OLEOMARGARINE. 527 



little money for their butter would, after the passage of this bill, not 

 be materially improved, for the reason that the dairymen, the renovated 

 butter men, or other people who buy their butter, would give them just 

 about the same price as they now get, and would get the benefits of 

 this taxation and a curtailment of production for those who are now 

 enjoying the very best benefits of the dairy interests. 



After them, the next interest that is affected is tbis enormous inter- 

 est in the South in the production of cotton seed, where, by means of 

 improved processes and more work, they have learned to produce beef 

 steers, and are producing a great many beef steers, and are fattening 

 them on cotton seed oil and meal. Their interests will be affected. 



But the largest of all interests to be affected is the working people 

 of the country, who have to consume the product. There, is no ques- 

 but that, if the propositions relating to legislation brought here by the 

 dairymen is carried through, the prices of that article of food to the 

 people will be the biggest part of the tax. 



Senator ALLEN. Do you know approximately how many milch cows 

 there are in the United States ! 



Mr. TOMPKINS. I do not. 1 think it is stated somewhere in the tes- 

 timony. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Sixteen millions. 



Senator ALLEN. The average production of butter per cow would be 

 how much per week ? 



Mr. KNIGHT. Eleven millions in the production of butter. 



Senator ALLEN. What is the average production? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. I am not a dairyman. These other gentlemen will 

 tell you that. 



Senator ALLEN. Say 4 pounds per week. That is reasonable, is it 

 not? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. I suppose so. 



Senator ALLEN. How much butter will be produced per week? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. Four pounds a week, and fifty two times that. 



Senator ALLEN. In round figures, what will that be? 



Mr. KNIGHT. I have figured it at about 1,500,000,000 pounds. 



Senator ALLEN. Divide that by 75,000,000, the population of the 

 United States, and what would the result be? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. About 18 pounds per capita. 



Senator ALLEN. Do you think we ought to resort to a substitute for 

 butter under those circumstances? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. They do not want a wholesome article of food, or at 

 least they do not want to pay 25 per cent more for that food than they 

 are now paying. It is the differential quantities of food, I suppose, 

 that enter into the prices in the estimation of the values of the actual 

 quantities concerned. They are by no means a measure of what the 

 increased prices would be. I am sure that the working people would 

 not want to be made the victims of any law which materially increased 

 the price of what they buy, whether butter or oleomargarine. 



Senator HANSBROUGH. If you knock out the color from oleomarga- 

 rine, would not the working people be able to buy it at a lower price? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. If the color was knocked out of butter, would they 

 not also be able to buy it at a lower price? Why should the principle 

 apply to one and not the other? 



Senator HANSBROUGH. It is stated here by butter experts that for 

 about two months in the year the butter is naturally colored, that you 

 can not take it out. 



Mr. TOMPKINS. That is all right. Leave it in. 



