OLEOMAKGAKESTE. 177 



fancy creamery during June was 19| cents and for July 19^ cents, 

 which was more than 1 cent per pound higher than in the previous 

 year. Kelatively full rates were maintained later, and when we got 

 well into the fall business was so good that prices steadily hardened, 

 reaching the high figure of 27 cents about the middle of November, 

 which held for a week and then settled back gradually." 



Mr. HOARD. That is, New York ? 



Mr. LESTRADE. Yes; New York, and there was only about a cent's 

 difference in Chicago. 



Senator HEITFELD. That is the wholesale price ? 



Mr. LESTRADE. Yes, sir; wholesale prices. 



" The average for the year was 22f cents for creamery as compared 

 with 21-J cents in 1899 and 19 cents in both 1898 and 1897. The 

 lowest point of the season 18 cents was late in April, before we 

 reached grass butter." 



I wish to call your attention, gentlemen, to the fact that in 1898 and 

 1897, when the output of oleomargarine was in the neighborhood of 

 60,000,000 pounds, or possibly 70,000,000 pounds, the price of butter 

 was only 19 cents. 



Senator HEITFELD. What year was that? 



Mr. LESTRADE. In 1898 and in 1897. The average, I mean, for the 

 year was only about 19^ cents when the output of oleo was, 1 should 

 imagine, from 60,000,000 to 70,000,000 pounds, and butter went up 

 to from 19i to 22* cents average price on an output of 108,000,000 

 pounds oleomargarine. 



Senator HEITFELD. Does the price of oleomargarine fluctuate? 



Mr. LESTRADE. No; I do not believe it ever does. Does it, gen- 

 tlemen ? 



Mr. TILLINGHAST. Oh, yes; it changes some. 



Mr. LESTRADE. I suppose it does. We send a good deal of oil to 

 Rotterdam, and I suppose that is what makes the fluctuation of it. 



Mr. TILLINGHAST. Yes. 



Mr. LESTRADE. In the report of Mr. Kracke, the assistant in the 

 agricultural department of New York State 



Mr. SCHELL. He is the principal, is he not? 



Mr. FLANDERS. Mr. Kracke is in charge of the work in the central 

 division. 



Mr. KNIGHT. May I ask you, Mr. Lestrade, the market price of 

 butter in New York to-day ? 



Mr. LESTRADE. About 25 or 26 cents is the average price. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Is that the quoted price the official price? 



Mr. LESTRADE. Yes. 



Mr. KNIGHT. And what was it a year ago at this time; do you 

 remember? 



Mr. LESTRADE. I think 27 or 28 cents ; possibly higher. I do not 

 remember, exactly. It may have been 30 cents. 



Mr. KNIGHT. It is about 5 cents cheaper than it was a year ago ? 



Mr. LESTRADE. Yes. I do not want the sale of oleomargarine pro- 

 hibited. I want it for a balance, so to speak, to keep wild speculation 

 down. I can not afford as a creamery man, a man interested in butter, 

 to put myself in the position, if I can help it, of allowing speculators 

 to come in and manipulate butter. It is bad enough now as it is; but 

 wipe out oleo, which you will if you put this 10 -cent prohibitory tax 

 on, and there is not a man in the country could do anything in regard 



S. Rep. 2043 12 



