OLEOMAEGAEINE. 113 



of oleomargarine and butterine, spreading disease and destruction 

 throughout the country. " 



He quoted with approval from a prominent newspaper, which stated, 

 among other things, the following: 



" The gang of adulterators and counterfeiters who manufacture bogus 

 butter from soap grease protest that the Hatch bill makes martyrs of 

 them and violates their constitutional rights. They have their head- 

 quarters in Chicago." 



Such were the arguments, or some of them, used fifteen years ago to 

 secure this legislation, and they were effective at that time; and argu- 

 ments of a similar purport in many respects have been used since that 

 time to secure repressive legislation in the several States of this Union. 

 But notwithstanding all this detraction, oleomargarine has survived 

 the assaults of its enemies and now has thes anction of the Supreme 

 Court of the United States, in an opinion, which does that court great 

 honor, that it is a pure and a healthful article of food and a legitimate 

 article of interstate commerce. Such js the judgment of the court, 

 and that is the law of the land. 



Now, if gentlemen desired that this useful and nutritious article of 

 diet shall be hedged about with such inspection laws in the States as 

 will simply provide, as the Constitution recognizes, that what is sold 

 shall be the pure article, there will be no objection from the manu- 

 facturers of oleomargarine. They are willing to go into the open field 

 of fair competition, with the name of their product inscribed upon 

 their banners, and stand or fall in the field of competition of products 

 useful to mankind. Have not those who can not afford to pay 27, 28, 

 29, now 35, cents a pound for creamery butter the right to purchase 

 an article at half that price if it can be produced in a manner which 

 will be satisfactory to them ? But gentlemen say, ' ' If you will not 

 color it yellow, we will not object." We might just as well answer 

 them by saying, "If you will not color butter yellow, as you always 

 do, except in a few months in the summer time, there will be no objec- 

 tion to that." But the question of color in an article of food is a mat- 

 ter of taste, solely a matter of taste, and all manufacturers of food 

 products must pander to the tastes of their customers. 



As was said in one of the Latin maxims, "de gustibus non est dispu- 

 tandum." When it comes to a question of taste, there is no discussion 

 permitted. You can not reason a man out of the belief that butter 

 tastes better when it is yellow than when it is white there is no use 

 to reason with him on the subject or that oleomargarine tastes better 

 w r hen it is yellow. He has a right to his taste, and those who manu- 

 facture oleomargarine have a right to manufacture it in such a way 

 that it will be most attractive to their customers and that the retail 

 dealer can best dispose of it to those who consume it. When the man- 

 ufacturer has done that he has met all the requirements that the law- 

 making power of the Government should throw about him. He is 

 willing to go into the market with his article branded, even its name 

 pressed into the article itself, as the Wadsworth bill provided, which 

 was favored by the minority of the House committee. Mark it in any 

 wa y y u see fit; but let it stand, after it has been marked, upon the 

 color which the manufacturers desire it shall have and which the con- 

 sumers desire it shall have. 



A gentleman who addressed the committee since these hearings began 

 stated that in the little State of Rhode Island, where the sale of colored 



S. Rep. 2043 8 



