200 



CONGRESS. (OLEOMARGARINE AND DAIRY-PRODUCTS.) 



its market, and the rest of it would also be swept 

 away by the other provision of the bill, namely, 

 that all oleomargarine colored to resemble butter 

 shall be taxed 10 cents a pound. In other words, 

 this bill is simply aimed at the total and utter 

 destruction of the oleomargarine industry. 



" This is plainly evident from the wording of 

 the bill, and what is more, it is acknowledged 

 openly and defiantly by the promoters of the bill. 

 Several of them have said so, in plain English, in 

 their testimony before the committee, and all the 

 others might as well have done so, for their pur- 

 pose is perfectly obvious to' everybody. This is 

 absolutely all there is to the committee's bill a 

 barefaced*, naked attempt to break up and ruin 

 an industry which is just as proper and legitimate 

 as the butter industry, and has been pronounced 

 so by the Supreme Court of the United States 

 and by other courts, and also by leading scientists, 

 and by the great American public at large speak- 

 ing through their representatives in Congress. 



" The Supreme Court's language was, in its 

 celebrated decision of 1898, the Schollenberger 

 case, that ' oleomargarine had become a proper 

 subject of commerce among the States and foreign 

 countries.' Yet in the face of this decision of our 

 highest court it is now coolly proposed by the 

 promoters and sponsors of this bill to wipe out 

 the entirely proper and legitimate industry of 

 the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine. And 

 why? This is not stated in the bill; but in the 

 reports and remarks on the subject oleomarga- 

 rine is referred to as an ' adulterated article of 

 food,' and a ' deceitful article of food.' 



" The charge of adulteration, Mr. Chairman, is 

 absolutely false. The ingredients of oleomarga- 

 rine are as pure and wholesome as the ingredients 

 of butter. They have been so characterized by 

 dozens of the highest scientific authorities in the 

 country, as is well known by everybody by such 

 men as Prof. Chandler, of Columbia University; 

 Prof. Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania; 

 Prof. Johnson, of Yale University; Prof. Atwater 

 and Prof. Wiley, of the United States Agricultural 

 Department; and by many others as eminent. 



" The article has been in common use by mil- 

 lions of people for many years, and no injury has 

 been received from it by any one, nor any com- 

 plaint made about it by any one except by the 

 dairymen and butter monopolists. It is as nutri- 

 tious and as wholesome as butter, and in many 

 respects it is more so. It is as sweet and as 

 palatable, and it is far cheaper, thereby enabling 

 those of moderate or restricted means to obtain a 

 perfectly satisfactory substitute for butter at a 

 price within their ability to pay. And now these 

 butter monopolists would deny to thousands I 

 might say to millions of poor people the use of 

 this, a perfectly pure and healthful substitute, on 

 the false charge of adulteration. They make a 

 great ado with their sneers about ' hog fat,' but, 

 Mr. Chairman, it is not the oleomargarine men, 

 but the butter men, who are showing a disposition 

 to ' hog ' it in this competition. 



" Coming now to the charge of deceit, what do 

 they mean by that? Much has been said about 

 it by the distinguished gentleman from Vermont, 

 and what is meant by deceit? If it is meant that 

 the honest manufacturers and sellers of oleo- 

 margarine practise any deceit in the disposing of 

 oleomargarine as oleomargarine, that charge is as 

 false as the charge of adulteration; but if it is 

 meant that some unscrupulous and dishonest 

 dealers sell oleomargarine as butter, that of 

 course is deceit, and the friends of oleomargarine 

 are just as anxious as the friends of butter that 

 it should be punished and put a stop to. No doubt 



much of that sort of deceit has been practised in 

 various parts of the country from time to time, 

 and that is in reality the only complaint made 

 against the present oleomargarine law that will 

 hold water at all. 



" Now, the friends of the pending bill propose 

 to prevent this deceit, not by punishing those who 

 are guilty of it, nor by preventing them from 

 having any opportunity hereafter to pursue it 

 oh, no but by uprooting and annihilating the 

 whole oleomargarine industry! That is very 

 much, Mr. Chairman, like curing a man's cough 

 by cutting his head off. 



" The friends of the minority or substitute bill, 

 on the other hand, earnestly urge the members of 

 this body and the public at large to examine 

 this measure and judge of it fairly and impar- 

 tially. If examined in this spirit the substitute 

 bill will certainly convince anybody and every- 

 body that it covers fully this point of ' deceit,' 

 which is the only valid point against oleomarga- 

 rine, and that it provides fully for the prevention 

 and punishment of those who are guilty of deceit 

 in the premises. 



" By the terms of this substitute bill each 1 and 

 2 pound package is made an original package,, 

 and retail dealers in oleomargarine shall sell only 

 the original package to which the tax-paid stamp 

 is affixed. In that way, Mr. Chairman, every 

 separate piece of oleomargarine exposed or of- 

 fered for sale would bear its title on its face 

 and would be known to all men for what it 

 really was. What more than this could be asked 

 by any reasonable man? Here is oleomargarine, 

 already recognized and defined by our Supreme 

 Court as a lawful article of commerce between the 

 States, and here are those who manufacture and 

 sell it, ready and willing and anxious to manu- 

 facture and sell it for what it really is, and to 

 stamp its proper name on each and every package 

 of it. 



" And here, on the other hand, are the butter 

 monopolists, who are hurt by its sale, and who 

 say, ' No ; we will not let oleomargarine be sold 

 at all we will crush it out of existence.' For 

 that, Mr. Chairman, is what they will do if they 

 can pass their bill. They will impose a prohibitory 

 tax of 10 cents a pound on oleomargarine, which 

 would raise its price to a level where nobody 

 could afford to buy it : and, more than that, they 

 will forbid it to be sold in 32 States of the Union 

 at any price." 



The measure of the majority of the Committee 

 on Agriculture was amended and passed Feb. 12. 

 In the Senate the rival methods of dealing with 

 the matter, advocated in the House, were argued; 

 and the bill was passed April 3 with 11 amend- 

 ments, 10 of which the House accepted, concurring 

 on the eleventh, after amending it. The Senate 

 approved, and the President signed the bill, May 

 9, 1902. It is as follows: 



" Be it enacted, etc.. That all articles known as 

 oleomargarine, butterine. imitation, process, reno- 

 vated, or adulterated butter, or imitation chrr-f. 

 or any substance in the semblance of butter or 

 cheese not the usual product, of the dairy and 

 not made exclusively of pure and unadulterated 

 milk or cream, transported into any State or 

 Territory, or the District of Columbia, and re- 

 maining therein for use, consumption, sale, or 

 storage therein, shall, iipon the arrival within the 

 limits of such State or Territory or the District 

 of Columbia, be subject to the operation and 

 effect of the laws of such State or Territory or 

 the District of Columbia enacted in the exercise 

 of its police powers to the same extent and in the 

 same manner as though such articles or sub- 



