844 OLEOMARGARINE. 



basis of their opposition may be best understood from the following, 

 taken from page 667 of the House testimony, Mr. Fred Oliver repre- 

 senting a committee from about 400 oil mills in the South: 



Mr. OLIVER. About $40,000,000 was paid to the farmers for seed; about $15,000,000 

 for the transportation of the seed in and products out; about $10,000,000 for labor. 

 In this country there is used probably 150,000 barrels, of 50 gallons each, of butter 

 oil in manufacturing oleomargarine at least aboveboard. How much there is used 

 secretly I do not know. 



Mr. HAUGEN. What part of it is cotton-seed oil? 



Mr. OLIVER. About 150,000 barrels of cotton-seed oil, of 50 gallons each, goes into 

 the oleomargarine through the large manufacturers that are now being taxed and 

 living up to the regulations. 



Mr. HAUGEN. About how much is this worth? 



Mr. OLIVER. About 40 cents a gallon, of 7 pounds to the gallon. 



Mr. NEVILLE. Have you figured out the number of pounds so that you know? 



Mr. OLIVER. No; it is only from what is published and the amount of taxes paid 

 on oleomargarine. Oleomargarine contains from 25 to 40 per cent of cotton-seed oil, 

 depending upon the weather "and the season of the year it is made. 



It appears from the above that these cotton-seed-oil people were led 

 to believe that 55,250,000 pounds of their oil were used in the 83,000,000 

 pounds of oleomargarine made the previous year, as that is the weight 

 of 150,000 barrels, of 50 gallons each. He stated, as shown by the 

 record, that oleomargarine contained from 25 to 40 per cent of cotton- 

 seed oil. 



Secretary Gage's report, quoted a number of times before this com- 

 mittee, shows that, instead of there being 55, 250, 000 pounds of cotton- 

 seed oil used in the 83,000,000 pounds of oleomargarine, there were less 

 than 9,000,000 pounds; that instead of the quantity used in oleomar- 

 garine being from 25 to 40 per cent, as represented to the pressers of 

 cotton seed, it was only about 10 per cent. 



Efforts to pin the representatives of the cotton-seed oil pressers down 

 to some definite statement before this committee have been futile, as 

 the record will show. The point has been evaded through one subter- 

 fuge or another, and the following discussion or colloquy is a good 

 example of the futility of attempts to get any intelligent statement 

 from those interested, and is found on pages 520 and 521: 



Mr. TOMPKINS. With reference to communications from farmers, I want to say 

 that I have not the slightest doubt that the farmers, who are very much interested 

 in this subject, up to the present time do not know about it, and those who produce 

 the cotton seed and are interested in the cotton seed that goes into the cotton-seed oil 

 mills do not know about it. If it is a question of getting communications from 

 farmers, I have not the slightest doubt that at least 50 per cent of the farmers could 

 be got to petition against the bill, which will depreciate their interest not less than 

 $2 a ton on 2,000,000 tons of seed. 



On the subject of the interests that are affected we have some testimony that was 

 given before the House committee on the subject of the cattle interests, that since 

 the fall of 1895 there has been a depression in the value of live stock to the extent 

 of $62,000,000. I have not the slightest doubt that the passage of the bill would 

 affect the farmers' cotton-seed interests to the extent of at least $2 a ton on all the 

 seed that they sell. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Will you yield to a question? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. Yes, sir. 



Mr. KNIGHT. How do you figure it out? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. By taking the quantity of oil off the market where it is sold at 

 present; it will depreciate the value of the whole amount of cotton -seed oil, because 

 the surplus product is what controls prices, not the whole quantity. 



Mr. KNIGHT. What is the quantity of oil? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. The quantity of oil is from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 barrels. It is 

 difficult to state the amount exactly. 



Mr. KNIGHT. What is that quantity? 



Mr. TOMPKINS. It is from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 barrels of oil that is produced. 



