616 OLEOMAKGAKINE. 



Q. Where is yonr place of business? A. No. 44 Fifth avenne. 



Q. Do you sell oleomargarine? A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Are you i'amiliar with the law in regard to the sale of it? A. Why, somewhat. 



Q. Mr. Somes, I show you an exhibit, which is designated "No. 4." Do you rec- 

 ognize it as from your place [handing same to witness] f A. We sell something 

 of that kind, similar to it. 



Q. Is your name on the paper? A. Yes, sir; I guess so. [The witness examined 

 the wrapper.] Yes, sir. Not my name; it is the name of the Ohio Butter Company. 



Q. You represent that company ? A. Yes, sir. 



Q. Did you put this package up yourself, yesterday? A. 1 don't know. I put up 

 one or two packages of the kind yesterday. I may have done so. I don't know. 



Q. Do you know what there is in this? A. It is supposed to be oleomargarine or 

 butterine. 



Q. Do you remember what was called for when that was furnished? A. No; I do 

 not. I would say in that connection that the majority of people come in and want 

 oleomargarine or butterine. They do not ask for it. They say, "Give me some 

 butter," and they know what they are getting, most of them, when they are getting 

 this butterine. 



Q. What is the price of this butterine? A. Butterine runs from 15 to 18 cents. 



Q. Then if a man says he wants some butter, you hand him out oleomargarine? 

 A. Not always ; no, sir. We try to do a fair business, and to do an honorable business. 



Q. W T hat we want in this connection, Mr. Somes, is to find out we are investigating 

 the question of the adulteration of food products and how they are circulated. We 

 are not seeking to incriminate you or anybody else. A. I would say this that I 

 think the majority of my customers understand that they are buying butterine or 

 oleomargarine. For a long time I stamped my packages all on the outside, and they 

 would come and say, " What is this? I don't want this. Give me another wrapper." 

 They knew what they were buying. They did not want to carry it along the street 

 with a sign on, and to accommodate them I had to do it, and to wrap another wrap- 

 per around them. And then the butterine people, or the agents of the butterine 

 people, advised me that it was not necessary; that if I stamped my paper, that was 

 all that was required. And I have always tried to stamp my paper properly, and to 

 see that it was properly stamped. There was no intention on my part to deceive 

 anybody. The majority of the people want butterine, and they don't want a sign 

 on it, so that everybody knows that they are buying butterine. People are fussy 

 about such things. And I think the reason they buy it is because it is the only 

 thing they 'can get that is sweet and good. 



The CHAIRMAN. We will excuse you. 



The package purchased from Mr. Somes was purchased for creamery 

 butter. A few months after this, finding him continuing this practice, he 

 was arrested and plead guilty under the State law for selling oleomar- 

 garine for butter. He paid a fine of $25 and costs, the Chicago manu- 

 facturers refusing in this case to come to his rescue, because he purchased 

 his oleomargarine in Ohio. Then they im mediately circulated the report 

 that only dealers who bought goods of the Chicago trust would be pro- 

 tected. But these matters will be treated further along. This, how- 

 ever, was the only fine imposed in Chicago in ten years for this fraud, 

 so far as is known, under the State law. 



William Broadwell, claiming to be the largest retail dealer in oleo- 

 margarine in Chicago, was also called before the committee and con- 

 fronted with a package that was bought at his place for butter that 

 morning, but inside of the wrapper of which was found, ingeniously 

 turned under and concealed, the Government stamp. 



Following is an extract from his evidence, as brought out by Senator 

 Harris : 



By Senator HARRIS : 



Q. You think generally in the trade there is a disposition to sell the oleomargarine 

 on its merits? A. Yes, sir; and a man don't have a particle of trouble. 



Q. Without attempting to conceal its true character, or sell it as butter? A. Don't 

 have to, at all; but there is a class of people that come into my store, who are up in 

 the world and who have got lots of money, and they come in and call for a pail of but- 

 ter, the same as they had before. They would not come in and ask outright for oleo. 



Q. If it has the merit that you claim for it, why should you people object to say- 

 ing "oleomargarine?" A. They don't want the man that is next to them to know 

 that they are using oleomargarine. 



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