Thirty-fourth Annual Convention. ^^^ 



the legitimate dealers can, for the reason that they get their butter 

 direct from some creamery or dairy, as for instance a creamery 

 or dairy at "Eau Clair, Michigan" or some place in Wisconsin 

 or Iowa, and in that manner save the consumer a good many 

 profits of middleman, etc. By their offering to deliver butter 

 a few cents cheaper than the market price for good butter, the 

 unsuspecting housewife places an order for butter to be delivered 

 either at once or in a few days. Then either the same canvasser, 

 but usually some one else representing him or the same firm, 

 delivers the goods excepting only that as a fitting climax to the 

 tissue of falsehoods and misrepresentations used by the canvasser 

 in getting the order, he delivers oleomargarine instead of butter 

 and gets from 25 cents to 30 cents per pound for it while the re- 

 tail price of oleomargarine, sold lawfully, is from 15 cents to 18 

 cents per pound. Thus the, good housew^ife has been doubly 

 imposed upon in the transaction ; first she has received oleomar- 

 garine when she had expected butter, and second : she has paid 

 at least 10 cents more for every pound purchased than she need 

 to have paid had she purchased the oleomargarine from a legiti- 

 mate or law-abiding dealer. 



A casual examination of the wrapper in which the substance 

 is delivered will disclose no marks by which it might be identified, 

 but by an exceedingly careful examination it will be found that 

 a fair percentage of the wrappers are marked "oleomargarine" 

 in letters about ^ of an inch in height (instead of ^ as required 

 by law) and in the dimmest possible manner. The ink used is 

 generally about the same color as the wrapping paper, and usually 

 the paper is purposely wet where stamped so that the stamp can 

 be seen only when the paper has dried and then but dimly, the 

 whole purpose being that the purchaser shall not discover the 

 mark at all. 



I took that bulletin to the officers of the Grocers' Associa- 

 tion and they asked me how many we could spare. I said, "I 

 will spare you any part of thirty thousand." They called for 

 fifteen thousand at once and it is with a great deal of satisfaction 

 that I received this letter the other day, showing that I was right 

 in my judgment in trying to enlist their help. It is a very power- 

 ful organization, organized in every city in the state, particularly 

 in Chicago. The letter is dated January 11th, and reads : 



