The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-04-15
differentiation and Genuine.


can be sold at price so low as to find
place on the tables of the poor, has stimu-
lated the ingenuity OF man to create sup
ply; and the result is an artSfea compound
known to dealers and housekeepers as either
butterine or oleomargarine. Curious to learn
something OF the extent to which these arti-
cles OF diet are manufactured in the West
visited, q short time since, two ofthe largest
butterine factories in Chicago having ca
pacity of sixty thousand pounds. per day
each! In reply to my question as to whether
they were working to their full capacity
now, one of the proprietors said they were
and should be for two or three weekslonger,
and that five or six other factories, of equal
capacity, were turning out as much more.
mat the amount per day turned ont is
enormous-if these statements are trust
worthy, and think they are-wll readily
appear from the number and capacity Of
these large establishments; but when you
come to add the product of some half dozen
other smaller factories, turning out from one
thousand to fifteen hundred pounds per day
each, the sum total of imitation butter, made
in Chicago alone, seems almost fabulous.
Where does all this stuff go to and who eats
it? / asked of one proprietor. "Why, all
over the world. Largely II finds an eastern
market. 1t also goes West, North and
South" " Is any oft consumed in Chicago?"
"Why, bless you, yes! eat it on my table, az
probably thousands upon thousands of others
about here do, in preference to poor cream
butter" Do you consider butterine or
Why, man alive! butterne, pure and una
dulterated. is made of the best kettle rem
dered leaf-lard, eighty parts and the finest
gilt-edged creamery butter, twenty parts,
coloring and salt being added to suit the
market" what is there unhealthy about
that compound?" Certainly nothing, I'M
less you claim, and can prove, that all hog
products, in whatsoever form or shape they
may be prepared and placed upon the mar
ket, are unhealthy-a claim l hardly think
you or any one else be you jew or Gentle,
will be able to maintain" "Now will YOU
tell me, in a few words, what oeomargarne
IL, wherein it differs from butterine, etc.?'
"Certainly, in as few words as possible.
Oleomargarine contains not particle of but
ter, being made entirely of minced beef
suet, the cellular portion being separated
from the fat by the action of pepsin under
! the influence of heat. After strainng, cool
ing and coloring, it is churned in buttermilk
at a certain temperature, then sailed and
| packed-at least that is the way i under
stand it is made. Not ever having made any
myself, may be wrong in some of the de-
tails. / am dead sure, however, there is no
| butter in it. The process of making butter
| inc is extremely simple. After the lard has
been rendered it undergoes the process of
| naturalization which renders it free from
| either smell or taste. This neutral with
| the rightful proportion of butter, is subjected
to the action of dashers, in large churn, at
| certain temperature, which thoroughly
mixes the two ingredients, after which it is
|
compounds come into competition with gilt
| edged, dairy or creamery butter?' 90 Not
| in the least, so far as / can learn from ex-
perience or observation. AS manufacturer
OF the latter, handling from ten to fifteen
thousand pounds of It per week, L think
when | say that oleomargarine or butterine
in no way enter into competition with my
sales of fine creamery butter, have the best
of reasons for believing and asserting that
they do not injure the sale of the best gilt
edged nUjrI hnttnr / hn
| ton to scores OF creamery and to some dairy
butter-makers about here-mind you am
now speaking of manufacturers of the gilt
edged article-whether they ever had any
difficulty in disposing of their products, and
at the highest prices, and their invariable
answer has been, without single exception,
No, sir! nor do 1 ever expect to have any
so long as continue making the same quail
| lty OF butter l am now placing on the mar
ket.'" Please allow me to ask the same
question (Of the same CLASSY of Vermont
dairy butter-makers. Some poor creamery
butter-maker, or some poorer dairyman or
| woman butter-maker who never did, and
probably never will, make pound of the
gilt-edged article-dairy or creamery-dur-
| ing their lives, for reasons too numerous
to mention here, may, and probably will,
claim that it does compete with the sale of
their products and ask in all sincerity,
" Don't we make good butter?" l answer,
mol" and say that it is solely and only
with the poor, worthless stuff that they, and
thousands of other makers of low-grade
article of so-called genuine butter, are
endeavoring to palm off long-suffering
public as a gilt-edged table article, that these
limitations do come into competition with.
When the makers of and dealers in way
OIL grades of genuine butter found the dear
public could no longer be hoodwinked into
paying fancy prices for it, and were actually
buying the imitation, which they found
sweet and palatable, and at a less price,
then came the howl for a law making it
Unable, if not penal, offence to make
even sell so much as pound of either
oleomargarine or butterine within the
boundaries of the United States even. Some
state legislatures hearing their Macedonian
cries " for help, hastened to their relief by
passing laws which virtually say to these
poor butter-makers: eco on, now, in your
good old way; we have fixed this matter so
that the poor people, even, will be compelled
to eat your rank frowy stuff, or go without
any" Had Vermont, or other states enact
ing such restraining laws, passed one en-
couraging the manufacture of wholesome
imitation article of a fine grade, it would, in
my judgment, have done something to slim
ulate the makers of the poor but genuine ar
ticle to make what the public needs, and is
continually calling for, or quit the business
and let it pass into the hands of those who
can and will. Some, and perhaps a large
proportion, of your readers may-ifthey read
this article at all-conclude that must be
a dealer, to a greater or less extent, in either
oleomargarine or butterine for the reason
that ! have, inferentially, defended them
so strongly. To such | will say, l am no
maker OF or dealer in either article, never have
been and never expect to be. But should
| ever be compelled to choose between a
fine grade of butterine and poor grade of
dairy butter for my own table, | most as
suredly should take the former rather than
the latter, and so would any one, after com
pairing them together, unless their prejudices
extended against the hog in any and every
conceivable shape or form as an article of
diet. believe in a tariff for revenue and in
cidental protection. Yes, quite a protection,
il you please but don't believe in prohib-
itory protection. Can any man of common in
teligence be made to believe that il butterine
or oleomargarine did not come into compe-
tition with the sale of poor butter-or even
with the sale of gilt-edged butter, for the
sake of the argument-that there would
ever have been any such howl heard through
out the land about the unwholesomeness of
these compounds these poor butter max
ers are now making? Your correspondent
thinks not. Why, just look at it; the farmer
raises and salts down from one to half
dozen hogs in the fall of the year and for
the ensuing twelve months he and his family
fairly revel in lard, salt pork and gravy,
eating nothing else in the way of meat, save
quarter of beef, veal or lamb at certain
seasons of the year; but when you strike
him on the butterine or oleomargarine ques-
ton, he fairly groans and agonzes for the
health OF the dear public, in being obliged
co. taa.a Ia H.. III.