OLEOMARGARINE. 133 



the secretion of the mammary glands. Nature provides fat for the 

 offspring of mammals by producing a fat in fluid found in the mam- 

 mary gland, and that will always melt at less than the temperature of 

 the stomach, is easily digested, and aids in the digestion of other foods. 

 When you put these other fats, containing stearin, which is the most 

 objectionable, into the stomach, they can not be readily digested. 



There are cases on record where jackknives have gone into the 

 stomach and the bone handle digested, but that is extraordinary, and we 

 are here in the interest of the ordinary. Animal fats other than those 

 found in the secretion of the mammary gland will not as a rule melt at 

 the temperature of the stomach, and instead of aiding digestion they 

 hinder it. It may be said by our opponents that the difference is one of 

 degree only. For the sake of the argument let us admit it, and then say 

 it can be illustrated by the difference in energy exerted by a man 

 rowing a boat down a stream and up a stream, and then the difference 

 is in the favor of butter, and the extent of the difference may vary in 

 different samples of oleomargarine as the swiftness of streams vary. 



We come here and say that 32 States of the Union, containing 75 

 per cent or at least 60,000,000 out of the 77,000,000 of population, 

 have declared in their State laws that the people should not be deceived 

 into buying this commodity, as it is harder to digest than the other. 

 Suppose that everything about its manufacture everywhere is as clean 

 as it ought to be and I will admit that in the great manufactories of 

 Chicago that is probably true, but unfortunately they are not the only 

 manufactories. But let us suppose that everywhere it is so. Then we 

 say to you that 32 States have said that the people shall not be deceived, 

 and that the only thing that arises now to prevent the full enforce- 

 ment of those laws, which they believe to have been enacted within the 

 police power properly, is the fact that the power to regulate commerce 

 between the States is given to the National Government, and then ask 

 such action at your hands as will complete State power to the end that 

 our people shall not be imposed upon into buying or consuming a com- 

 modity which really is detrimental as compared with the other 

 commodity. Is not this request within bounds and warranted by the 

 facts ? 



On what ground do our friends assert that oleo is healthful ? My 

 understanding is that they have none whatever. To illustrate: They 

 quote a chemist as saying, "There is nothing in oleomargarine that is 

 not in butter, and nothing in butter that is not in oleomargarine." 

 Now, to my mind, this is a fair sample of their reasons; it has just 

 enough truth in it to answer the purpose. Now, what are the facts, 

 or some of them? Both oleomargarine and butter contain stearin, a 

 fat that melts only at quite too high a temperature for the human 

 stomach, and, therefore, very hard to digest, and oleomargarine con- 

 tains from four to five times as much of it as butter. Take one more 

 illustration: "ButjTin" is in both substances, melts at a low tem- 

 perature, digests easily, and aids digestion of other foods. Butyrin 

 is found in butter to the extent of about 8 per cent, while there is very 

 little only a trace in oleomargarine. This being true, it is not, in 

 m y judgment, a full, fair statement of the fact to say "there is noth- 

 ing in butter that is not in oleo, and nothing in oleo that is not in 

 butter," but is an illustration of some of the methods adopted in the 

 oleo traffic. 



