948 New York State Dairymen's Association 



lowering the tax to one cent the same as the Lever bill. The 

 Bureau of Standards in Washini^ton last year finally discovered a 

 test whereby they could measure the color. So we i^ot toii'cther a 

 lot of butter made at various experiment stations in the United 

 States from the different ])reeds of cattle, Holsteins, Avrshires, 

 and the breeds that usually produce the lightest colored butter. 

 We also got the Danish card system of measuring color, the 

 standard Xo. 0, In Denmark they let manufacturers of oleo- 

 margarine color to a certain shade of yellow. In comparing or 

 measuring tlicso shades we found that the lightest color was the 

 Ayrshire, 45 per cent, white, which would naturally be white to 

 the naked eye. We fixed the standard at 55 per cent, white for 

 oleomargarine. That is the natural color of that product, or what 

 appears white to the naked eye. I^ow the fight is between what 

 is known as the Lever bill, and the Haugen bill. The Lever bill 

 permits coloring just as high as you like; the other permits it to 

 go to a certain shade. The dairy hill makes the tax on the 

 dealers lower than the Lever bill. The great trouble is to prevent 

 their serving the product to guests in hotels and restaurants. I 

 cannot see how we can prevent it if they are permitted to color 

 it yellow. 



Another question. They advertise their product as containing 

 from 25 to as high as 90 per cent, pure creamery butter. It is a 

 hard proposition for the best chemist in the country to separate 

 those fats just to a few per cent. The result is that they may 

 advertise their product as containing 50 per cent. l)utter when it 

 only contains five. One case of that kind has ])e(>n tried in 

 Michigan. In the dairy bill before Congress at the present time 

 they are forbidden to mix butter at all with their product, they 

 may, however, mix 5 per cent, of fat coming from milk, and in that 

 way it would be impossible for them to advertise their oleo- 

 margarine as containing 30 to 50 per cent, of butter fat in order 

 to deceive the people. 



Mr. Frederiksen : The fight now going on in Washington is 

 a very serious one under the administration that is coming in. I 

 fear very much that the dairymen will be left behind. Mr. 

 Purleson of Texas will probably have considerable influence in 

 the discussion and he is very much in favor of oleomargarine and 



