meeting seemed to be a fight between two factions, the producers and the distributors, motivated by profit and that, as an individual, he did not think it the duty of the City Council 789 CITY OF AUSTIN, TEXAS 789 to have to decide the mater for them. Following the discussion, in which all those present were given an opportunity to be heard, Councilman Glass asked the group if they would be willing to leave it to the judgment of the City Health Officer, Dr. Primer, as to whether the sale of recombined milk should be allowed, and it was the consensus of the group, including Joe Carrington, speaking for the Dairymen's Association, and Sam R. Wood, speaking for the Retail Grocers Association, that they would. Thereupon, the Mayor announced that the City Council would confer with the City Health Officer, Dr. Primer, and the City Manager further on the matter. The meeting was then recessed at 5:35 P. M. ATTEST: Hallian Morella CITY CLERK Jom Milla. APPROVED: MAYOR