The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-04
ONLY HONEST LABELS NEEDED.

ONLY HONEST LABELS NEEDED.
messed attempts to prosecute dealers In
oieornargarine, and the proceedings have
generally been IKE others followed else
where in dealing with the same business
Both Sides have been more or less absurd
in their contentious. and the delay In
| settling the questions at issue has not
been evidence that the law in the prem
| ises is defective so much as it testifies
to a successful effort to avoid the ap-
plication of law.
On the side of the makers Of bogus but
ter hardly anything is heard but the
claim that the product is absolutely
harmless and really wholesome. Taking
these claims as a basis they persistently
allege persecution and are inclined to
pose as martyrs.
on the side of the public officers is
generally noticed an emphatic denial of
the claims set forth by the other side.
and it Is made rather plain that the pur-
pose of most prosecution is to destroy
the cleo industry altogether.
When case shaped along these lines
comes before a judge who knows any
thing about law the result is a farce.
me blame rests more on the side of the
pubic officers, for they are in the ma
Jor1ty Of cases attempting to accomplish
something unconstitutional. They can.
not compel the bogus butter factories to
smut down. because 1T is legitimate
business, as such things go under the law,
and the proof that cleo is itself a men
ace to the public health has not vet been
produced. In view of the fact that oil
OF the power and skill of the eertouI.
lura4 department are directed against
bogus butter, the absence Of such proof
is significant. It is presumpttve evidence
that the product is not a menace TO con.
sumers
But it does not follow that the people
are anxious to>buy and consume oleo in
preference to the product of the dairy.
In fact, the G l o b e does not believe
10y SAS SNOAL W1lllIlS5 10 90 SO. InGY
buy it thinking they are getting real
butter, and this constitutes a fraud re-
gardiess of whether tha imitation of cow
| butter Is so exact as to deceive the
taste. The makers of oleo are emphatic
In their belief that the people would
rather eat their product, at a saving Of
| several cents a pound, than real butter,
and, as before stated, they also claim
equal purity with the product Of the
| dairy. In the face of this it is strange
they show SO little disposition to label
thelr goods In such way that the per-
| son who actually eats it will know what
he Is eating, but it is a great deal
| stranger that the officers of the law and
dairy interests generally do not rest their
case entirely on such labelling and let
impossible prosecution go. Perhaps the
makers of bogus butter believe what
they say in behalf of it, and perhaps
| they would be willing to submit their
case to the consumer on the label test
| II there were not question Of profit in
Volved. 1t is doubtless true that bogus
| butter when sold as ''choice dairy ia
| slightly lower In price than the genuine
but 1t Is also true that it would be much
cheaper If sold for what it Is Even with
the public willing purchaser of the
product plainly labeled. sacrifice of z
or 8 cents a pound would hardly be well
come to the makers, and for this reason
alone they may be expected TO evade the
label requirement wherever 1t exists and
to dodge the question of labelling in dis
cussion elsewhere
1t is apparent that public prosecutors
have been promoting the desires of the
olee manufacturers by allowing such
evasion to go on while they chase the
| impossible object of confiscating private
property and suppressing legitimate bust
ness. Strip the subject of the superhuous
and the tmpracticable and let the same
effort be directed toward thorough and
honest labelling. This would place square,
ly before the people the question which
they prefer, COW butter or the imitation.
The o e thinks the cow would win
out, and the winning could be accom-
plished in a small fraction of the time
it would require under the methods now
pursued in prosecuting oieo makers