OLEOMARGARINE. 407 



Senator DOLLIVER. The federations of labor that I have heard here 

 tell a very curious story. They state that in western Pennsylvania, 

 where the cases that you refer to were tried, invariably everybody who 

 goes into these stores calls for butter and invariably gets oleomargarine; 

 that there seems to be a sort of free masonry between the merchant 

 and the customer. 



Mr. DAVIS. That is exactly in accord with what I am saying. It is 

 the customer that will not let the law be enforced. It is exactly that; 

 and I thank you for recalling that to me. These people go there and 

 " wink the other eye." They want butterine and they ask for butter. 



Senator HANSBROUGH. Is it not true that the companies' stores in 

 the State of Pennsylvania prefer to sell oleomargarine for butter? 



Mr. DAVIS. I am not informed about that, sir. 



Senator HANSBROUGH. Because of the greater profit. 



Mr. DAVIS. I am not informed on that point. That is a matter that 

 can be settled. But what Senator Dolliver is talking about is not the 

 companies' stores. He is talking about the stores that are scattered 

 all throughout the western part of Pennsylvania, where a great deal of 

 its product is sold. You have hit it exactly, and the man who told you 

 that has hit it. The customers do not want this legislation made. 

 They go and ask for butter, and, as I say, they wink their eye and they 

 know they are going to get oleomargarine. 



Mr. JELKE. If Senator Hansbrough will permit me, the company 

 stores in Pennsylvania would like to handle oleomargarine, but they 

 do not. They do not want to be annoyed with the regulations and the 

 lawsuits ; and I understand there is also a State tax upon retail deal- 

 ers of $100 in Pennsylvania, $500 for the wholesale dealer, and $1,000 

 for a manufacturer, in addition to all this regulation of the internal 

 revenue. 



Mr. DAVIS. Now, I do say that it is an open insult to the adminis 

 tration of justice in the States for men to come here before the Senate 

 of the United States and ask the Senate to make the United States act 

 as policemen, because they can not get their own laws enforced by 

 their own home people; and, notoriously, the States are more jealous 

 of the enforcement of the United States laws than they are of laws of 

 their own. This very appeal turns on itself and makes a demonstra- 

 tion that we can not hope to enforce a law like this, and that the more 

 stringent your regulations are in point of money penalty the greater 

 temptation you are holding out to frauds and violations of the law. It 

 is not a matter of mere conjecture or opinion on my part. 



Senator HANSBROUGH. Of course, the States can not tax an article 

 of commerce. 



Mr. DAVIS. No. But, Senator, it is conceded by the men themselves 

 that the States liave enacted laws which are as yet untouched by any 

 constitutional decision as to prohibiting the manufacture and sale of 

 colored oleomargarine, and yet they say it is being manufactured and 

 sold colored. You can not stop it. That is the point. You can not 

 stop it. You can not stop it any more as has been shown by the 

 history of the world than you can stop anything that the public is 

 determined to have. 



Senator DOLLIVER. Do you not think the United States could not 

 collect a tax of 10 cents a pound? 



Mr. DAVIS. What have these gentlemen told you about that? Have 

 they not told you that the United States internal-revenue agents are 

 not doing their duty? 



Senator DOLLIVER. Is there any complaint that the 2-cent tax is not 

 collected ? 



