OLEOMARGARINE. 731 



Mr. WILLIAMS. Do you know anything about the comparative purity 

 of fine cotton-seed oil and olive oil and vegetable products? 



Mr. CANTRELL. Yes, sir; but I would very much prefer the cotton- 

 seed oil. In fact, salad oil which is made from cotton seed oil is not 

 only purer, but more cleanly, and it is sold in all the large cities of the 

 North now as cotton- seed oil. In fact, the bulk of the olive oil coming 

 to tbis country is mostly the poorer grade, and it is prepared and made 

 in rather an uncleanly manner. The olives are put in the press and 

 the first pressure taken from them is a very tine grade of oil, and that 

 retails in a city like New York in this country for four or five dollars a 

 gallon. Then, having extracted the better parts of the oil, the olives 

 are put in a bath of hot water, and sometimes salt, and are pressed 

 again, and that is a very inferior product, and is the olive oil that is 

 sold to the average person in the larger cities, and is absolutely unfit 

 for consumption. 



STATEMENT OF MR. EDWARD S. READY, SECRETARY, TREASURER, 

 AND MANAGER NEW SOUTH OIL COMPANY, OF HELENA, ARK. 



Mr. READY. I have never made a speech in my life, Mr. Chairman, 

 nor am I used to talking publicly. You gentlemen have listened very 

 patiently to the other gentlemen, and consequently I will say nothing 

 of the general conditions, and will speak only of local conditions, and 

 that very briefly. We have in Llelena four oil mills. The town is 

 located on the Mississippi Kiver. We have there four oil mills and the 

 cost of the equipment of these four mills is about $350,000. In addi- 

 tion to that we have capital invested to the extent of another $350,000, 

 making $700,000 invested. We employ 200 people, all adults with a 

 few exceptions; there may be eight or ten boys in the whole business. 

 Sixty-six to 70 percent of those men are heads of families and I think 

 I am safe in saying that out of the population of 8,000 inhabitants 

 those four mills support 750 to 800 people. 



Thus, you see, it is a matter of very considerable moment to us. Of 

 those employees about 85 per cent are colored and the remaining 15 

 per cent are whites. We handled last season, I presume, as near as I 

 can get at it I can safely say that we expended $600,000 for the pur- 

 chase of cotton seed. We ran about six months in the year and fur- 

 nished employment, as 1 say, immediately in the mill, for 200 men. 

 The surrounding country depends very largely in addition to the 

 town 700 or 800 of the population depend very largely upon our 

 mills. The farmers come there, as has been stated to you, the negro 

 small cropper, and the small white farmer, and we buy all of our sup- 

 plies of seed from them. If this butterine or oleomargarine law is 

 enacted it would affect our markets very considerably. It would 

 result in the reduction of the price of seed, how much I can not say, 

 but it would be largely felt, and I felt that I should come here and 

 enter our protest against it, and request the committee not to deal too 

 harshly with the butterine industry, as it largely affects ourselves. 



The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other questions? 



Mr. COONEY. You have four mills? 



Mr. KEADY. Yes, sir. 



Mr. COONEY. You are secretary and treasurer of the society there? 

 Of what is that society composed? 



Mr. READY. No, sir; I did not say that. I am secretary and 

 treasurer of one of the four mills. 



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