766 OLEOMARGARINE. 



disinterested in the matter, that oleomargarine is a healthful article of 

 food consumption? 



Dr. CRAMPTON. Yes, sir; I have no hesitation in saying that. As 

 the Commissioner said in his remarks, we base the action of the office 

 largely upon the extensive investigation which was made in the year 

 1886 into the character of this product as a food material. At that 

 time the opinion of the leading scientists of the country was, as the 

 Commissioner has stated, in favor of the product that it was not, in 

 general, a material which should be condemned as an article of food. 

 And while I have kept watch of literature on such matters since that 

 time, I have not been able to find any chemical literature or any patent 

 bearing upon the subject which has led me to suppose that the process 

 of manufacture has changed radically in any way from the time the 

 original bill was passed. 



Representative COONEY. I would like to ask you a question for my 

 own information. I was not in here when the Commissioner commenced 

 his remarks. When I came in he was speaking with reference to that 

 Senate document, and stating that what he read was the substance of 

 the foundation upon which the internal revenue law was based and 

 that was in regard to these fats which are used in the production of 

 oleomargarine. It was stated that if they were permitted to remain 

 unused in the product for a little while, or placed in vessels which were 

 not absolutely untainted, they would become an obnoxious 



Representative WILLIAMS. "Offensive" was the word he used. 



Representative COONEY. (Continuing.) An offensive product. That 

 is your experience, likewise, is it? 



Dr. CRAMPTON. Yes, sir. 



Representative COONEY. Now, what I would like to know is what 

 means the Government has of knowing that this fat is used at the 

 proper time and in the proper way by the manufacturers of oleomar- 

 garine ? 



Dr. CRAMPTON. Well, I presume it has no means of ascertaining the 

 condition of the materials, except that the factories are open at all 

 times to the inspection and supervision of the internal-revenue officers. 



Commissioner WILSON. Pardon me, but may I insert a few words 

 right there? The fact that " the first law of nature is self-preservation" 

 is the answer to that question. If the materials are not used before 

 they become rancid, they have lost their substance and are forever 

 ruined; so that the manufacturers can not sell what they make of such 

 materials. 



Representative WADSWORTH. It is the same as with cream, in butter 

 making. If your cream is not used at the proper time, at the exact 

 moment, your butter is of an inferior quality. The same law applies to 

 oleomargarine. If you do not use the materials at the proper time the 

 manufactured product is of poor quality. 



Representative COONEY. The statement of the Commissioner, then, 

 as I understand it, is that the product, when the materials were not 

 used at the proper time, would be offensive and obnoxious in itself. 



Representative WILSON. In other words, it would tell its own tale? 



Doctor CRAMPTON. Yes; that is the ground upon which we have 

 always proceeded. That is just what is stated in that testimony. 



Representative COONEY. And the process of manufacturing the oleo- 

 margarine out of these fats at improper times would not render the 

 detection of that obnoxious quality any the less easy? Is that what I 

 understand. 



(184) 



