ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



287 



Thai law, which taxed all oleomargarine' £c per lb. contained complete 

 provisions for the marking and branding of packages, the taxing of manu- 

 facturers (SHOO per year), wholesalers ($4S0) and retailers ($48), the ob- 

 ject of the new measure being to increase the tax to 10c per lb. upofa that 

 oleomargarine which is artificially colored to resemble butter and to give 

 states the right to control the traffic without interference upon the part 

 of the Supreme Court of the 1 United States. 



ORIGIN OF THE TEN CENT TAX IDEA. 



The writer has the honor of having originated the idea and devel- 

 oped the plan for increasing this tax, having set forth fully the scheme 

 in the issue of his paper, Chicago Dairy Produce, of Dec. 10, 1898. three 

 and one-half years ago. The proposition was submitted to the National 

 Dairy Union, of which he had then been secretary for two years, and was 

 endorsed. In January, 1899, Chicago Dairy Produce, of which the writer 

 is editor and manager, started the ball rolling by subscribing $1,000 to a 

 fund of $10,000 to be raised to defray the expenses of bringing this matter 

 to the attention of the dairymen of this country and Congress. This $1000- 

 contribution was promptly duplicated by a similar amount from the De 

 Lavai Separator company ot New York, and a $500 subscription from the 

 Worcester Salt company of the same city. Buttermakers and cream- 

 eryiiien throughout the country took up the work and inside of seven 

 months the $10,000 fund was fully subscribed. 



WORK OF SECURING LEGISLATION GREATER THAN ANTICI- 



PA TED. 



It must be confessed, however, that, despite our intimate knowledge 

 of conditions to be met in securing legislation for the protection of the 

 dairymen, we underestimated the strength and resources of the opposi- 

 tion. First, we found the chairman of the committee to which the origi- 

 nal bill was sent in the House was bitterly opposed to the legislation, 

 although coming from an agricultural district of New York, where we 

 counted upon support. In order to carry out his promise to the oleomar- 

 garine makers to smother our bill, he referred it to a sub-committee, the 

 chairman of which represented the oleomargarine making district of 

 Chicago, and four out of five members of which were against us. After 

 four months fighting we finally succeeded in getting a report from this 

 sub-committee, and although it was adverse, by a narrow vote of nine to 

 eight, we secured a favorable report in the full committee. 



