The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-04-03
aaderspu yntstligeneer.
OLE0MARGARINE.

OLEOMARGARINE.
Dairymen In a Hopeless Fight Against
Bogus Butter.
Correspondence Ne,us and Courier.
New YORK, March S.-Oleomargarine
and politics have been among the absorb
ing topics of the week. A legislative
commission has been looking into the
bogus butter business at the earnest
prayer of butter makers and dealers,
particularly the makers, for the dealer
can generally make more by selling oleo
than butter, and when pushed to the
wall by competition this is what ne does
in nine cases out of ten. A few years ago
some meetings were held at our Butter
and Cheese Exchange to protest against
the introduction of bogus butter, and
some very fiery speeches were made by
men who denounced the bogus butter
manufacturers as enemies of mankind,
and to- day the chief speaker at the meet
ings sells ten tubs of oleo to one OF
butter. The history of bogus butter may
be summed up, so far as New YORK is
concerned, in q very few words. In 1874
young Frenchman named Alfred faraa
appeared in New York with number OF
patents or secrets for doing wonderful
things and among them was formula
for making oleomargarine. Ten years ago
there was not in the country pound of
the stuff which has usurped the place of
butter in the markets of the world and
noorIv rn;ned the dairymen. Paraff got
up q stock company for the manufacture
Of his stuff and for while all went beau
tifully. Greed led him to his downfall.
He had also valuable formula tor maE;-
ing a black. dye, which he sold to coul-
pany, but not content with legitimate
enterprises, he tried to bleed number
of citizens by inducing them to pay,
large sum of money for process by
which gold could be extracted from
certain Michigan copper ore. While
making his experiments he lived in ex-
trayapsnt style at the Everett House,
drove fast horses, and began the day
with bath into which his valet poured
twenty dollars worth of altar of roses
and fine cologne. When at the height
of his prosperity he was married to
daughter of Mr.. Bainbridge Smith,
New York lawyer, and presented her
with q house on Fifth avenue and a
check for S25,0O0 on the wedding day.
The bubble burst a few months after that,
and for the next FIVE years We heard OF
Paraf flying from the police in almost
every country of the globe. 1t turned
out that he had stolen from some French
laboratory, in which he had been en-
ployed, the process for making oleo and
the black dye. They had genuine Talue,
and Would have suficed to make his for.
tune. Hisprocess for getting gold out OF
copper ore was swindle pure and SIM
pie. He was heard from in San Francis.
co, in Peru, in Brazil, in Holland, and
next he may turn up among the child.
like Celestials.
Paraf's legacy to America was the pre-
cess for making bogus butter. The com.
pany which worked it at first attempted
to create demand for oleomargarine as
such. That led it to the verge of bank
ruptcy. Then the product was sold as
butter, and the demand grew to be tre.
meudous. The butter dealers took fright
and managed to have bill passed COM
pelling every manufactures of oleo to
brand the tubs "oleomargarine." This
law has proved ridicuously Ineffective.
New names have been used to cover the
old fraud; we hear no more about oleo-
margarine, but by looking carefully at
the tubs from which the grocers deal out
the "gilt.edged" butter, the brand "But.
ter.ine" may perhaps be found.butter
in very large letters and inc in very
small. Grocers usually SO manage that
the customer never happens to see this
brand, but there it is in case some inspec-
torEcomes around to make sure that all
bogus butter tubs are properly branded.
Bill after bill was brought forward wnen
( it was found how useless it was > brand
the tubs, but so far not suggestion has
been made which promises way out OF
the difficulty, unless it is to compel oleo
makers to color their product distinct.
i've tint, such as green or pink. 1t is not
possible for the dairymen to keep an In
spector in every grocery OF the city to
see that the grocer informs each customer
who wants butter that he is going to get
oleo if he buys there, and now that all
attempts to prove oleo sufficiently dele
terious to health to warrant the law in
forbidding its manufacture have failed,
no alternative is left. If the opponents
of oleo cannot devise some means of let
ting the public know that it is not buy
ing butter the business will go on doub-
ling every year, as it has done since 1878.
Dealers in real butter contend that not
5 per cent of the business now done in
oleo could be done if customers knew
what they were buying. Some months
ago tub of oleo was boldly marked as
such in Washington Market and exposed
fer sale. Thousands of pounds of oleo
were sold as butter every day all around
it, but for weeks no one would buy from
this honestly marked tub. At last one
man boughta pound and took it away
for purpose of chemical analysis, he said.
The experiment showed that victory was
with the genuine butter dealers could
they compel. honesty in retailing. oleo;
The question is, can they do anything OF
the kind? That the majority of New
York grocers sell oleo for butter was
proved by the result of an examination
made of thirty samples recently bought
at first class groceries. The prices varied
from 81 to 33 cents, some grocers charg.
ing more for oleo than others charged
for genuine butter, the object being to
prevent suspicion. Of the thirty samples
ten proved to be genuine butter, the 9th
er twenty containing little or no butter
at all. In all cases careful inspection
was made of the shop to find any indica-
ton that the customer was told the truth,
but no oleo brands or signs were visible.
BUTTER MEMS STORIES.
Some of the experts who have testified
before the committee have rather sur
prised the public, as when veteran
butter man confesses that he cannot tell
oleo from genuine butter without q
t-:.ol tost ond whom If ia admitted