OLEOMARGARINE. 563 



revenue. Complaints frequently come to us that they are passing it 

 off as butter. We always inquire into such matters. While the internal 

 revenue department does not consider itself clothed with police duties, 

 exactly (its duty being to collect the revenue), we pursue all cases of 

 persons violating the regulations in regard to stamping and marking 

 the product when they are brought to our attention; and there have 

 been a great many prosecutions. 



I have here a letter which I picked up this morning, dated November 

 24, 1900, which illustrates something. It is a letter from one of our 

 agents in Cleveland, Ohio, addressed to Commissioner Wilson. This 

 agent was directed to inquire into the dealings of a certain gentleman 

 in a small Ohio town, because the report of one of the manufacturers 

 of butterine set forth sales to this gentleman, whom we will call Mr. 

 Brown for the purposes of the illustration. You know, gentlemen, that 

 all of the manufacturers have to report their entire sales to the Depart- 

 ment ; and the report of this particular manufacturer came along, show- 

 ing the sale of 228 pounds of butteriue, in three different lots, to this 

 Mr. Brown, in this town in Ohio. Mr. Brown had no license to sell 

 butteriue, and we made an investigation. We found that he was not 

 selling butterine, but was simply ordering it for sundry persons, in 

 their behalf, and ordering it to be sent to them direct for consumption. 

 Now, it is a somewhat singular fact that these parties for whom Mr. 

 Brown acted were all dealers in milk, and were selling all their milk 

 to Mr. Brown, who was in the cheese business. 



Senator ALLEN. Mr. Secretary, was that a mere cover, or was it a 

 bona fide transaction upon Mr. Brown's part? 



Secretary GAGE. Oh, it was entirely in good faith. Mr. Brown lived 

 in this village, and these milk dealers brought him all their milk, and 

 they wanted butterine. 



Senator ALLEN. Of course you will recognize the fact that if Mr. 

 Brown, in collusion with these other parties, was simply resorting to 

 that device as a method of avoiding the tax law, he would be guilty of 

 violating the tax law and should be prosecuted? 



Secretary GAGE. Oh, yes. He did not retail the butterine; he made 

 no profit on it. He simply acted in their behalf. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. Were the parties for whom he acted in the 

 retail business, or simply consumers ? 



Secretary GAGE. They were simply consumers farmers. 



Senator ALLEN. Is your inspecting force in these districts adequate 

 to investigate and prosecute these cases? 



Secretary GAGE. Well, fairly so. We have a good many of what 

 are called revenue agents under the collectors of internal revenue. 

 They pay attention to all the departments of revenue. We do not have 

 special agents to inquire into the butteriue business who are separate 

 and distinct from the agents who look after violations of other branches 

 of revenue. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. No ; I understand that. 



Secretary GAGE. They watch the tobacco dealer; they watch the 

 whisky dealer; they watch the brewer; and they watch the oleomar- 

 garine man. They plan to cover them all, and to drop in and inspect, 

 and catch them if they can. 



Senator ALLEN. They depend largely on outside sources for their 

 information, do they not? 



Secretary GAGE. A good deal. They get a good many u tips" from 

 the outside. 



