OLEOMARGARINE. 589 



have been pretty close to entire prohibition of the entire traffic had it 

 been passed as recommended. I simply cite these facts and conditions 

 to give the committee something of an idea of the great provocations 

 which existed at that time, as reflected by these recommendations, it 

 having been found almost impossible then to secure butter whose 

 purity could be guaranteed, unless it came direct from the farm to the 

 consumer. 



RECOMMENDED A TEN-CENT TAX. 



The recommendations of that committee were many, and the outcome 

 of their investigations a complete scheme for the taxation and regula- 

 tion of oleomargarine through the Internal- Re venue Department, which 

 taxation would put the article within the constitutional control of the 

 Government and thereby permit the branding requirements which were 

 desired at that time to be enforced by the National Government. A 

 tax of 10 cents per pound was recommended, regardless of color, by that 

 committee. 



EXPECTED LAW TO BE ENFORCED. 



The Agricultural Committee, however, did not then know as much as 

 the public knows to-day about the Internal Be venue Department. It 

 was the impression of Congress that when the revenue law required 

 every retailer to brand his package sold the consumer, that this, as well 

 as all other provisions of the measure would be enforced. It was because 

 of the impression that this branding clause alone would give the public 

 protection that the 10 cent tax was finally cut down to 5 cents in the 

 House and 2 cents in the Senate, the argument being that the 2-cent 

 tax would give about revenue enough to permit the revenue depart- 

 ment to pay the expenses of enforcing the branding clause. 



WHAT HAS BEEN THE RESULT? 



We have now had about fourteen years of that 2-cent tax. And what 

 has been the result "? Has the fraudulent sale of oleomargarine ceased ? 

 Not at all ! It only required two or three years to develop the fact 

 that the Internal Eevenue Department was not in sympathy with any 

 measure that required the exercise of a police surveillance where rev- 

 enue was not absolutely at stake. For instance, the payment of this 

 2-cent tax is enforced of the manufacturer when the oleomargarine is 

 produced. No package is permitted to go out of the factory until the 

 tax has been paid. So far as the article itself is concerned all its lia- 

 bilities to the Government are discharged when that 2-cent tax is paid 

 and the proper brands and stamps are placed upon the original import- 

 ers 7 packages. It then goes to the retailer to sell to consumers, and it 

 loses the Government no money if the retailer does not comply with 

 the police regulations requiring each package to be marked. There- 

 fore there is no incentive for the Government to follow up the matter 

 and see to it that the branding clause is complied with. 



The following communication from the dairy commissioner of Wis- 

 consin as to the attitude of the Internal Revenue Department toward 

 this feature of the law of 1886 exactly describes the experience of the 

 people of Illinois and many other States in this respect. This letter 

 has just been received, and is therefore late evidence: 



CHAS. Y. KNIGHT, National Hotel, Washington, D. C. 



DEAR SIR: Some time ago you asked me concerning the enforcement of the Fed- 

 eral oleomargarine law by the internal-revenue department in Michigan. I can only 



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