218 OLEOMARGARINE. 



for instance. There it has been the custom of the people to have their 

 butter packed in what they call Bradford County tubs or half firkins. 

 Now then, in order to suit the people- in that section of the country 

 and deceive them they have Bradford County tubs made, and pack 

 their oleomargarine into tubs of that kind and ship it into that dis- 

 trict, and the oleomargarine is sold there by retailers for Bradford 

 County butter. That is part of the history of the past. 



Then we have another section of the State, that adjacent to Pitts- 

 burg. Up until a very few years ago it was the custom all through 

 the State of Ohio for the farmers to make up their butter principally 

 into rolls; and then they would take a little paddle and mark it on the 

 top, and pack the rolls into a 60-pound tub a thin-staved tub. And 

 in order that the oleomargarine people might deceive the people of 

 Pittsburg into buying their stuff for pure butter they have tubs made 

 in semblance of the Ohio tubs and then they have their oleomargarine 

 made in semblance of the Ohio dairy rolls, with the little marks on the 

 top, and packed with the same sort of cloth on top, and have it shipped 

 into Pittsburg knowing at the same time they do that they are helping 

 the retailer to deceive the unsuspecting public into buying an imitation 

 of Ohio rolls for the pure Ohio rolls. 



Now, later on, as we go on in years, the manufacture of butter has 

 changed; and they have got to making it more generally in creameries 

 and the dairies have been dropping out. The creameries through our 

 State have been in the habit of making up their butter into square 

 prints, with a sheaf, I think, or some sort of a monogram, stamped on 

 them. In order to compete with that these oleomargarine manufac- 

 turers throughout the country, who have been telling you here how 

 honest they are and how it is their purpose to have the stuff sold for 

 what it is, make it up into square pound prints and ship it into our 

 market, knowing that if it is sold in that way it is sold for Penns} T l- 

 vania creamery prints. 



That has been the history of this matter all through in our State. 

 I do not know how it is in other States; but in the State of Pennsyl- 

 vania, not only is the oleomargarine made in semblance of our different 

 styles of butter, dairy and solid-packed and rolls and prints, but it is 

 put up in packages so that there is no question about the disposition 

 of it. 



Now, I personally went into the butter business in 1878. I stood 

 behind the counter, and retailed butter to the amount of $35,000 a 

 year; and I have yet the first person to come to me and ask me for 

 oleomargarine that is, a private individual. My experience in the 

 business all through is that oleomargarine is a fraud from the begin- 

 ning to the end; that it is made in the semblance of butter and is sold 

 for butter. There is only one thing that we desire in the line of legis- 

 lation, and that is that such a law may be enacted as will compel these 

 "honest" oleomargarine manufacturers and dealers to sell the goods 

 for what they are. We are not at all afraid of that kind of competi- 

 tion not at all. And if any one will take the trouble to hunt up the 

 business from the factory to the consumer, he will find beyond any 

 question of doubt in his mind that it is one of the most stupendous 

 frauds that was ever fostered upon the people of this Commonwealth. 

 There is not any question about that. I know that it is insidiously 

 covered up. I know that. It is a lie from the beginning. I am not afraid 

 to make that statement, because I know it to be a fact; and I can make it 



