No. 4.j REPORT OF DAIRY BUREAU. 803 



dealers were an entirely different class of people from those 

 who had been violating the oleomargarine (imitation l)utter) 

 law, and therefore the former had a much better standing 

 in court. This phase of the case gave rise to considerable 

 perplexit}', as we felt it necessary to proceed with great care 

 and discretion, in order to do our duty faithfully and have 

 the objects of the law secured, with a minimum of hardship 

 and seeming oppression. 



In most cases hitherto where the charge had been a viola- 

 tion of the " imitation butter" law there had been an evi- 

 dent intent or a studied purpose to evade the law. That 

 was different in these violations of the "renovated butter" 

 law, and hence we have had an unusual number of appeals 

 for recommending leniency to the courts. 



Another cause of some embarrassment has been the large 

 penalty attached to the law, — a minimum of one hundred 

 dollars, with no latitude to the courts for mitigating circum- 

 stances except placing the case on file. Nevertheless, we 

 believe the statute is very useful, both for consumers and 

 producers. Previously, renovated butter was sold decep- 

 tivel}^ in nearly every instance. When put up in prints, it 

 Avas labelled in a way particularly calculated to deceive the 

 ordinary consumer. We have found it with such labels 

 about each individual print as " Franklin County Creamery," 

 " Sweet Clover Creamery," " Fancy Creamery-Iowa Brand- 

 Pure Butter," with nothing to show the real character of the 

 article. Even after there began to be an enforcement of the 

 law, the spirit of deception was not summarily exorcised, but 

 in most cases it was attributable to the manufacturers rather 

 than to the retailers in whose hands we found the goods. 



In Worcester over a dozen samples were taken where the 

 words ' ' renovated butter " on the wrapper were printed so 

 dimly as to be almost imperceptible. Another batch of 

 samples was labelled "Litchfield County Print Butter, put 

 up expressly for family use, every package guaranteed," 

 while the words ' ' renovated butter " were in small, skeleton 

 letters, smaller than the law required. Another Avrapper 

 bore the mark "Meadow Brook-Pure Butter-Creamery," 

 with the words " renovated butter " in skeleton type, which 



