The Evening critic., 1882-04-17
Counterfeit Buffcr.
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There IA probably no place on the American
continent whore $50 much spurious butter is
sold as iu .ho District Of Columbia ~ the
present time Nhile nne creamery bntter ~
quoted in New York city nj 40 10 Is cents,
toms 0f olco'uarearlnc nnd sueno or hutterus
aro sold on thls market f1r Ane, genuine bli-
tCI 90 II o. - cents, Wholesale, ana - - 40
cents, retail. oar people seem 20 think they
are securing great bargains, when Cor 20 cents
per pound thcy can get compound made up
OF rancid butter and apopr quality oi lard,
nut through q chemical process 30 take ont
the bai smell end taste, ana on which the re-
taller ie mn King 1Ot0 100 per cent. profit,
while they donounce as an oNtorHoner the
honest dealer who sells at retail, for 80 conts
per pound, finc creamery butter shat costs
MIN IS cents Der pound. Two years ago
Congress passed an act Imposing hne OF
500 FOR selling olcomargorine or sueno OK
cept ny iheir truo names, but not tho slightest
attention is paid to that law. Like most laws
concerning our District IL IS drawn so loosely
thHt "a coach and tour can be easily drven
through from 800 10 1000 tubs OF oleo-
margarine or huUerne per week are sold in
ihis market. and vet not one man has been
iined for selling either Of these spurious ar
ticles.
The writor is making no war on those arti-
cles II sold by their true name II people pro-
fer mixture of poor butter and poor lard to
good, sweet butter, let them have it, only let
'hom BnOw what they are buying. There Is
nothing repulsiye % taste or detrimental u
health in good, sweet suot mixed with good,
sweet milk, or in pure, sweet lard mixed with
line butter, II people like such mixtures; hut
30 j. tho fraudulent mixture OF these articles
that causes the trouble. Factories where
these articles are compounded frequently
have large stocks on hand I'm the crude state,
which, by age, become putrld. Instead Of
solluc them to the soap-grease man, they are
put through a process that takes out the 0lfen-
slyc smell and taste, and then converted into
butter, which Is wholesaled at / s 70 20 cents
per pound, and then retailed as genuine but
ter Tor 30 to 40 cents per pound.
Last year during the great flood a Baltimore
oloomargarine factory had large quantity OF
suet stored In an alley south of Pennsylvania
avenue among the stables, whore for twenty
four hours It lay four feet under n liquid com.
pound Of Potomac water, sewer filth and horse
manure. 1t was claimed for this suet that
this long sOal1age In filth did not iniurc II in
the slightest, but that after being put through
q thorough rinsiDg in pure water II was better
than ever. 1t may be that such was the case,
but Il is not very pleasant to think about, and
does not tend to increase ones appetite for
butter.
1t does seem as II our people take delight in
being humbugged. They continually play into
the hands of rogues, u policy calculated to
starye to death honest men. Witness the way
they rushed in droves TO patronize the bogus
tea company, paying one dollar for a pewter
spoon and pound of worthless tea or coffee,
when they could have obtained the genuine
article, Of honest, well-known dealers, for one
half that sum. C,