Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-07-15
MAY YET HAVE OLEO
Manufacturers Said to Have Found
Loophole in New Law.
GAINS FEARS OF FESTIVE HOTEL MAN
White Product and coIoring Pill
Scheme Said to Be the PIan-Notice
of Program Sent to Commissioner of
Internal Revenue Yerkes.
Washington, D. c., July 10.

Washington, D. c., July 10.
There are indications that butter
will be cheaper. This bit of news, in
case it should materialize, will be I'M
welcome to millions of farmers, but 1t
will be hailed with satisfaction by
millions of wage earners and clerks
and non-producers in the cities.
Will Make oleo.
The grounds for the presumption
that butter will be cheaper lies in the
fact that the manufacturers of oleo-
margarine, Notwithstanding the rough
handling they received at the hands OF
both houses Of congress appear to
have circumvented the law and assert
that they will go ahead making oleo
eating the product and further that
they will not be able to distinguish
the said oleo from the best creamery
butter they have been eating and pay
ing from thirty to thirty-fve cents per
pound for.
Fear of Leaving Loophole.
This comes as a rather startling
greeting in view of the time devoted
to the consideration of the oleo propo-
sition during the last session of con-
gress During the consideration of
the question in the house there was a
constant fear lurking that some slip
would be made or some point or open
ing left unguafded that would permit
the oleo manufacturers to defeat the
intent of the law The bill passed the
house, however, and was passed on to
the senate. The latter deliberative
body Immediately claimed to have dis
covered several mares nests; loopholes
and opportunities for leaks. They pro-
posed that the bill should be air and
steam-hght when it left the senate and
that the cleo manufacturer would be
sewed up into double hard knot.
The Pill Scheme.
Here only ten days of the new fiscal
year have passed and now comes the
irrepressible oleo manufacturer who
Gains the fears of the FESTIVE boarding
housekeeper and the dining car man
and the hotel man and the wage earn
er with words of encouragement. The
law has made it impossible for him
! (the manufacturer to give the butter
inc that appetizing, soothing shade of
yellow that causes bread to go down
easily. but the manufacturer blandly
says he will furnish the hotel man and
the dining car man and the wage
Garner with a bit of "a pill when he
buys cake of oleo. With this bit OF
a pill and your cake of pure white olec
you can beat even the wise and de
liberate senator. Just place the pill
upon the cake of oleo, make few
| def passes and the job is done. You
have product that even the wisest
senator could not distinguish from the
finest creamery butter that ever float
ed in the churn of4an Iowa factory.
Uncle Sam No Richer.
The pill is worth just ten cents tt
the consumer. The pearl hued olee
is worth about fifteen cents per pound
Uncle Sam gets the ten cents. Tha
is, he would get 1t if the cleo manu-
facturer mixed the pill with the white
Ioleo at the oleo factory. If the manu-
facturer sends the pill along with thu
cake of oleo, Uncle Sam gets not
cent more than heretofore-the gov
eminent tax is but one-fourth of on,
; cent per pound on the uncolored pro
duct.
To Evade Tax.
: There is no guess work about this
Some of the largest makers Of OLE
in the country have formally notifie,
Commissioner of Internal Revenu
Yerkes that their program include,
the white oleo and the pill scheme
!, There is no beating about the bush
The manufacturers boldly say the lay
prohibits the manufacturer from colol
ing oleo with coloring material at tn
factory under pain of payment of
tax of ten cents per pound. The
give the Commissioner notice, how
> ever, with considerable glee, tina
each patron of pound of cleo a pi
composed Of harmless coloring con
pound. The oleo is in it's nature
state; white; and the pill is not eve
. in contact with the cake of cleo. 1t |
free will Offering of great an
generous corporation to a needy pa
ron whom the oleo people believe ha
|. been Disseminated against by col
= gress.
> Have Another Card.
The oleo folks have another hig
" card up their sleeve which they ar
preparing to play. 1t is claimed thu
an oil has been discovered known a
palm oip' which used in connectio
with oleo imparts fine yellow shad
to the product which closely resemble
June butter color. This oil is pur
vegetable product, more nutritious an
cheaper than cotton-seed oil and in e
cry way more desirable for use tina
the latter By substituting porto
of this oil for cotton-seed oil the ole
is given the golden color without ami
fetal means and the finished produt
will, it is claimed, deceive the averag
consumer of butter.
viii Have Their OIeo.
These matters have been given clio
est attention by the commissioner br
he seems to be able to find no metho
by which the oleo manufacturers ma