OLEOMARGARINE. 229 



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Mr. SHARPLESS. Because I make a fair article of butter, and sell it 

 to a fair trade, and get a little bit better price than most people do, 

 that is no reason why everybody gets that price. You can buy any 

 amount of butter around in our neighborhood, say at 25 cents proba- 

 bly not just at the present time, but you can through the summer sea- 

 son, any amount of it. The farms of our neighborhood can not make 

 butter out of their land and sell it for 25 cents and make any money 

 out of it. They simply can not do it for that; and I know it, because 

 I have been right there, and my accounts will show it. 



Mr. MILLER. From the statement made yesterday by Mr. Hamil- 

 ton, the dairy commissioner of Pennsylvania, we should judge the 

 Pennsylvania butter business to be in a very health} 7 condition. 



Mr. SHARPLESS. We have a law regulating the sale of oleomargarine 

 in Pennsylvania, and the enforcement of that law rests with Professor 

 Hamilton. He claims that he is not able to enforce that law. Either 

 that is a fact, or else he is unwilling to do so. Some of us are unchar- 

 itable enough to believe that he is unwilling. We have not had very 

 much faith in his attempts to enforce that law. 



Mr. TILLINGHAST. Have you any idea how much oleomargarine 

 there is sold in Pennsylvania? 



Mr. SHARPLESS. No, not to my certain knowledge; but I will tell 

 you what I do know, that one of my friends who was in Pittsburg 

 went into the stores there and asked for butter, and he bought what 

 they sold him as butter and took it out and had it analyzed and it 

 proved to be oleomargarine. 



Mr. EDSON. Mr. Sharpless, will you tell me how many quarts of 

 milk there are in a pound of butter ? 



Mr. SHARPLESS. It varies; it depends altogether upon the cows. 



Mr. EDSON. At this time of year, I mean. 



MR. SHARPLESS. It varies; it takes about 9 quarts, or a fraction 

 less than 9 quarts, of my milk to make a pound of butter. 



Mr. EDSON. On an average it takes more than that, does it not? 



Mr. SHARPLESS. The ordinary creamery does not make it under ten. 



Mr. EDSON. Then, at the present price of butter, how much does a 

 farmer get for a quart of milk? 



Mr. SHARPLESS. It depends altogether on the price he gets. 



Mr. EDSON. Based on 25-cent butter 22 to 25 cent butter? 



Mr. SHARPLESS. He would not get but 2 cents and a half. 



Mr. EDSON. Does he get 2 cents and a half ? 



Mr. SHARPLESS. He has to pay the creamery for manufacturing his 

 butter. 



Mr. EDSON. Well, finally, when the farmer gets his money, how 

 much a quart does he get for his milk? 



Mr. SHARPLESS. He gets about 2 cents. 



Mr. EDSON. He gets about a cent and a half, I should say, or some- 

 where around that neighborhood. He gets about a cent and three- 

 quarters to two cents a quart at the best of times. That is what it 

 costs. 



Mr. SHARPLESS. He can not produce milk in our county and sell it 

 at that price and make a profit out of it. 



Mr. EDSON. Mr. Chairman, it is a well-known fact that there are 

 from 10 to 11 quarts of milk in a pound of butter. At the average 

 price of butter throughout the year a farmer in the East or in the 

 West will net about a cent and a half a quart for milk on butter sold 

 at from 18 to 20 cents. 



