The Washington times., 1902-02-05
No Vote Reached and Bill
= Goes Over.
WAGHTER CITES SHAKESPEARE
Representative COyvherd Suggests
That Rye Whiskey he Co1Ored
Blue to Distinguish 1t From tho
Juice of the COrn-CIass Legisla-
tion, Declares MIR. GrOxvenOr.

Practically tie entire session Of the
House yesterday was devoted to the fur
ther consideration of the oleomargarins
bill. No action was taken upon the meas
ure, and unless a vote can be reached to-
day it may go over until Monday. Repre-
sentative Hemenway of Indiana. who Is
to have charge of the legislative. execu-
tive. and judicial appropriation BILL de-
| sires to get that measure before the House
on Thursday. and to have 1t disposed OF
before the end of the week. Notwithstand-
ing the fact that the oleo bill is special
order. the appropriation bill will have the
right Of way.
Debate Evenly Divided.
The debate for and against the measure
was quite evenly divided. Representative
Cowherd (Dem., MOI. who represents the
Kansas City district, where large quanti-
| ties OF the butterine product are manu-
factured, vigorously assailed the bill He
contende1 that II was legislation inter-
fering with legitimate industry. which
Congress had no right to destroy. AS well
might Congress attempt to enforce pro-
hibition in the States as to regulate the
sale of cleomargarine. Replying to tho
| argument that oleo was an imitation OF
butter, Mr.. Cowherd declared that silk
cline was an imitation Of silk; 1t was
| fraud upon the manufacture Of silk and the
| poor shop girl, garbed In a gown made
of it, might fiout herself past "milady''
| clad in the rustling silk from the Lyons
looms.
So. too. were silver-plated ware and
white metal. limitations of solid silver. yet
no one would dare suggest a measure to
tax these articles because they were imi-
| tations.
Blue Color for Rye Whiskey.
Becoming facetious. Mr.. Cowberd said IL
it was a matter of color in oieo which
made it look like butter, SO did rye
whiskey look like corn whiskey in color.
and tasted very much the same. He sue-
gested that the distillers of rye whiskey
be compelled to color their produce blue
in order that those who wanted to drink
the real juice of the corn might not be
imposed upon.
Mr.. Cowherd contended that the meas
ure was intended to strike down an hon.
est industry in which not only manufac-
turers, but the cattle raisers. the cot
ton-seed oil raisers. and other producers
were interested at the behest of the but
ter trust
Mr.. Grosvenor (Rep. Ohio also attack
ed the measure He opposed the princi-
pie OF the BILL and said there was no
limit to which such legislation might rot
be carried IL it should once be begin. II
was class legislation, he said. matter
where power superseded ri2c.- He be-
lieved in having articles stamped Just
what they were. SO that psople might
know what they were buying. but not in
| imposing a tax
OIeo Not to BE Strangied.
DO not imagine" shouted the Ohio
| Representative. that you are going to
! strangle oIeomargarine. 1t will be eaten
| long after you and l are dead. There is
r.o power in this or any other country
| which can dictate what a man shall eat
| or drink
! Mr.. Davidson (Rep.. Wis., supported the
measure. He admitted that his desire
! was to drive oleo out of the market. He
said the manufacturers advertised their
| business as a dairy industry, and deceived
the purchasers. He spoke at some length
of the dairy industry of Wisconsin.
Mr.. Driscou (Rep.. n. " declared that
/ if 10-cent tax would not stop the manu-
facture and safe Of oleo as butter that
he was willing to vote for 20-cent tax
| to stop the imitation. counterfeiting, and
imposition. He thought cleo should stand
! upon its own merits, and win its way
| without posing as butter.
Imposition on the Law.
| Let the manufacturers color it violet
| or orange he said; ''let them make it
| red. white and blue, and throw in a few
| stars, if they want to- 1t is better to
| desecrate the American flag than to i'm
| pose upon the American cow" Laugh
! teri
He admitted that he could not tell the
! difference between oleo and butter, and
! this caused Mr.. Wachter tRep., Md TO
! quote Shakespeare on him.
/ - He who is robbed and doesn't know it.
! isn't robbed at ALL as the Bard of Avon
/ says" declared the Maryland Representa-
| tive If you don't know the difference.
| what is the difference? Do you want
| trademark upon every piece you place in
| your mouth?'
! Mr. Driscoll said he only wanted to pre-
vent the fraud and imposition upon tho
/ purchaser.
Mr. Hepburn rep. Iowa) supported the
! measure contending that the principle iy
| the pending bill was the same as in the
| present law, which imposes a tax OF 3
| cents.
! Mr.. Kleberg Dem. Tex) opposed the
! bill. II was advocated by Mr.. Tompkins
| (Rep., ~ ". Mr.. Robb Dem. Mo- and
| others.