CONGRESS. (THE OLEOMARGARINE LAW.) 



237 



business, or shall do anything by this act prohibited, 

 if there be no specific penalty or punishment imposed, 

 by any other section of this act for the neglecting, 

 omitting or refusing to do, or for the doing or causing 

 to be done, the thing required or prohibited, he shall 

 pay a penalty of $1,000 ; and if the person so offend- 

 ing be the manufacturer of or a wholesale dealer in 

 oleomargarine, all the oleomargarine owned by him, 

 or in which lie has any interest as owner, shall be 

 forfeited to the United btates. 



SEC. 19. That all fines, penalties, and forfeitures im- 

 posed by this act may be recovered in any court ot 

 competent jurisdiction. 



SEC. 20. That the Commissioner of Internal Rev- 

 enue, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury, may make all needful regulations for the carry- 

 ing into effect of this act. 



SEC. 21. That this act shall go into effect on the 

 ninetieth day after its passage ; and all wooden pack- 

 ages containing ten or more pounds of oleomargarine 

 found on the premises of any dealer on or after the 

 ninetieth day succeeding the date of the passage of 

 this act shall be deemed to be taxable under section 8 

 of this act, and shall be taxed, and shall have affixed 

 thereto the stamps, marks, and brands required by 

 this act or by regulations made pursuant to this act ; 

 and for the purposes of securing the affixing of the 

 stamps, marks, and brands required by this act, the 

 oleomargarine shall be regarded as having been man- 

 ufactured and sold, or removed from the manufactory 

 for consumption or use, on or after the day this act 

 takes effect ; and such stock on hand at the time of 

 the taking effect of this act may be stamped, marked, 

 and branded under special regulations of the Commis- 

 sioner of Internal Revenue, approved by the Secretary 

 of the Treasury ; and the Commissioner of Internal 

 Revenue may authorize the holder of such package to 

 mark and brand the same and to affix thereto the 

 proper tax-paid stamps. 



In the bill, as originally reported, the tax 

 per pound on oleomargarine was fixed at 10 

 cents. An amendment reducing the sum to 8 

 cents was reported from the Committee of the 

 Whole, and a motion to reduce the amount to 

 5 cents was finally carried yeas 153, nays 

 122. A motion to make the tax 3 cents, failed 

 by a vote of 130 to 140. An amendment pro- 

 posed by Mr. Browne, of Indiana, exempting 

 from the tax all oleomargerine purely made and 

 sold undisguised, was defeated by a vote of 118 

 to 152. An amendment offered by Mr. Mills, 

 of Texas, providing for an income-tax, was re- 

 jected by a vote of 83 to 188. Various amend- 

 ments, intended to ridicule the hill, were offered 

 such as propositions to tax makers of glass 

 eggs, incubators, and chickens hatched in them, 

 shoes with paper in the soles, and all manner 

 of fraudulent articles. 



The vote in the House on the passage of the 

 measure was as follows: 



YEAS G. E. Adams, C. H. Allen, J. M. Allen, J. 

 A. Anderson, Atkinson, Baker, Ballentine, Barksdale, 

 Barry, Bayne, Beach, Bingham, Bland, Bound, Bou- 

 telle, Brady, C. E. Brown, W. W. Brown, Buchanan, 

 Buck, Bunnell, Burleigh, Burrows, Butterworth, By- 

 num, Caldwell, J. E. Campbell, J. M. Campbell, Can- 

 non, Carleton, Caswell, Clardy, Comstock, Conger, 

 Davenport, Dawson, Dingley, Dockery, Dorsey, El- 

 dredge, Ellsberry, Ely, Ermentrout, Evans, Everhart, 

 Farquhar, Felton, Fleeger, Foran. Frederick, Fuller, 

 Funston, Gallinger, Geddes, C. H. Gibson, Gilfillan, 

 W. J. Green, Grout, Hale, Halsell, Han bach, Hatch, 

 Haynes, Heard, D. B. Henderson, T. J. Henderson, 

 Henley, Hepburn, Hermann, Hill, Hires, Hiscock, 

 Ilitt, llolman, Holmes, Hopkins, Howard, Jackson, 



James, F. A. Johnson, J. T. Johnston, Ketcham. 

 King, Kleiner, La Follette, Landes, Le Fevre, Linds- 

 ley, Little, Long, Lore, Louttit, Lowry, Lyman, Mat- 

 son, McComas, McCreary, McKenna, McKinley, Mil- 

 lard. Milliken, Moffatt, Morgan, Morrill, Morrow, 

 Muller, Murphy, Neece ; Nelson, O'Donnell, O'Fer- 

 rall, Osborne, Outhwaite, Parker, Payne, Payson, 

 Perkins, Peters, Pettibone, Phelps, Pidcock, Pindar, 

 Plumb, Price, Randall, Reese, Rice, Richardson, 

 Riggs, Robertson, Rockwell, Roineis, Rowell, Ryan, 

 Sawyer, Scott, Scranton, Seney, Sessions, Seymour, 

 Shaw, Singleton, Smalls, Sowden, Spriggs, Springer, 

 Stahlnecker, Steele, Stephenson, J. W. Stewart, E. 

 F. Stone, W. J. Stone of Kentucky, Storm, Strait, 

 Struble, Swope, Symes, E. B. Taylor, I. H. Taylor, J. 

 R. Thomas, O. B. Thomas, Thompson, Townshend, 

 Wade, Wait, Wakcfield, T. B. Ward, A. J. Weaver, 

 J. B. Weaver, Weber, West, A. C. White, Milo 

 White, Whiting, Wilkina, Winans, Wolford, Worth- 

 ington 177. 



NAYS J. J. Adams, Barbour, Barnes, Bennett, 

 Blanchard, Blount, C. R. Breckinridge, W. C. P. 

 Breckinridge, T. M. Browne, Burneo, Cabell, Felix 

 Campbell, T. J. Campbell, Candler, Catchings, Cobb, 

 Collins, Cowles, Cox, Crain, Crisp, Culberson, Cur- 

 tin, Daniel, Dargan, A. C. Davidson, Dibble, Dough- 

 erty, Dowdney, Dunham, Dunn, Fisher, Ford, For- 

 ney, Gay, Eustace Gibson, Glass, Hammond, Harris, 

 Hcmphill, J. S. Henderson, Herbert, Hewitt, Houk, 

 Hutton, Irion, T. D. Johnston, J. H. Jones, J. T. 

 Jones, Kelley, Lanham, Lawler, Lehlbach, Libbey, 

 Lovermg, Mahoney, Martin, May bury. McAdoo, Hc- 

 Millin, McRae. Merriman, Miller. Mills, Mitchell, 

 Morrison, Neal, Negley, Norwood, Gates, O'Hara, 

 Charles O'Neill, J. J. O'Neill, Pce^, Perry Reagan, 

 Sayers, Skinner, Snvder, Spooncr, St. Martin, Tars- 

 ney, Taulbee, J. M. Taylor, Zachary Taylor, Throck- 

 morton, Tiliman, Tucker, Turner, Van Eaton, Van 

 Schaick, Wadsworth, Wallace, J. H. Ward, William 

 Warner, Wellborn, Wheeler, Willis, Wilson, Wise, 

 Woodburn 101. 



NOT VOTING Aikcn, C. M. Anderson, Arnot, Bel- 

 mont, Bliss, Boyle, Bragg, Brumm, Clements, Cole, 

 Compton, Cooper. Croxton, Cutcheon, R. H. M. Da- 

 vidson, Davis, Eden, Findlay, Glover, Goff, R. S. 

 Green, Grosvenor, Guenther, Hall, Harmer, Hayden, 

 Hiestand, Hudd, Laffoon, Laird, Markham, Owen, 

 Pirce, Ranney, T. B. Reed, J. W. Reid, Rogers, Sad- 

 ler, Charles Stewart, W. J. Stone of Missouri ; Swin- 

 burne, Trigg, Viele, A. J. Warner 45. 



In the Senate, June 7, the bill was referred 

 to the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, 

 though there was a sharp contest to have 

 it referred to the Committee on Finance, as a 

 revenue measure. On July 1 it was reported 

 back without amendment by Senator Miller, of 

 New York, who made the most elaborate ar- 

 gument in its favor. He acknowledged that 

 the purpose of the bill was not to raise reve- 

 nue, and based his advocacy of it on the follow- 

 ing grounds : 



" 1. It is necessary in order to protect the 

 whole people from fraud and imposition in 

 having a counterfeit article sold to them for 

 the genuine. 



"2. It is necessary to protect the public 

 health, for if it be admitted that oleo when 

 made according to the process known as the 

 Mege process is wholesome, yet I hold that 

 the best of it, made as it is made to-day, is not 

 as wholesome as butter, and that it may he the 

 means of communicating disease to the human 

 system. 



" 3. It is necessary to protect the chief farm- 

 ing interest of this country, which is the dairy, 



