382 BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The fourth point of attack was that the complaint " does 

 not allege that said substance was renovated butter." The 

 court says : " We presume that this should have read, ' was 

 not renovated butter,' to express what was intended. It is 

 not necessary, when charging a well-defined statutory offence, 

 to explain that you are not charging another and quite differ- 

 ent one." 



The last ground of attack was that "the complaint is in 

 the alternative when it alleges that the substance was made 

 from adulterated cream or milk." To this the court says : 

 "The complaint makes no such averment. It alleges that 

 the oleomargarine was made partly out of an oleaginous 

 substance not produced from unadulterated milk or cream, 

 which is a very different allegation. If all the substances of 

 which the subject matter of the charge was composed were 

 produced either from unadulterated milk or from cream from 

 the same, there would have been no offence under the statute 

 in question ; therefore both possibilities were negatived." 



Another year's experience emphasizes our previously ex- 

 pressed opinions as to the dishonest nature of the imitation 

 butter business and the deceptive methods used to bolster it 

 up. Much has been said during the past few months, in 

 connection with proposed legislation at Washington, the 

 Grout bill, about the wholesomeness and food value of oleo- 

 margarine. Admitting, for argument's sake, that all these 

 statements are true as to matters of fact, they are nevertheless 

 deceptive in their application, because they attempt to befog 

 an issue and deceive those to whom such claims are addressed. 

 Water is wholesome, but add it to milk and its sale is pro- 

 hibited ; peas have a high food value, but when added to 

 coffee the mixture is a swindle ; lard and tallow are whole- 

 some and have a food value, but when mixed and colored to 

 imitate butter the compound becomes a counterfeit and a 

 cheat. These oleomargarine laws are aimed at a commercial 

 fraud. As District Attorney Rockwood Hoar said, in his 

 brief in the Ryberg case, speaking of the anti-color law : 

 " It relates to a deception addressed to the eye, and not the 

 substance or component parts of the article." 



Of a similarly deceptive nature is all of the talk about 

 coloriniT butter which emanates from the defenders of oleo- 



