20 OLEOMARGARINE. 



Who sells this oleomargarine as butter? I say, and I say without 

 fear of contradiction, that no manufacturer of oleomargarine sells one 

 pound of oleomargarine for anything else except oleomargarine. It 

 is utterly impossible for him to do it. It is against his own interests 

 to do it. Possibly members of the committee know the kind of super- 

 vision which is exercised over the manufacture of this substance; that 

 inspectors of the Internal-Revenue Department take account of every 

 pound of material which goes into a factory and see that every pound 

 of oleomargarine which can be produced from that material goes out 

 of the factory. There is absolutely no opportunity for any manufac- 

 turer, if he wished, to send out oleomargarine as butter. 



Then, nobody has any occasion to go to that factory for anj^thing 

 except oleomargarine, because nothing except oleomargarine can be sold 

 at that factory or manufactured at that factory for sale. The inspec- 

 tion is rigid. The penalties, involving the forfeiture of the manufac- 

 turer's entire plant, are so extreme as to render absolutely untenable 

 the supposition that any manufacturer, however dishonest he might 

 desire to be, should sell this product for anything but oleomargarine. 



I do not know how it may be with the great packing houses with 

 whom my clients have no connection, but we say that three-quarters 

 of our entire product is sold by the manufacturer directly to the 

 consumer. I think I am right. 



Mr. MATHEWSON. You are correct. 



Mr. GARDNER. Approximating three-quarters of the entire product 

 is sold directly by the manufacturer to the consumer in the original 

 package, usually a 10-pound package. Now, if the Congress of the 

 United States are to legislate to prevent the keeper of a boarding house 

 from giving his guests some imitatation food product they have under- 

 taken a contract. What the head of a family does, whether a husband 

 deceives his wife and his children, or a wife deceives her husband as 

 to the nature of the product which he puts upon the table, we do not 

 know. Whether the keeper of a boarding house deceives his guests 

 as to what they are eating, we do not know. That is not a matter of 

 purchase and sale. It is not anything which by this bill can be con- 

 trolled. We make the assertion that by the manufacturer there is no 

 violation of the law whatever; that every pound of oleomargarine pro- 

 duced at the factory is sold as oleomargarine; that he desires that it 

 should be sold as oleomargarine; that he is making a reputation for 

 his factory, and that the necessities of his business and Ms own self- 

 interest require that he should do it. And as a matter of fact, with 

 the people whom I represent, the great proportion of the product is 

 sold by them directy to the consumer. 



I shall have to take up this question regularly, and I will go over it 

 as quickly as possible. I do not know whether the committee deem it 

 essential that I should finish what I have to say absolutely this morn- 

 ing. I have, I think, less than twenty minutes left. 



Senator BATE. It is about 10 minutes to 12. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. We shall have to adjourn at 12. 



Senator WARREN. I suggest that we fill in what time there is left, 

 and then if Mr. Gardner wishes to present further facts to the com- 

 mittee the opportunity will be given to him to do so. 



Mr. GARDNER. I do not think I shall want to occupy a great deal 

 more time. 



