8 OLEOMARGARINE AND BUTTERINE. 



misdemeanor to manufacture or to offer for sale for human food any snbstaitces in imitation ol 

 such food products, while the other prohibits the sale of diluted or adulterated foods, unless 

 the seller shall first inform the buyer of the bogus nature of the articles. They will hardly go 

 so far, unbounded as their audacity is, as to demand the abolition of the State Dairy Depart- 

 ment, for that has become a fixture; and as long as this exists, and is managed as honestly 

 and efficiently as at present, the dairy interest will be guarded as well as the limited funds 

 allowed the department will permit." 



i Mr. William H. Coughtry, president of the Albany Merchants' Association, which includes 

 most of the grocers and other business men of that city, called upon President C. F. Bussing, 

 of the Retail Grocers' Union, of New York, recently, and suggested the expediency of an or- 

 ganized movement on the part of the combined retail grocers, butter dealers, and dairymen of 

 the State to oppose the machinations of the oleomargarine interest in Albany. Mr. Coughtry 

 declared that the bogus butter lobby in the Legislature would be stronger this session than 

 ever before, and that strenuous efforts would be made to so amend the laws in force as to make 

 them, to all intents and purposes, inoperative. He said he thought it would be well to issue 

 an address to the various associations of grocers throughout the State, as well as to other 

 traders interested in the suppression of the vile traffic, urging them to send representatives to 

 Albany to protest against any change in the law designed to favor the moonshine butter. The 

 address will probably appear in the next issue of the Advocate^ the organ of the retail grocers 

 of this city, and President Bussing says that he has no doubt prompt action will be taken by 

 retailers all over the State. This movement, in conjunction with the convention which is to be 

 held in this city Feb. 16, of the National Dairymen's Protective Association, will serve to warn 

 the legislators of the State that this vital and important question is not to be trifled with. 



In the meantime the movement in other States is growing stronger and more widespread 

 every day. Robert M. Littler, the secretary of the National Butter, Cheese, and Egg Asso- 

 ciation, has issued an address to producers and consumers of dairy products, in which he takes 

 the ground that was taken last year' in Ohio, and brings the bogus butter question into the 

 field of politics. The address says : 



" Chemical analysis as well as common sense shears that many of these counterfeits are and 

 must be unwholesome. In some instances the process and material for deodorizing the lards 

 and fats render the product deadly poison, and if no apparent injury arises from taking these 

 poisons into the system it is because they are so small that their effects are not immediately 

 observable. But it is certain their continued use must undermine the health of the consumer 

 and result in fatal disease. 



" Further, in addition to the amount of dairy gtxds displaced by the counterfeit, the suspi- 

 cion cast upon all dairy goods by the knowledge of the existence of these frauds has sickened 

 the public stomach and discouraged consumption to an extent which we have no means of esti- 

 mating. To these facts we have the right to largely attribute the depressed condition of the 

 dairy interest of this country during the past year, and reason to fear the great injury if not 

 utter destruction of the dairy interest, which has hitherto been so remunerative, and which is 

 second to no other national industry in point of public importance and financial investment. 



" In view of these facts and this threatening danger, what are the farmers, dairymen, 

 creamerymen, and consumers prepared to do ? Will they adopt measures to protect them- 

 selves against fraud, robbery, and imposition, or will they let these counterfeiters have full 

 sway and ruin a leading industry, bringing upon the community at large all the dire conse- 

 quences of such ruin ? 



"It is already demonstrated that imitations, Counterfeits, arid frauds can be legally sup- 

 pressed by appropriate legislation, provided people will rise in their might and demand the 

 necessary measures. All that is needed is a healthy public sentiment manifested through the 

 ballot box, to afford an effectual remedy and future preventive of the evils which now con- 

 front us. The laws of the land punish the counterfeiter of money with State prison. Why not 

 the counterfeiter of butter or other food ? To counterfeit criminally is to make something seein 



