MILK FOR THE CITY

[Music] [Applause] what you let your daddy sleep that'll be the day this is a story of a need a city's need for an essential food milk the story begins every day against a landscape like this get its milk the city reaches out to its New England countryside it is 5 a.m. now up in the country the city needs a million quarts daily it comes from farms like this one 13,000 of them and 200,000 cows like these [Music] but you are now watching is a silent battle to keep them to the consumers doorstep [Music] to do it means keeping all operations as automatic as possible [Music] it means bringing up calves properly [Music] as the farmer puts it it takes good feet and plenty of it you can't make milk out of straw [Music] awaiting transfer to country receiving stations the milk is kept in coolers its temperature lowered below 40 degrees to protect its quality but a new way is the bulk tank method milk is poured into a refrigerated tank a pickup time it is pumped into a tank truck and fall directly to a city plant the cows on pasture the barn is sprayed to control the flies days dairy cows better bread and better handled than their ancestors yield a richer milk 25% more of it [Music] and the milk is on its way from farms to receiving stations [Music] the milk must be kept moving in all kinds of weather 8:00 a.m. and filled New Hampshire the milk coming in steadily to this receiving station and to a hundred others like it in six New England states and New York State the station keeps a quality record of every farmers milk and send samples to the laboratory in the city plant trained workers with years of experience check the quality and flavor of every can substandard milk is rejected there's the tide of milk rising toward a million quarts the station manager Maynard has his worries floods snowstorms truck breakdowns delays are we something McCann's are washed and sterilized before being returned to the farmers and coming in on time but not without a small difference of opinion nothing wrong with my look wellthat steak dinner you're gonna invite me dude what do you tell her you've got to kill this tank car will be filled during the morning it will carry 32,000 quarts enough for 10,000 families the company wants high quality low bacterial count between farmer and city plant that's the station manager between country and city constant communication Maynard calls in his morning report mass to all 600 Lee I mean it what's trouble well we're having a high water paddy today high water is a proceeding you get it all in today tomorrow well punch some drink on the gray day will you please and just take know about this the police call them and have them call me all right thank you very much forget its milk the city has created a network of feeder lines along rails and roads that converge for other cities like Hartford Providence werster Portland and Springfield the network is smaller the supply coming from nearby farms the web is bigger or smaller depending on the size and needs of the community o'clock in the afternoon now the milk is moving down stations which have no rail sidings moving by tank trucks that hold up to 14,000 quarts [Music] moving direct and smaller tank trucks both pickup they call it [Music] what will happen to it when it reaches the city plant let us visit the plant to see it will surge like this through the piping of the plant you might say a continuous pipeline runs down from the farm to the city and through the plant and every day that tied in the big receiving tanks rising to a million quartz pipe to tank pipe again forward through the pasteurizing coils heated to 162 degrees as it goes cooled to under 40 and always moving forward past your eyes and then check for perfect possession three thousand samples a day are tested in the company's laboratories by a million tests a year tests for butterfat for bacteria per flick the quality standards which this plant has set for itself are superior even to the standards required by city or state to Farmer every receiving station every incoming tank truck and tank car check every plant employee once a week to be sure they are healthy a modern plant is a continuous system of pipes valves machines and conveyors check for flaws in the bottles and then double-check them through the magnifier they lineup as if they know what they're doing but it takes men to direct the flow of milk this man is opening and closing three-way valves on the grid of pipes called the header it works like a switchboard of different lines nine different products milk first of course but also buttermilk flavored drinks cream and others can flow through the header at the same time each to its individual bottling machine [Music] [Applause] will it set the town of vitamin A down to vitamin A 14:36 right filled caps inspected and ready for delivery and that's how today's million courts go out to the city 5:00 p.m. and here's the first of tomorrow's million courts coming in 5 p.m. at the Enfield station and Maynard's day is over but the milk's keeps moving at country stations like this one the engines are picking up the loaded tank cars on the sidings moving them toward the city it happens every evening about this time door it does and while they move to Junction points to be assembled let's go back again to the plant in the city cleanup time now but a very special kind cleanliness and good housekeeping must be more thorough than in the cleanest kitchen [Music] cleanliness a milk plants insurance for quality standards [Music] working from 4:00 p.m. to midnight with pressured hot water exploring every piece of equipment a milk plant is taken apart torn down dismantled not once a year but once a day [Music] there it is all the pieces laid out a jigsaw torn down and put together once every day [Music] all right on the water water heated to the boiling point surges through the piping sterilizing as it goes and that's how they get ready for the new supply of milk that is now on its way down by rail 10:40 p.m. and coming down on the main lines milk gun trains 5516 and 62 of the Boston and Maine and other trains this is the caboose on 3-5-2 milk train nearing Concord sometimes the flow of milk toward the city is delay can be a flood snow or fog it can be personnel or it can be equipment this time it's a hotbox on the car from Enfield when something happens to block the milk pipeline to the city men go into action [Music] [Music] up station where's a set out you gotta change the wheels wait I better get a crew out you get working on a right away cuz we have to get that carrying on 302 he's in the shower right now could I take the message please all right just a minute dad it's for you Jack Sullivan it's important can you hold on a minute Jack he's on his way alright Jack what's up which car is it and where that's a great a car jack we're very anxious to get it well can you get it on 302 well that's fine I'll be hearing from you 1:00 a.m. they nurse the train into Concord uncouple the car and put an emergency night crew to work had it been lumber radios or steel beams that could wait but not milk milk must move where do we stand how you feelin tonight Joe don't change the subject why do we stand like I told you the night crews working out on it now listen Jack that's a full Connaught of great a-milkin we must have it on train 302 relax I said we'd move the car I'm relaxed just get it on that train stop worrying we'll do it oh sorry and in the meanwhile the city sleeps certain that morning will bring sunrise hot coffee and a bottle of milk on the breakfast table as usual and the night of the city unwinds normal in all respects preparing for morning taking tomorrow for granted [Music] for 50 in the morning at Concord here's 302 passenger train out of Montreal pulling in she'll pull out in a moment carrying one dining car two sleepers three coaches and yes one milk tank car this morning one tank car 32,000 quarts milk for 10,000 families [Music] it isn't easy to get a million quarts of milk rolling down to the city once a day but it rolls one way or another they keep it coming [Music] one way or another it'll be there in the morning every day event routine white sunrise [Music] and here's the Enfield car to complete today's quota [Music] milk for the state a million quarts a day everyday routine like sunrise note for the breakfast tables up on the hill and for all the houses along all the city streets nope for the hospitals and hotels and restaurants [Music] for the factories and ships tied up in the harbor milk for the lunch hour crowd out of the shops and offices [Music] I need to be met milk pure and fresh a million courts today again tomorrow and the day after a need to be met and the need answered every day [Music]