4 ^7] ADULTERATION AND OLEOMARGARINE 233 



and deleterious chemicals would have been used to de- 

 odorize it. 



In view of the keen competition among creameries they 

 endeavor to swell their profits by increasing the over-run. 

 This matter is discussed in the chapter dealing with the 

 manufacture of butter. Frequently the over-run is in- 

 creased so as to include more than 16 per cent of water. 

 This of course causes it to fall within the class of adul- 

 terated butter. In the administration of the tax provisions 

 the Commissioner of Internal Revenue * finds that the 

 creameryman in many cases is unnecessarily burdened by 

 the imposition of the $600 annual tax. He also states that 

 dealers are frequently unwittingly involved and that the 

 tax of $480 for wholesale dealers and $48 for retail dealers 

 operates with too much severity. The Commissioner sug- 

 gests that the manufacturer be made to pay only $60 as an 

 annual tax, and be fined or imprisoned for each specific vio- 

 lation of the law. This is the usual method for punishing 

 crime and seems to be the most effective way. Besides, it 

 punishes a specific act and does not require the collection of 

 a burdensome annual tax. 



The Commissioner also points out that the legal standard 

 for unadulterated butter should not be based on moisture 

 content but on fat content. He says that " a sample of 

 butter may show 78 per cent of butter fat, 6 per cent curd, 

 1 per cent solids (salt), and only 15 per cent moisture, and 

 be therefore legal butter; whereas another sample may 

 show 83 per cent butter fat, no curd, one-half of 1 per 

 cent solids (salt), and i6y 2 per cent moisture, and while a 

 greatly better butter because butter fat is what the con- 

 sumer desires to buy, is nevertheless adulterated under the 

 law ". The water content is obviously a very poor basis 



1 Report for 1911. p. 20. 



