2l8 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



course, this affects the price of butter-fat and, consequently, a 

 great many of our dairymen from a financial standpoint. There 

 are United States rules and regulations governing the sale of 

 colored and of white oleo, but the restrictions are so numerous 

 that it is hard for any official to enforce the law. However, if 

 we had men in Congress and in the State legislature who under- 

 stand our needs, I think in time these difficulties would be 

 removed. It is said that the manufacturers adulterate the oleo 

 with cream in order to improve its flavor; it is true, if it were 

 put on the market in its natural condition, it would never be 

 chosen for its flavor, but our Government is to blame in allow- 

 ing it to be adulterated so it resembles the flavor of butter. The 

 manufacture of this product is increasing from five to ten mil- 

 lion pounds a year ; as I remember it, we use 150 million pounds 

 of it in this country, and only three million pounds reciuire a 

 tax (under the present restrictions), so you can see what we 

 are up against. 



Sometimes I think our creamery men are glad to see this 

 because they can get butter-fat cheaper on account of it. This 

 oleo business is growing and, unless we can get control of it in 

 some way, it will injure the dairy business tremendously. It is 

 a big proposition, because it is in the hands of some of the great 

 packers of the country. 



Mr. Ladd of Massachusetts : I should like to ask what the 

 law is in Maine regulating the sale of oleo? 



Mr. Guptill: I think in 1907 the legislature passed an 

 enactment that oleo should not be sold in the State of Maine. 



Mr. Ladd: Colored oleo, Mr. Commissioner? 



Mr. Guptill: Yes; anything used in imitation of butter, it 

 doesn't matter what. Now, as I mentioned this morning, there 

 is a concern in existence — and more than one of them — directly 

 interested in mixing lard, tallow and cottonseed oil. When 

 the lard, tallow and cottonseed oil have been homogonized, the 

 product resulting is commercial oleo and it has the flavor of 

 milk. The manufacturers are interested because the tallow 

 they use — up to very recently — has not cost more than five or 

 six cents a pound ; cotton seed oil less than ten cents a pound, 

 and lard anywhere up to twenty cents a pound — it varies, of 



