424 OLEOMARGARINE. 



Mr. SPRINGER. Will you allow me to ask you a question, Mr. Secre- 

 tary? 



Secretary WILSON. Surely. 



Mr. SPRINGER. You stated, I believe, that the consumption of butter 

 in the United States amounted to about 83 pounds per capita. Was 

 that your statement? 



Secretary WILSON. No ; I think not. 



Mr. SPRINGER. What was the statement you made ? 



Secretary WILSON. The eighty-three you have in mind was 83,000,000 

 pounds of oleomargarine. My statement was 18J pounds per capita, if 

 I remember correctly. 



Senator MONEY. Yes; 18J pounds of butter. 



Mr. SPRINGER. How many pounds of butter were consumed last year 

 in the United States? Was that stated by you to-day? 



Secretary WILSON. No; I dealt with oleomargarine, but if you will 

 multiply 18 J by 76,000,000 you will get it very closely. 



Mr. SPRINGER. You stated, however, that the consumption of oleo- 

 margarine amounted to but a little over 1 pound per capita. 



Secretary WILSON. A little over 1 pound per capita in the United 

 States; yes. 



Mr. SPRINGER. Then you did state what the consumption of butter 

 was, and it seemed to me it was 80 pounds per capita. 



Secretary WILSON. Eighteen and a half pounds. 



Mr. SPRINGER. If the consumption of oleomargarine is only 4 per 

 cent of the consumption of butter, do you think that the competition 

 up to this time has been such as to enter into all of these hotels and 

 that we are all eating more oleomargarine than butter. 



Secretary WILSON. Without any question, all over this District oi 

 Columbia. I have looked into it with the utmost care. I have had 

 my experts go and inquire, and there is not the least doubt, Judge, bat 

 that you and I are eating it right along all the time when we buy here. 



Mr. SPRINGER. What has become of the butter that is made, then? 



Secretary WILSON. That is used also. 



Senator HEITFELD. Is not one reason we are consuming so much 

 oleomargarine in this country because we get such a poor lot of butter 

 here ? I have been here four years, and I have not yet been successful 

 in finding a dealer who keeps good butter all the time. 



Secretary WILSON. No, Senator; that is not the reason. The reason 

 is there is such a great profit in oleomargarine. 



Senator HEITFELD. A Senator told me the other day that his wife 

 went to the, market and deceived him with oleomargarine. He said it 

 was the best butter that has been on his table. He had tried for three 

 years to get the best butter, and he said now he was against oleomar- 

 garine because he did not want to get deceived any longer. 



Secretary WILSON. This was a bad place to try that experiment. I 

 get my butter direct from the creamery, and I will furnish you a sam- 

 ple, at any time, of genuine butter. 



Senator MONEY. You say the best butter has a generic name Elgin 

 butter? 



Secretary WILSON. Yes, sir; we call fine creamery butter Elgin 

 butter. 



Senator MONEY. Is it true or not because it has been stated to me 

 that it was true that these fine Elgin creameries that make fine butter 

 are very great consumers of oleomargarine? 



Secretary WILSON. No; I think not. 



Senator MONEY. I have been told so by a gentleman here who said 



