No. 4.] REPORT OF DAIRY BUREAU. 285 



The defence, having submitted this form of order, argued 

 that the purchaser on signing this really made the defendant 

 his agent ; and that the defendant, as agent for the consumer, 

 purchased these goods in Rhode Island. The judge held that 

 the circumstances in the case convinced him that the order 

 was a subterfuge, and an attempt to evade the law ; conse- 

 quently he held the defendant, who appealed, but withdrew 

 his appeal and pleaded guilty in the superior court. 



Doubtless in some instances oleomargarine is honestly de- 

 sired. Unquestionably there are persons who from various 

 motives prefer to use a mixture of lard and tallow in place 

 of butter; but when it is sold in imitation of yellow butter, 

 with a misleading name, or by companies with deceptive 

 titles, there is a suspicion that consumers hardly realize what 

 they are buying, and are more or less imposed upon by the 

 deceptive nature of the brand or of the company doing busi- 

 ness. In one instance we found that a })eddler had been selling 

 the goods marked " Oakdale Standard " as butter to ignorant 

 families who did not know that this expression was the trade- 

 mark of one of the large oleomargarine dealers. It is pos- 

 sibly true that now and then a person who honestly wants to 

 purchase oleomargarine for legitimate use has been troubled 

 to get it ; but where any annoyance has been occasioned in 

 the honest sale of a pound, we believe that the dishonest sale 

 of ten pounds has been })re vented. It should be remembered 

 that it is perfectly legal to sell oleomargarine in this State, 

 in a separate and distinct form, and in such a manner as will 

 advise the consumer of its real character. But oleomargarine 

 in that shape is a drug on the market. Its value as a conir 

 mercial product comes not from the food value which the 

 scientific men may find in it, but from the perfection of the 

 imitation of butter. There is a theoretical oleomargarine of 

 the chemists' laboratory, which has a food value ; there is the 

 oleomargarine of commerce, which as an imitation of butter 

 is a constant temptation to swindling, and the temptation is 

 seldom resisted. The supreme court of the United States 

 says of the Massachusetts anti-color law : — 



The suggestion that oleomargarine is artificially colored so as to 

 render it more valuable and attractive can only mean that pur- 

 chasers are deluded by such coloration into believing that they are 



