540 OLEOMARGARINE. 



COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, 



UNITED STATES SENATE, 

 Washington, D. (7., January 12, 1901. 

 The committee met at 10.30 a. in. 



Present: Senators Proctor (chairman), Money, Dolliver, Bate, and 

 Hansbrough; also, Charles Y. Knight, secretary National Dairy Union; 

 Mr. Schell, Mr. Miller, Mr. Jelke, and others. 



The CHAIRMAN. If there is anybody who desires to go on this morn- 

 ing, he may proceed. 



STATEMENT OF GEORGE E. PAUL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Mr. PAUL. Gentlemen, to start with, I will have to give my experience 

 as a dealer in butter, oleomargarine, etc., from the time that I started 

 in business in Philadelphia. I started in the produce business in Phil- 

 adelphia in 1871. At that time, or prior to that, I was a merchant in 

 Ohio, shipping large quantities of butter to Philadelphia. That quality 

 of butter was eagerly sought after in the Philadelphia market at that 

 time. The Philadelphia market was a peculiar market, accepting rolls 

 and prints as the principal butter. The different colored butter that 

 was coming onto the market at that time was from fresh milked cows, 

 and also from green-fed cattle. Other cattle that were not fed so well 

 produced white butter. 



Senator MONEY. You had several grades of color? 



Mr. PAUL. Yes, sir. 



Senator MONEY. In natural butter? 



Mr. PAUL. Natural butter; yes, sir. 



Senator MONEY. Which shade was the dominant color? 



Mr. PAUL. White. 



Senator MONEY. White was the predominant shade? 



Mr. PAUL. Yes, sir. 



Senator MONEY. White would be called the color of butter, then? 



Mr. PAUL. Yes, sir; and that butter was eagerly sought after in that 

 time of the year back in the early seventies. Of course later on we 

 had a butter produced in New York State that was held from summer 

 until spring, which was pretty highly colored, owing to the grass-fed 

 cattle. That butter is practically out of the market at the present 

 time, owing to the existence of creameries. Solid packed butter, which 

 is the predominant butter ot the West, was never sought after in the 

 Philadelphia markets, and yet to this day prints and rolls are the prin- 

 cipal butter in Philadelphia. Nearby butter in the neighborhood of 

 Philadelphia is the very tine butter made in the United States. We 

 do not except anything. 



Senator MONEY. What do you mean by prints and rolls? 



Mr. PAUL. Prints are 1-pound packages, which were put up by the 

 farmers' wives, and they used to bring them into the market and sell 

 them to the different gentlemen for their fine butter. 



Senator MONEY. What are the rolls? 



Mr. PAUL. One pound, 2-pound any sized roll of country butter. 



Senator MONEY. It is the same butter? 



Mr. PAUL. The same butter; yes, sir. This grade of butter con- 

 tinued coming along to the market for quite a while; but on account of 

 a proportion of poor butter from the West coming in there, it became 

 difficult to dispose of this butter at a profit to the people who purchased 

 it. On the top of the packages there would probably be good rolls, 

 and in the bottom and in the center there would be white, cheesy, and 



