844 OLEOMAKGA&INE. 



displace articles of kindred nature in the various channels into which 

 they have gone. 



The chief channels in which the oil has been consumed have been 

 developed since the recent large development of the industry. The 

 consumption of cotton-seed oil is very large as an admixture of lard 

 for use as a cooking oil and as a component part in the manufacture of 

 oleomargarine or butter substitute. We naturally have to find new 

 outlets to keep pace with our increased production, and while the busi- 

 ness has grown considerably in this country it has increased to a greater 

 extent abroad. The uses to which it is put there are chiefly as a sub- 

 stitute for higher-priced oils, and for the manufacture of what is termed 

 there "rnargarin," which is identical with the oleomargarine or butterine 

 of this country. 



We want to protest against anything that interferes with the use of 

 our product where it is legitimately employed on the same ground that 

 we think the paper which is made from the wood of the forest to-day 

 is entitled to as great a position in the commercial world as the paper 

 made from rags by our forefathers. We consider that we are in the 

 same line of advancement and development as other industries of a 

 progressive country, and I want to say that the trend of those in the 

 manufacturing business generally in the commercial world and in the 

 arts has been toward improvement in whatever line they are follow- 

 ing. In our particular line our aim has been to produce from an article 

 that has been wasted in past years something that is good and whole- 

 some as an article of human diet. We think we have succeeded. 



Cotton is grown, not for the seed, but for the lint it produces. The 

 progress in the development of its culture once made the South rich. 

 JSince the civil war the growth has increased until, at this time, the 

 whole world relies on that part of the country for its main supply of 

 cotton. The seed is a by-product, and a bulky one; and it was formerly 

 a burden to the planter. It was burned or dumped into the river to 

 get rid of it; and frequently the gins were compelled to move to get 

 out of the way of the accumulation of seed. 



Some ingenious mind discovered that cotton seed contained oil; and 

 he who first made oil from cotton seed became, to my mind, a bene- 

 factor of the race. Cotton-seed oil plants were Jbuilt for the production 

 of this vegetable oil, which was found to be pure and wholesome, and 

 as an article of human diet, in the various trades and manufactures in 

 which it entered into consumption, it at once found favor. It is used 

 in itself as a cooking fat. The prejudice that formerly existed against 

 cotton seed or any of its products has so far prevented it from coming 

 forward for what it is a pure and wholesome article of human diet. It 

 is used largely as an admixture to olive oil. The various grades of 

 olive oil produced in the south of Europe require the use of an article 

 of this character to mild and blend them down. The people themselves 

 use it. And while in Italy (as Mr. Tompkins noted this morning) a 

 practically prohibitory duty was imposed on the article, the exporta- 

 tion of olive oil to other countries from that country has in no wise 

 decreased its consumption for that particular purpose; and I think the 

 time will come when we shall have cotton oil put up as a pure vege- 

 table oil, on an equality with olive oil. Its character is about the 

 same, so far as its organization is concerned. It is a matter purely of 

 an acquired taste purely. An article of high grade, refined cotton 

 oil is as good for human diet as is olive oil, the latter being used in the 

 south of Europe very extensively as an article of diet, and largely as a 

 cooking oil. 



