OLEOMARGARINE. 585 



A great many people ask why it is not as permissible to color oleo- 

 margarine as it is to color butter. I would answer because they are 

 not colored for the same purpose. Butter in winter is too light to suit 

 the taste of most consumers. The highest value is in fresh butter not 

 more than ten days old. The consumer asks that it bear the yellow 

 summer color of butter. That is a matter of taste, not deception, for 

 it is not colored to resemble something it is not. But oleomargarine is 

 colored to make it resemble butter, which it is not. It is colored, not 

 for the benefit or taste of its consumer, but to deceive the consumer. 



Said President Cleveland, in his message approving the oleomarga- 

 rine legislation of 1886 : 



Not the least important incident related to this legislation is the defense afforded 

 to the consumer against the fraudulent substitution and sale of an imitation for a 

 genuine article of food of a very general household use. * * * I venture to say 

 that hardly a pound ever entered a poor man's house under its real name and in its 

 true character. 



The argument still holds good. Congress was then asked to place a 

 tax of 10 cents a pound on the counterfeit. Had it done so, the relief 

 would, in my opinion, have been ample and sufficient. But it has been 

 proved inadequate, and we ask for the passage of this measure in its 

 entirety. 



We are met by certain abstractionists with the question, " Would you 

 tax one legitimate industry out of existence for the benefit of another?" 

 To this I would answer, No. But the oleomargarine business is not con- 

 ducted legitimately. It is based, from manufacture to sale, on wrong 

 and illegitimate methods. 



We believe Congress has the right, for the sake of public welfare, 

 for the sake of suppressing fraud and deception in any industry, to tax 

 its illegitimate outcome burdensomely, and for this reason are the 

 farmers and consumers of the country making their wishes known to 

 this Congress on this bill. 



Is oleomargarine a healthful food? There is no* way to determine 

 this question except by actual trial; not fora day, a week, or a mouth, 

 but for several successive months, and not with strong, robust men 

 with plenty of outdoor exercise. 



Chemistry can not answer. For example, the chemist will tell you 

 that he finds the same elements in swamp peat that are found in the 

 grasses and hays that are fed to our cows, and in approximately the 

 same proportion. And the chemist is at a loss to determine from the 

 standpoint of his science why cattle should not feed on swamp peat. 

 Chemistry can not determine whether any particular substance is 

 poisonous or not. It must take a stomach to do that. 



There is no credible evidence to show that oleomargarine is innocu- 

 ous; no evidence to show that when eaten continuously in place of 

 butter it is not harmful. But there are reports in great abundance to 

 the effect that oleomargarine is harmful. 



Mr. Edmund Hill, a member of the Somerset County council, Eng- 

 land, reports that the great bulk of oleomargarine, or "margarine" as 

 it is called there, is eaten in public institutions, convents, schools, etc. 

 At the Wells Asylum, with which he is connected, the inmates receive 

 oleomargarine. In the asylums of Dorset, Wells, and Hants the 

 adjoining counties butter is furnished, and the death rate at Wells is 

 30 per cent higher. At the Tauntou Hospital there were 11 deaths in 

 thirteen months. Oleomargarine was substituted, and in nine months 

 the deaths rose to 22. 



This accords with the experience in France, where its use in hospi- 



(*3) 



