654 OLEOMARGARINE. 



No law can make more stringent requirements to protect consumers than those now 

 in force, and the fact that the output is yearly increasing shows that there is a demand 

 for oleomargarine as such, in spite of all hostile agitation and legislation. 



It is a well-known fact that the principal consumers of oleomargarine are the intel- 

 ligent, prudent, and thrifty people of the middle class, who buy oleomargarine berause 

 they prefer it to that which is sold as butter in their markets, and these bills pro- 

 pose to deprive these citizens of the privilege of purchasing that which they wish to 

 have, although it is known to be an absolutely clean, wholesome, and nutritious 

 article of diet. 



The rights and privileges of the producers of beef cattle should be as well respected 

 as those of others ; and as they are the beneficiaries in the manufacture of this whole- 

 some article of food they should not be burdened with unnecessary special taxes or 

 needless restrictions in the manufacture of this product. 



This product of the "beef steer" should receive at the hands of Congress no 

 greater exactions than are imposed on competing food products. It has by experience 

 proven to be just what a large majority of the people of this country want, and we do 

 hereby record our solemn protest against the enactment of legislation calculated to 

 ruia a great industry and to deprive not only the working classes but many others 

 of a cheap, wholesome, nutritious, and acceptable article of food. 



THE CATTLE RAISERS' ASSOCIATION OF TEXAS. 



I certify that the above is a correct copy of a resolution adopted by the Cattle 

 Raisers' Association of Texas, in annual session at Fort Worth, Tex., March 13 and 

 14, 1900. 



J. C. LOVING, Secretary. 



Mr. STEVENS. I will call your attention also to a similar statement 

 from the Cattle Kaisers' Association of Missouri, whose meeting was 

 held at St. Joe. 



Mr. COWAN. This resolution reads as follows : 



A memorial to Congress adopted by the South St. Joseph Live Stock Exchange in 

 opposition to the Tawney oleomargarine bill, which, if passed, will effect the value 

 of the beef cattle of this country. It is desired, therefore, that all feeders and deal- 

 ers will use their influence through their representative in Congress against the 

 passage of this bill. 



To the Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States: 



Your petitioner, the South St. Joseph Live Stock Exchange, respectfully repre- 

 sents to your honorable body that it is an association composed of all the commission 

 men, firms, and corporations engaged in the live-stock business at South St. Joseph, 

 Mo., transacting business to the enormous amount of $50,000,000 annually, with a 

 membership roll of more than 100 members actively engaged in breeding, raising, 

 feeding, shipping, buying, selling, and slaughtering all kinds of live stock, and was 

 organized, among other things, for the purpose of promoting the best interests of the 

 live-stock industry as a whole, jealously guarding the interests of the producer and 

 consumer alike, and is the recognized and official mouthpiece of the live-stock 

 industry on all questions of an interstate or international character, especially when 

 the interests of the producer or consumer are in any way affected. 



Your petitioner, in behalf of its constituency, desires to enter its emphatic pro- 

 test against the enactment of H. R. bill No 6, introduced in the House of Represent- 

 atives December 4, 1899, by Mr. Tawney, providing for an amendment of "An act 

 dfining butter; also imposing a tax upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, 

 importation, and exportation of oleomargarine," and in support of its protest desires 

 to record a few of the many reasons in support of its contention. 



This measure is a species of class legislation of the most dangerous kind, calcu- 

 lated to build up and restore one industry at the expense of the other, equally as 

 important. It seeks to impose an unjust, uncalled for, and unwarranted burden 

 upon one of the most important commercial industries of the country for the pur- 

 pose of prohibiting its manufacture, thereby destroying competition, as the manu- 

 facturers can not assume the additional burdens sought to be imposed by this measure 

 and sell their product in competition with butter. The enactment of this measure 

 would throttle competition, render useless the immense establishments erected at 

 great expense for the manufacture of oleomargarine, deprive thousands of employees 

 of the opportunity to gain a livelihood, and deny the people, and especially the 

 workingmen and their dependencies, of a wholesome article of diet. 



In oleomargarine a very large proportion of the consumers of this country, espe- 

 cially the working classes, have a wholesome, nutritious, and satisfactory article of 

 diet, which before its advent they were obliged, owing to the high price of butter 

 and their limited means, to go without. 



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