410 OLEOMARGARINE. 



on the court that every trust in the country is an octopus, reaching out 

 its tentacles and strangling industries, and all that sort of business; 

 and after stating the business very plainly and bluntly, the court says 

 this : 



In any great and extended change in the manner or method of doing business it 

 seems to be an inevitable necessity that distress and perhaps ruin shall be its accom- 

 paniment in regard to some of those who were engaged in the old methods. A change 

 from stagecoaches and canal boats to railroads threw at once a large number of men 

 out of employment; changes from hand labor to that of machinery, and from opera- 

 ting machinery by hand to the application of steam for such purposes, leave behind 

 them for the time a number of men who must seek other avenues of livelihood. 

 These are misfortunes which seem to be the necessary accompaniment of all great 

 industrial changes. It takes time to effect a readjustment of industrial life, so that 

 those who are thrown out of their old employment by reason of such changes as we 

 have spoken of may find opportunities for labor in other departments than those to 

 which they have been accustomed. 



The same thing exactly is true of industries. When an industry 

 comes in it takes the place of another. When the cotton seersucker 

 was invented, the silk seersucker had to step aside. When the Paisley 

 shawl came into the market the camel's-hair shawl had to take a 

 back seat. It is the same old story. It has been so ever since the 

 beginning of industries. It is simply a repetition of the old cry that 

 this wholesome and nutritious product, which is the poor man's butter, 

 is to be kept out of the market and its manufacture to be suppressed 

 because a part of that same market has been preempted by the butter 

 men. I protest that that is not within the legislative power. Certainly 

 it is not within the legislative wisdom, and I think it is not within its 

 power at all. 



So far as my particular clients are concerned these people here in 

 the District of Columbia if you are going to put out your hands in 

 exercise of the revenue power, say so; but you do not say so; tliis bill 

 does not say so, and it does not pretend to say so, and it does not mean 

 so, because, as I have already said, if you say that I will show you in a 

 minute that you have more money than you can spend. You do not 

 need this money. You are now engaged in the very act and effort of 

 reducing the Government revenues. That is not what you want. If 

 you say you are going to stop this particular industry here, which 

 will be the one most nearly affected, because you are exercising the 

 police power, I ask you, Why? Is this thing detrimental to the public 

 safety ! That is one of the things that the police power has to do with. 

 Is it detrimental to the public health ? The Supreme Court tells you 

 that it is not; the chemists the world over tell you that it is not. Is it 

 detrimental to the public morals? How? The manufacturer here has 

 to pay the tax like everybody else. And if you tell me, as these gentle- 

 men say, that it is detrimental to the public morals in that it puts a 

 temptation before a man to sell something for what it is not, I say to 

 you in perfect earnestness that your increasing the taxis increasing 

 that temptation instead of diminishing it, and instead of helping the 

 public morals you are simply doing the opposite. 



Now, gentlemen, I am thankful to you for the very patient attention 

 you have given to me. I have taken a longer time, perhaps, than you 

 thought was necessary, but I could not be too earnest in my endeavor 

 to get before you my attitude toward this matter. I could not be to 

 earnest in my endeavor to convince you, as I believe in my heart, that 

 this is a very vicious piece of class legislation that is being attempted 

 here. I do not believe it to be constitutional, for the reasons that I 

 have stated. If it were constitutional [ would believe it to be a very 

 unwise act, and certainly a very unjust one; and with. respect to the 



