174 OLEOMARGARINE. 



then to compete with us. They can put their butter in South America. 

 in South Africa, and throughout the West Indies on a basis of 17 to 

 18 cents. That is, their cheap butter. When we come to creameries, 

 when we are obliged to pay 24. io. and 26 cents for creameries, we find 

 that we are being again crowded close, because the foreigners can put 

 their foreign butter throughout the world at that price, and a little le>>. 



It may surprise you, gentlemen, but within ten years we were selling 

 and sending to the hot countries about 10 per cent of the butter that 

 they use. Ninety per cent has been placed by the foreign markets in 

 those countries. We have increased, that, I am happy to say. about 4 

 per cent, mostly through our creamery butter. We have had a hard 

 time of it to get our creamery butter into these foreign markets < ,n 

 account of the fact, as I remarked this morning, that we did not make 

 creamery butter as it should be made. With our usual way of doing 

 things here, the high nervous temperament in which we all live, our 

 great ambition is to turn out butter quick turn it out with a magnifi- 

 cent flavor, and let it take its chance to keep, Consequently we could 

 not ship that butter. The process I am using now, that 1 am advo- 

 cating right and left among the best creameries I can get hold of, is 

 to change that all and make a better butter, costing a little more: but 

 the demand for butter is so great that they can well afford to do it. 



If you put this tax on oleomargarine, which. I think we all agree, 

 means a prohibitory tax, means the wiping out of the 80,000,000 

 pounds or the 107,000,000 pounds per year, what is going to tak 

 place? What am I going to do to take the place of oleomargarine \ 

 In my study as a practical man, and having come in contact with it in 

 my butter industry and seeing the effect it had on butter twelve or 

 fifteen years ago, I noticed and recognized fully it is. as it were, a 

 counterbalance to a small extent on butter. It keeps the price of 

 butter down to a certain extent. It prevents, to a larger" extent. 

 manipulation and speculation in Dutter. You gentlemen from Illinois 

 well know, and I know also, that you would love to corner butter if 

 you could, but you have not been able to do it. You have tried it 

 over and over again and met your fate. I have been asked to go into 

 it many a time; but fortunately having my interests in the East more, 

 although I buy largely from you, I have refused; but every time you 

 have tried to corner butter you have failed, for up to this time there 

 has been sufficient butter to prevent it, although you, gentlemen, 

 readily see by the remarks that have gone before me on the part of 

 the dairy interests that we do not begin to have sufficient butter to 

 supply this country. 



Butter goes higher and higher every winter. It starts in higher 

 and higher every spring. Consequently I say from my observation 

 that if you wipe out oleo and place 107,000,000 pounds of that stutf. you 

 open a dangerous channel, and butter is bound to be hurt by it. We 

 dairymen are bound to be hurt by it. It will give an opportunity to 

 men like Swift or Armour or any other man who has large sun 

 money to invest to go in and speculate. Do the farmers want that? 

 My friend says the farmers are not interested as a rule in the cream- 

 eries themselves. Then, consequently, in the end they will be hurt by 

 it. Butter at times will go up high, it is true, on account of specula- 

 tion, by taking away that which up to now has regulated it. After all, 

 I ask you again, what hurt does oleo do \ If it were not for a few 

 agitators who really are theorists, who really do not have the best 



