OLEOMARGARINE 23 



Mr. MATHEWSON. One of the members of your committee has 

 already explained that. I am not a practical farmer, and I do not pre- 

 tend to know so much about it probably as some of the other gentle- 

 men, but in a general way when a herd of cows is kept on an ordinary 

 farm, ordinary country stock, not Jerseys, or Alderne}^, or Guernseys, 

 not high grade, but kept in an ordinary barn during the winter and 

 fed on hay and fodder, the butter will come out very nearly white. 

 Now, if you go from that to a herd of high-grade Jerseys, or Guern- 

 seys, or Alderneys, any of the high-grade cattle, and they are fed on 

 grass or on grain, or carrots, or ensilage, or anything of that kind, 

 they will produce a butter more highly colored, but it will not be even 

 then of the shade of that which is ordinarily served on the tables. 

 Every section of the country has a different color, and that color is 

 obtained in butter the same as it is obtained in oleo, and it could not 

 be gotten any other way. 



Senator BATE. Cows that are fed in winter upon hay, etc., produce 

 white butter? 



Senator HEITFELD. On dry food. 



Senator BATE. On dry food? 



Mr. MATHEWSON. Yes, sir. 



Senator BATE. Suppose those same cows are grazed in summer on 

 grass, how does that affect the color of the butter? 



Mr. MATHEWSON. That would give it a different color more of a 

 yellow shade. 



Senator WARREN. It generally makes a difference whether the cow 

 is fresh or not. The butter is more highly colored soon after calving. 



Senator FOSTER. Mr. Mathewson, do you use oleomargarine on your 

 table? 



Mr. MATHEWSON. I use both. My family is not large. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. You know the difference when both are on 

 the table? 



Mr. MATHEWSON. I think I do. I use the best creamery butter 

 which I can buy, and we never have claimed that oleomargarine was 

 in competition with that grade of butter; that is, on the table. For 

 all other purposes in my family I use oleomargarine. 



Senator WARREN. For cooking. 



Mr. MATHEWSON. For cooking and for the dressing of meats, fish, 

 pastry, and every other purpose. Many a time have I sent from my 

 table butter that cost 35 and 38 cents a pound and asked them to bring 

 oleo in place of it. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. It is not necessary that it should be colored 

 for cooking purposes ? 



Mr. MATHEWSON. That is not necessary for cooking purposes. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. I think it is the aim of Congress to under- 

 take in some manner to inform the hundreds of thousands of people 

 who are boarding at boarding houses and hotels as to exactly what 

 they are eating, whether it is butter or oleomargarine. They have 

 no wa}^ of ascertaining that fact. 



Mr. MATHEWSON. You can not inform them by this bill. 



On motion of Senator BATE (at 12 o'clock meridian), the committee 

 adjourned to meet to-morrow at half past 10 o'clock a. m. 



