The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-01-15
Professor Linfield Defends the
GrOut Bill.

I To the Editor Of The Herald:
notice that there is strong ten
dency to make rash assertions, unsup-
ported by evidence. in regard to the
/ effect of the Grout oil. ] challenge the
statements made. and defy any person
to prove that even the total destruction
OF the olsomargarine business. even o.
the amount produced last year. which
was 25 per cent greater than was ever
before produced III the history Of the
country. would entail any such loss as
stated upon the livestock interests OF
the United states. on this matter as
sertions unsupported by evidence viii
not suffice. We must have the facts
and the authority upon which such
statements are based. The few facts
l nave been BILE TO gather in nc wise
support the claims made. In fact. they
teach another and opposite lesson.
Allowing that 100 600 pounds of
oleomargarine were made in the United
states in 1900, its worth, according TO
swift < Co, at 10c per pound whole
sale, was $40 4O0. 600. According to the
United States internal revenue reports
20 congress last spring, p per cent of
this is cleo IbeeD oil or Is. csc. coo
pounds, worth. at 1Gc per pound. s.. Sos
GOO. But Swift 6. Co. says that cleo oil
is worth &c per pound as talIcw or for
export, thus the loss en- the OIeO oil
used in the I04 coo. 900 pounds of oIeo-
margarine could not be greater than
$lsl23.00O, or but pee on each of the s.
100000 or 6,000.0GO cattle killed in the
United States last year However. I
do not believe that the beef producer
gets one cent of this extra 20 cents per
head obtained because of the oleomar-
gaTine business.
In 1899. 142 0CO. coo pounds of cleo oil
was exported to p, 400. 000 pounds used
( IN oleOmargarine. In other words. more
than 81 per cent of the oleo oil is ex-
ported. 1t sold for Ga cents per pound
tsee Seventeenth Annual Report of the
Bureau of Animal Industry. page 300.
mis- trade has inCr eaSed from 10000 600
To 10000, 600 pounds per year since 1885.
Now, is 1t reasonable to suppose that
the oleOmargarine manufacturers pay
more for cleo oil than it is sold for. for
export? or do the packers figure on
paying more chan the export price
would warrant The proposition is alb
surd, and am surprised that intelligent
men could be persuaded to think other
wise.
The Grout bin has two provisions,
viz: State control and a tax on color.
The tax on unCOlOred Oleomargarine is
reduced from cents per pound to "a
cent per pound. It was framed to aid
and simplify the enforcement of the
laws or those states which prohibit the
sale Of yellow Oleomarga in their
markets. (See bulletin 3. bureau of
animal Industry Those states are as
follows Alabama. California, Colorado,
Kentucky Maine. Maryland. Massa-
chusetts. Minnesota. Connecticut. Del
aware, Georgia. Illinois, Iowa, Missouri,
Nebraska, New Hampshire. New Jer-
sey, New York, North Dakota. Tonnes
see, Utah, Vermont, Virginia. Washing
ton. West Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio
Pennsylvania, South Carolina. South
Dakota.
The anti-color provision of the Mas
sachusetts state law, after which the
laws of several other states Utah
among the number, is patterned, came
before the United States supreme court
and was sustained by that court as a
Just exercise of the police power of the
state. Let me quote Justice Harlan In
the decision which upheld the anti-coloT
provision of the Massachusetts law. He
says. We are of the opinion that it is
within the power of any state to ex-
Clude from its markets any compound
manufactured in another state which
has been arufcially cOlOred or adulter-
ated, so as To make it look like an
article Of food in general use, and the