620 OLEOMARGAKINE. 



[Office of H. V. Murray, attorney at law.] 



CHICAGO, ILL., July S9, 1899. 



DEAR SIR : I have been employed by the Illinois Dairy Union to prosecute any cases 

 of violation of the dairy laws of this State which may result from the arrest of any 

 dealer selling oleomargarine when butter is called for. As you probably know, a 

 commission, consisting of a food commissioner aud eight assistants and inspectors, 

 was provided for by the late legislature, whose duty it is to enforce these laws. The 

 commissioner has been appointed, and until he has appointed his assistants and 

 gotten to work the Illinois Dairy Union's inspectors will look after the protection of 

 consumers of butter and see that those who sell them oleomargarine for butter are 

 prosecuted under the State laws, and also reported to the internal revenue depart- 

 ment as violators of the internal-revenue laws. I herewith inclose extracts from 

 thtee State laws. These laws are not tied up in the courts, and the oleomargarine 

 manufacturers will not place themselves in the light of protecting those who sell 

 oleomargarine for butter, although they may consistently fight the law forbidding 

 coloring, which has not yet been passed upon by the supreme court. 



If you sell oleomargarine this year, rest assured that the State food commissioner 

 and the Illinois Dairy Union will see that you are not permitted to sell it as butter. 

 Respectfully, yours, 



HUGH V. MURRAY, 

 Attorney for Illinois Dairy Union. 



It will be noticed that Mr. Murray only threatened prosecutions in 

 case ole6margarine was sold for butter. 



This letter, however, created consternation in the ranks of the oleo- 

 margarine retailers. Arrests followed at once, and the results of busi- 

 ness the next few weeks in butter furnished evidence of the fraudulent 

 character of the oleo. traffic. Hundreds of dealers who had not been 

 seen in wholesale butter houses coine to buy butter for the trade they 

 had been selling oleomargarine. 



The field was too large to be handled in the usual manner of sending 

 agents personally to each dealer to assure him of protection, and thus 

 the hands of the oleomargarine makers were forced, and they were 

 brought out in open light. 



William J. Moxley, claiming to be the largest manufacturer in the 

 United States, sent the following letter to the retail dealers in the north- 

 ern district of Illinois, under date of August 2, 1899: 



[William J. Mozley, manufacturer of fine butterine, 63 and 65 West Monroe street.] 



CHICAGO, August 2, 1899. 



City. 



DEAR SIR: Our attention has been called to two circulars which have been mailed 

 to you one signed by Hugh V. Murray, an attorney, and the other by Charles Y. 

 Knight, editor in chief of a periodical, without subscribers, named the Chicago Dairy 

 Produce. The circular bearing Mr. Knight's name has at its head an imposing lot 

 of names, gentlemen whose aim it is to prevent the manufacture and sale of butterine, 

 so that the butter trust might be enabled to get from 30 to 40 cents a pound for 

 butter, depriving, as they would, a great many of the industrial classes from being 

 able to use butter through its excessive price. 



With the hired attorney, who is earning his fee, we have nothing to say, only to 

 inform you that these gentlemen are trying to ring in a bluff. You will notice in 

 their circulars that by insinuations they would have people believe they represent 

 some official authority. The internal-revenue department looks after their own 

 business and the State after theirs, and should this so-called dairy union interfere 

 with your business in the way of prosecution as to the State laws, we hereby guar- 

 antee you protection to the extent of paying all fines, costs, etc., until the color law 

 is decided unconstitutional in the supreme court of the State of Illinios, and will 

 further, on receiving complaint, take such action for damages as will make it 

 unpleasant for some of those who are attempting to interfere with your and our own 

 legitimate business. 



We were under the impression that the severe censure they received from the 

 judges during their filibustering of last year would have been sufficient for all time, 

 but have been informed that to be successful in obtaining money from farmers and 

 butter men a few circulars with imposing headlines are required. 



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