738 OLEOMARGARINE. 



Mr. BAILEY. We would like to get it into the report of the committee 

 and if you will send it to us afterwards we willbe much obliged. 



Mr. BRADY. I will be pleased to do so. There might be some mills 

 left off here. 



STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY MB. BOBEBT GIBSON, OF DALLAS, TEX 



I have been associated in and with the cotton-seed oil industry for 

 the past twenty-three years, moving from Tennessee to Texas in 1877 to 

 build and operate cotton- seed oil mills, and was actively employed in 

 the management of oil mills for some fifteen years. Since that time 

 I have been more or less interested in the industry. For the past five 

 years I have been filling the position of secretary of the Interstate and 

 Texas Cotton Seed Crushers' Associations. 



My association with the mills and the two associations has given me 

 a thorough insight into and knowledge of the cotton seed crushing 

 industry, which has increased from some 5 or 6 mills in 1865 to over 

 300 mills in 1899. In the mills of recent years over 90 per cent of the 

 labor used in these mills are negroes who are paid from $1 per day to 

 as high as $3.50 per day for their services. These milLs, with the excep- 

 tion of some 4 or 5, are located in the cotton-growing States of the South 

 and the Indian Territory; in my State, Texas, and the Indian Terri- 

 tory there are some 135 mills, and more being built every year as the 

 cotton growing is being developed. Five years ago there was not a 

 cotton-seed oil mill in the Indian Territory ; to-day there are 10 or 12, and 

 every year as the cotton average is increased, more mills are built. The 

 same condition, too, exists as to the increase in mills in the old cotton- 

 growing States. These facts I give you to show the great injury you 

 would inflict on this growing industry by the passage of laws taxing 

 one of our principal products the oil, which is largely used in the 

 manufacture of butterine, a pure and wholesome food which tax, if 

 placed as contemplated in pending bills, will cut off the use of this oil 

 to a great extent, and, in consequence, unless other uses can be found 

 for it, must materially affect its price, as well as the profits of the farmer 

 who raises the cotton and seed used in its manufacture, particularly the 

 latter, which now pays the farmer from $4 to $5 per bale for all seed 

 sold. I beg further to show you that the injury to this industry not 

 only affects the cotton growing States of the South and Indian Terri- 

 tory, but as well a great many of the Middle and Eastern States that 

 manufacture the machinery used in these oil mills, as well as the manu- 

 facture of the supplies used in their manipulation. 



The three largest companies building oil machinery, and furnishing 

 over 75 per cent of it, are located in Dayton, Ohio, though there are 

 some three others located in Thompsonville, Conn., Richmond, Va., and 

 Chattanooga, Tenu. The largest and principal companies furnishing 

 camel's-hair press cloth are located in New York and Massachusetts; 

 besides, there are others located in Chicago and St. Louis. The manu- 

 facturers of other parts of machinery used largely in the construction 

 of oil mills in fact, almost all of the machinery and supplies come from 

 the Middle and Eastern States, and I am satisfied that each and every 

 concern engaged in said manufacture would join us in our protest 

 against the infliction of this unjust tax. 



In conclusion, I beg to say that the members of our two cotton seed 

 crushing associations are not confined alone to the States operating oil 

 mills, but are composed as well of members from Missouri, Kentucky, 

 Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Nebraska, Iowa, 



(*156) 



