Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-06-16
OLE0MARGARINE PURITY
TWO OUISPOKEN DEFENDERS
OF THE IMITATION.

/ A Couple of College Professors Tell
What They Know About Butter Max
ing - COmpuIsiOn to Color Oleo Red
or Blue Objected to on the Ground
That People Want Something Yellow
on Their Bread.
WASHINGTON, June 15.-A large num-
Der of persons interested in dairyIng and
oleomargarine were present to. day at the
hearing given by the Senate Committee
on Agriculture and Forestry on the House
bill taxing oleomargarine. Prof Morton,
President of Stevens Institute of Technol-
ogy, opposed the bill. He had taken
natural scientific interest in the new In
dustry, had visited and spent much time
In oleomargarine factories, and had
reached the conclusion that oleOmarga-
rine was of necessity a pure and whole
some product. If the fats from which
oleomargarine oil was produced were
tainted in the slightest degree the oil
would become exceedingly offensive to the
smell and taste and when made into oleo-
margarine would he unsaleable. The
same condition would arise if careless
ness or willful neglect occurred IN the
manufacture.
BEYOND CONTRACTING.
The condition once existing could not
be cOunteracted, hence OleOmargarine
sold' must always be good. OleOmar-
garine oil contained the three principal
elements OF butter, but did not contain
butterine, which was peculiar to butter
and gave it it's peculiar flavor. In order
to secure this flavor in part, milk was
mixed with the oleomargarine oil and the
product then had slight flavor OF butter
and also other components of butter.
Lard was added to give softness and
sickness to the product. The reason for
making 1t as nearly identical as possible
to butter was because OF the influence
previous habits had on peoples minds.
For this reason he thought it unwise TO
require that il be colored red or blue.
CoNCEALMENT NOT WANTED.
He thought, however, that 1T should be
sold under It's true name. Occasionally
a small manufacturer might endeavor to
make larger profits by using unwhOle-
some materials, but the product would be
offensive and unsaleable, and the expert
ment would not be repeated. An ounce
of impure fat would taint a whole ton of
pure fat. 1t was impossible that the
germs of disease could exist in this
product.
Prof. Chandler, OF Columbia College,
New York, and President of the New
OIk vi nedlJu, Sdlu ne ndu AWAY
taken the ground that this was new pro-
cess of making an old article-butter. 1t
was pure and wholesome, and contained
all the cOmponents of butter In the same
proportion as in dairy butter, except that
the proportion OF favoring matter was
less. He regarded the discovery of this
process as one of the greatest discoV-
cries of the century.
CLEANLINESS OF THE PROCESS.
The process by which oleomargarine
was manu- actured was Ofnecessity much
more clearly than that by which butter
was manufactured. The attempt to de-
stroy the industry, he thought, was on a
par with the attempt to prevent the intro
duction of indigo as a dye in England,
France and Germany, because it would
interfere with the sale of what every one
now admitted was an inferior dye. The
State of New York, he said, had been used
to disgust people with OleOmargarine. The
person who was chairman OF the New
York State Senate Committee had pur-
posely refrained from calling him as
witness after talking with him on the SUBJ
ject. The evidence given before that COM
mittee was ridiculous and absurd.
NO DEAD DOGS OR CATS.
The statements made then that dead
dogs and cats were used in the manufac-
ture he characterized as nonsensical.
New York had appropriated $4,000 to
crush the oleOmargarine industry, but
the witness was unable to secure money
to have cases of adulte alton of food and
medicines prosecuted. We already had
sufficient legislation to compel the sale of
OleOmargarine as such. He thought 1t a
| hardship to compel people to color Oleo-
margarine red or blue when they wanted
1t yellow because they Were used to
spreading yellow product on their
bread. The witness having stated that
his wife paid SOC. per pound for butter,
was asked why he did not use oleomar-
| garine at 1Sc. lie said his wife had a
fancy for the other article and he was
willing to please her fancy and pay the
| difference. He had, however, used Oleo-
margarine for Two days on his table with
out detection. Then he substituted the
] best Connecticut butter and his wife de-