485] OLEOMARGARINE LAW AND ITS DEVELOPMENT 2 6l 



time, corrupting and debauching more taxpayers and 

 affords the opportunity for greater fraud upon the public 

 than any other statute with which the internal-revenue 

 bureau has to deal." 1 



Violations of the law still continue, as may be seen 

 by the Commissioner's statement: "A total of 2,704 

 violations of this law were reported during 1914 as 

 against 1,745 for 1913. These violations involved 2,327 

 persons — 67 for violations as manufacturers, including the 

 cases of illicit manufacture through the additional arti- 

 ficial coloration to the uncolored product, 89 wholesale 

 dealers, and 2,171 retail dealers." 2 



The numerous frauds perpetrated in connection with 

 the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, the inability 

 to say whether or not it was wholesome when it first 

 appeared on the market, and the great agitation con- 

 ducted by the dairy interests against oleomargarine, 

 placed a stigma upon the product that it has not yet 

 lived down. If the oleomargarine interests had been 

 wise from the beginning, and had produced a wholesome 

 product, had invited open inspection of their methods of 

 manufacture, had plainly marked their product, had 

 encouraged the dealers to sell it for what it is, and had 

 widely advertised the product as oleomargarine, oleo- 

 margarine by now would not only have lost the stigma 

 that at first attached to it, but it would have made a 

 place for itself in the market second only to that of first 

 class butter. Much of the money spent by the oleomar- 

 garine and dairy interests in agitating their sides of the 

 question could have been more profitably used in their 

 respective industries. Much of the time and money 



l Op. cit., p. 18. 



7 Report of the U. S. Internal Revenue Commissioner for 1914, p. 21. 



