OLEOMAEGAEINE. 659 



Mr. ALLEN. You have heard the discussions there at the meeting? 



Mr. COWAN. Yes ; and they passed the same sort of a resolution at 

 Denver, and I was there. 



Mr. ALLEN. Is it claimed by the breeders of cattle that the manu- 

 facture of oleomargarine increases the price of cattle by reason of the 

 extraordinary demand for fats? 



Mr. (JowAN. That is what they do, sir. This paper that is published 

 by the Denver Chamber of Commerce, and which makes quite a book, 

 will show you, and if anybody wants information upon that subject 

 they will find some splendid papers in that book. John W. Springer, 

 the president of the National Live Stock Association, who lives at 

 Denver, can furnish copies of the annual proceedings of the National 

 Live Stock Association in which is contained all the papers read and 

 all the resolutions passed. That has been printed for 1899, and I think 

 is ready to be printed for 1900, if not already out. 



Mr. ALLEN. Where do you live? 



Mr. COWAN. At Fort Worth. 



Mr. ALLEN. Do you. know anything of the retail sale of oleomarga- 

 rine in your city? 



Mr. COWAN. Not a thing. I see it in the stores, but I do not buy it, 

 and know nothing about it. 



Mr. ALLEN. What do you know, now, about the process of the retail 

 merchants in reference to the sale of this product? 



Mr. COWAN. Not a thing. 



Mr. ALLEN. Have you ever heard any complaints of your citizens of 

 its being sold as butter, and of their being deceived by reason of mis- 

 representation? 



Mr. COWAN. I have seen cases sitting around, but it looks a good 

 deal like the kind of butter I buy, and I buy Kansas creamery, and I 

 do not know the difference. I am like I am with the whisky. I may 

 not know the difference. 



Mr. ALLEN. Are there any dairy interests in your part of the country? 



Mr. COWAN. No, sir; not creameries; no creameries in Texas that I 

 know of. There are a good many in Kansas. I go very frequently 

 over there and I see little sheds near the station where they manufac- 

 ture butter, and I see them hauling in the milk. They manufacture 

 butter there. 



Mr. DAHLE. This was the opinion, the consensus of opinion, of the 

 cattle raisers' associations? 



Mr. COWAN. There is no doubt about that. 



Mr. DAHLE. It is claimed by the National Dairy Association that 

 this was gotten up by certain individuals, and that these people did 

 not know what was in it. Was it discussed, and did there seem to be 

 any interest in it? 



Mr. COWAN. Yes, sir; the matter was discussed, and papers read 

 upon the subject, but I can rot recollect just exactly the extent of it, 



Mr. DAHLE. And they understood what they were voting upon? 



Mr. COWAN. Yes, sir; and a more intelligent convention has not 

 met in this country, unless it be a convention of professional men, than 

 this National Live Stock Association which met at Denver a year ago, 

 and at Fort Worth this winter. They know what their interests are, 

 and it is conceded by cattlemen; and I had a telegram from the former 

 president of the Cattle Eaisers 7 Association asking me to present these 

 resolutions. He has no interest in the packers at all. I think this is 

 the honest, and I think intelligent, judgment of these people, and an 

 investigation by this committee of the sources from which 1 get my 



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