Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-22
BUTTER OR BUTTERINE
Are You Quite Sure Which You Ate This
Morning?
limitations Of Butter Found on Every
Sfde-How Dealers Manage the
Anair-A Purchase.

AIair-A Purchase.
1t is wise man who knows when he has
butter on his bread nowadays. Hundreds
OF them this very morning spread what
they supposed was the golden product of
the lowing kline thickly on their buck
wheat cakes or hot rolls, but Il wal. butter
Inc, or oleomargarine. IL that word suits
any better. The traffic in the various ini-
tations OF butter has largely increased in
washington in recent years. and at present
no less than three car loads cs It are
Drought here each week. The regular butter
dealers and the commission men who deal
IN the real country article produced by
cream and the churn have viewed the
STEADY advance of the butter1ne business
with much alarm, and there is a movement
on foot to check it. so far as its open sale
as real butter is concerned.
They do not object to the bu.terinc n
dustry itself, and do not desire TO prevent
persons Who wish to use the substitute for
butter from doing so. but they want the
trade TO be open and so Thoroughly sur
rounded with safeguards as to make Il IN
possible for dealers In butteriae to palm Il
on on customers as genuine Eigin cream
cry. They also want to make IL 80 that no
person who patronizes a hotel a resiau-
rant or boarding house shall be given
butterine either cooked in his food or 10 he
used at the table without such person be-
ing made fully aware Of what ne is eating
A representative of The Star who has In
vesugated the subject thoroughly in the
past day or two was simply astoundei TO
learn the extent to which butterine is Used
in the leading establishments of entertain
ment in the city, well as Ia the promi-
hent institutions in and around Washing
ton, which have a large number OF inmates.
Nearly all the hotels and restaurants use
butterine exclusively In their cooking, and
some lesser places put 1t on the tables al
butter.
Not in Ignorance.
This is not done in ignorance. The stew
ards OF these places, those who do the
marketing for them, know perfectly well
what they are buying. They ask for but
terine, ana they pay for butterine because
they can get it very much cheaper than the
real article Of butter. and their guests and
those they cater to know nothing Of #. OF
course this deception practiced on the con-
sumner is no fault OF the dealer in butterine
who sells the article to the hotels. restau-
rants and particularly the boarding houses:
1t is the proprietors OF these places who are
answerable TO their customers Take the
/ average citizen who knows nothing about
imitation butter or how IL is made, but who
knows that its chief constituents are suet.
fats, lard or cotton seed oil, and tell him
after he has eaten a hearty meal that but
terine was used In cooking il and that II
was oleomargarine that he ate on his bread.
and in nine cases out of ten he viii grow
sick at the bare idea of what he has assin-
4 Hated. The butter dealers and commission
merchants therefore claim, ana with much
propriety. that every place where butterine
\ is used should be provided with placards
prominently announcing that fact and the
probabilities are that Congress will be urged
! 20 pass a law similar to the one in force in
Maryland previous to the prohibitory laws
against the sale or possession Of butterine
or oleomargarine going into effect. This law
provided that every hotel or eating house
| of any description that used imitation but
ter should announce the fact in its dining
room IN the most public manner possible
The dealers in the regular article also claim
that the law governing the sale Of oleomar-
garine or butterine in the District makes II
! imperative that the articles should be sold
in unbroken packages and that each pack
age should be plainly stamped with the
name OF the product. This question is now
in the courts for settlement.
| Imposed Upon.
| That butterine is sold in enormous guam.
titles in Washington and that the major
| ity of those who consume IL are unaware
| of the deception practiced upon them v
beyond any question. Many OF those i'm
posed upon are guests of the establishments
mentioned. whose proprietors buy buttertne
/
| ninety out of every hundred persons who
4 purchase butterine at the stands In and
| around the markets and at grocery stores
| throughout the city believe they are get
| ting real butter. The dealers do not repre-
| sent the article TO be genuine butter when
pressed on the subject. but they always
| allow the customer 10 remain under the
1 impression that II is genuine when he Is
| not too inQuisitive.
Made a Purchase.
The Star representative tried the role Of
a butter buyer at several places. and his
! experience at one stand may serve as an
illustration of what generally occurred dur
| ing his investigations. Many OF the stands
| in question are fairly covered with signs
reading, philadelphia Print" Fresh
| Dairy Roll" Fresh Country Roll" Fine
| Creamery" and similarly. The word but
! ter is conspicuous by its absence. On the
! counter of the stand visited was piled. as
always is, great piles of yellow rolls. COW
! cred with the muslin cloth that butter 10
usually incased in. while at the back were
half pound prints. Addressing the dealer
The Star man inquired:
| what is your best butter poundT
| "Our best print is thirty-two cents ana
our best creamery thirty cents" was the
unblushing reply.
The Star man ordered a pound of cream
cry. AS the man was wrapping II up the
| customer asked. with blunt directness:
| lis that genuine butter You are selling
me?"
"No. sir" was the prompt reply. 1T 10
butterine."
| ''why, I asked you what your best butter
was worth" protested the reporter.
Eyes, SIR, and told you what our best
print and creamery was worth. dion
say a word about butter"
| That was a fact, OF course, but not one
person in a thousand would have ever
thought of asking whether he was getting
! the genuine article after holding the first
| part Of the conversation given above.
The Butterfne Claim.
The butterine dealers themselves claim
that they conduct a perfectly legitimate
business and that very few persons buy
their article through ignorance. They
claim, also. to have the right to sell IL In
broken packages. and with singular una
nimity assert that butterine is healthier.
more wholesome and more nutritious than
real butter, and that II is only the public
sentiment against imitation OF any sort
that prevents IL from driving the cheaper
grades of genuine butter out of the market
altogether.
Her Boarders Different.
The reporter heard a good story while on
his tour of investigation. The landlady of
a certain large boarding house in Washing