OLEOMABG AKINE 797 



ufacture. They have even gone so far as to say that fats from animals 

 which have died of disease and scraps from retail meat markets and 

 hotels in fact, anything of a fatty nature that can be procured at a 

 low cost enter into the manufacture of this product. 



I want to say to this committee that all such stories emanate from 

 people who know absolutely nothing of the subject they are discuss- 

 ing, or are malicious falsehoods given out for the purpose of creating 

 prejudice against oleomargarine. The ingredients of oleomargarine 

 are of so delicate a nature that the greatest care is absolutely necessary 

 in their preparation. We could not use an inferior oil if we wanted to, 

 because the product made from it would not be salable. Oleomar- 

 garine, to be acceptable to the consumer, must be pure, sweet, and 

 wholesome; and in order to have it so we must use the choicest of 

 ingredients in its manufacture. Both oleo oil and neutral lard, as well 

 as oleomargarine itself, are by nature very susceptible to foreign flavors 

 of any kind. So much so, in fact, that were a whole carload of either 

 shipped in a refrigerator car containing a single box of oranges, the 

 flavor from the oranges would penetrate the other contents of the car 

 to such an extent that they would be rendered useless for the purposes 

 for which they were intended. It can, therefore, readily be seen that 

 the newspaper stories above referred to are so utterly ridiculous and 

 impossible that they deserve no consideration whatever. 



To verify my statements in this regard, I take pleasure in referring 

 to Prof. Henry Morton's statement before the Senate Committee on 

 Agriculture and Forestry in the year 1886. In the course of that state- 

 ment, in reply to Senator Jones, who asked about the "vile compounds n 

 which are used in making oleomargarine, Professor Morton said: 



To anyone who knows about it these stories are simply absurd. It is utterly 

 impossible to do any such thing. As I have said, if the animal has been dead a 

 short time the fat can not be used. For instance, you can not use fat from the meat 

 which is hung up and exposed for sale in the market for the purpose of making oleo- 

 margarine. Although such meat is not hurt for ordinary use and can be cooked and 

 eaten, the fat of it would be utterly ruined for the purpose of making oleomarga- 

 rine. 



Professor Chandler, testifying before the same committee, said, at the 

 commencement of his remarks: 



I would not, of course, wish to take up the time of the committee by repeating 

 anything that Dr. Morton has said, but I will say at the outset that I agree with 

 Dr. Morton in every statement that he has made. 



Professor Chandler also said : 



Some of you remember, I presume, that before the discovery of the passage around 

 the Cape of Good Hope to India the only dyestuff cultivated to any extent in Eng- 

 land was woad, an inferior dye which our ancestors employed for dyeing their 

 products. When the trade with Bengal sprang up indigo was brought to England, 

 and immediately there was a great hue and cry made against indigo. It was said 

 that it was going to ruin the woad farmer of England, and they called it devil's 

 dirt Teufeladrockh was the name in German and it was made a capital crime in 

 England, France, and Germany for anybody to be caught with indigo on his prem- 

 ises. It was not suggested that it should be colored blue, because that was its natu- 

 ral color, and it was not necessary. Soon after logwood was discovered in Honduras, 

 and when it was attempted to introduce it into England as a dye laws were passed 

 against it; and we have had that kind of legislation always. 



It is not many years since a petition was presented to Parliament, in England, 

 protesting against the use of hops in beer, on the ground that it would destroy the 

 digestion of the English people. There was a similar attempt at legislation in 

 regard to the burning of soft coal. They had used only wood and charcoal in 

 England, and when it was proposed to take coal out of the ground and bring it to 

 London they said it would ruin the industry of the people who cut wood in the 

 forests to make charcoal; that it was unhealthy, and would make a smoke that 

 would get into the lungs of the knights who came from the country to Parliament 

 to sit and legislate for the people. 



(*215) 



