OLEOMARGARINE AND BUTTERIXK. 35 



Colorado is also well protected. A fine or imprisonment is the penalty for selling adulter- 

 ated milk or that from which the cream has been taken or from which the strippings have 

 been withheld. Dealers may, however, sell skimmed milk if they inform their customers of 

 the fact that it has been skimmed. Protection against oleomargarine is sought to be secured 

 by imposing a license of $1,000 on any one proposing to manufacture it, and one of $500 on 

 the seller. A penalty of from $50 to $500 is attached to the manufacture or selling of oleo- 

 margarine as butter. 



Indiana has had long standing in its Revised Statutes a law against selling impure milk ur 

 milk from cows to which anything but wholesome and natural food is given. The old law 

 also prohibits the use of deleterious substances for coloring butter and cheese, the penalties 

 ranging from $50 to $500. In 1883 the subject of oleomargarine was taken up by the Legisla- 

 ture, and a law was passed requiring oleomargarine, in whatever shape it is offered for sale, to 

 be branded as oleomargarine, and fines from $10 to $50 are imposed for failure to comply 

 with the law. 



Iowa imposes heavy penalties for adulterating milk, requires oleomargarine to be branded 

 or stamped with its proper name, and prohibits the offering for sale of skimmed-milk, cheese 

 or any cheese containing an admixture of oleomargarine or other substance, unless the adulter- 

 ated product is plainly stamped with words setting forth just what it is. 



Maine prohibits the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, and imposes a fine of $100 

 for the first offense and $200 for each subsequent offense. 



Massachusetts seems not to have awakened to the subject of imitation butter, but it has 

 provisions for heavy fines for selling adulterated milk. 



Michigan has about the same prohibitory law that obtains in Maine. An act of 1885 for- 

 bids oleomargarine altogether, under a penalty of from $200 to $500, with imprisonment not 

 to exceed one year. 



In Minnesota a penalty of from $2 to $200 is imposed for selling impure milk, while oleo- 

 margarine is altogether prohibited, the penalty of violating the law being from $100 to $500. 

 The prohibitory law in Minnesota was also passed in 1885. The Maryland law is substan- 

 tially the same as the Iowa law, requiring any imitation of butter to be branded with its 

 proper name. The penalties in Maryland are somewhat heavier then they are in Iowa. 



Missouri has taken the same extreme measure that prevails in Maine, Michigan, and 

 Minnesota, prohibiting the manufacture and sale of imitation butter, but it emphasizes its ob- 

 ection to the substance by imposing a fine of$i,ooo and imprisonment for violating the law. 



In Connecticut and Delaware the law is substantially the same. It aims to put imitation 

 butter on its merits, and that is all that is demanded by dealers in legitimate dairy products. 

 In Connecticut, however, the dealer is required to post a notice in his place of business an- 

 nouncing that he sells oleomargarine. In Delaware any substance offered for sale as butter 

 that it is not real butter must be marked artificial butter. The fine for violation of the law in 

 Connecticut is only $7 or imprisonment for from ten to thirty days, but in Delaware the fine is 

 $50, with imprisonment till the same is paid. 



In Illinois there is a general law relative to the adulteration of food or drink, which con- 

 tains a provision that where oleomargarine is mixed with pure butter the seller is required to 

 inform the buyer of the fact, and he must also inform him in what proportion the two sub- 

 stances are mixed. Offenses against the law increase for repetitions till a fine of $2,000 is im- 

 posed for the third repetition. This law was passed in 1881. Another act was passed in 1883 

 requiring operators in butter and cheese on the co-operative factory plan to give bonds in the 

 sum of $6,000 that accurate reports will be made the first of each month, a copy of each to 

 be filed with the clerk of the town in which the factory is situated. According to the best in- 

 formation to be obtained this law is practically a dead letter, for Chicago turns out a great pro- 

 portion of the oleomargarine products that flood the country. There is a movement among 

 merchants and dairymen to make this subject a political issue, and the next election may 

 greatly depend upon the attitude of legislative candidates on the bogus butter question. 



