The Portland daily press., 1888-02-20
Siso, sstear in al and co.ton..eed oil was not

Cleo, stearine and cotton-seed oil was not
better than his refined lard.
III the character of the lard product In Chi
cago is as bad as he describes 1t, the sooner
its manufacture is prohibited the better. He
said that out of each 20 or so tierces OF lard
he took about one tierce of grease that was
too vile for any use. He and others, repre-
senting the "refined LARD interest, COM
planned bitterly that samples of J. p. Squire's
pure leaf lard should be selected for COM
parison with their product, claiming that
such lard was never made In Chicago, all the
leaf of the hogs slaughtered there being re-
served for the purpose of making not oleo,-
margarine, but ndulterated butter lie said
he had many customers among the cream
cries of Illinois, but he refused to give their
names he did not wish to start the officers OF
the law after them.
[By Associated Press
WASHINGTON, Feb s.-The inquiry with
regard to lard and its compounds, begun two
weeks ago by the Senate committee on agri-
culture, before which is pending the bill to
require lard compounds to be stamped, was
continued today, and interested parties to
the number of twenty-five or thirty, compriss
ing manufacturers, attorneys and experts,
were present.
Mr. Hill. of Boston, an employee OF Squire
& Co., who are the proponents of the pend
ing bill, produced samples of various COM
pounds in tin pals. which he had purchased
in open market and caused to be chemically
examined. He testified as to the compounds
in each specimen, but the same matters were
more fully covered by the next witness, FRO
fessor Sharpless, of Boston, who had made
the examination.
A sample bearing the stamp of Armour d
Co., "pure refined family lard" was found
to contain about sixty per cent. OF hogs lard
with twenty per cent. each Of cotton seed oil
and beef fat. sample of Fairbanks & Co. IS
Chicago prime refined family lard" was
made of the same elements but had a greater
proportion of beef fat and cottonseed oil. A
sample bearing the stamp of Halstead d Co.,
''pure family lard, and another of the same
firm stamped in Spanish, ''Pure lard, regis
tered" ETC., contained, so far as the tests
had been carried, not particle of hog
lard, but were made entirely of beef fat and
cottonseed oil.
Mr.. Hill, who produced these samples. said
he never heard of the firm Of Halstead q Co.
before, but had purchased the samples in a
respectable neighborhood in New York.
Squire's attorney produced a package OF
pure leaf lard" put up by Squire q Co.,
and purchased in open market by Professor
Sharpless, which the latter testified was en-
tirely hog product, and contained no trace
of anything else. He was questioned at
length about the methods of test and the
comparative healthfulness of hogs lard,
beef fats and cottonseed OIL With regard to
cottonseed oil, he said its healthfullness as
an article of diet was still mooted ques-
ton. 1t was not matter for chemists, but
for medical men to decide.
Mr.. Fairbanks said that the course taken
by the Boston manufacturers was owing to
the fact that the Fairbanks lard was being
largely sold in the East, and also that the
Boston men hoped that tho small dealers
would not go to the expense of taking out a
license to sell the lard compound, but would
confne themselve to dealing in pure lard.
The witness opposed the bill, because he did
not wish the product of his establishment to
go before the country as something which
had been stigmatized by Congress. After a
three hour session the hearing went over I'M
til tomorrow.