THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONVENTION. 161 



the feeling of the courts in the city toward those flagrant and 

 continued violators of the law. 



There is just one feature in connection with that law that- 

 has developed since a year ago. The question has been raised 

 as to the scope of the law. I took the position that it applied to 

 every possible manner of exchanging the product for money or 

 barter of any kind. It applied to restaurants serving it to its 

 patrons. Of course, we immediately met with arguments to the 

 contrary. It was contended that it did not apply to a situation 

 of that kind. We tested the cases and collected some evidence 

 against restaurant keepers in Kane county. It was taken before 

 the Grand Jury and indictment returned, and the case fought out. 

 Our enemies hired as able counsel as could be gotten. The re- 

 sult in the case, however, was a conviction. The charge in that 

 case was a restaurant serving oleomargarine with a meal with- 

 out advising the party that the product was oleomargarine. That 

 was the charge and it was argued that a great many laws where 

 similar cases had been decided the court had recognized a specific 

 provision regarding such sales in restaurants. The court in his 

 instructiorfs said that regardless of whether such a provision was 

 contained in the law or not, an article served as part of the meal 

 was sold and it could not be argued that the article was given 

 away with the meal. It was a sale pure and simple. That es- 

 tablishes the fact that the oleomargarine law is good in every 

 phase in the handling of the product in the state. It remains 

 now only a question of collecting evidence and prosecuting the 

 cases. On that score it is fair to say that Illinois being the home 

 of the oleomargarine industry, the problem is of such tremendous 

 proportions that a force of simply 12 inspectors to cover all lines 

 of food products in Illinois is entirely inadequate. They cannot 

 possibly cope with the situation. But I will say again, I don't 

 urge that as an excuse for not doing the best we can. We surely 

 have done the best we could. My judgment is that he who makes 

 the best possible use of the things at hand places himself in the 

 best possible position to ask for more things to work with. 



