564 OLEOMARGARINE. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. Your revenue agents, Mr. Secretary, are 

 expected to visit these factories and to take observations with respect 

 to the quality of the ingredients constituting oleomargarine, are they 

 not? 



Secretary GAGE. Yes, sir. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. What are their opportunities for observa- 

 tion in that direction ? 



Secretary GAGE. Oh, they are ample in these large establishments. 

 They are all open to our agents. 



Senator BATE. Have you scientific inspectors to investigate what 

 the component parts of this product are? 



Secretary GAGE. No; I do not think we have. We put it to the 

 test frequently, however. We get samples and have analyses made of 

 the product. That is to say, we have done so in the past; I do not 

 know what we are doing just at this moment. 



Senator ALLEN. Your agents, however, are not all experts in the 

 examination of oleomargarine, are they? 



Secretary GAGE. Oh, no no. 



Senator ALLEN. So that they might be imposed upon, as well as the 

 ordinary intelligent citizen? 



Secretary GAGE. Very easily. 



Senator ALLEN. They might walk into a place and call for butter, 

 and oleomargarine might be handed to them as butter; and unless they 

 took it to some person competent to make an analysis of it, they might 

 not know the difference? 



Secretary GAGE. That is quite true. 



Senator BATE. Do you keep agents at any of these large establish- 

 ments? 



Secretary GAGE. I do not think we do keep any regular watch on 

 them. 



Senator ALLEN. You take the same precautions respecting this 

 article that you do regarding liquors? 



Secretary GAGE. Except that we do keep gangers men who gauge 

 the quantities of liquor or storekeepers, in the bonded warehouses. 

 We go a little further with the liquors, because the temptation to evade 

 the law is immensely greater. 



Senator ALLEN. Then you do not keep such agents in these large 

 establishments which manufacture oleomargarine? 



Secretary GAGE. No. 



Senator MONEY. These storekeepers take note of the quantity of 

 liquor made, do they ? 



Secretary GAGE. They take simply the proof and the quantity. 



Senator ALLEN. Of course the liquor can not go out without the 

 consent of the Government? 



Secretary GAGE. No, sir; but the tax on liquor is $1.10 a gallon, 

 while that on butterine is 2 cents per pound, so that the temptation 

 is very much greater in the one case than in the other. 



Senator ALLEN. The only thing with which you are concerned is 

 the tax? 



Secretary GAGE. That is the main thing, of course. 



Senator MONEY. The remark you have just made, Mr. Secretary, 

 suggests this question : You say the greater the tax the greater the 

 incentive to fraud. The same rule would apply here, would it not? 



Secretary GAGE. Undoubtedly. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. Do the instructions of your Department, 

 Mr. Secretary, require the agents who visit these manufactories to 

 report to you with respect to the puriiy of the ingredients used ? 



