OLEOMAKGAEINE. 669 



Mr. NEVILLE. So you think that the plan was in the beginning that 

 the big fish should eat the little fish, and the big airtmals should chew 

 up the little ones, and therefore it ought to be allowed to go on as it 

 was intended? 



Mr. OLIVER. No, sir; I think it is simply the case of one class in this 

 country trying to benefit itself at the expense of another class. The 

 South has no interest in the dairies, and they have a very large interest 

 in the cotton seed oil. 



Mr. NEVILLE. Is not it a fact that all the Southern States have this 

 law? 



Mr. OLIVER. I do not know of a single Southern State that has a law 

 against oleomargarine. And, while we use in this country 150,000 bar- 

 rels of oil, they use on the Continent the much larger amount of 500,000 

 barrels in butter making. The passage of this law will be an incentive 

 for every country to pass something of the same kind in order to put 

 their farmers on the same level with ours. 



Mr. WILSON. I would like to know whether you have any reports as 

 to the healthy qualities of oleomargarine 1 ? 



Mr. OLIVER. I have not here. 



Mr. WILSON. They are to be had, are they not? 



Mr. OLIVER. I have read plenty of such reports from the United 

 States Government chemists passed on it. 



Mr. WILSON. The reports on that would be of more information to 

 us than all the testimony on earth. 



Mr. OLIVER. I think the. last Congress appointed a committee which 

 has already reported favorably on oleomargarine as a food product ; it 

 was Senator Mason's committee. 



Mr. ALLEN. Yes; Senator Mason's committee. 



Mr. WILSON. If this bill is passed will it not have the effect of an 

 absolutely prohibitory tax? 



Mr. OLIVER. It will, so far as aboveboard manufacturing goes. 



Mr. WILSON. That is what I mean. 



Mr. OLIVER. It will induce all sorts of people to go into the secret 

 manufacture of oleomargarine. 



Mr. WILSON. What is the cost of manufacturing oleomargarine? 



Mr. OLIVER. It has about 50 per cent of butter, cream, or milk, 

 churned with the cotton seed oil, neutral oil, oleo oil, etc. 



Mr. WILSON. What will it cost? 



Mr. OLIVER. It will depend on what milk and cream is worth at any 

 particular season of the year, and on the prices of the oils used. To-day 

 they are worth almost double what they were. 



Mr. WILSON. I want to know what the cost is, and as to whether 

 this tax will drive it out of the market? 



Mr. OLIVER. As I say, you can not take any one date for the cost 

 of oleomargarine. Eight now, the cost of oleo, stearin, neutral oil, and 

 cotton-seed oil are almost double what they were a year ago. 



Mr. NEVILLE. What does it amount to now approximately, per 

 pound? 



Air. OLIVER. I suppose oleomargarine, the best grades, is selling at 

 15 cents, probably costing the manufacturers 10 cents, making 2 cents 

 tax and 3 cents profit. 



Mr. NEVILLE. Then a tax of 10 cents per pound will put it above 

 the price of butter? 



Mr. OLIVER. Above the best grades of butter on the average. 



Mr. NEVILLE. So that butter that would go below that would 

 simply undersell it and drive it out of the market? 



Mr. OLIVER. Yes, sir; butter will simply drive it out of the market. 



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