78 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION i 



i 



week's continuous effort on the part of our inspectors to find ! 

 where the colored oleomargarine was being produced, they < 

 finally discovered below the basement a room 8x8 feet, which \ 

 could be entered only through a trap door. It was in this hole \ 

 and under these insanitary surroundings that the white goods j 

 were being colored to resemble the natural dairy product. To • 

 evade the Federal Revenue tax, this proprietor was clever '■ 

 enough to keep all of the old tubs from which the colored goods ] 

 had been removed, and without scratching the stamp returned i 

 these boxes to the coloring" room where the colored oleomar- : 

 garine was placed in them. As soon as the colored oleomar- 

 garine was considered passable by the Revenue Inspectors, it ■ 

 was taken to the store above, or sent to one of the eight other \ 

 stores operated by this concern, and so placed in the ice box that ] 

 the word ''Oleomargarine" or the Federal stamp could not be . 

 seen by the purchaser, and over these boxes were placed the i 

 conspicuous signs, "Elgin Creamery," ^'Sycamore Creamery," I 

 and so on. \ 



After careful investigation by the inspectors of our depart- | 



ment, they reached the conclusion that about one ton of colored i 



oleomargarine was manufactured in this establishment every ^ 



week, and it is computed that the profits to the proprietor of this | 



store were approximately $50,000 a year. So careful were these 1 



men to evade detection by the State and Federal authorities,' that ■ 



they installed a system of signals between the cashier's desk in i 



the room above and the hole in which they worked. They were ■ 



therefore able to signal the workmen on the approach of any in- j 



spector. Immediately on the signal the operations in the room j 



would cease and the lights be turned out and everything remain j 



dark and silent until the inspectors had again gone their way. ; 



After collecting this mass of evidence, the proprietor was j 



arrested and is now being held to the Federal Grand Jury, under ^ 



a $7,500 bail. \ 



I think this series of pictures thoroughly demonstrates the | 



fact that colored oleomargarine is not to be considered for the ; 

 poor man's table. It has been the experience of our department 



controlling the sales of oleomargarine, that wherever the product ' 



