566 OLEOMARGAKINE. 



batter would be prevented, and it would have to be sold for what it 

 really is ? 



Secretary GAGE. I think so. 1 have read the amendment or substi- 

 tute bill recommended by the minority report of the House committee. 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. That is what is known as the Wadsworth bill? 



Secretary GAGE. It provides a method of putting up oleomargarine 

 in packages of 1 pound or not more than 2 pounds, I believe. Am I right! 



Mr. SPRINGER. Yes, sir; that is right. 



Secretary GAGE. They are, as I understand, required to be separate 

 and distinct from each other, with the revenue stamp wound around 

 them and sealed as effectively as a box of cigars is with its stamp. I 

 can not imagine any reason why that would not be a very effective 

 means of preventing the dealer from opening packages and selling the 

 product as butter. The abuse in that respect would be reduced to an 

 infinitesimal amount. Of course the dealer could cut a package in 

 two, obliterate the stamp, and sell half a pound at a time as butter. 



Senator MONEY. That is possible with cigars and everything else, is 

 it not? 



Secretary GAGE. It is possible in every department; but the temp- 

 tation would be so small and the penalties so great that my opinion is 

 that such deception would scarcely be practiced at all. 



Mr. SPRINGER. That is to say, if the dealer is required to sell it to 

 the consumer in the original packages and is not allowed to break them? 



Secretary GAGE. That is what I mean. 



Mr. SPRINGER. It would almost do away with the possibility of fraud 

 on the consumer? 



Secretary GA.GE. Yes, sir. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question, please? 



The ACTING CHAIRMAN. Do you consent to answer a question by 

 Mr. Knight, who is the secretary of the Dairymen's Association? 



Secretary GAGE. Yes, sir. 



Mr. KNIGHT. There is a penalty, is there not, Mr. Secretary, for fail- 

 ing to stamp the retailers' packages now? 



Secretary GAGE. You mean for failing to stamp the word u Oleo- 

 margarine" on the wrapper? 



Mr. KNIGHT. Yes, sir. 



Secretary GAGE. There is. 



Mr. KNIGHT. And that penalty is quite severe, is it not? 



Secretary GAGE. Yes, sir; it is. 



Mr. KNIGHT. And it is a fact, is it not, that the Commissioner of 

 Internal Revenue has also made a ruling to the eilect that it is an 

 evasion of the law to conceal the marks or to place them on paper of 

 the same color as the ink? 



Secretary GAGE. Yes, sir. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Now, what is the difference between the two classes of 

 evasions one of removing the stamp and the other of failing to affix 

 the stamp? 



Secretary GAGE. I think there is a great deal of difference. Under 

 the proposition which we have just been discussing the package of 

 oleomargarine itself will have deeply imprinted into it the word "Oleo- 

 margarine." It would make very little difference, indeed, whether the 

 wrapper had a stamp on it or not. The stamp on the product itself 

 would have to be clear and distinct, and it would have to be imprinted 

 by the manufacturer. Once fairly imprinted, it could only be obliter- 

 ated by the dealer taking it and mixing it up, packing it in a tub, call 

 ing it butter, and then retailing it as butter. He could do tlr.it if he 

 did not get caught at it. He could evade in that way the proposition 



