Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-06-14
THE BUTTER COUNTERFEIT

excited debate. The General consid-
cred the matter on the two aspects
of whether such bill was constitu-
tional, land second, whether it was
necessary. After clear and convin-
cling argument on the lawful side of
the question, the necessity of the bill
was demonstrated by somewhat
lengthy, and very interesting discus
sion of which the following in a por-
ton:
counterfeit butter. 1t may be that the
cheap grease known in the market as
''neutral grease" when subjected to treat
ment by the alkalies and acids named in
the various imitation-butter formulas is
not absolutely unwholesome; for chemis-
try works wonders in the transformation
of physical substances. 1 say this may |
be, but suppose it is, who wants to eat it? |
That this neutral grease" is to Il great |
extent used in the manufacture of these |
imitation products, no reasonable person |
will doubt. The different formulas them
selves prove it by the chemical agents
which they contain, for the manifest pur-
pose of deodorizing and correcting 1t.
Besides, as every one knows, it is coun-
terfeit and fraud; and who is verdant
enough to suppose that the counterfelter
would be at all scrupulous as to the ma
terials he used in the business? The OBJ
ject is to make the counterfeit article at
the least possible expense for the sake OF
the greatest possible profit. And if ''neu-
trail grease" can be obtained at one-fourth
or one-third the expense of tallow or lard,
who for moment doubts which the cOun-
terfeiter would use?
But this stuff, even if not absolutely I'M
wholesome, is not fit for a self-respecting
| American citizen to eat. 1t might answer
| for a digger Indian, who lives on snakes,
| or for the Mexican peon who in his pow
erty consumes with avidity every organic
part of the animal, excepting only horns,
hoofs, hair and ,bones. 1t might answer
| for these, but it does not comport with
| our American civilization. 1t is no cred
it to it. 1t has no proper place in it, and
if could not exist for moment except
through fraud and imposition. The
| American people can be in better bus
mess. With cattle upon thousand hills,
and many, many thousand hills scattered
all over our vast domain, where now
grows wild grass or stands 'the forest
primeval," but where hardy husbandmen
might Craze and milk their herds of kline,
and thrifty housewives might emulate the
virtue and valor of Jael, the wife Of He
Der the Kenite, who drought forth but
ter in Il lordly dish," does it not seem
like small business, like the disreputable
business it is, for an able-bodied Ameri-
can citizen to be trying to find out how
chemistry can extract from "cow's I'D
ders" the oil that shall give to tallow and
lard and the intestinal and otfal fats and
neutral grease" and the vegetable oils
the taste of butter, thereby enabling the
: INSCRIPTIONS to sell them, after they
are washed in buttermilk, for butter, and
thus put these cheap and nasty fats and
oils, into competition with the golden is
sues of the housewives churn?
And this brings me to the chief reason
for the passage of this BILL namely, the
J tion upon the great, in fact the greatest
industry of this country-an industry
which while it gives employment to mill
ions Of capital and millions of men ant
J woman is yet made up from an aggrega
cation Of humble interests which, whel
treated fairly, only afford very small
profits in return for much hard work
: Dairying is the lar gest single brancl
Of American agriculture. The butter
milk, and cheese produced for the las
y year, as estimated by reliable experts
h amounted to the enormous sum of $5G4
Il 959, 800. This is more than four time
$ the value of the entire oat crop of tn
J country: more than five times the valu
of the pig-iron product; more than twic
the value of the iron and steel product
III about four and one-half times the valu
q of the cotton crop, and about $3.50, 900
,r 900 more than the entire wheat crop
the county. The amount invested
- mich cows is about 500, 1000, OOO-mol
than the entire capital stock of all tt
IL national banks of the country.
e. Not only is dairying the great leadin
ty branch of our agriculture but it is so +
Us lated to every other branch of that indu
: try that when it su ffers the whole fee
. the depressing effect. Especially is tn
- true in our older States, where the so
NC well-nigh exhausted by long -continu,
to cropping, is arrested from further deter
of Grafton and brought back to high d
of gree of fertility by dairy farming, al
:, thus WORKOUT lands are restored a.
more of every kind of agricultural oil
- duct is produced, more forage for al
IL mails and more food for man. 1t is es
IL mated that in dairying at least four mi
We ions of our population are employed. VIII
n agriculture in all its branches gives e
ployment to almost one-half our ent
population, who thereupon feed a
we clothe themselves and feed and clot
Oh the other half.
M Without agriculture we should 90 be
Nv | hungry and cold. We should relapse
&c to barbarsm, should 60 back to the SIX
of beasts for clothing, and hunt again
80 wild boar for food. A thrifty agric
i9e ture makes every work OF civilization D
ED sible. Without it the earth, the sou