22 OLEOMARGARINE. 



Mr. GARDNER. I stated that it was ordinarily so. I do not think I 

 said that was universally the case; but in point of fact butter at most 

 seasons of the year is practically white. It is slightly colored. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. And you said there was some slight color 

 to oleomargarine when first manufactured. 



Mr. GARDNER. There is some slight color to it. -It would be very 

 difficult to distinguish the ordinary butter of commerce at this time of 

 the year from uncolored oleomargarine. One bears as much resem- 

 blance to the other as can possibly be. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. The two articles would be on all fours until 

 properly treated with coloring matter ? 



Mr. GARDNER. Absolutely on all fours; and, as I said, the danger 

 of the first section is that the manufacturer would manufacture a 

 product that would look like butter. 



Senator WARREN. That is to say, if a creamery was getting milk 

 from a dairy where the cows were fed through the winter on grain, 

 the butter might take a high color, but if butter was made by a 

 farmer who had three or four cows who were eating hay alone it would 

 be nearly the color of your oleomargarine ? 



Mr. GARDNER. That is what my clients have told me. 



Mr. MATHEWSON. That is the fact. 



Senator BATE. What kind of food is it that gives butter a yellow 

 color ? 



Mr. MATHEWSON. Grain, ensilage, grass, and carrots. The color 

 depends on the food. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. Why do you color oleomargarine? 



Mr. GARDNER. I was going to speak of that, later, but I am willing to 

 answer the question. We color it to meet the public taste for exactly 

 the same reason that the manufacturer colors butter. We can not sell 

 it unless we color it. 



Senator FOSTER. Butter is colored through the cow, and oleomarga- 

 rine is colored after it is made. 



Mr. GARDNER. Butter is colored after it is made. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. So when a gentleman sits down at a table 

 with butter before him he does not know whether it is oleo or butter. 



Mr. GARDNER. If he is living at a boarding house he trusts, perhaps, 

 to the honesty of the person with whom he is living. 



Senator FOSTER. What is the difference in value between butter and 

 oleo? 



Mr. GARDNER. Cheap butter, renovated butter, resurrection butter, 

 as we call it, made up of old rancid butter which has been melted and 

 made over and then colored, can be produced cheaper than oleomarga- 

 rine can be produced. Then butter runs up to any cost which taste 

 and luxury call for. 



Senator WARREN. For creamery butter they would charge a price 

 twice as much? 



Mr. GARDNER. Yes; and oleomargarine never under any circum- 

 stances comes in competition with it. It has not the taste and has not 

 the flavor. 



Senator BATE. You did not answer my question. I want to know 

 what kind of food produces white and what kind yellow butter ? 



Mr. TILLINGHAST. As I am something of a farmer perhaps I can 

 answer that question better. 



Senator BATE. What kind of food affects the color of butter? 



