XXVI OLEOMARGARINE AND OTHER IMITATION DAIRY PRODUCTS 



of commerce force dealers to seek other channels for their disposition, at greatly 

 reduced prices, thereby entailing a loss to the producers of live stock of the United 

 States of millions of dollars annually. 



"The measure seeks to throttle competition, and, if enacted, will render useless 

 immense establishments, erected at great expense, for the manufacture of oleomarga- 

 rine, deprive thousands of employees of the opportunity to gain a livelihood, and 

 deny the people and especially the workingmen and their dependencies of a whole- 

 some article of diet. 



' ' In oleomargarine a very large proportion of the consumers of this country, and 

 especially the working classes, have a wholesome, nutritious, and satisfactory article 

 of diet, which, before its advent, they were obliged owing to the high price of butter 

 and their limited means to go without. 



' ' Your orator contends that it is manifestly unjust, unreasonable, and unfair to deny 

 manufacturers of the product of the beef animal and the hog the same privileges in 

 regard to the use of coloring matter that are accorded to the manufacturers of the 

 product of the dairy, and that the rights and privileges of the producers of cattle and 

 hogs should be as well respected as those of others, and, as they are the beneficiaries 

 in the manufacture of this wholesome article of food, they should not be burdened 

 with unnecessary and oppressive special taxes or needless restrictions in the manu- 

 facture of this product, other than is absolutely necessary for the support of th^ Gov- 

 ernment and the proper governmental regulations surrounding the handling of the 

 same. 



Your orator respectfully contends that these products should receive at the hands 

 of Congress no greater exactions than those imposed upon competing food products; 

 and that the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine is already surrounded by numer- 

 ous safeguards which Congress, in its wisdom, has seen fit to provide, stipulating a 

 severe punishment for selling same under misrepresentation as to its composition; 

 and that this produce has, by experience, proven to be just what a large majority of 

 the people of this country want, and that none but the dairy and allied interests are 

 asking for or seeking any further legislation in this matter, and their indorsement of 

 the proposed legislation is purely and simply selfish. 



In conclusion, your orator, in behalf of the producers and consumers of this 

 great country, solemnly protests against the enactment of the Grout bill or any other 

 legislation calculated to entail an enormous loss on the live-stock producers of this 

 country, to ruin a great industry, and to deprive not only the working classes, but 

 many others of a cheap, wholesome, nutritious, and acceptable article of food. 



THE NATIONAL LIVE STOCK ASSOCIATION. 

 JOHN W. SPRINGER, President, 

 By C. F. MARTIN, Secretary. 



The bill recommended by the majority is, in the opinion of the 

 minority, an unconstitutional measure in that it is class legislation. 

 If it is designed as a revenue measure, then it would be unconstitu- 

 tional, because it taxes one man for the benefit of another, which, 

 according to the language of the Supreme Court, "is robbery under 

 the form of law." 



H. D. MONEY. 



HENRY HEITFELD. 



I concur generally in the views expressed in this minority report, 

 without indorsing all the expressions therein used, especially in the 

 testimony of witnesses and extracts made a part of it. I concur fully, 

 however, in the conclusion of the minority that the bill ought not to 

 pass. 



WM. B. BATE. 



