OLEOMARGARINE AND OTHER IMITATION DAIRY PRODUCTS. XIX 



The minority insert here, as a part of their report, the views of the 

 minority of the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, which is as follows: 



VIEWS OF THE MINORITY. 



The minority of the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives 

 beg leave to submit the accompanying bill, which we offer as a substitute for H. R. 

 3717, known as the Grout bill. 



We first wish to bring to the attention of the House proof positive that oleomarga- 

 rine is a wholesome and nutritious article of food and is therefore entitled to a legiti- 

 mate place in the commerce of pur country. In substantiation of this statement we 

 beg to submit the following testimony taken before the committee: 



OPINIONS OF LEADING SCIENTISTS. 



Prof. C. F. Chandler, professor of chemistry at Columbia College, New York, says: 

 "I have studied the question of its use as food, in comparison with the ordinary but- 

 ter made from cream, and have satisfied myself that it is quite as valuable as the 

 butter from the cow. The product is palatable and wholesome, and I regard it as a 

 most valuable article of food." 



Prof. George F. Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania, says: "Butterine is, in 

 my opinion, quite as valuable as a nutritive agent as butter itself. It is perfectly 

 wholesome, and is desirable as an article of food. I can see no reason why butterine 

 should not be an entirely satisfactory equivalent for ordinary butter, whether con- 

 sidered from the physiological or commercial standpoint." 



Prof. Henry Morton, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, says: "I 

 am able to say with confidence that it contains nothing whatever which is injurious 

 as an article of diet, but, on the contrary, is essentially identical with the best fresh 

 butter, and is superior to much of the butter made from cream alone which is found$ 

 in the market. The conditions of its manufacture involve a degree of cleanliness and 

 consequent purity in the product such as are by no means necessarily or generally 

 attained in the ordinary making of butter from cream." 



Prof. S. W. Johnson, director of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 

 and professor of agricultural chemistry in Yale College, New Haven, says: "It is a 

 product that is entirely attractive and wholesome as food, and one that is for all 

 ordinary and culinary purposes the full equivalent of good butter made from cream. 

 I regard the manufacture of oleomargarine as a legitimate and beneficent industry." 



Prof. S. C. Caldwell, of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y., says: "While not equal 

 to fine butter in respect to flavor, it nevertheless contains all the essential ingredients 

 of butter, and since it contains a smaller proportion of volatile fats than is found in 

 genuine butter, it is, in my opinion, less liable to become rancid. It can not enter 

 into competition with fine butter, but so far as it may serve to drive poor butter out 

 of the market, its manufacture will be a public benefit." 



Prof. C. A. Goessman, of Amherst Agricultural College, says: " Oleomargarine but- 

 ter compares in general appearance and in taste very favorably with the average quality 

 of the better kinds of dairy butter in our markets. In its composition it resembles 

 that of ordinary dairy butter, and in its keeping quality, under corresponding cir- 

 cumstances, I believe it will surpass the former, for it contains a smaller percentage 

 of those constituents which, in the main, cause the well-known rancid taste and odor 

 of a stored butter." 



Prof. Charles P. Williams, professor in the Missouri State University, says: " It is 

 a pure and wholesome article of food, and in this respect, as well as in respect to its 

 chemical composition, fully the equivalent of the best quality of dairy butter." 



Prof. J. W. S. Arnold, professor of physiology in the University of New York, says: 

 ' ' I consider that each and every article employed in the manufacture of oleomargarine 

 butter is perfectly pure and wholesome, that oleomargarine butter differs in no essen- 

 tial manner from butter made from cream. In fact, oleomargarine butter possesses 

 the advantage over natural butter of not decomposing so readily, as it contains fewer 

 volatile fats. In my opinion oleomargarine is to be considered a great discovery, a 

 blessing for the poor, and in every way a perfectly pure, wholesome, and palatable 

 article of food." 



Prof. W. 0. Atwater, director of the United States Government Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station at Washington, says: " It contains essentially the same ingredients as 

 natural butter from cow's milk. It is perfectly wholesome and healthy and has a 

 high nutritious value." 



