OLEOMAKGAEINE. 



655 



The " butter fat" of an average beef animal for the purpose of making oleomar- 

 garine is worth from $3 to $4 per head more than it was before the advent of oleo- 

 margwne, when the same had to be used for tallow, which increased value of the 

 beef steer has been added to the market value of the animal, and consequently to 

 the profit of the producer. 



To legislate this article of commerce out of existence, as the passage of this law 

 would surely do, would compel slaughterers to use this fat for tallow, depreciate the 

 value of the beef steer of this country $3 to $4 per head, which would entail a loss 

 on the producers of this country of millions of dollars. 



The use of this fat for the purpose set forth is an encouragement to the producer 

 to improve his herd and raise a class of grade or thoroughbred cattle capable of 

 making and carrying this fat, rather than the common or scrub animal, which is so 

 hard and unprofitable to fatten, and the cattle raiser or producer has come to know 

 the value of this product, and the amount of the increase in the market value of his 

 matured animal depends somewhat on the value of the "butter fat" carried by the 

 animal. 



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, 

 other than is absolutely necessary for the support of the Government and the proper 

 governmental regulations surrounding the handling of same. 



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

 exactions than imposed upon competing food products. It is already surrounded by 

 numerous safeguards, which Congress, in its wisdom, has seen fit to provide, stipu- 

 lating severe punishment for selling same under misrepresentation as to its composi- 

 tion. It has by experience proven to be just what a large majority of the people of 

 this country want, and in behalf of the producers and consumers of this great country 

 we do solemnly protest against the enactment of legislation calculated to ruin a great 

 industry, and to deprive not only the working classes, but many others, of a cheap, 

 wholesome, nutritious, and acceptable article of food. 



Very respectfully submitted. 



THE SOUTH ST. JOSEPH LIVE STOCK EXCHANGE, 

 By HORACE WOOD, President, 

 JOHN P. EMMERT, Secretary. 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, there is very little 

 I can add to what is contained in this resolution. I can simply say that 

 I know, by having been present at these meetings, that the cattle 

 raisers are opposed to this oleomargarine bill. Of course, it is to their 

 interest, you can say, to be opposed to it, and yet it seems to me that 

 the Congress of the United States should be very slow to pass a meas- 

 ure which is so clearly class legislation when there is no great benefit 

 to be derived from it to the people generally, if any benefit at all, except 

 such taxes as might be collected; and it ought not to be taxed just 

 simply for the purpose of benefiting any other industry. I do not 

 know how it is elsewhere, but it is a fact that I believe the committee 

 ought to consider that in most parts of the Southwestern States, and 

 I personally know that it is a fact, that they do not produce enough 

 butter to supply the people who want to buy butter. It is a fact in 

 Texas, and it is a fact in most parts of Kansas, and to a very large 

 extent in the State of Colorado, and if you go up there to that country 

 as a summer resort you will find it to be so. Butter sells, as a result, 

 at a high price. We pay in Texas and Kansas for creamery 25 cents a 

 pound for some and 30 cents for others at certain seasons of the year. 



What it sells for at wholesale I do not know. There is a large class 

 of people who might desire to buy oleomargarine, and that is a class of 

 people that ought not to be legislated against. They have the same 

 rights as anybody else, and it will affect the value of our I can not give 

 you the figures exactly on that but it will affect the value of our cattle 

 from $2 to $3 a head, as I am informed. That can be ascertained 

 definitely from the different packing houses and stock markets of this 

 country. It can be ascertained just what it will do, and there is no 

 occasion for quibbling upon thatj but I do not pretend that I know. 



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