632 OLEOMARGARINE. 



It can not be sold if the people know what they are getting. We can 

 do nothing in the State courts. If this Grout bill prevails, then the 

 retailer will be obliged to buy from the manufacturer. If he obtains it 

 colored, in imitation of butter, he will have to pay the tax, which 

 brings it up close to the price of butter. As it is now it is in competition 

 with butter and needs regulating. 



Mr. ALLEN. Don't you think that we should provide against the 

 coloring of butter? 



Mr. KIMBALL. No, sir ; because butter has been colored from time 

 immemorial. 



Mr. ALLEN. Don't you think the same objection obtains against the 

 coloring of butter as obtains against the coloring of oleomargarine'? 



Mr. KIMBALL. All the white butter produced to-day, that which you 

 see in the country stores, is only used in making it over. It is sold as 

 packing stock and used for manufacturing purposes. The legitimate 

 butter, much of it, is colored yellow. Some people prefer to have color- 

 ing matter added. We do not want to speak about coloring one way 

 or another. We want to do a legitimate business and obey the laws, 

 and we want our customers to obey the laws, but dealers will buy 

 oleomargarine and rewrap it and sell it for butter. That hurts the 

 butter man who is trying to earn an honest living in the sale of butter, 

 and it also hurts the man who purchases butter. 



If this Grout bill prevails, then oleomargarine, if it is a good thing, 

 and we admit it is a good thing, will be sold at a price to reach the 

 poor man, and it is intended to reach him, and the legimate butter will 

 sell at a price which the people are willing to pay for it. It will do 

 away with the practice of deceiving the customer who goes into a store 

 and asks for a pound of butter and gets a pound of oleomargarine. 



The CHAIRMAN. Whose fault is that ? It is not the fault of the manu- 

 facturer ? 



Mr. KIMBALL. I do not know. Persons would not sell it unless they 

 made a profit out of it. 



The CHAIRMAN. You say that you can not convict persons under 

 your law? 



Mr. KIMBALL. The law has only been in force a year. The grand 

 jury has found true bills, but the cases do not come up. I am sorry I 

 am not better posted on the merits of this particular bill. I only speak 

 from the standpoint of a Philadelphia merchant. We are not speakers, 

 but simply butter men. 



Mr. ALLEN. Do you mean to state that the district attorney will not 

 enforce the law ? 



Mr. KIMBALL. No, sir; I do not want to give that impression. We 

 do know, however, that we have had to make the fight ourselves. 

 There is an absolutely prohibitory law. 



Mr. BAILEY. In Philadelphia is oleomargarine received in rolls, so as 

 to have the semblance of dairy butter as to different shades? 



Mr. KIMBALL. The bulk of it is in the shape of print butter. 



Mr. BAILEY. I mean as to size. Does it come in tubs? 



Mr. KIMBALL. Yes; tubs, rolls, and prints. 



Mr. BAILEY. That which comes in prints or rolls is it all of the 

 same color, or are there different shades of rolls in the same box? 



Mr. KIMBALL. We never see that in Philadelphia. 



Mr. LAMB. Is it marked " oleomargarine?" 



Mr. KIMBALL. The retailer buys it with the brand on it, but after- 

 wards there is no mark on it. That is a violation of the law. If we 

 could obtain such evidence as that the district attorney may prosecute. 

 Special agents of the revenue department do not bring cases. 



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