OLEOMARGARINE. 



96 per cent when bntter formed part of the diet. The moderate nee of margarin 

 did not cause any disturbance of the digestive tract. (Experiment Station Record, 

 Vol. XI, No. 4, Department of Agriculture, pp. 375, 376.) 



(The committee thereupon, at 12 o'clock m, adjourned to meet Thurs 

 day, May 17, 1900, at 11 o'clock a. m.) 



COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

 Washington, D. C., Thursday, May 17, 1900. 



The committee met at 11 o'clock a. m., Hon. Herman B. Dahle in the 

 chair. 



Present: Representatives Wadsworth, Henry, Bailey, Wright, Hau- 

 gen, Dahle, Williams, Stokes, Lamb, Cooney, Allen, and Neville. 



Present, also, Professor H. W. Wiley, chief chemist. United States 

 Department of Agriculture; W.E. Miller, esq., representing the Armour 

 Packing Company, Kansas City, Kans.; C. H". Lavery, esq., represent- 

 ing Swift & Co., Kansas City, Kans. ; Charles Y. Knight, esq., repre- 

 senting the National Dairy Association, and others. 



STATEMENT OF C. N. LAVERY, ESQ., REPRESENTING SWIFT & CO., 

 KANSAS CITY, KANS. 



Representative BAILEY. Mr. Lavery, will you please state to the 

 committee what your business is? 



Mr. LAVERY. I am manager of the butterine or oleomargarine depart- 

 ment of Swift & Co., Kansas City, Kans. 



Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: We, as representa- 

 tives of three of the largest manufacturers of oleomargarine in the 

 United States, beg to enter our protests against the passage of House 

 of Representatives bill 3717, known as the " Grout bill." 



The Grout bill, if enacted by the voice of Congress, means the wip- 

 ing out of one of the chief industries of our country (that of the manu- 

 facture of oleomargarine), a business which has been recognized by the 

 laws of the United States as legitimate and a common necessity. It 

 means the taking away from the millions of laboring men of the only 

 opportunity they have of procuring a clean, pure, wholesome article of 

 food at a reasonable cost not as a luxury, but as a daily diet. It 

 means the crushing of one industry and making a monopoly of another. 



We, as manufacturers, wish to refute in the most emphatic terms the 

 claim that oleomargarine is placed on the market and sold for butter. 

 The internal-revenue laws provide that a manufacturer or wholesale 

 dealer shall place on each package of oleomargarine sold a tax-paid 

 stamp to the amount of 2 cents for each pound contained. He must 

 also stencil on it, in a conspicuous place, the word " oleomargarine," in 

 letters not less than 1 inch square. He is compelled to keep a correct 

 record of each package of oleomargarine sold, together with the buyer's 

 full name and address, which information is furnished the honorable 

 Commissioner of Internal Eevenue, through his various collectors, at 

 the end of each month. 



The retail dealer is compelled to keep his stamp (which is a permit 

 from the Government to sell oleomargarine, and for which he pays $4 

 per month) conspicuously displayed. He is required to sell from the 

 original package in lots not to exceed 10 pounds, and to stamp on the 



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