214 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



same influence in the House of Representatives, and defeated the com- 

 bined corporate interests of the great city of Chicago, engaged in the 

 manufacture of oleomargarine, championed by hirlings in both branches 

 of the legislature who showed a disposition to resort even to personal vio- 

 lence in order to carry their point. 



What did that fight cost financially? The organization of the state 

 for the contest together with traveling expenses of the officers of the Illi- 

 nois Dairy Union, their assistants and those more actively engaged in the 

 struggle, required less than three thousand dollars ($3,000). This was 

 about five dollars ($5.00) for every creamery in the state, or less than ten- 

 cents for each patron of Illinois creameries. I give these figures simply to- 

 ilet you know how very little in the aggregate is required for every one in- 

 terested, provided each will give his aid., to secure protection such as is ac- 

 corded by the anti-color oleomargarine laws. 



You will probably want to know, inasmuch as you doubtless know 

 little regarding the status of the situation, whether or not you have se- 

 cured in return the value of the $3,000 you paid out for the fight, because 

 of conditions, which I shall explain later, our law is not enforced. 



Let us look into the matter. During the six months ending December 

 31, 1896, the oleomargarine factories of Chicago turned out 252,401 fifty 

 pound tubs of oleomargarine, displacing butter to the value of $1,894,007 

 counting the average product of our creameries to be worth 15 cents per 

 pound during this time. 



When the anti-color law went into effect on July 1, 1897, it so cut down 

 the sale of oleomargarine in this state that but 192,651 fifty pound tubs 

 were turned out in the same six months that 252,401 tubs were made the 

 previous year. Under the anti-color law during the six months in ques- 

 tion, the value of butter displaced by oleomargarine manufactured in Chi- 

 cago amounted to but $1,370,882, counting it at the same value as the year 

 previous. 



This shows that pure butter to the value of $523,125.00 found a market 

 where the year previous oleomargarine had been sold, the result of the 

 protection afforded by the law. A pretty good investment, considering 

 the fact it was not possible to get the benefit of more than three months of 

 protection in the city of Chicago. 



