OLEOMARGARINE. 339 



(j per cent of salt. Indiana: 80 per cent of fat. Georgia: 80 per cent 

 of fat. Oregon : Not over 14 per cent of water. 



I might say, in addition, that these figures of water and salt open up 

 vistas of considerable adulteration or " filling." 



Besides this, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and one or two 

 Western States ( I think they are Wisconsin and Michigan, are they not?) 

 have laws providing for the selling of process butter under its true name. 



Mr. ADAMS. Yes. 



Mr. PERSON. But all of which are evaded or defied because of the 

 difficulty of its detection when sold as the pure butter of the "poor 

 farmer" or his master, the creamery man. Contrast this with the con- 

 ditions surrounding oleomargarine, which is subject to the laws of 

 thirty-two States and the Federal law, which spreads over and embraces 

 every sale of over 10 pounds from the dealer to the consumer through 

 the monthly reports which the revenue law exacts. 



Taking the figures of the New York butter market the largest in the 

 country as an index, the receipts of butter there during 1900 show an 

 increased production of that article, the excess in 1900 over 1899 being 

 48,000 packages, the large falling off in exports proving that the home 

 consumption is increasing rapidly, and also proves that the price of 

 butter in other countries is less than in the United States, as Canada 

 and Australia undersell the United States in the English and other 

 Kuropean markets, which all tends to illustrate clearly that through 

 the operation of the tax laws against oleomargarine and the import duty 

 against butter, the people of the United States are compelled to pay 

 more for their butter than people of other countries. 



Mr. KNIGHT. May I interrupt you a moment. Do you know what the 

 receipts were in New York in 1898 ? Have you got those figures there? 



Mr. PERSON. No, I have not; but these are figures that I have 

 taken 



Mr. KNIGHT. That is, to show an increase in receipts in New York? 



Mr. PERSON. Yes, sir. I had no idea of making a dig at the Chicago 

 butter market. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Oh, I do not care about that. I do not belong to 

 Chicago. 



Mr. PERSON. I have but recently learned of the proposition made by 

 a gentleman who has previously appeared before this committee, which, 

 in my opinion, is a fair and full solution of the unfortunate condition 

 you gentlemen have to consider, and if our friends on the opposite side 

 desire to meet us on a fair basis, it will, I think, be found in that sug- 

 gestion, which is, that the butter and oleomargarine interests agree 

 upon distinctive well-defined shades of yellow color, by which their 

 respective products can instantly and positively be identified. The 

 numerous shades of that color, some of which are very marked, cer- 

 tainly afford full opportunity to sharply define the limit of color which 

 either product shall not transgress or appropriate, and which will 

 afford the public every chance to exercise its judgment in deciding 

 which article they shall select as a lubricant for their bread or other 

 purposes. 



Believing in the honesty of many of those who would have the Grout 

 bill as a remedy for their supposed wrongs, and in the rights of the 

 oleomargarine makers and dealers, whose interests would be annihilated 

 by a law which forces them to bleach out whatever shade of yellow their 

 goods might develop from the basic materials used, it will, 1 think, appeal 

 to you, as fair-minded men, that the suggestion as to separate shades of 

 yellow should be accepted by both sides, and so end this unpleasant 



