334 OLEOMARGARINE. 



materials which are also raised on the farm and which go to make oleo- 

 margarine, and so render him independent of the creameries, which 

 are rapidly growing into a monopoly or trust and who pay what they 

 like to the milk producer. 



Another reason, and a strong one, for the removal of taxes, espe- 

 cially the special tax of $48 per annum on retail dealers, is the inabil- 

 ity of small storekeepers to pay it. The larger ones do not find it a 

 hardship, but the poor widow or old man struggling to eke out a bare 

 living does not ordinarily have $48 in a lump at one time; besides, 

 does not sell sufficient to make the $48 in the course of a year. On the 

 other hand, he can not compete with large tea and grocery companies, 

 who, with hundreds of branch stores, buy butter in large quantities 

 and retail it at cost price as an advertisement to draw customers for 

 tea and coffee, which yield large profits. Thus the poor people trading 

 with the lone widow and old man are prevented by law from sharing in 

 one of God's richest blessings in the shape of a healthful, wholesome 

 food. 



To a layman, it would seem that oleomargarine is no more an object 

 of Federal taxation than any other of the thousands of food products, 

 original and simulated, all of which are susceptible of proper control 

 by State legislatures. In disposing of this feature of the question , let 

 me ask, is it not crowding the mourners pretty close, especially in dis- 

 tricts where butter is not made, to compel its residents to pay tribute 

 to Uncle Sam who now has an annoying surplus of quickly acquired 

 wealth, and to the private firms engaged in the creamery business? 



Doing business in a State where the law is regulative, not prohibi- 

 tive, our experience in the selling of oleomargarine may be different 

 from those who do business in States where its sale is not permitted at 

 all. In New Jersey, with its thousands of mechanics, mill operatives, 

 and other earners of small wages, there has been developed a large 

 and widely distributed trade in oleomargarine, which is called for and 

 sold as such, bearing every mark and label called for by both the Fed- 

 eral and State laws. 



That the trade is large and constantly growing larger is due to the 

 fact that we advertise our goods constantly and extensively, and per- 

 sonally urge upon the grocers of the State the merits of our goods as 

 a cheaper and better article than the process or other grades of butter 

 that their class of trade permits them to purchase. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. Will you allow me to interrupt you just at 

 this point to ask a question? 



Mr. PERSON. Certainly, sir. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. It appears that the law of New Jersey pro- 

 vides that any article made wholly or partly out of any fat, oil, etc., 

 not from pure niilk or cream, artificially colored in imitation of pure 

 yellow butter, is prohibited. 



Mr. PERSON. Yes, sir. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. How do you manage to do business in yel- 

 low oleomargarine in New Jersey, then? 



Mr. PERSON. We have had that question settled by the courts, Mr 

 Chairman. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. What was the settlement? 



Mr. PERSON. I can not recall just what the decision of the court 

 was, but it was sufficiently in our favor to enable us to sell the goods 

 as we sell them. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. What was the decision of the court? 



Mr. PERSON. The decision of the court was that if the goods carried 



