FIFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV. 285 



people should sell our goods in competition with the cheap labor of Europe; 

 but our clothing and other commodities with forty or fifty per cent duty, 

 giving the manufacturers of this country the advantage of this tarifif, while 

 we accept the low prices of Europe. It would be a very fair thing. 

 Congress would not look at it in that way. 



The legislature at Albany and the Governor of New York state should be petitioned 

 to repeal the unjust law of the State of New York. Every congressman and United 

 States Senator and the President of the United States should be asked to repeal the law 

 taxing butter substitutes ten cents a pound. 



Just before the assembling of Congress a report came from certain papers 

 to the effect that a bill was being drawn by Crongressman Boutelle, of the 

 city of Chicago, reducing the tax on oleomargarine colored in semblance of 

 butter, from ten to four cents per pound. The papers became full of those 

 statements. Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago, all of the daily papers, 

 had more or less regarding it. Boutelle, whose name was connected with 

 the matter, from the first, made no denial of the fact that he was going to 

 introduce the bill. Mr. George W. Linn, vice-president of this organiza- 

 tion, who lives in Boutelle's district in Chicago, wrote him a letter counseling 

 him against introducing such a measure. Mr. Boutelle answed him that he 

 contemplated no introduction of any such measure at this session of Congress. 

 He qualified his statement that he intended to introduce no measure at this 

 session of Congress, then he followed it up with six pages justifying his 

 antagonism to the oleomargarine law, rehearsing all the old arguments 

 brought up at the time this matter was under discussion. 



Greatly to our surprise, because the National Dairy Union did not take 

 it up or agitate it at that time, Congressman Boutelle came out in the daily 

 press and stated that he has been simply submerged with petitions and let- 

 ters of censure and admonishment from prominent organizations and 

 individuals all over the country; that he has had so many letters admonish- 

 ing him against introducing his proposed amendment to repeal this tax, 

 that he has found it necessary to get out a circular denying the fact that 

 he is going to do anything of the kind, and send it broadcast to the 

 people. He has recently stated, in an interview from Washington, that he 

 would think now just as much of removing one of the pyramids of Egypt to 

 the capitol hill as he would think of repealing that law,— but that was only 

 after he had heard from the country. 



It only goes to show what a little agitation will do, and as I say the agi- 

 tation he did get was not a circumstance to what he could get. 



As 1 am both secretary and treasurer of the organization it is necessary 

 for me to give you a financial report as well as a verbal report of what has 

 been done during the year in the matter of legislation. However, before I 

 close I want to say that, while there has been nothing done and can be noth- 

 ing done at the present session of Congress, which will adjourn the 4th of 

 March (they have their hands so full they could not do anything if they 

 wanted to) , Secretary of Agriculture Wilson told me that the oleomargarine 



