18 OLEOMARGARINE 



not how we could meet a prosecution based upon a law which forbade 

 the making of oleomargarine to resemble butter, even though it had 

 no coloring matter whatever. 



Further than that, there are certain absolutely essential ingredients 

 of oleomargarine which do give it color. Oleomargarine can not be 

 manufactured without the use of oleo oil, but oleo oil gives to the 

 product a certain tint which takes it off of white, as 1 understand. 

 Therefore oleo oil is an ingredient which to some extent, at least, makes 

 oleomargarine look like butter. Jf a State, under this authority of 

 Congress, passes a law which forbids the manufacture of oleomargarine 

 that contains any ingredient which makes it look like butter, I do not 

 see why they can not institute prosecutions and convict us for manu- 

 facturing oleomargarine which contains oleo oil, and such may be the 

 result, if it is not the purpose, of the bill. 



Then there is cotton seed oil. There are other ingredients, as I am 

 informed, all of which have some slight tendency to give a shade of 

 color to the substance. So if this bill is acted upon it should be drawn 

 in such a manner as simply to forbid, or to enable the States to forbid, 

 the artificial coloring of oleomargarine, and these very dangerous pro- 

 visions with reference to the ingredients of the substance should be 

 omitted. 



It is to the second section of the bill, or to the bill as a whole, that we 

 chiefly object, and we object upon different grounds. I do not desire 

 to cover, and will not, so far as I am able, cover any of the ground 

 which has been covered in the hearings before the House committee, 

 although this matter has been brought to my attention "within a time 

 which has rendered it utterly impossible for me to know exactly what 

 has been 'presented in the House. But we claim that there are abso- 

 lutely no conditions existing to-day which render the passage of such 

 legislation necessary or desirable, and that the reasons urged for the 

 passage of this act are not valid. 



It then becomes necessary to consider what the reasons are that are 

 urged for the passage of this act. The reason that has heretofore been 

 urged for the passage of similar acts is that the product was unwhole- 

 some. That argument is presented still. I do not think there is any 

 testimony, which is worthy of being considered as testimony, to that 

 effect. As I have said, I believe it is the one substance which is, as no 

 other substance possibly can be under existing laws, certified by the 

 Govei nment of the United States to be absolutely pure. We have, in 

 addition to that, the testimony of chemists of the very highest stand- 

 ing and repute who have examined the substance and who have certified 

 over and over again to its absolute purity. 



But notwithstanding all that, the strongest opposition to-day to oleo 

 margarine, the strongest popular support brought to this act, is based 

 upon the opprobrious epithets which are hurled at the product and 

 which have been used by the advocates of this bill in the House. While 

 in the face of the testimony which is introduced it is impossible to claim 

 that there is anything deleterious in this product, it is nevertheless 

 claimed by innuendo and indirection that there are in the product those 

 things which render it harmful to certain persons or on certain occa- 

 sions, and there is something which perhaps is called evidence with 

 reference to its effect in almshouses somewhere in England. 



It seems unnecessary to argue this point. I presume the members 

 of this committee know the conditions under which oleomargarine is 



