590 OLEOMARGARINE. 



say that my experience covering the last three years as dairy commissioner fortifies 

 me in saying that, outside of the collection of the revenue tax, the Federal authori- 

 ties in Michigan do absolutely nothing to enforce the national law. I have person- 

 ally offered to furnish the proof for violations of the Federal law, but no steps were 

 ever taken to^ change existing conditions or to punish such violators. It is a fact 

 that scarcely "a retailer in Michigan conforms to the requirements of the Federal 

 law a condition which has existed, to my certain knowledge, for the past three 

 years. 



Very respectfully, ELLIOTT O. GROSVENOR, 



Commissioner. 



And I will further quote from a recent interview with Collector 

 Coyne, of the city of Chicago, who was visited by a reporter of the Chi- 

 cago Record with packages of oleomargarine which he had purchased 

 for butter, not stamped according to law. The Kecord said : 



Internal Revenue Collector Coyne's attention was called to these violations of the 

 law yesterday and the wrappers exhibited. He said : 



" I am always willing to prosecute violators of the revenue laws, and I am glad to 

 have these cases called to my attention. It is unfortunate that I have to depend 

 on the public for my information, however. I have 19 counties, including Cook, to 

 look after, and the 15 deputies I am allowed have about 2,000 special taxpayers 

 in their respective districts. These include breweries, saloons, cigar dealers aud 

 manufacturers, oleomargarine makers and dealers, aud many others. The force is 

 not large enough for me to watch every retailer 2,000 men would be required to do 

 that. Nor cau the deputies make oases by purchasing butter or its substitute, for 

 they have no fund for that. 



" Whenever a citizen comes to me and tells me of a case of this kind I am always 

 willing to do my duty as the law sets it forth. I have been accused by both sides 

 of leaning toward the other, but neither party is right in making these charges. If 

 I am called before the agricultural commission I shall be glad to tell what I know 

 aud that is more than I can tell the public in my present position. The books of 

 this department are not open to the people, but I can assure you that many violators 

 of the oleomargarine laws have suffered." 



This is not intended as a criticism of the department, but is intro- 

 duced to show the utter weakness of the law of 1886, and to prove that 

 we have grounds for coming again to Congress for relief. 



WHY THE 10-CENT TAX ON COLORED OLEOMARGARINE? 



We expect to show to the satisfaction of Congress that national 

 legislation of the character embraced in H. K. 3717, known as the 

 Grout bill, with its 10-cent tax provision, is absolutely essential to 

 prevent the almost absolute destruction of an industry bringing to 

 the agriculturists of this country fully $500,000,000 per year. 



First. Because oleomargarine, when made in exact imitation in pack- 

 age and color of butter, is an ideal counterfeit, furnishing a commodity 

 which can be readily, and in nine cases out of ten, with safety, palmed 

 off upon the known but unskilled consumer as butter at butter prices, 

 as only a chemical analysis will, with a degree of certainty necessary in 

 evidence, establish the identity of the substitute. 



Second. Because the large profit resulting from the sale of oleomar- 

 garine as butter in itself furnishes incentive to practice fraud and 

 means of protection in case of detection, and to-day, with the traffic 

 aggregating close to 100,000,000 pounds per year, the sum collected 

 through the assessment of even a fraction of a cent per pound as a fund 

 for defense is sufficiently large, when judiciously expended through 

 organized channels, to render prosecutions so expensive that in many 

 of the States the courts have scarcely the capacity to handle offenders, 

 so numerous have they become under the persistent and aggressive 

 solicitation of the wealthy manufacturers. 



Third. Twenty years of experience has demonstrated the fact that 

 oleomargarine, colored in semblance of butter, placed in the hands 



