The Wilmingtonian., 1886-07-24
A Peculiar Business.


iness develops some most significant facts.
In giving this report to the public it
should be remembered tiiat wfIat is said is
not the impulsive individual assertion of a
Senator who may vindictively Or with hot.
headedness violently oppose those who think
that there is no harm in the manufacture of
oleomargarine buG is an abstract from the
report of the House Committee on Agricul.
ture and Forestry which has specially TAX
on this subject in hand for investigation and
publication.
Senator Thomas w. Palmer read as fol-
lows =
'It appears that 2O0,OO0,0Ol pounds of
these mixtures have been manufactured in
the United States during the last year, at
least 90 per cent. of which were sold as but
ter. This necessarily displaced 100000, 900
to the dairy product, the direct and immed-
late effect of which is shown 70 have been
the depreciation of % per cent. in the
value of fifteen million mich COWS and a
depreciation of dairy lands in single State
New York; of $3.50, 600, 600.
Our annual export OF butter has decreased
in six years is, $50, ,276 pounds, while the
export of oleomargariIit has increase II, 200,
600 pounds, but more 70 be deprecated, APP
pears the loss of foreigp confidence incident
to the mixed traffic, asseyinced in the higher
prices offered for Canadian butter.
Again, successful fraud is contagious.
Armour &, Co., state that they supply oleo
oil to creameries for purposes of adutera-
ton with the honest product, and reputable
retail dealers testify that they have been
forced by fraudulent competition to join in
the surreptitious sales.
Established creameries in many States
have been closed and Eastern diary farms
abandoned in consequence of this unnatural
contest, while noted when preparing these
memoranda that local ne gspapers from Cass,
Branch, and Oakland Counties in my own
State, under dates of Juiy / and ., report
sales of farm butter on t,eir streets as from
8 to 10 cents per pound.
Three hundred thousa ID mich COWS are
reported to have been Sightered for beel
in Chicago alone during she past year.
Until the developme:a Of this industry
American tallow held ta markets of the
world at o. cents per po;sd. The imitation
butter makers entered or market selecting
the best qualities for tho use, and now the
trade is controlled by RHssia and Australia,
while the American pro@est is unsought al
81 cents per pound.
The temptation to the etailer to handle
mixture which he buys as oleomargarne
suine, or butterine at frt j 8 to Is cents pei
pound and sells as buttef at from %, 30 anC
40 cents per pound is RAPIDLY increasing tht
volume distributed to tl3 people.
In the Boston market alone there wer
17,577 pounds received during the month o
I May last as against 9,665 pounds receiyed il
May, 1885. ~
T'nv prouu0Jfon OF thes1 2UD, ,eJ0, sU07pouhd
Of butter substitutes is not in the hands o
those of limited means nor are its factorie
distributed over the country. Mr.. Webster
of the firm of Armour & Co., testifes tina
there are thirty firms engaged in the busl
ness and that the bulk of the oleo oil is mad
in Chicago and New York.
II is becoming an important annex to MAJ
ket controlling packing houses whose vas
capital crushes lesser competition and Ell
ables the few to fix the profits of the many
As an appendix to the above are certai
remedies proposed, also explanation a
to what the proper status of oleomargarin
is and the character of the limitations mo-
sold as butter.
But the statements made by Senator Pa
mer are sufficient to attract the attention {
every farmer and produce merchant in th
country.
Delaware has live interest in the que
tion.
If there has beeu a depreciation Of $3.50
900, 600 in the value of dairy lands in slr
gle year in the State of New York attribut
bic to this nefalious business, may it nj
have reflex aud positive influence on OF
farm and dairy lands?
Our tastes may be callous and indilierel
. enough as to what we eat as butter. whetl
er an aduteration or otherwise, but wht
our pockets are threatened, and to the
gree logically differentiated by the abo
statements the question takes another pha
and a more interesting one Immediately.
When 300, 600 milch COWS are sent to i
, slaughter house we can only draw the d
duction that the dairy business has receiv,
a heavy and vital blow.
When we hear it asserted upon the be
and most incontrovertlble authority th
American tallOw, which, previous, to t
development Of the oleomargarine indust
commanded the markets of the world at
cents per pound is now "unsought at
cents" we are simply staggered at the asst
tion and wonder over and over again wi
shameful and reckless oversight of the
dustries and well-being of our CONNER
and industries allowed the business affa
:, of the country to fall away into such sta
70 ling condition.
i 1t was state in the WILMINGToNIA
Soma t,yn months aUO that there are mn