94 ANNUM, REPORT OF THE Off. T> 



c«l«red aud sold t < * the unsuspecting customer as butter at regular 

 dairy butter prices. Two wrongs never made a single right, and this 

 subject is therefore, likely to reappear for proper and full considera- 

 tion during the next session of the Legislature. 



BUTTER* PRICES IN 1905. 



The dairymen of Pennsylvania report that the year 1905 showed 

 rather extreme variations in the prices of creamery butter in both 

 New York and Philadelphia wholesale markets. In the city of New 

 York, the quotations for extra creamery butter show that in the 

 month of February, the prices ranged from 29^ cents to 35£ cents 

 a pound, while the lowest prices realized were those of November, 

 with a minimum of 17^ cents and a maximum of 24J cents a pound. 



The Philadelphia prices showed an equal wide range of values, 

 and, as the months cited indicate, the season was not the sole factor 

 in the fixing of values. 



In many instances the Pennsylvania butter-maker, and especially 

 if he produces an article of merit, has yearly contracts with large 

 consumers, such as hotels, restaurants, etc., with a fixed and uniform 

 figure for the entire output. This plan guarantees to the con 

 sumer that he can depend upon receiving a good article, while the 

 producer is satisfied with the price realized and also knows full well 

 that their mutual interests are closely intenvoven. 



This plan saves the commission and incidental expenses of middle- 

 men. The distribution and sale of all farm products with the mini- 

 mum of expense, is an absorbing question, and bright commercialism 

 upon the farm is a factor that can no longer be ignored by those 

 w r ho would reap the greatest profits and succeed best in their calling. 



ABNORMAL AMOUNT OF WATER IN BUTTER. 



The records of this office show- that a number of prosecutions 

 were directed against butter dealers in Western Pennsylvania 

 charged with the sale of butter containing highly excessive quanti- 

 ties of water, wmich was added to normal butter by a peculiar pro- 

 cess of manipulation, and, therefore, intended to deceive the pur- 

 chaser and increase profits. 



It is usually understood that pure butter containing 82-J per 

 cent, of fat might be accepted as an average standard, but the 

 results of an examination showed that some butter contained even 

 less than 80 per cent, of fat, when freshly made, while other sam- 

 ples scored correspondingly high. The general average above speci 

 fied is a fair and normal one, and as the butter upon w'hich the 

 prosecutions w r ere based contained 30 to 40 per cent, or even more 

 water, the imposition practiced was self-evident. It was an oppor- 

 tunity for illegal gain that fortunately for the consumers, was soon 

 nipped in the bud, and as the defendants were convicted, the manu- 

 facturers probably suspended operations in that special and unique 

 line of adulteration. With butter commanding from 30 to 50 cents 

 a pound, the new* industry would soon have developed into one of 

 surprising magnitude and capabilities for gain. 



FRAUDULENT DAIRY PRACTICES. 



As has been contended in various prosecutions, many of the 

 more common modes of adulteration cannot be regarded as anything 



