868 OLEOMARGARINE. 



considering the immense number and the fact that these same dealers 

 have been assailed regardless of their business integrity or otherwise, 

 while, on the contrary, it appears from the records (House Hearings, 

 pp. 108, 169, 199, 211, and 229, and Senate Hearings, pp. 280, 292, 

 298, etc.) that oleomargarine is sold for exactly what it is in almost 

 every instance. Nor have they produced a single consumer who com- 

 plains of having been swindled in purchasing oleomargarine for butter. 

 On the contrary (Senate Hearings, p. 20), it was stated that three- 

 fourths of the entire product of one factory went direct to the con- 

 sumer, and at page 381 1 presented a list of 1,083 names of consumers 

 who buy direct from one factory and who wish to continue so to do 

 and protest most vigorously against the passage of this bill. Secretary 

 Gage (Senate Hearings, p. 563) also told you in part of their experience 

 with a cheese plant whose owner purchased the milk from the farmers 

 in his vicinity and who in turn, as the agent of these farmers, pur- 

 chased from an oleomargarine factory the butter substitute which these 

 same farmers use on their tables. The workiu^men (as consumers) 

 appeal to you to leave the colored production within their reach. 

 (Senate Hearings, pp. 307, 310, 350, 508, and 568.) 



On the subject of threatened absolute destruction of the dairy indus- 

 try I wish to call your attention to the fact that they have not intro- 

 duced any evidence to show that the industry is in any danger, but 

 that the evidence throughout the record is to the effect that the growth 

 of the dairy industry has been even more rapid in the last ten years 

 than the growth of the oleomargarine industry. (House Hearings, 

 p. 158 ; Senate Hearings, pp. 439-440). I call attention to the statement 

 of Mr. Lestrade before the Senate committee at pages 166 and 171 as to 

 the growth in quality and quantity of the butter industry, and his further 

 statement, at page 216, that the butter men were making better profits 

 than ever before. Also to the statement of Mr. Kimball, at page 55 

 of the House Hearings, to the effect that butter was then 2 cents per 

 pound higher than formerly; to the statement of Mr. Thomas Sharp- 

 less (Senate Hearings, p. 228) that he still received 35 cents per pound 

 for his entire output, and that his neighbors received from 25 cents 

 up; and to the statement of C. H. Royce (p. 379), who gets 50 cents 

 per pound for his butter; and particularly to the statement of Gov- 

 ernor Hoard, quoted by Representative Bailey, at page 64 of the House 

 Hearings, to the effect that the dairy industry has made more rapid 

 strides than any other industry in the country; and to page 439, 

 where Mr. Jelke asks Mr. Adams, "Is not your industry more pros- 

 perous now than it ever was before?" Mr. Adams. " Yes, sir." 



Regarding their claim that State legislation is a failure, we must say 

 again that they have not proven their claim. On the contrary, as 

 appears from the evidence, the "oleomargarine or butter' 1 laws are 

 capable of enforcement and are enforced in every State, so far as is 

 shown by the record. It is also shown that the color laws are strictly 

 enforced in New York, in Iowa, in Wisconsin, and also in Pennsyl- 

 vania, in so far as any effort has been made to enforce them. It also 

 appears of record that the color laws are much more difficult to enforce 

 than the other provisions of the law; that they are utterly unfair and 

 consequently unpopular. And it stands to reason that so long as a 

 man accused of a crime has the right of trial by jury and that crime 

 is merely selling other men what they want, for what it is, and col- 

 ored as they want it, and those other men sit in judgment, it will be 



