644 OLEOMARGARINE. 



Mr. WADSWORTH. May I ask how much the postage on the letters 

 you sent out to these dealers threatening to prosecute them cost you? 



Mr. KNIGHT. I do not remember; that was not included in this. 



Mr. WADSWORTH. How was that money raised? 



Mr. KNIGHT. All the money we have spent on this work has been 

 subscribed by 24,000 farmers, in 50-cent subscriptions. 



Mr. WADSWORTH. By the creameries? 



Mr. KNIGHT. No, sir; by the farmers themselves; and I can give you 

 the list of these farmers who have subscribed 50 cents each for this 

 purpose. 



Mr. BAILEY. Some of them gave more than a dollar. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Oh, yes; some of them may have given $1,000, but 

 24,600 of them have contributed 50 cents each. We have not asked 

 any creameries to contribute. The people who have supplied the money 

 and subscribed for this work, I would have you understand, are the 

 horny-handed, horny-fisted farmers who milk the cows. 



The CHAIRMAN. What was the result of that decision ? 



Mr. KNIGHT. We submitted the test case to Justice Underwood, and 

 Eoy West defended the case. He suggested that these laws had been 

 repealed by the pure-food law and the creation of the Pure Food Com- 

 mission to enforce it. The judge took his view of it, and the result was 

 that he dismissed all the cases, and they had a statement sent out 

 through the county and throughout the State that Justice Underwood 

 had decided the case in that way, and the result was we could not get 

 anyone to issue warrants for the arrest of anyone. They never denied 

 that oleomargarine was sold for butter. We went to the Supreme 

 Court of the United States then, and endeavored to get a writ of man- 

 damus to compel the supreme court to issue warrants. 



The CHAIRMAN. This which you have shown here is undoubtedly a 

 violation of the law, but how do you expect to prevent it by the passage 

 of this bill? 



Mr. KNIGHT. If this bill becomes a law, the manufacturer then will 

 make it according to law, which he does not do now. 



The CHAIRMAN. How do you expect to prevent this violation of the 

 law? 



Mr. KNIGHT. If a man pays the tax of 10 cents a pound it will 

 remove his reason for violating the law. 



The CHAIRMAN. If he pays the 10 cents a pound, you do not care 

 whether he violates the law or not? 



Mr. KNIGHT. I know that he will not. A man does not go out and 

 cheat another man unless he is going to make some gain. The gain in 

 this case is between what he can buy oleomargarine for and what he 

 can buy butter for. One he can buy for 13 cents a pound and the 

 other for 23 cents, and he can sell them both at the same price as long 

 as no one knows the difference. 



The CHAIRMAN. Your idea is to tax him 8 or 10 cents a pound on 

 the color, so that when it is sold it must of necessity be sold at 8 or 10 

 cents a pound more than it is to-day; is that correct? 



Mr. KNIGHT. My point is that when a colored oleomargarine, which 

 is prohibited in 32 States, is sold that it must be sold for 8 cents 

 a pound more than it is. I do not believe there is any necessity for a 

 colored oleomargarine being sold. 



The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you increase the price of one of the 

 necessary articles of life? 



Mr. KNIGHT. It is no more so than whisky. 



(*62) 



