16 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



pounds. It is, therefore, safe to assume that fully 50,000,000 pounds 

 of the butter imported into the United Kingdom from Holland in the 

 year 1884 was oleomargarine or imitation butter. 



In view of the prejudice which- exists in Europe against American 

 products, and the belief which prevails, more or less, among the several 

 peoples that adulteration and counterfeiting of food products are more 

 rife in the United States than in the Old World, the open manufacture 

 of oleomargarine into imitation butter, the counterfeiting of well-known 

 brands, and the flooding the British markets therewith, without excit- 

 ing any special wonder, is most significant. In some the United States 

 we have laws regulating the manufacture of oleomargarine, which laws 

 insist that the product must be plainly branded according to its nature, 

 so that people who so desire can purchase and use it uuderstandingly. 

 That it is permitted to be imported into the United Kingdom under the 

 name of butter, and sold as such, must have a very injurious effect on 

 the legitimate butter trade. 



Turning to our exports of butter and oleomargarine (for the distinc- 

 tion is clearly made by our customs), we find that during the year 1884 

 Holland took of our oleomargarine oil 33,173,849 pounds, valued at 

 $4,127,827, an average of 12.44 cents per pound. Our total exports of 

 oleomagarine for the year amounted to 39,321,000, valued at $4,842,000, 

 or 18,693,626, pounds,' and $1,091,229 in excess of our butter exports for 

 the year. Of our exports of oleomargarine not taken by Holland, 

 2,865,783 pounds of the oil went to Belgium, 1,967,263 pounds of the 

 oil and 421,316 pounds of the imitation butter (the oleomargarine ex- 

 ports being subdesignated imitation butter and the oil by our customs) 

 went to the United Kingdom, and 1,062,360 pounds of tbe imitation but- 

 ter to Canada. 



There need be little doubt that the greater portion of the export to 

 Holland was con verted into "Irish"and u English" butter and consumed 

 as such by the British people. In this connection it is worthy of note 

 that the exports from Holland to the United Kingdom, of which at least 

 one-half was composed of this imitation butter, are valued by the Brit- 

 ish customs at a fraction per pound more than the real butter imported 

 from the United States. 



The decrease in the consumption of American butter in the United 

 Kingdom is noteworthy. The imports thereof in 1879 amounted to 

 33,231,472 pounds, valued at $6,041,466, against 11,231,472 pounds, val- 

 ued at $2,179,982, in 1884. It is more than probable that this decrease 

 was largely due to the increase in our home consumption, prices in the 

 home market, especially for first quality butter, being more satisfac- 

 tory than the prices prevailing in the United Kingdom. The decrease 

 was certainly not due to any lessened demand for foreign butter in 

 Great Britain, for the imports during the year 1884 were 15,000,000 

 pounds in excess of those of 1880 ; and the fact that so much inferior 

 butter or substitute for butter finds a growing market therein goes to 

 prove that quality has no further bearing on the trade than value in the 

 British market. 



The fact that American butter is valued at 6.60 cents per pound less 

 than the Danish, 6.43 cents less than the German, 5.91 cents less than 

 the Swedish, 5.23 cents less than the French, and even a fraction less 

 than the Dutch, one-half of which is imitation butter, should appeal to 

 the pride as well as the profit of our dairy farmers. The high position 

 attained by the Danish, German, and French butter in the British mar- 

 ket is the result of special preparation for that market, and the reports 

 of the consuls from those countries show the great care taken in its 



