10 OLEOMARGARINE. 



Mr. GROUT. That is it exactly. Pass this bill and I believe you 

 will stop this great fraud the greatest the world has ever known in 

 the manufacture and sale of a food product. Do this and you will 

 have the thanks of the millions of hard-working men and women who 

 make honest butter, and the thanks also of the millions on millions 

 more who want to eat honest butter. 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I thank you for 

 your kind attention. 



ORDER OF PROCEDURE. 



The CHAIRMAN. I am obliged to attend a meeting of the Committee 

 on Military Affairs, and I will ask Senator Hansbrough to preside 

 while I am away. I may say before going that I am sure it is the 

 desire of the committee to give all interests a fair hearing, but we 

 wish you to bear in mind that we are very busy busy without prec- 

 edent, almost, at this time with the measures before Congress, and 

 we hope you will make your statements as concise and brief as possi- 

 ble and, so far as possible, not repeat what is already before us. The 

 testimony given in the House is before us, and it will be received on 

 both sides. That is all 1 need to say. 



Mr. GARDNER. May I say a word before the chairman retires? 



The CHAIRMAN. The committee will remain, and the hearing will 

 continue. 



Mr. GARDNER. Owing to the lack of opportunity we have had to 

 prepare for this hearing, I desire to express the hope that we may be 

 allowed to present our case at a somewhat later date. The parties 

 whom I represent have never had an opportunity to appear before any 

 committee with reference to this subject. They were informed of this 

 meeting very recently for the first time. They feel that they come 

 here to-day utterly unprepared, and they are most anxious that they 

 shall have an opportunity to present their view to the committee after 

 a reasonable preparation may have been made. 



The CHAIRMAN. The committee will try to be reasonable and fair. 

 I can not speak about that definitely. You represent the oleomarga- 

 rine interest? 



Mr. GARDNER. I represent simply one, the Oakdale Manufacturing 

 Company, of Providence, R. I. 



The CHAIRMAN. J wired you Wednesday morning, did I not? 



Mr. GARDNER. Yes; some time during the week. 



The CHAIRMAN. I think I wired you Wednesday morning. That 

 gave you just a week's notice. We hope that we may get through 

 with the hearing speedily, because after the holidays we shall be 

 extremely busy. It is for your advantage to have the hearing as 

 early as possible, because after the holidays it will probably be a very 

 small subcommittee that we could get together. So, in order to have 

 the hearing by the entire committee, the earlier the better, and we 

 shall determine as we go along when we must close. But I merely 

 want to urge you to be as expeditious as possible. 



Mr. SPRINGER. May I ask, Senator, whether you intend to continue 

 this investigation from day to day during the holiday recess ? 



The CHAIRMAN. Certainly, if necessary. I expect to be here most 

 of the time and some members of the committee will be here all the 

 time. I think probably we could have fuller meetings during the recess 

 than afterwards. 



