846 OLEOMARGARINE. 



oil. I can not give you in pounds the amount of cotton-seed oil produced; I am 

 only giving it in dollars, as shown by this report, which does not give it in pounds. 

 So that that statement will hardly stand the test of reason, when it is seen that the 

 value of all of the cotton-seed oil is $50,000,000 yearly and there is only $500,000 

 worth used in the oleomargarine made in this country, as 25 per cent of the 

 $50,000,000 would be $12,500,000. 



Mr. MILLER. You are not taking into consideration the amount exported? 



Mr. KNIGHT. Do we make into oleomargarine in this country the cotton-seed oil 

 that is exported? 



Mr. MILLER. What would be the effect upon the export trade if you should place 

 a ban on the oil used in this country? 



Mr. KNIGHT. I want to speak in connection with this matter of "placing a ban" 

 on the oil in this country. When this bill was up for consideration in 1886, the cry 

 was, "If you place a 2-cent stamp of disapproval on oleomargarine, you will place a 

 ban on the article, so that nobody in the United States will use it." But the min- 

 ute the tax was placed on oleomargarine its manufacturers began to call it an indorse- 

 ment by the Government of oleomargarine; and the matter has been carried into 

 the courts, and it has been claimed that this taxation gave the Government's stamp 

 of approval to oleomargarine. 



Now, if 2 cents a pound tax will give you the Government's stamp of approval, a 

 tax of 10 cents a pound will give you five times that much approval. [Laughter.] 



Upon the question of policy of the South opposing the Grout bill 

 and thereby crippling the dairy interests, Secretary Wilson discussed 

 the matter as follows (p. 427) : . 



Secretary WILSON. There is no possible direction in which the South can renovate 

 its worn-out lands so fast as to feed that cotton seed to stock. It is the finest feed on 

 earth. 



Senator MONEY. I know that. I am a farmer. I raise cotton. 



Secretary WILSON. And you can not do it without the dairy cow. 



Senator MONEY. I raise cows, too. 



Secretary WILSON. The dairy cow is the only instrumentality. You can not do it 

 by commercial fertilizers, because it will not put the humus in the soil. 



Senator MONEY. You are right about that. 

 ******* 



A 10,000,000-bale crop of cotton gives 5,000,000 tons of seed. Two hundred and 

 twenty-five million gallons of oil from this seed may be sold without injury to the 

 soil upon which the plant grows, but the residue should not be exported. The sale 

 from the land of this nitrogenous by-product results in shorter crops and ultimate 

 sterility, which, however, may be arrested by encouraging dairying and feeding for 

 nieat:3. 



A great deal having been said by the makers of oleomargarine about 

 the use of strong acids in the so-called renovation of old butter, it will 

 be interesting to note that practically all oleomargarine contains an 

 oil that has been refined by one of the most powerful chemicals in use. 

 The following is from page 348: 



Mr. KNIGHT. Will you pardon a question? 



Mr. CULBERSON. Yes, sir. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Are you a refiner of cotton-seed oil? 



Mr. CULBERSON. We have refineries at our plants; yes, sir. 



Mr. KNIGHT. Do you use any chemicals in refining cotton-seed oil? 



Mr. CULBERSON. There is no way to refine it other than by chemicals 



Mr. KNIGHT. What chemical is used? 



Mr. CULBERSON. Various. 



Mr. KNIGHT. What is the principal one? 



Mr. CULBERSON. The same chemicals that have been used ever since cotton-seed 

 oil was refined. 



Mr. KNIGHT. I am not a cotton-oil man, so I do not know what those are, and I do 

 not think the committee does. 



Mr. CULBERSON. We use caustic soda in diluted form. We furthermore have our 

 own processes by which when the oil is finished it is perfectly neutral. There is 

 absolutely no sign of chemical or of coloring matter. 



Mr. KNIGHT. You can refine cotton-seed oil and make it absolutely white make 

 what they call a winter oil? 



