8 OLEOMARGARINE. 



a price not exceeding the present cost. But this is not true, and I 

 believe this 10-cent tax on the colored article will stop the sale of 

 oleomargarine for butter by making the business unprofitable. 



Senator WARREN. Would it disturb you if I should ask you a 

 question ? 



Mr. GROUT. Not at all, if the committee wish to delay the hearing 

 for this talk by me. 



Senator WARREN. The bill proposes to tax oleomargarine 10 cents 

 a pound when it is colored in imitation of butter. Is there any estab- 

 lished color that butter has ? 



Mr. GROUT. Yes, sir; it is yellow. 



Senator WARREN. And always the same ? 



Mr. GROUT. The world over and through all time it has been yel- 

 low varying shades of yellow. 



Senator WARREN. Is it always the same? 



Mr. GROUT. No; not always the same shade, but always yellow the 

 cow colors it yellow. 



Senator WARREN. Is it the same color at different seasons of the 

 year? 



Mr. GROUT. Oh, no, it varies; but it is yellow, different shades of 

 yellow at different seasons of the year. 



Senator ALLEN. Depending on the condition of the cow? 



Mr. GROUT. Yes, sir; but there is no cow so poor nor fed so poorly 

 in all the world, I believe, but that the butter made from the cream 

 of her milk would be yellow in some degree; I do not say highly yel- 

 low, but 1 say yellow. 



Senator WARREN. If that were the case there would not then be 

 any necessity of coloring butter ? 



Mr. GROUT. Yes, there is, because many people want it a little yel- 

 lower than the cow at some seasons of the year makes it. Many people 

 think it tastes better. There is a demand in certain localities to have 

 it colored a little, and in some places more than a little, and butter 

 makers have to cater to the taste of their customers. I did not intend 

 to enter upon a discussion of this color question, but I am perfectly 

 willing to do so if the committee wish to hear me. There is much 

 that can be said about it. 



Senator WARREN. One question more. When in New England, say 

 in Vermont, at this time of the year and from now until, say, April 1, 

 a farmer has one or two or three cows and is making butter, what is 

 the color of that butter if it is not colored with anything except the 

 milk which comes from the cow ? 



Mr. GROUT. It is yellow, but not as yellow as when the cow is fed 

 on grass in June. Then, too, it would be yellower if the cow were 

 were well fed during the winter fed on corn meal, shorts, and early- 

 cut hay, and the like and kept in a healthy condition. 



Senator WARREN. I ask for information whether oleomargarine is 

 colored different shades at different seasons of the year to follow the 

 different shades of butter ? 



Mr. GROUT. Yes, sir; these very circulars to which I have alluded 

 disclose that fact. You will find them in this printed report here. 

 They do that very thing, sir, to meet the varying shades of butter. 

 That is one of the tricks of the trade. They are up to it, Senator, 

 clear up to it, you may be sure; and they are up to every other pos- 

 sible scheme that ingenuity can devise to work this stuff off for but- 



