OLEOMAKGAKINE. 303 



not cheat the nation. If they seek to destroy one industry for the bene- 

 fit of another, or to foster one industry at the expense of another, or to 

 regulate prices, let them tell the truth about it and name the bill 

 accordingly. But they do not do it. 



Now, gentlemen, the eft'ect of this bill 



Senator MONEY. Excuse me. Have they not said the bill was to 

 destroy oleomargarine? Has not that been stated? 



Mr. SCHELL. Senator, I have been trying to get them on record on 

 that subject ever since they began. 



Senator MONEY. Was not somebody on record at the hearings before 

 the House on that point? 



Mr. SCHELL. They came here and disputed it. They said it was a 

 mistake, and that the minority members of the committee were wrong. 



Now, gentlemen, whatever the purpose of this bill and we claim the 

 purpose is to destroy the industry whatever purpose they intend, it 

 will destroy the oleomargarine industry. The official condemnation of 

 the Congress of the United States, stamped upon this product by a bill 

 similar to the Grout bill, will kill the export trade not only of the prod- 

 uct but of all that enters into it. That has been gone into in detail. 



Now, gentlemen, the main thing to be urged about this matter is the 

 fact that the oleomargarine manufacturer is caught between the upper 

 and the nether millstones. With the aid of the Grout bill he is ground 

 in between the State and the Federal laws. As the matter stands he 

 can say to the State which is enforcing an unjust law, "Prove it." 

 There he has some show, some chance. But according to this Grout 

 bill he must make an accurate sworn statement to the Government, 

 under penalty of an absolute confiscation of his factory, his product, 

 his equipment and everything, and fine and imprisonment added. This 

 sworn statement is a plea of guilty of a violation of the State law. They 

 say, "We are willing that you should sell it for what it is." Some of 

 them have said that, in a half-hearted sort of manner. They say, " We 

 are willing." I think the great bulk of the people who are alleged to 

 be represented here (but I claim their true sentiments are not repre- 

 sented here), those who have at the instigation of lobbyists and others 

 been writing letters to the Senators on this matter, while they are not 

 by their representatives definitely on record here, are too fair-minded 

 to crush an industry out of existence and confiscate our property with- 

 out giving us anything for it. I think the majority of the people who 

 are opposed to the alleged method of traffic of oleomargarine are will- 

 ing that it should be sold on the right side of the fence. That is all 

 we want. I think they are willing it should be done. I think every 

 fair-minded citizen must concede that it ought to be done. And yet, 

 according to the provisions of this bill, it can not be done. Our factory 

 there in Cincinnati must close down, after just expending $18,000 for a 

 plant, and I do not know how much more for other equipment, to get 

 ready to do business. They must quit. Their sworn statement which 

 they must make to the United States Government would condemn them. 

 They would thus plead guilty of a violation of the State laws. They 

 simply can not make this product. They can not make it for export or 

 on order of the consumer. They must close the factory. 



The supporters of the bill say that the 10-cent tax raises the price of 

 oleomargarine so that it is on the same basis of the price of butter. It 

 does not merely raise the price. In 32 States of the Union it abso- 

 lutely prohibits the manufacture or sale of oleomargarine, colored. 

 They can not even manufacture it to send to a State where it is all 

 right to sell it, colored or otherwise; and those 32 States represent 



