cti The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924073898839 I BUTTEK vs. OLEOMARGAEINB. ' SHAXiL THE SMALL FAEMERS OF AMEEICA BE CEUSHED OUT BY FEAUD AND MONOPOLY? A SPEECH » BY THK HON. WARNER MILLER, OF NE-W YORK, OhaJimaai of the Oommittee on Agrionltore and Forealay, IN THB UNITED STATES SENATE, Saturday, July 17, 1886. WASHINGTON 1886. ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY Butter vs. Oleomargarine. SPEECH OF HON. WAENEE MILLEE. The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, having under consideration the bill (H. R. 8328) defining: butter, also imposing a tax upon and regulating th« manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation of oleonaargarine — Mr. MILLER. Mr. President, the bill under consideration is Honae bill 8328, having for its object, as the title indicates, to define butter and to impose a tax upon and regulate the manufacture, sale, impor- tation, and exportation of oleomargarine. I think no bill has been be- fore this body for many years which has excited so much public intcr- estasthis. Ithas been the topic of conversation and of discussion both in newspapers and in public meetings from Maine to Minnesota. The great body of the American people have been interested in the question, and they have taken the trouble to make their views known to Congress. During the present session we have received here petitions signed by at least fifty thousand American citizens praying for legislation similar to that contained in this bill. Some five or six thousand in all, I think, have petitioned against its passage. The number of petitions going to the other branch of this legislative body have been much larger in number than those which have been received here. Every Senator has found his daily mail filled with petitions and with letters from leading citizens from all portions of this country praying for the speedy passage of this bill. The interests involved are very great. On the one hand they com- prise all our people, for all our people are consumers of butter. On the other hand the dairy interest in this country reaches into nearly every farmer's home from one end of the land to the other. The interests involved are sulficient to command the most serious attention of this body. Doubtless this is a new species of legislation, or largely so, in this country, and under our system ; but the exigencies of the case seem so great that this body can not afford to ignore them. This bill assumes at the beginning that a very great wrong is being done in that a food product, which is consumed by all our people, is being counterfeited or imitated and passed off upon the people for the genuine article, thereby defrauding the consumer and injuring the pro- ducer of the genuine article. This matter has been going on for a number of years until now this great industry of the dairy is threatened with destruction and it comes np seeking relief and remedy, and in order that that relief may be given this bill has been framed. It is in form a bill proposing to tax the manufacture and sale of this imitation article known as oleomargarine. I resort to no subterfuges in this case, Mr. President. My object iu bringing forward this bill and supporting it is, not to secure a large in- crease to the revenue of our Govemment; but I have sought to invoke the taxing power of the Grovemment in order that under it the Govern- ment might take absolute control of this manufacture, might properly regulate it, and so regulate and control it that it should be carried on in a legitimate way and that the product should be sold to the consumer in all cases for what it is, and it is for that purpose that the friends of this measure have invoked the taxing power of the Government. I do not propose to discuss the constitutionality of this bUl, nor do I believe that any lawyer here will seriously question its constitution- ality, for the power of the Government to tax any and all products or manufactures of this country has been recognized from the beginning of the Govemment down to the present time; and under tUat taxing power the Government has always regulated and controlled the article taxed as it saw fit. It has done this especially in regard to our tariff npon foreign imports. WhUe tariffs on foreign imports are nominally laid for the purpose of raising revenue, yet from the beginning of the Grovernment, from the first tariff act down to the present time, there has been aside from the question of revenue a question of protection tp American manufacturers and producers. The first tariff act ever passed, which was passed, I believe, on the second day of the First Congress, iu its preamble stated that that law was enacted for the purposes of rais- ing revenue and of protecting American manufactures. Mr. President, if we may thus exercise the taxing power under a tariff bill, I have no doubt of our right to exercise it under an internal- revenue bUI, and we may exercise it in such a way as we see fit, so aa even absolutely to destroy and inhibit the article thus taxed. That power was used during the early days of the war when the Federal Gov- ernment, desiring to firmly establish th^ national banks and to give into their hands the issuing of the currency of the country, enacted a law taxing the circulation of State banks 10 per cent. It was never claimed for a moment that that was a tax for revenue. That was a tax for extermination and it had the effect. It drove out of circulation all the currency of the various State banks and has kept it out of circula- tion up to the present time, and forever hereafter prevents its circulation unless the law shall be repealed. Mr. President, this question has agitated the people of my own State and of many other States for a number of years. More than four years ago a number of the leading dairymen of my State came to me to con- sult with me iu regard to legislation upon this subj ect both by the State and by the Federal Govemment. I then advised them that in my judgment no legislation would ever be effectual for their protection un-'^ less it wasundeitaken by the Federal Government, and I advised them then that under the Internal Revenue Department, exercising the power of the Govemment to tax this article, its manufacture, and its sale, it could be so regulated as to render frauds almost if not quite impossible, and that proper protection could be given to the dairy in- terests of the State. Last winter, when the National Dairymen's Association met in the city of New York and I was invited to be present, I replied by letter, stating that I could not be there, but I advised the appointment of a committee upon legislation and the drafting of a bill which should put the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine under the Internal Revenue Department by placing a tax upon it. As the result of that oonven- tion and of its deliberations a committee was appointed wMch drafted this bill, and it ypas presented in both Houses of Congress. "Oleomargarine" is a term which is undoubtedly well understood by all of our people. It applies generally to all imitations of what is known as dairy or milk butter. Originally " oleomargarine " applied only to such imitations as were made from the fat of beef-cattle. I will not detain the Senate by going into any description of that process; but since its first manufacture in this country great changes have come about, and instead of oleomargarine to-day as it appears upon our mar- kets being made entirely from the fat of beef-cattle or out of oleo oil as it is termed, the testimony taken before the committee shows that oleo oil is one of the lesser ingredients now used in the manufacture of im- itation or bogus butter. It is now stated upon authority which is not questioned that not more than 15 to 20 per cent, of oleo oil is used in the manufacture of this product. The balance is either refined lard or some other fat mixed with vegetable oils and with some mUk, and in some cases with pure dairy or milk butter. It will be seen further on that the change in the manufacture of this article and the using of a large number of fats and oils has entirely changed its character, and that to-day no person can be sure of the con- stituent elements of this article unless it is carefully analyzed by a chemist. Therefore it is that even if the original article was whole- some, as is claimed by its supporters, it by no means follows that the article put upon the market to-day which varies in its constituent ele- ments as the manufacturers differ as it comes from the different estab- lishments scattered throughout the land, is wholesome for food pur- poses. FOTTE PRINCIPAL BBASOI7S FOR SUPPORTING THIS BnX. Mr. President, I base my support of this bill chiefly upon the four following reasons: First, it is necessary in order to protect the whole people from fraud and imposition in having a counterfeit article sold to them for the gen- uine. Second, it is necessary to protect the public health, for if it be ad- mitted that oleo when made according to the process known as the M6ge process is wholesome, yet I hold that the best of it, made as it is made to-day, is not as wholesome as butter and that it may be the means of communicating disease to the human system. Third, it is necessary to protect the chief farming interests of this country, which is the dairy, iiom unjust and ftaudolent competition and consequent loss, if not absolute ruin. Fourth, this legislation is necessary because the States have not been able thus far to either suppress or properly control the great evil of which I have spoken, and as safScient remedy can be found nowhere in my judgment save under the Federal Government. FIRST, TO PREVENT FRAUD UPON THR WHOLE PEOPLE. First I say it is necessary to prevent fraud upon the whole people. It is one of the highest duties of all governments to protect their sub- jects against fraud. All our statutes, the statutes of all civilized na- tions, are fiill of laws for the express purpose of preventing fraud in commerce and trade, and the law holds that all contracts fraudulently- made or tainted with fraud are invalid. This article of imitation but- ter is fraudulent in its commercial bearings from beginning to end. Although it may be manufactured in accordance with the prescribed. 6 methods, and although it may be sold to the dealer upon its own mer- its and under its own name, yet the statement which I now make can be verified to the fullest extent, and that is that not less than nine- -tenths of all the imitation butter made in this country is sold to the ■consumer as butter, bought as butter, and used by the consumer be- lieving it to be butter. This article is not made and put upon the market as a substitute for butter. If it were that would be legitimate and proper, for we are constantly substituting one article for another; in all kinds of manu- factures we are doing that; hut this article is so manufactured as to .imitate butter, and it is stated by the manufacturers that the imita- tion is so close that only experts can detect the difference, and that frequently it requires a chemical analysis to determine whether the article is bogus or genuine. Mr. President, this article, as produced by the manufacturer, in its natural state would deceive no one. The oil as produced from the fat either of beef cattle or of swine or of sheep is perfectly white, odor- less, and tasteless, and no human being who had ever used pure natu- ral butter would be deceived by it. It would simply pass for refined lard or some similar material. In that condition.it has in it all the qualities substantially that it has when it has been converted into a bogus and imitation butter. Originally under the process of M6ge after this oil had been produced in its white, tasteless, and odorless condition, it w^ simply churned with a certain amount of milk, a very small amount indeed, and colored yellow to imitate butter, and then put upon the market and sold as butter. It is this latter part of the process which is confessedly a fraud, for in the investigation before the committee the scientific experts brought before the committee by the advocates of oleomargarine did not hesitate to say that this last process was resorted to for the express purpose of making it appear like butter and making it taste like butter, giving it a flavor of butter by the milk or cream which was used in the churning process. SOLD NOT AS A SUBSTITCTE, BDT AS BETTER. So we see, Mr. President, that the pretense that this is merely a sub- stitute for butter is not correct. It is not put upon the market as a substitute for butter; it is put upon the market as butter itself. This imitation or fraudulent transaction follows it in every step of its progress from the time the fat has been converted into the oleo oil until it reaches the table of the consumer. After the manufacturer of this article has mixed with it milk or cream or a little natural butter and his coloring matter, in order to make the deception perfect, he goes still further in the deception; he proceeds then to pack it in tubs or firkins of precisely the same shape and size as have been used and are constantly being used by the farmers and dairymen of this country to pack their butter in. It is in proof that the manufacturers of this article send all the way to Vermont to have made for them firkins or tubs irom a fine white spruce which grows there and which is used by the dairymen of that portion of the country for the packing of their natural butter. Why is this done ? Simply in order that they may make the deception more complete. But they carry it still further than that. When it has once been put into these butter firkins or tubs they then proceed in almost all cases to brand it with a deceptive brand in order that they may de- ceive the consumer, and in many cases the letter-heads and bill-heads of these manufacturing firms are also deceptive. I propose to call the attention of the Senate to the testimony upon this question of fraud, for it is upon that point quite as much as upon any other that I rest my support of this bill. Let us see how this is put upon the market The manufacturers of this article in coming before the committee state that they always sold it to the wholesale dealer or the retail dealer for what it was; that he knew what he was getting. It seems from the testimony on the hearing that that statement is substantially true; that the manufacturer does in nearly all cases, if not in all, sell this to the retaU dealer for what it is, and the retail dealer knows pre- cisely what he is getting. But it also appeared from the testimony that the manufacturer within his own manufacturing establishment, before the article left it, before it was shipped, did proceed in nearly all cases to put upon the firkins or tubs in which it was packed de- ceptive brands, which were intended to deceive the people or whoever might see it. It was admitted freely by Mr. Webster, the representative, and one of the firm of Armour & Co., of CJhicago, the largest manufacturers of this article in this country, and I propose to call the attention of the Senate to that branch of the question. Before reading Mr. Webster's testimony or admissions, I call the attention of the Senate to a circular or letter-head which I have before me. I wUl not give the name of the firm, because I do not desire here to do injury to any one, but this is a genuine circular furnished to me from the trade to which it had been sent. After giving the name of the firm, it reads thus: [Wholesale dealers In butter.] South Watsb Stbbet, Chicago, January 4, 188$. DicAB Sib : We this day reduce pricea as follows : Extra fancy creamery, 25 cents; bail boxes, $2.20. Extra creamery, 20 cents ; bail boxes, $1.75. Creamery, IS cents ; bail boxes S1.60. ^xtra dairy, 15 cents ; bail boxes, $1.35. Dairy, 13 cents ; bail boxes, SI. 20. No. 5, 12 cents ; bail boxes, $1.05. Bolls and prints 1 cent extra. Not satisfied with taking the tub and firkin, which have been used from time immemorial by the honest fitrmeis of this country, they went BtUl further and they invaded the province of the little petty dairy, where the housewife made her butter in such small quantities that she could not pack it into a tub or firkin, but made into little rolls or prints and send them daily to the village store to be sold. That was always a fine quality, and was always sought after, and these people follow it to that extent: All delivered at depot in Chicago. We pack in all sizes of ash and spruce tubs, also Xew York half -firkin tuba and firkins, also in IS and 20 pound cans, four cans in a case. Yours, truly. So that if it were wanted in New York it would be put up in pre- cisely the same kind of a tub as the consumers of butter in the city of New York are in the habit of seeing tubs which are used in the great butter county of Orange and the surrounding counties which in the New York market has been a synonym of purity and extra quality for a century. Eeady the manufacturers are to put it in any shape or style you want it, in order that the retail dealer when he gets it may be able to sell it readily to his customers. Awaiting your orders, we remain. Yours, truly, Mr. McMillan, is that an oleomargarine circular? Mr. MILLER. That is an oleomargarine circular from a firm which manufactures during the height of the season 60,000 pounds of oleo- margarine daily in the city of Chicago; but there is not a line or a letter or a word upon that circular to indicate that it is oleomargarine, or butterine, or anything else. They start out with the direct propo- osition that they are wholesale dealers in butter. ANY BRAND AT THE BEQUEST OP THE DEALER. I stated that nearly all, if not all, the manufacturers of this article did undoubtedly sell it to the retail dealer for what it really was, and sold it probably at a fair or reasonable price. Now, I wish to call at- tention to the testimony of Mr. Webster, of the firm of Armour & Co., upon the question of branding: The Chairman. Does your house ship its products to this district ; I mean oleomargarine or butterine ? Mr. Webster. We do. The Chairman. How are the tubs that come here branded ? Mr. Webster. I do not know, but I think they are branded as we usually brand them,. Sometimes we put on merely a specific name, but our products usually are branded like that. [Exhibiting a printed paper to the committee-f The Chairman (reading the paper). *'Armour & Co. ; pure dairy butterine." 'Armour & Co. ; finest creamery butterine." Senator Van Wyck. Why are the words "dairy" and "creamery" put on that bill? Mr. Webster. Merely to distinguish the grades. Creamery butterine is the highest grade. Senator Van Wyck. Why do you not say " first quality" or "second quality 7" Senator Sawyer. Mr. Webster stated, before you came in, that they used 25 per cent, of butter besides the milk, which ran it up to 35 per cent., and in some other grades less. , Senator Blair. What are some of those names which occur to you which you put on at the request of customers — those brands? Mr. Webster. I am not very familiar with that. My business is at the office, fi miles from the packing-house, but *' Oakfield " is one. Senator Blair. That represents oleomargarine? Mr. Webster. Yes, sir. That is the brand, I believe, that some of our cus- tomers ask us to put on. Senator Van Wyck. Is there anything on that label indicating that it is oleo- margarine or butterine? Mr. Webster. No, sir ; nothing specially. Senator Blair. You sell in quantity to those who sell to the consumers? Mr, Webster. Yes, sir. Senator BlAib. Why should not they desire the thing they have to sell to be branded according to the fact? Mr. Webster. 1 can not answer that; that is their own matter. Senator Blair. Bo you not understand that is a matter of deception on their part? Mt. Webster. Not altogether. A man may have a sort of private brand. Many people have private brands that they sell tlK'^r products under; not this product specially, but many things which I should think it would be legitimate to D3ark w^ith a brand. Senator Blair. But there is nothing on this package to indicate what it is. You say "Oakfield." We will suppose it is the name of a place or the name of a person ; but there is nothing to indicate w^hether it is butter, butterine, oleo- margarine, lard, or w^hat not. Mr. Werster. They may have a brand that they put on after that. Senator Blair. They may have. Mr. Webster, Well, I do noi pretend to follow it to its remotest limit. The Chairman. Would you, at the request of a customer, brand it *' Oakfield Creamery," or "Oakfield Dairy," without using the word "butter?" Would you put that on if they asked you to? Mr. Webster, I think we would. The Chairman. Simply "Oakfield Creamery," without the word "butter" at- tached to it; simply " Oakfield' Creamery " or "Oakfield Dairy," if a customer desired that brand put upon it ? Mr. Webster. I think we would. It is merely a distinguishing term as to quality. The Chairman. Do not all the manufacturers in branding it leave out the 9 words *' oleoraargpjine " and "butterine," and simply brand it "dairy" or "creamery? " Mr. Wbbstbil. Possibly so. Sometiiues they put on a single name without specifying whether it is dairy or creamery. The Chaieman. What do you mean by that? Mr. Webster, Sometimes they will put on the name with the word " oleo- margarine " under it. The Chairman. Does your house ever brand it without using the words "but terine" or "oleomargarine? " Mr. Webster. Yes; but not to any great extent. We do that on an order, be- cause customers ask it. The CHA1R.UAN. You brand it just as your customers ask to have it branded, if they have any desire about it? Mr. Webster. Well, we use a consistent judgment about that. If our cus- tomers should ask us to brand it " creamery butter " we should decline to do it. The Chairman. But if they ask you to put any special brand or name upon it, you do that? Mr. Webster. Yes, sir. Here is an admission that the largest manufactnrer of this article in the country, although usually braading his goods "oleomargarine" or "butterine," will, at the request of the dealer who desires to so put the goods before his customers, brand them as "Oakfield Creamery," or "Oakfield Dairy," or any other fancy title that may be given. Every one who is at all familiar with the produce trade of this country and with the manufacture of butter knows that the various creameries that manufacture the genuine article simply put a brand of that kind upon it. The name may be "Oakfield " that they place upon the tub of butter, the brand "Oakfield Creamery," if it is a creamery. They never put the word "butter" upon it, for that never has been thought to be necessary. The words "creamery" and "dairy," by common consent and by common use, are applied to the genuine article of but- ter only. So we see in this case that the fraud begins in the manufacturing when instead of making a substitute they make an imitation article. They carry it still further in the packing in the tubs or firkins, as the case may be. Then when they come to the branding of it they put upon it a brand which is distinctly intended to deceive the people and the consumers. I might go on here and read lengthly quotations from the testimony taken before the committee showing how this fraud is carried on, how the people are imposed upon, but that testimony is before the Senate, and I scarcely think it necessary that I should go into it at any great length at this time. If any question shall be made during this dis- cussion, or if it shall be claimed that this is not carried on fraudulently and imposed upon the people, I shall then undertake to go into that question very fully and show up what the testimony is. nine-tenths sold as butter, at the price of butter. Now, we have traced this article from the manufacturer to the retail dealer, and at this point I repeat the statement made a moment ago that nine-tenths of it is sold as butter and not as oleomargarine. The opponents of the bill brought only one or two persons before the committee who undertook to say that they had positive knowledge that it was ever sold for what it really was. The great weight of testimony from beginning to end in the investigation made here, and in the in- vestigations which have been made by the State of New York, goes to prove most conclusively that it is, nearly all of it, sold to the consumer through deception ; and it is observed that but a very small part of that now manufactured and sold could be sold if it were sold upon its own merits as what it really is. 10 When it reaches the retail dealer and goes upon his shelves it goes alongside of the genuine butter, and the ordinary consumer, the ordi- nary purchaser, has no guarantee whatever except the honesty and fkir- dealing of the man of whoni he purchases as to the quality of the goods he may receive. All the prosecutions vyhich have been made in New York and elsewhere to prevent this fraudulent transaction have only brought out more clearly the fact that the retail dealer actuated by his desire of gain does in almost every instance sell the bogus article for the genuine, and at the price of the genuine article. If it be admitted, as I do not admit, that it is a perfectly wholesome food, yet the fraud upon the consumer is very great, if it be viewed from a financial standpoint. Let us see what the people pay for it under the present system. It appears that it costs to manufacture it at the present time somewhere from 6 to 9 cents a pound, depending upon the quality and depending upon the perfectness of the imitation, or the amount of milk or cream or butter which is put into the article; but as it is being sold freely at wholesale for 10 cents a pound, it is fair to assume that the manufact- urer is able to make it probably at about 7 cents a pound. If the con- sumer were to receive this article as an article of food, and were to pay for it what it costs plus a fair profit, there might be an argument made in favor of its consumption by those whose means are limited ; but the testimony goes to show that in nearly all cases it is sold substantially at the same price as butter, usually ranging a little under the price of the best or fancy grades of butter. For instance, if fine creamery but- ter were selling at 30 cents a pound, a retail dealer would alongside of the tub of fine creamery butter have his oleomargarine, branded as " Oakfield creamery," but claiming that it was of inferior quality sell it for 35 cents a pound, thereby making a profit of 15 cents a pound upon it. If in the competition of business creamery butter is driven down to 20 cents a pound, alongside of the firkin of creamery butter is the tub of oleomargarine, which is sold as butter, not as. oleomargarine, for 17 or 18 cents a pound, upon the ground that it is butter but not quite so good a quality as the creamery butter. Again, in this case the consumer pays more than twice its actual cost. What does this amount to in money? The House committee in their report have estimated that 200,000,000 pounds of this bogus or imitation butter is made annually in this country. In my examina- tion I found it very difScult to obtain any proper data. Manufacturers themselves claim to know nothing about the business save their own, and could not undertake to say how much there was made in the conn- try, and of course the boards of trade and commerce could not give any correct figures, as the great bulk of it is handled as butter and not as oleomargarine. But taking the figures of the House committee for convenience, if it is sold to the retail dealer at the average price of 10 cents per pound it would bring $20,000,000; but sold to the consumer as butter, as it has been for the past year, at an average say of 20 cents a pound — though I believe the average is a little above that — the fraud upon the consumers of the country has been $20,000,000, and it would be the same propor- tion whether the amount I have given is correct or not. If it were only 100,000,000 pounds per annum the fraud upon the people — that is, the selling of it for what it is not and thereby obtaimng a higher price— would be $10,000,000. IL DEMOKALIZATION OP TRADE. If we want to prevent this fraud and to protect the consumers of this country we must see to it that this article is sold for what it is, and then the necessities of trade will compel it to be sold for a fair price; that is, its cost of manufacture plus a fair profit to the dealer. Mr. President, I shall not detain the Senate with reflections upon the moral aspect of this question ; I will merely suggest it. The retail dealers of food products are the most numerous of all dealers engaged in trade. No community can go on without them. They are to be found in every village and city in large numbers. This is a direct temp- tation to aU of them to engage in a profitable branch of business, but a fraudulent branch of business — a business which can not be carried on with a large profit except as they are able to deceive their customers. The vast amount of this stuff which has been sold during the past few years, and the undoubted and unquestioned fact remaining that it has been sold for butter and not for what it is, prove conclusively the baleful effects that it has had upon the retail dealers of food products in this country. If they can be induced to resort to deception in this article, will they not do it in all other food products where they can do so to their profit? There can be but one answer to that proposition. The Government owes it to all the people to exert all its power to prevent adulterations and fraud in food products which can not but seriously aflfect the health of all our people. OLBOMARGABINE NOT A WHOLESOfllE POOD PRODUCT. Secondly, I said that I favored this bill because it would be a pro- tection to the public health, and I hold that oleomargarine as now made ie not a wholesome food product. I realize fully that this is a disputed question. I realize fully that some of the first scientific men of this country and of Europe have pronounced oleomargarine to be a whole- some food product. Of course their j udgment was based upon the par- ticular samples they were called upon to investigate. Those samples were always furnished them by the manufacturers; and it stands to reason that they were the best that they could make. Originally when this product was first produced it was produced only under the proeesa of M^ge, which I have heretofore referred to. But this matter has now assumed an entirely different aspect. It is made out of the fats of various animals, and of various vegetable oils, and various compounds, and, as I have said before, there is no certainty regarding any particular sample which maybe brought you unless you have it chemically analyzed. But believing as I do that the weight of evidence to-day is in favor of my proposition, that it is not a whole- some food, or, to put it perhaps more mildly, that it is not as whole- some as pure butter, and that it may be the means of conveying dan- gerous diseases to the human system, I propose to call attention for a few moments to some of the late investigations regarding this subject. The State of New York, which is more largely interested in this ques- tion, of course, than any other State in the Union, and which has passed a large number of laws to suppress it, and has appropriated a large amount of money to carry out those laws and to prevent the fraud, has been carrying on during the last winter through its dairy commissioner a very thorough investigation of the question as to the wholesomeness or unwholesomeness of this product. I have received the advance sheets of Dr. Clark, who has been employed by the dairy commis- sioner to make this investigation, and I propose briefly to refer to 12 his report at this time. He gives a syHOpsis of all the various patented processes for producing artificial butler which have been issued by the United States Government. They show that a large number of sub- stances which every one will admit are deleterious to health are used in these various processes. I understand that the manufacturers of oleomargarine claim that these patents are not used to any extent; that theyare merely waste paper; but I think I can show by evidence which ought to be satisfactory that at least one of these patents which had deleterious acids in the manufacture is used to a very large extent. nrVESTIGATIONS BY DB. CLAEK BY AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK STATE. But before coming to that, I will briefly allude to the investigation made by Dr. Clark on behalf of the dairy commissioner of the State of New York. He has made a very thorough investigation into the com- parative digestibility of the various animal fats as compared with each other and as compared with butter, and from those examinations and experiments he arrives at these general conclusions: We now come to the all-important aspect of the subject — is artificial butter a wholesome article of food? We answer it in the negfitive on the following g:rounds : First. On account of its indigestibility. Second. On account of it? insolubility when made from animal fats. Third. On account of its liability to carry germs of disease into the human system. Fourth. On account of the probability of its containing, when made under cer- tain patents, unhealthy ingredients. Here is the result of his experiments very carefully made in regard to the digestibility of oleomargarine and of the various aninlal fats as compared with butter. Along with this report are photographic plates showing the condition of the various animal fats taken at the different stages of the process of digestion as carried -on by this chemist. With- out troubling the Senate to go over the whole of these experiments, Ipt me read the conclusion: Fig. 6, Plate 1, and Fig. 3, Plate II, presents the same at the end of twelve hours, which shows that the ** oleo " is but a trifle, if at all, further emulsionized than the butter "was at the end of the four hours. That is, the digestibility of oleomargarine as compared to butter is as 12 to 4. This ratio, or about this ratio, is given by a number of lead- ing chemists of established reputation, some placing it a little higher and others a little less, some stating that the comparison between the digestibility of butter and, of oleo is as 3 to 5, and others placing it even higher than that. I need say very little more on that particular question as to digesti- bility. It re4uires no scientific teaching or knowledge to enable us to understand that a food which is of very difficult digestion is not par- ticularly healthy. We do not need any scientific instruction to tell the common people of this country that tallow and lard are not as easily digested in the human stomach as butter. Every housewife in the land knows that; every mother understands it, and neither children nor people in delicate health are permitted to eat either of those fats, lard or tallow, in their food because they are so indigestible as to be very unhealthy. AnCBRICAirs A RACE OF DYSPEPTICS. We are told by medical men that dyspepsia is the universal disease of Americans, and they tell us that it is largely attributable to the eat- ing of too much fat, of the tallow and of the lard which goes with our meat, and which is used in the cooking or the preparing of our food. 13 Some have gone so far as to tell us that we are a nation of pie-eaters, «nd therefore a nation of dyspeptics, and that the lard which is used in the pastry to give it alight and pleasant taste renders it, at the same time, indigestible and unhealthy. Some physiologists have gone so far as to undertake to trace a connection between the food eaten by a people and their mental capacity and their mental characteristics. Some of th ese physiologists have suggested that the somewhat short and crusty characteristics of the New Englander are due to the amount of lard that he takes in his pie-crust. I do not know how that may be, but during the last few days in the discussion of the river and harbor bill two sons of New England have certainly given us a very good illustra- tion of short and crusty characteristics. If it shall be pie-crust that has done it by its lard, I do not know what would be the condition of the people if they were given over to the unlimited consumption of oleomargarine, which is to-day composed of at least 75 per cent, of lard. Then, if we look at our friends upon the other side we may find that they have been affected in a like way. Some physiologists have drawn a connection with the "late unpleasantness ' ' in this country and the chief article of food in the South. We all know that the chief meat diet of the South for many years has been fat bacon. The result has been just what the doctors told us it would be, the production of a lean and wiry race of people. Whether that had anything to do with the late rebellion, I do not know; I can not tell. Physiologists who are tbUowing out these questions carefully suggest that it might be. But, Mr. President, you will remember that Csesar feared Cassius because he wore "a lean and hungry look;" and well he had a reason to fear him, because it was through his conspiracy that Csesar lost his life. I am glad to see that our friends who have returned to us and who have come to our habits of living are losing that "lean and hungry look" which we all recognized twenty years and odd ago. You could have told a confederate soldier by his visage. If he were dressed in a Union uniform he could not disguise it. The manufacturers of oleomargarine tell us that the South is the chief consumer of oleomargarine in this country to-day. Who shall say what effect that may have upon this country in the next half cen- tury if it shall go on unchecked? But I simply make these sugges- tions pleasantly, and in order that the friends of oleomargarine will see just how far it may lead. CONDEBINED BY THE FRENCH ACADEMY OF MEDICINE. So much for the indigestibility of this article. I could read you much more in relation to that, but here is a more important matter re- lating to it given by Dr. Clark. When this article was first produced by Mdge, the Frenchman, and was made in Paris, the council of health in 1872 made a report in favor of its healthfulness. That was when it first came out and was made according to the original process. But since then the French Academy of Medicine has carried on a thorough investigation, and has reported that it is not as digestible as butter, and therefore not as healthy, and the use of it in the hospitals in Paris has been forbidden. It was never allowed to be sold in the public markets of Paris except under its name, so that whoever bought and used it might do so knowingly and willfully; but as guarding the health of the patients in the hospitals its use has been entirely forbidden. I do not think that any of the casual investigations which have been ^ade by chemists in this country, no matter how high their reputation or standing may be, will undertake to overturn this decision arrived at 14 by the French Academy of Medicine. There is no higher authority upon questions of that kind in the world, and if they, after it had flrst been approved by the council of health, of the city of Paris, have now con- demned it, let no one say in this discussion that it is universally ad- mitted to Ije a healthy and wholesome food. This article is not only less digestible that butter, but in and of itself, it is insoluble at the ordinary temperature of the hu man system. Here is an experiment made by Dr. Clark in this same report, and I will read a portion of it, in regard to that question: The artificial butters made from animal fats, although the olelne and palmi- tine are separated as much as possible by pressure, will not liquefy at the stom- ach temperature, as is demonstrated by the following experiments: We placed in an oven kept at a temperature of from one hundred to one hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit four beakers containing respectively pure butter, oleomarga^ rine butter, oleomargarine oil (commercial), and lard oil, about 20dramsof each and which were all of the temperature of about 60*^ Fahrenheit when taken. At the expiration of thirty-five minutes and the temperature at 100° Fahrenheit the butter presented a clear, limpid appearance, but the others remained solid, being but very little affected ; and at the end of five hours, the temperature be- ing from one hundred and one to one hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit, they were in a semi-solid condition. The oleomargarine oil being most soft- ened, the oleo butter next, and the lard the least softened. These insoluble fats then must interfere with digestion in two ways : first, by not being acted upon themselves by the gastric juice ; and second, by being thor- ougly mixed with the other foods in the mouth they form an impervious cov- ering to them, thereby preventing the gastric juice from coming in direct con- tact with them. Randolph says that " a further reason that the fats, especially when cooked with other foods, are frequently found to be unwholsome, is that in the process of cooking they so surround and saturate the tissues of the substance with 'vhich they are combined that it is rendered nearly inaccessible to the action of the saliva and gastric juice, and at times digestion is in so far delayed that the fried substance does not become entirely freed from this more or less imper- vious coating of fat until subjected to the action of the pancreatic j nice." The temperature of the human stomach being 100° ordinarily, or a little less, it is shown that these fats are entirely insoluble in the hui man stomach, and that that adds greatly to the difficulty of digestion. The stearine contained in all oleomargarine as now made is insoluble at a temperature of less than 114° Fahrenheit. Of course that tem- perature is never attained in the human stomach and can not be if the person lives. The result is that the stearine contained in this product, according to this statement and according to others which I might read, is never really digested at all, but passes from the human system in substantially the same condition as it is taken in. It is true that in the manufacture of oleomargarine they undertake to remove a considerable portion of the stearine from the tallow; but it is freely admitted by the witnesses that it was never completely done, and we are told that now, when they are using such a large percentage of neutral oil or lard, they undertake to takeout only a very small por- tion of the stearine found in the beef fat, because stearine is the article or element which gives firmness and hardness to the compound, which enables it, as we say, to stand alone and endure heat and transporta- tion. I One of the principal reasons urged in favor of oleomargarine was that it bore transportation better than butter, that it lasted better than butter, and thereibre it was a good product. The qualities giving it better powers of resisting transportation and maintaining its firmness and its consistency and its lasting qualities are just the qualities which make it unwholesome and unfit for human food. I need not spend any time in arguing in regard to the unwholesomeness or indigestibility of stearine; every one will admit it. 15 CARRYING GERMS OF DISEASE INTO THE HITMAN SYSTEM. Now, Mr. President, one of the reasons given why this article is not a fit food for man was the liability of its carrying germs of disease into the huiaan system. It has been denied by some chemists that there was any snch danger and asserted that all the parasites found in the animal were found only in the tissues and not in the fat. It has been positively stated by some chemists that no parasites or worms or trich- in£e or bacteria or tuberculosae had ever been found in the fata of ani- mals. I deny that statement. I th,ink I can show from testimony as good as any that has ever been had upon this subject that there is the liability of it and that there is great danger of it. I read further from this report: The liability of conveyinf^ disease germs into the human system through ar- tificial butter is, in our opinion, greater than is supposed by those not familiar with the subject. In the first place investigations are showing thatmany more diseases than was formerly supposed are communicable from animal to man. The following are some of those known to be such : Consumption, anthrax, trichinosis, tape-worm, glanders, foot and mouth disease, cow-pox, hydro- phobia, &c. Many more as epidemic pleuro-pneumonia, small-pox of sheep, splenic apoplexy, braxy of sheep, typhus, &c., have, when the Aesh of animals suffering from them was eaten, produced serious sickness in human beings. He goes on: The manner in which trichinse can get into artificial butter can easily be seen from the following : When the animal takes a cyst containing a trichina Into its stomach the cyst is dissolved by the gastric juice which seta the trichina free when it parses out of the stomach into the intestine where it develops in from a week to ten days, and the female deposits her embryos— from 60 to l',000 for each female trichina. The young trichinae then make their way through the connective tissue to the muscles. Trichince are found in hogs, cattle, and sheep. Now,if those animals are killed during the migratory stage the caul fat would doubtless contain the parasite. Doctor Billings says he has frequently found encysted trichinse in the adipose tissue between muscular tissue of very fat hogs, but not in the fat lying upon the muscles. He states, however — This is the statement of Professor Taylor, of the Department of Agri- culture — He states, however, that Professor Taylor, of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, has seen in the journal of the Microscopical Association that they have been found in fat. Every one is aware of the dangerous character of this I have here a statement by Professor Salmon, of the Department of Agriculture, who has been for years engaged in the investigation of the diseases of animals. I propose to quote from him briefly upon thin question: That the fat of animals slaughtered for food may contain objectionable para- sites is a fact which admitsof no doubt whatever. In eating n^eats or fats whicli are raised to a high temperature, either in cooking or in rendering, we are gen erally protected from the parasites; but when we take into our stomachs th( tissues of animals which have not been raised to a sutticient temperature to de stroy these inferior organisms we confront a serious danger, which it would bt folly to conceal. And this danger is the greater in our country because we hav< DO systematic and skilled inspection of animals and carcasses intended for food Let me remark here that in Paris and all over Exirope the govern- ment undertakes to inspect every animal that is killed forhuman food. It is done by skilled experts, and if the animal is found to be diseased in the least it is condemned and is forbidden to be used for human food. But in this country, unfortunately, we have not yet come to a condition of affe,irs which enables our Government to undertake any such useful function as that. Professor Salmon produced before the committee specimens of panisites which he had himself taken from the fat of hogs. He says: The sclerostoma pinguicola is a round worm from 1 to 2 inches long, which, as 16 Its name indicates, lives in the fat. It is a very common parasite of hogs in this section and south of here, but I am unable to speak of Its prevalence in the States farther north. It bores channels through the fat about the kidneys, and lives and multiplies there in considerable numbers. It is a very difficult matter to remove all of these w^orms from the fat even when we carefully dissect and foUowup the channel^ in which they live. Fortunately this worm is not known to inhabit the human body or to cause any injurious effects with the consumer. So he goes on describing a number ?f other parasites which are found in the fat of animals. I simply refer to this because some of the scientific gentlemen before the committee said that parasites had never been foxmdt. ia the fat of animals. THE FINDING OP TRICHINA IN liABD. In regard to trichinae he says: It is generally supposed that the trichinse is exclusively a muscle parasite, but this is probably largely due to the fact that it is more difficult to discover them In the lard. Chatin, who w^rote a volume on trichinae a few years ago, asserts that they may be found in the fat of parts not connected with the muscles. I have made the following translation from a passage in his work : And this is an authority: **a. Fragments of lard taken from a piece of American salted meat were, after hardening, examined in thia sections under a magnification of 120 diameters. Several preparations showed no trace of the parasite, but With a few the trichinae appeared clearly characterized." Here is positive testimony from a skillful scientific man in Paris stating that he himself by the use of the microscope has discovered trichinse in lard. One fact eslablished overturns any theory, no matter how well it may be backed by scientific opinion. Since science first was followed down to the present time it has been remodeling and changing its theories, changing them because scientific men were con- stantly discovering facts which would not coincide with their previously established theories, and when any such facts were established the theory had to give way and not the fact; the fact remained and the theory went out, and a new theory was builtjUp. So in regard to the statement that parasites have never been found, and can not be found, in the fat of animals; that is sent to the rear by the simple fact that they have been found. Let me read further from Professor Salmon; I see no reason to doubt these statementsjudging from the life history of the parasite. We all know that the adult worm gives birth to the embryos in the alimentary canal of the host, and that then the embryos bore through the in- testinal walls and other tissues until they find a place w^here they are satisfied to coil themselves up and become encysted. The psoas muscles areamong those most infested, and to reach these the embryos must pass through the leaf lard. It is notsurprising that some of them conclude to stop there and make it their permanent dwelling-place. When we consider that on an average about 2 per cent, of the hogs killed in this country are trichinous, making for the twelve or fifteen million hogs an- nually packed in our large cities 250,000 to 300,000 inspected animals, we can not shut our eyes to. the fact tnat there is danger in consuming the expressed fat from hogs which have not been inspected. It is true we might not get very many of the parasites in this w^ay, but as every adult female worm produces about 1,500 young, a very few of them would be as large a dose as most of us w^ould care to take. i Professor Salmon continues describing these parasites and the danger of their coming into the human system through the use of these prod- ucts, because it is a well known fact that the oleo oils, or the neutral lard, are never heated to such a degree of heat as to destroy these par- asites. They are prepared at the lowest temperature possible for their liquefaction in order that they may avoid any offensive odor coming from the tissue; and neither trichinje, nor bacteria, nor any of these other dangerous parasites are destroyed by the temperature used in the process of manufacturing oleomargarine or butierine. 17 Mr. President, of late years science has given much attention to bac- teria and tuberculosa, and it is now generally believed that very dan- gerous diseases can be commuaicated from one person to another and from the animal, when the food is consumed, to the human system by bacteria or tuberculosa; and when it is known that large numbers of diseased animals are brought ^very year into the great slaughtering yards of the West and are there put to some useful purpose, no one knows what, may we not properly fear that the fat of some of these diseased animals finds it way to the oleomargarine factories? THE FAT OF A KILLED HOG NOT DISTINGUISHABLE BY CHEMISTS FROM THAT OF A HOG DYING FROM DISEASE. I know it is claimed by some that the fat of diseased animals can not be used for the manufacture of oleomargarine, but Dr. Chandler, a most eminent chemist of New York city, admitted in his examination before the committee that, if the fat was taken from a hog dying of cholera and from another killed at the same instant by the butcher, neither he nor any other chemist could distinguish the fat of the diseased hog from the fat of the healthy hog. Dr. Chandler admitted that freely and frankly. He said it could not be done. Under our system, where there is no Government inspection or Gov- ernment control, where all animals are permitted to be transported and brought to the slaughtering yards and there disposed of in some way, what guarantee have we that unprincipled men, in their greed to get rich and make profits, will not take this fat, which no chemist by any known process can distinguish I'rom the fat of a healthy animal, and put it into a business where the profits are 2, 3, or 500 per cent., as I have shown they are in this oleomargarine business? Mi'. President, can we afford to trust a matter of this importance to the discretion or honesty of the ordinary man? I think not. Speaking of tuberculosis. Professor Salmon says: Now, tuberculosis is a very common disease of cattle — and tlie bovine form is believed to be identical witli that wliicb affects man — it is a dispase wliich also affects the lio^. The tubercles of^en form in these animals upon the serous membrniies and in the glands of the abdouainal cavity in situations where they would necessarily contaminate those portions of the fat which are used in the manufacture of oleomargarine. We do not know what proportion of our beef- cattle are tuberculous, but in Europe.wheie careful slatistics have been recorded for a series of years, and with large numbers of cattle, it is found that among the animals which come to the slaughter-houses for beef there are all the way from two to thirty in every thousand. In this country we have no such inspec- tion, and it is very seldom that an animal affected with t ubf rculosis is ever con- demned. It is not diihcult to imagine what follows when the contaminated fat of a steer or a hog affected with this disease is transformed into oleomargarine or butterine, or any of these compounds. It may be mixed with a thousand or with thousands of pounds of other fat and contaminate it. I am unable to say how much fat is mixed together for this purpose, but I presume it varies with the capacity of the factory. If we say a thousand pounds, then it may go to a thousand families, and be eaten by five thousand persons. There follow many questions by the committee and answers by Pro- fessor Salmon, all in this same direction, and he thoroughly maintains his proposition that parasites have been found in the iat of animals, and that there is therefore great danger of their being communicated to the human system. But I will not weary the Senate further in that direction. I simply have desired to show that it is possible that these parasites would find their way into the human system through these bogus goods if great care was not observed in their manufacture. I stated also that it was unhealthy because many dangerous materials were used in its manufacture by some of the manufacturers. The prim- Mli 2 18 cipul manufacturers, such as Armour & Co. , of Chicago, and some others, undoubtedly follow the original process, and as to the use of dangerous chemicals and acids it can not be charged, so far as I have any knowl- edge, that they use them at all. , Some of the scientific gentlemen who appeared before the committee undertook to ridicule the large number of patents which have been issued for the use of various acids for deodorizing the fat used for this purpose, by stating that fats could not be deodorized and never had been, it was a most remarkable statement, one which astonished me, and, I think, will astonish the entire Senate, because the deodorizing of fats is a well-established and well-known manufacturing process in this country. There can be no question whatever about it. Professor Morton, after first denying that it could be done, said that if it was done the process was so expensive that it could not be used, but it is used in deodorizing the fats from the animals which die in all our great cities, as is well known. I do not undertake to say that the fat thus produced is used in manufacturing oleomargarine at all. I have no knowledge on that question. DEODOEIZING OF THE FAT OF THE OFFAL OP ITEW YORK CITY ON BARREL ISLAND. But Professor Salmon told me only a few days ago that in a recent visit to Barren Island, near New York, where all the offal of New York city is rendered by a rendering company, he had seen fat produced from animals which had died in the city, which was perfectly white in color and was almost absolutely odorless and tasteless. If they can afford to treat fats in that way for using them in the manufacture of soaps and for lubricating purposes, 1 have no doubt that they can afford to do it in making a product which will sell at the price of creamery butter. But let me call the attention of the Senate to one of these numerous patents. There are several hundred of them. I laid the matter before the committee at the time of the investigation. This is a patent granted to N. I. Nathan, of the firm of N. 1. Nathan & Co., a firm manufact- uring oleomargarine or butterine, and it advertises to the world that it manuliactures its product after a patent granted to N. I. Nathan and so advertises it upon its bill-heads, upon its business cards, and upon its letters. Let me read a letter from this firm, which was received in this city some time in the winter: New York, March 30, 1886. Sirs; We have taken the liberty of forwarding to you per P. R. R. one 10- pound tub of our creamery brand of butterine, which we claim is the finest in the market, for which we do not charge you anything. We guarantee uniform- ity in quality at all times, and our present price for the same is 10 cents per pound net, F. O. B., New York, in the following packages, namely ; Half firkins, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 56 pounds Welsh tubs— I want here to call the attention of the Senate to a subject to which I alluded some time ago, and that was the fraud in putting up oleo- margarine in packages which heretofore had only been used by manu- facturers of butter. IMITATING THE WELSH TUBS OF CENTRAL NEW YORK. The Welsh people are known to be par excellence the best butter- makers; and they are located largely in Oneida County and adjoining counties in New York State, and they have from time immemorial used 19 a particular form of tub in which to pack their butter, which has got to be known in the market as the Welsh tub. Not satisfied with steal- ing the ordinal firkin and ordinary butter tub, in order to deceive the people they hav#picked out this special thiug, the Welsh tub, and they have put up their butterine in that in order that people might think they were buying butter made by a genuine old Welsh lady in the in- terior of New York — Fifty-six-pounds Welsh tubs; 1-pound rolls, thirty, forty, or fifty in a tub; 60-pound tubs, cateh-weight rolls; 1-pound roiuid prints, forty in a case; 1-pound square prints, 52 pounds in a case. If the quality and price are satisfactory, we would be pleased to receive your valuable orders. Very respectfully yours, N. I. NATHAN & CO. I stated at that time to the committee: The Chairman. I also hold in my hand a business card which reads as fol- lows: " N. I. Nathan & Co., manufacturers of butterine, under patent granted to N. I. Nathan." I have also here a copy of a patent granted by the United States to N. I. Na- than, of New York, for a process of making artificial butter. NITRIC ACID NAMED IS" THE PATENT OF A LABGB MANUFACTURER, After describing the process the ratent proceeds thus: The lard which has passed through the sieve is then subjected to the action of cold water, to which has been previously added and thoroughly stirred aquan- tity of borax and nitric acid, about in the proportion hereinafter specified. Ry treating the lard in this solution, composed of water, borax, and nitric acid, the eflfect is to further cleanse the lard and make it partake of or assume a clear white color, free of all odor, and almost perfectly tasteless. Still Professor Morton told us there was no known system of deodor- izing or puriiying fats. After being subjected to this treatment, the mass is removed and thoroughly rewashed in cold water, preferably in a separate and distinct vessel from that previously employed, whereby the product becomes a purified or deodorized leaf-lard, its characteristic being that it is of a beautiful color, a clear white, per- fectly odorless, remarkably solid and free from the disagreeable taste usually present with lard. Arriving at this stage of the process, a certain minute quan- tity of nitric acid is added— This is the third addition of nitric acid— to the water, and incorporated with a certain quantity of the purified or de- odorized lard to further strengthen the solution, and this mode of treatment and addition of nitric acid are continued as mass after mass of the purified or deodorized lard is prepared, the operation being continued until the product assumes a clear white color, void of odor and ta'>te. The product thus obtained is mixed with oleomargarine, which is then a commercial article and readily obtained in the market, and when all is thoroughly mixed, the mass is sub- jected to heat, &c. It will be seen that the last solution of nitric acid which is added to it is never washed out. It is first treated with nitric acid and borax to deodorize it and purify it, and then the process is continued by afurther addition of nitric acid, and in that condition it is finished. This firm manufacture several million pounds of butterine per an- num. They advertise over their own name that it is manufactured under this patent granted to N. I. Nathan. If it is not manufactured under that, it is still a fraud, because they advertise that it is thus manufactured. Br. Clark refers to this patent and to the danger of a small portion of nitric acid being left in the material and thus gradually and insidiously breaking down the human stomach. 20 UNDOUBTED FINDING OF NITRIC ACID IN OLKOMARGARINE. Dr. Taylor, of the Agricultural Bureau, told me three days ago that a friend of his, a chemist of high standing, had been making a large number of analyses of various samples of oleomargarine or butterine, and that in one Sample he had discovered au appreciable amount of free nitric acid. This one fact overturns the theory of Professor Mor- ton or of Dr. Chandler that none of these deleterious substances can be •or have been used in the manufacture of these various products. I think the actual discovery of nitric acid in one sample of oleomarga- rine is worth all the theories of all the scientific men in the country •upon the j)roposltion that it can not be found there. Mr. President, I will not detain the Senate longer upon the question ■of the healthfulness or unhealthfulness of this product or the danger of its containing germs of disease. Scientific men tell us that this product ■is a real butter; that in its chemical analy.sis it comes so closely to nat- ural butter that the small difference found can be of no avail; and that therefore it must be as healthy as ordinary butter. They admit, how- ever, that pure butter contains all the way from 5 to 10 per cent, of certain elements such as butyrine and caprylin and a number of others, ■elements which give the flavor, the peculiar flavor, to pure butter, that .are not found at all in oleo oil or neutral lard, that there is not in them iDaturally the least trace of these most important essential oils which give to butter its characteristic and which render it so desirable as an article of food, and it is for the purpose of adding to this neutral mat- ter, this oleo oil, some butyrine, some flavoring in order that they may make it more desirable, in order that they may make it more like gen- nine butter, that they do put in some genuine cream or milk or genu- the butter in order that they may the better deceive the people with their products. SUBSTANCES ALIKE CHEMICALLY TOTALLY UNLIKE PHYSIOLOGICALLY, It does not follow because two substances are substantially alike chemically that they are therefore alike in their action upon the human system; and if these two products, butter and oleomargarine, were more nearly alike than they are, it would then not follow that the one man- ufactured article was therefore as pure and wholesome as the other nat- ural article. The microscope is able to detect and determine every kind of fat. It will detect the globules of pure butter in any com- pound. It will detect the globules of tallow or of cotton-seed oil or of any other oil that may be put under it. And we find that all these various fats present most striking diflTereuoes under the microscope ; that while the chemist may say they are chemically alike, the microscope tells us that in their form and couditiou they are radically different. Mr. President, I wish I had illustrations here of these various glab- ules of fat in order that I might show to the Senate what radical dif- ferences there are in their structure. I simply allude to the matter to ■show that the mere fact that two substances are substantially alike ■chemically does not prove that they are alike in their effects upon the human system. We all know that cellulose, which is the principal ■constituent element of all plants, is the same in all the plants, is the flame in the tr^e and in the grass, but I do not think that because they are chemically alike any sensible man would think that he might as well feed his horse with the cellulose obtained trom sawdust as the cellulose obtained from blue grass or fine clover. If he did the horse would go to the bone-yard or the oleomargarine factory very soon. 21 It is a well-known fact that, chemically, mineral and bone phos- phates are precisely the same. No chemist has ever been able to detect a particle of diHeience between the mineral phosphates and the bone phosphates; but it is a well-known commercial fact thatthe bone phos- phates are more than twice as valuable as fertilizers as are the min- eral phosphates, but chemistry has never yet been able to tell us why. I have no doubt an equal difference between butter and oleomargarine exists as exists between mineral phosphates and bone phosphates; that is, that one is twice as valuable as an article of food as the other; that as a matter of nutriment for the human system butter is vastly more valuable than oleomargarine. It is also known that dried blood, which is used largelyin fertilizing and isone of the richest fertilizers, is chem- ically precisely the same as leather scraps; but if you fertilize one field with dried blood you will get an enormous crop, and if you fertilize another with leather scraps you can not raise anything on it at all; but the chemist tells us they are precisely alike. So, Mr. President, no argument can be made from the statement of the chemist that these two substances are substantially alike chemic- ally except as to 5 or 10 per cent, of butyrine and the other elements which are found. I have shown you that the microscope teaches us that they are materially different as they are presented under the mi- croscope, and it holds to reason, and the experiments which have been made and to which I have referred prove, I think, most conclusively, that it is neither as wholesome nor as nutritious a food as is batter, and, therefore, if it is to be used as a human food it should be used so that every person using it may know what it is. If a person wants to eat an unwholesome Ibod and an indigestible food, let him do so, if he is a man full-grown and of sound mind, but make it impossible that he should eat it without knowing it, without his being absolutely sure of it, for how are we ever to protect the health of our children, how are we to care for the sick, how are we to protect those in the hospitals if they are liable to have given them every day as an article of diet a food product which the Academy of Medicine in Paris has forbidden to be used in the puHic hospitals and which the best authorities there say is not as digestible and as wholesome as butter? If it goes on un- checked, if this fraud is permitted to continue, it must result in a large number of our intelligent people giving up the consumption of butter entirely unless they can be absolutely certain of its place of produc- tion. PROTECT THE DAIRY INTERESTS I But, Mr. President, my third and principal reason for supporting this bill is found in the fact that it is intended to give protection to the great farming interest of this country, the dairy interest. I said at the beginning of my remarks that I had no subterfuges upon this question, that I did not support the bill because it levied a tax and because it might bring some revenue into the Treasury of the United States. In this matter I invoked the taxing power of the Gov- ernment in order that I might do some great good to a very large por- tion of all our people. I believe that to be a sound ground; at all events I have taken it, and I propose to stand upon it. Mr. President, let me call the attention of the Senate for a few mo- ments to the importance of the dairy interest of this country. In order that I might be accurate in my figures I have asked the statistician of the Agricaltoral Department to give me so far as he could the figures relating to this matter down to the present date, and he has done so. I present the result of his labors: NUMBER OP MILCH COWS. The following is the census exhibit of cows on the farm, at four decennialpe- clods. Census. Cows. Gallons of milk. Average. 1880 12,«3,120 8,935,832 8,585,735 6,385,094 2,893,698,520 1,840,186,160 1,499,985,364 1,063,161,127 232.6 imo 205.9 I860 174.7 1850 166.9 The number on farms, as estimated by tbe statistician of the Department of Agriculture,in January, 1886, is 14,238,388. Including; those in towns and vil- lages the grand total of milch cows must be 16,000,000. Thus the increase has been about 15 per cent, in the last six years. The increase has been largest in the West. New York and Iowa occupy the highest places in numbers, as follows : 1880. 1886. New York 1,437,855 854,187 1,510,300 1,230,695 This ia an increase of 44 per cent, in Iowa and a little more than 5 per cent, in New York, which reports 31,000 milch cows less than in January, 1885. Minne- sota has made an increase of 40 per cent, from 275,545, to 386,366. Kansas has made an increase of 157,000, and Missouri of 47,000. In point of percentage the increase of Nebraska is most noticeable, 91 per cent-^from 161,187 to 309,106. VALUE OP MILCH COWS. The value of milch cows on farms in recent years is thus stated in the records of the Department of Agriculture : Years. Value per head. Total Talue. 1884 „ 83137 29 70 27 40 8423,486,649 413,903,093 389,985,523 1885 1886 Including all milch cows not on Carms the present value at the decreased rate reported this year would be $438,000,000. There is a decrease of 3.97 per head In two years, equal to 863,520,000 on the en- tire number. Some of this decrease is due to a general shrinkage of values, but much of it is evidently the result of the unequal and fraudulent competition of oleomargarine. The decline in the value of horses has been less than 5 per cent., while this decreased value of milch cows is nearly 13 per cent. MILK PKODUCTS. Including the entire products of milch cows, in city and country, from an ag^ gregate volume of 5,600,000,000 gallons of milk, at 350 gallons average, the fol- lowing record is made: Butter, at S gallons per pound lbs... 1,000,000,000 Cheese, at 1 gallon per pound lbs... 370,000,000 Milk used as food , gals.. 2,170,000,000 The consumption of butter exceeds 17 pounds per capita in this country. It averages only 5 pounds in Europe, though it is 13 in Great Britain. I wish my friend from Kentucky were present — I do not refer to the 23 Senator from Kentacky now here [Mr. Blackbukn] but to the senior Senator [Mr. Beck] — that I might refer him to this statement to show how much better the people in this country live, including the labor- ing people, than they do in Europe. But we will let that pass. The consumption of butter has been increasing in former years with the greater ability of the masses to consume, until the recent invention of butter substitutes of various names and heterogeneous ingredients, which are taking the place of genuine butter, reducing its value, limit^ ing its consumption, and throwing suspicion on every grade of butter products. I have here a table giving the average production of milk to cows in the various portions of the United States. Average milk product in butter and cheese and milk sold, exclusive of milk consumed on the farm. New England New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia South Atlantic States Gulf States Ohio Basin Lake States Trans-Mississippi States Pacific coast States Bocky Mountain district 1870. GatloTis. Qallons. 300.5 353.9 325.2 367.1 137.1 177.2 53.6 76.5 54.7 93.0 208.0 257.1 259.5 274.4 159.1 175.6 160.0 228.4 63.3 108.9 The average for the entire country is believed to be about 350 gal- lons, including the home consumption. The dairy States have much higher averages. New York averages about 475, and other dairy States nearly as much. I have here a table of the exports of butter and cheese by decades, from 1821 down to 1880, showing the great value of the dairy interests in the matter of international trade, furnishing to us an article which is largely exported and thereby doing very much to keep the balance of trade in our favor: Butter and cheese exported. Decades.* Butter. Cheese. ll value butter 1 cheese lorted. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. ca o 1821-1830 Pounds. 11,596,868 9,086,536 33,763,410 36, 338, 779 133, 985, 053 152,452,885 Pounds. 7,914,193 8,247,795 90,610,348 78,533,783 446,512,816 999,924,409 81,942,841 1,965,675 10,375,437 13, 049, 881 1831-1840 1851-1860 t4, 029, 188 30,798,104 27,482,030 14,996,004 63,850,667 116,388,443 1861-1870 94, 648, 771 1871-1880 143,870,473 * Inclusive. f 1855 to 1360 inclusive. I asked the statistician of the Agricultural DepartmeTit to give me, 24 as near as he could, figures regarding the number of people actually and directly interested in the manufacture of butter as far as possible. Of course this appliesonly to those actually engaged in its manufacture, and not to the whole number of people employed upon the farms through- out that portion of the country which is given up to dairying. He says: United States Department of AoaiCDLTURE, Washington, D. C, June 17, 1886. Dear Sir; Yours relative bo mimbers interested in dairying is received. Nearly all the farmers in the United States are in some liegree interested ia milk production, tliono^h perhaps half of them are very little interested in but- ter and cheese produution. Those who are immediately connected "with tlie mannfacture in factories were as follows in 18S0: In New York 3,.'i68. In Ohio 819 In Iowa 795. In Illinois '.. 698. In Wisconsin 561 In California 391 Elsewhere 1,271 Total 7,903, These represented probably twenty-four thousand people, as nearly all are males above sixteen years. But the number supplyinf^ milk to these factories and those interested in farm dairies, large and small, are very large. There are now about four million five hundred thousand farms in the United States, one-fifth of which, or nine hundred thousand, are doubtless engaged in the manufacture of butter and cheese beyond their own immediate supply, and therefore are interested in the commercial aspects of dairying. With females. and dependents, the number especially interested in this manufacture would, reach three million people. Very respectfully, J. E, DODGE, Statistician. Hon. Waenek Miller, United States Senata, Of course we tnow that all the people in every community are in- terested directly in whatever may be the principal industry of that section. It is difficult to arrive at a full comprehension of the total value of the butter interests of this country. From the census of 1880. I have been able to give substantially the amount of milk produced, the number of pounds of butter produced and the number of pounds of" cheese, but at what prices these have been sold or consumed it is very difficult to say, but I find that the Hou.