OLEOMARGAKINE. 741 



industries, the dairymen finding a market for all the produce they can 

 make without unfavorable legislation to the meat industry. 



Oleomargarine, or butterine, is a wholesome and absolutely pure 

 article of diet, manufactured and sold at about one-half the price of 

 creamery or dairy butter, and is very desirable for and largely used 

 by laboring classes and, in fact, all of frugal habits and moderate 

 means. 



I desire to read in this connection, as a part of my remarks, the 

 memorial to Congress that was passed by our exchange last winter. 

 Possibly it is on file here with the committee already, but I would like 

 to read it. 



The CHAIRMAN. If you would like to read it, do so. 



Mr. HAKE (reading) : 



We beg to represent that our organization has a membership of over 200 men, all 

 of whom are engaged in handling live stock in some form, and are well acquainted 

 with the subject and do enter a most earnest and emphatic protest against said leg- 

 islation of this character because : 



First. " The consumers at the table," in whose interest the enactment is proposed, 

 are in no need of such protection. It is probable that many legislatures favor these 

 bills under the belief that butterine, etc., are composed of impure materials, com- 

 pounded in filthy establishments, and foisted upon an innocent and unsuspecting 

 public through deceptive and fraudulent methods. A brief investigation will con- 

 vince them of their mistake. The mo.st eminent chemists of the world pronounce 

 butterine and oleomargarine substantially the same as natural butter, differing from 

 it only in the lack of butyric acid, which produces rancidity in the natural article. 

 England, the foremost among nations in the passing of stringent laws for the pro- 

 tection of her citizens against impure food products, indorsed butterine aud oleo- 

 margarine, and encourages their production and sale because of their wholesouieness 

 and cheapness. Our own Government, likewise, sanctions their production and use, 

 and protects the consumer bj* having every pound made and sold under the strictest 

 supervision of the department of internal revenue. The materials and processes 

 are as well known as those which produce flour, lard, sugar, or any other necessary 

 staple of life. Butterine factories are noted for the scrupulous care and cleanliness 

 shown in every detail, and are always open for the inspection of visitors, thus effec- 

 tually disproving the malicious falsehoods uttered regarding secret methods, impure 

 ingredients, harmful chemicals, etc. They court the closest and most thorough 

 investigation, and challenge any advocate of these bills to prove that such laws are 

 needed for or will benefit the health of a single citizen of the United States. 



Second. Since the introduction of butterine and oleomargarine the prices of the leaf 

 fats, from which they are chiefly made, have relatively increased 2 to 3 cents per 

 pound, thus adding millions of dollars annually to the value of the cattle and hog 

 products of the United States. If this prohibition scheme is carried out, stock 

 raisers of the United States will lose each year this vast sum of money. 



Third. If such legislation is enacted, it will decrease the worth of the live stock 

 of the country by many millions of dollars. It will also deprive the National Gov- 

 ernment of a revenue now reaching $2,000,000 annually and steadily increasing. 

 This loss would have to be replaced by taxation elsewhere, a portion of which would 

 fall upon our own people. 



Fourth. It is clear from the foregoing facts (everyone of which can be substan- 

 tiated by undoubted testimony) that the proposed laws are not in the interests of 

 the people generally, nor of the State, nor of the nation. They must therefore be 

 intended to benefit certain selfish and designing individuals who hope, by creating 

 popular prejudices against butterine, to stop its manufacture and again open the 

 way for those vile butter-mixing establishments which formerly abounded in every 

 city and town, whose concoctions and compounds are as far inferior to butterine in 

 purity, healthfuluess, and cleanliness as a bucking broncho to a Nebraska thorough- 

 bred. Butterine, with its uniformly good qualities, drove these mixtures from the 

 field, and they have ever since been moving heaven and earth to regain their lost 

 position and once more enjoy the enormous profits arising from their nefarious work. 

 They have craftily enlisted on their side honest dairy farmers and creameries whom 

 they have temporarily won by false statements and fallacious arguments. To these 

 latter we beg to say there is no real conflict between the honest butter producers 

 and the makers of butterine. A large portion of the people will buy natural at 

 almost any price, if they can always procure it of first-class quality. By making 

 nothing but the best grades, the dairies will always have a ready market at full 

 prices, thereby leaving butterine to supply those content with a wholesome, health- 

 ful, and cheap substitute. 



(*159) 



