VI OLEOMARGARINE AND OTHER IMITATION DAIRY PRODUCTS. 



the radical advocates of the Grout bill do not seek this end, as they have declared 

 in their testimony before the committee and in declarations elsewhere that their sole 

 intention is to absolutely crush out the manufacture of oleomargarine and eliminate 

 it as a food product. 



In substantiation of this assertion we quote the following: 



Mr. Adams, pure food commissioner of the State of Wisconsin, in his testimony 

 before the committee on March 7, 1900, said: 



' ' There is no use beating about the bush in this matter. We want to pass this 

 law and drive the oleomargarine manufacturers out of the business." 



Charles Y. Knight, secretary of the National Dairy Union, in a letter to the Vir- 

 ginia dairymen, dated May 18, 1900, writes: 



" Now is the time for you to clip the fangs of the mighty octopus of the oleomar- 

 garine manufacturers, who are ruining the dairy interests of this country by manu- 

 facturing and selling in defiance of law a spurious article in imitation 01 pure butter. 

 We have a remedy almost in grasp which will eliminate the manufacture of this 

 article from the food-product list. The Grout bill, now pending in the Agricultural 

 Committee of the House of Representatives in Congress, meets the demand." 



W. D. Hoard, ex-governor of AVisconsin and president of the National Dairy Union, 

 stated in his testimony before the committee on March 7, 1900, as follows: 



"To give added force to the first section of the bill, it is provided in the second sec- 

 tion that a tax of 10 cents a pound shall be imposed on all oleomargarine in the color 

 or semblance of butter. In plain words, this is repressive taxation." 



In view of this testimony the minority believe they are justified in claiming that 

 the Grout bill, if enacted into law, would destroy the business of the legitimate oleo- 

 margarine manufacturers. In other words, Congress is being asked to ruin one indus- 

 try to benefit another; and this, in the opinion of the minority, is a thing Congress 

 ought not to do. The minority believe it to be class legislation of the most pro- 

 nounced kind and would establish a precedent which, if allowed, would create 

 monopolies, destroy competition, and militate against the public good. 



The substitute bill offered by the minority would, in our opinion, eliminate all 

 possibility of fraud, and would compel the manufacturers of and dealers in oleo- 

 margarine to sell it for what it really is and not for butter. The substitute offered 

 is practically an amendment to section 3 and 6 of the existing oleomargarine law. 

 The licenses for manufacture and sale of this article are not changed, and are as 

 follows: Manufacturers, $600 per annum; Avholesale dealers, $480 per annum; retail- 

 ers, $48 per annum, while the penalties imposed for violations of the law are 

 materially increased. We quote in full section 2 of the substitute bill, and ask for it 

 the careful and thoughtful consideration of the House, believing that it is just and 

 fair to all the interests involved: 



"SEC. 2. That all oleomargarine shall be put up by the manufacturer for sale in 

 packages of one and two pounds, respectively, and in no other or larger or smaller 

 package; and upon every print, brick, roll, or lump of oleomargarine, before being 

 so put up for sale or removal from the factory, there shall be impressed by the man- 

 ufacturer the word 'oleomargarine' in sunken letters, the size of which shall be 

 prescribed by regulations made by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and 

 approved by the Secretary of the Treasury; that every such print, brick, roll, or 

 lump of oleomargarine shall first be wrapped with paper wrapper with the word 

 ' oleomargarine ' printed thereon in distinct letters, and said wrapper shall also bear 

 the name of the manufacturer, and then shall be put by the manufacturer thereof in 

 such wooden or paper packages or in such wrappers, with the word ' oleomargarine r 

 printed thereon in distinct letters, and marked, stamped, and branded in such man- 

 ner as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, with the approval of the Secretary of 

 the Treasury, shall prescribe, and the internal-revenue stamp shall be affixed so as to 

 surround the outer wrapper of each one and two pound package: Proiided, That any 

 number of such original stamped packages may be put up by the manufacturer in 

 crates or boxes, on the outside of which shall be marked the word 'oleomargarine,' 

 with such other marks and brands as the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall, 

 by regulations approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, prescribe. 



" Retail dealers in oleomargarine shall sell only the original package to which the 

 tax-paid stamp is affixed. 



"Every person who knowingly sells or offers for sale, or delivers or offers to 

 deliver, any oleomargarine otherwise than as provided by this act or contrary to the 

 regulations of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue made in pursuance hereof, or 

 who packs in any package any oleomargarine in any manner contrary to law, or who 

 shall sell or offer for sale as butter any oleomargarine, colored or uncolored, or who 

 falsely brands any package, or affixes a stamp on any package denoting a less amount 

 of tax than that required by law, shall be fined for the first offense not less than one 

 hundred nor more than five hundred dollars and be imprisoned not less than thirty 

 days nor more than six months; and for the second and every subsequent offense 



