Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-03-13
AFTER FRAUDULENT BUTTER.
Crusade Expected Here Against Dealers
In Spuriou. Goods

In spurious Goods
II Il said that several car loads Of oleomar-
garine sold as butter in this city every week.
According to the law in the matter it must be
sold oleomargarine and labeled plainly as
such Ii is consumed as butter, however. and
often paid for as such
A leading produce dealer told a STAR reporter
this morning that number of the large hotels
in Washington use oleomargarine on their Ia
bles and that almost all Of the restaurants make
use OF this cheap and objectionable substitute.
Oleomargarine can be sold by the tub at Is
cents pound, and when split up in small guam
titles and disposed Of to the consumer 1t will
compare favorably in appearance and in taste,
TO the uninitiated at least. with butter that re-
tails at s. IL will not last as long. for the de-
composition is very rapid and il soon loses its
merits. but there i big money in handling oleo-
margarine. and a number of dealers in this city
who have long held of from having anything
TO do with il have been driven to il in seif-de-
Tense recently. Oleomargarine has cut into the
traffic in honest goods more than any one would
think
SELLING SPURIOUS FOR GENUINE.
II would not be anything like so bad if peo-
pie knew what they were buying. for then they
would, in most cases, insist on getting the pure
article even il il cost a little more As it is the
produce dealers say the people are paying
butter prices when really they are only getting
the fake goods. There Is more money in
handling the spurious goods at large margin
than the pure at a small, and n result II is
said that the dairy interest of the country, one
OF the most important of all. has suffered i'm
mensely BY this unfair competition 1t used TO
be possibility to deal in butter for future de-
livery. but of late wears this has all been done
away with, for no matter what the demand may
be and the legitimate supply the output Of oleo
is only limited by the capacity OF the grease
factories. and the latter can keep the price of
butter at any figure they desire and can so
push the dairymen to the wall
The Baltimore produce exchange has been
wsging a upon the alleged butter men in
that city who have been imposing upon the
public. II employed a number of special de-
tectives to WORK up evidence against the dis
honest dealers. and Friday the grand jury in
baltimore brought in presentments against nine
dealers who had been selling oleomargarine
der the guise of honest butter. 1t Is believed
that IN some Of the cases, at least, convictions
will be secured.
The securing of conviction is a difficult mat
ter. 1t is hard To prove a case. The oleo-
margarine itself Is hard TO identity. and it re-
quires expert to distinguish il from real
butter.
CONRADE HERE.
II is probable that crusade similar to the
one in Baltimore will be started in this city
soon bv the dealers who make business of
handling the pure article. Steps have been
made recently looking to the establishment of
a local produce exchange and a committee has
been hard at work for some time past in fO-mu-
lating a constitution for the new organization.
Ii is likely that 1t will be in operation in the
near future and it Is said by some OF the men
who most interested In it that one of the
first things on :he program is the agitation of
the oleOmargsrine question. An effort will be
made at the next session of Congress to have
more stringent measures adopted for the pro-
lection of the honest dealers. As il is now every
package OF the stuff must be plainly labeled,
but there would seem to be plenty OF ways of
getting around the spirit of the law, and the
label can be 80 put on or hidden from sight that
the purchaser will believe he is getting pure
butter when in reality he Is paving 80 cents for
n l5-cent article. dairyman who was speak
ing about the business TO The STAR reporter
this morning said that in his opinion a hotel
or restaurant keeper who served oleOmsrgarine
on his table without stamping ii as such as
guilty corner groceryman who put the
label on the inside of the package that he sold.
He thought that some restrictions should be
enforced 30 that every one should know Just
exactly what he was getting. butter a substi-
tute. whether II was. at a hotel, restaurant,
boarding house market or store.