Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-02-16
PROTECTING BUTTER MAKERS.
President w. e, Carter Of the Vermont
Dairymen's Association Tells Of the
New Law CURLING oleo Men.


terest to the farmers as well as all
purchasers of butter or oleomargarine
was sent out recently by w. e. Carter
of Pittsford to the members of the
Dairyman's association
To the members of the Vermont Dairy
mans association
AS you may remember, at the meeting
of the Vermont Dairymens association
in Burlington, in January, Congressman
Foster asked that representative be sent
to Washington to assist Mr.. Plumley in
opposing the repeal of the Grout oleo-
margarine law. The choice fell on me
for no other reason, apparently, except
that / had the time.
l went to Washington and found the
situation somewhat peculiar; the oleo-
margarine manufacturers were urging
that since their product was pure,
wholesome article of food, and so recog-
nized by the pure food and drug act, that
the law hindered the legitimate expan-
sion of their business.
The labor organizations, on account of
the present high prices of butter, were
demanding the repeal of the law, having
the mistaken notion that its repeal would
lower the price Of butter, or at least en-
able them to purchase a substitute at
low price Allied with the above inter-
ests was the internal revenue depart
ment. The solicitor general of internal
to enforce the law owing to its inherent
defects, and that the law itself was an
inducement to fraud and furnished the
means of perpetrating such fraud.
I must confess that I, like most farm
ers was possessed with the idea that the
tax on oleomargarine was 10 cents
pound. / found that the tax under the
Grout law was one-fourth of a cent
pound, but the law specifies that on the
cleo, "artificially' colored, a tax of 10
cents a pound must be paid. The "arti-
ficially" was the joker. The courts held
| that an essential ingredient" which
entered into the composition of cleo,
however much it might color the product,
| could not be held to be artificial color.
| Consequently the manufactures of oleo
| sought for and employed oils and IN
gradients which while entering into the
| composition of the substance would pro-
| duce the yellow color. Furthermore, the
| tax on uncolored oleo being one-fourth
of cent, and on colored 10 cents was
| the great inducement to fraud. the
dealers secured their license to sell both
colored and uncolored. purchased few
| packages of the colored on which the
| tax of 10 cents had been paid, then pur-
chased large quantities of uncolored
which they colored themselves and sold
from the packages which bore the stamI
for colored oleomargarine. They coulo
easily do this for the law specified that
the stamp on the package must not be
destroyed until such package was
empty. The result was that the dealer
never allowed the package to gel
empty.
| learned from the solicitor that of thu
11S,000 600 pounds of oleo removed fo
consumption in the United States las
year, that only per cent paid tax a
colored, while over 10000, 600 pound
reached the consumer as colored oleo
ri large
cent was sold as butter. The tax col
lected from the oleomargarine manu-
facturers was less than 100000. Hal
the law been enforced and the tax o
10 cents a pound on the 100000
pounds which was sold as colored oleo
margarine been collected, you can readil
see that. the revenue would have bee
over $4,000, 600.
The solicitor told us of case after cas-
where conviction could not be had al
though dealers were caught with the un
colored product, the coloring matter, an
the appliances for coloring in their pos
session. The judges before whom tn
cases were brought claimed that tn
revenue department must show tn
actual sale of the indentical piece col
ored. This, of coure, they could not dc
. hence the cases were dismissed.
Having all the above facts before M
and becoming convinced not only tha
the law would be repealed or amended
but that it should at least be amended
> it seemed to me wiser to help conciliat
! the different interests and aid in secul
ing the passage of a law which woul
correct the defects in the Grout law an
e safeguard the interests of the butte
I maker while assisting the oleo mani
Y facturer Remember that the latter wa
y not the man who was perpetrating II
fraud and was as anxious that the la
. be enforced as was the dairyman.
The agricultural committee appointt
a sub committee to draft a new lay
This subcommittee first agreed that Il
butter maker was entitled to protectiC
0 from fraud in his market and the oil
y manufact was likewise entitled
= the free and unhindered market to 81
= his product for what it is. This SUI
s committee was composed of five men
= bers, one being from our second congre
= sional district, Frank Plumley, who
e voice and Judgment carried great weig
e in framing the bill which was finally r
d ported This committee invited the re
e resentatives of the different interests
n come before 1t, and, mingling in
d deliberations, to assist it in framing
!; bill which should be satisfactory to a
r The oleomargarne manufacturers as
s ed that the word to designate the pro
!. uct be changed to "margarin," this b
= ing the foreign name for the produ'
They also asked that they be allowed
10 pounds in size. The dairy interes
insisted that the size of the origin
! package should not be larger than on
half and one pound, that the mar
; should be deeply indented in the su
70 stance, that the strip stamp used on I
n bacco should be so placed around I
~ package as to effectually seal 1t, a
a that this stamp could be broken only
- the consumer. This seemed to us to
a the most effectual method Of PREVENT
4 the frauds heretofore practiced by I
y dealer and safeguarding the prodr
II until it reached the hands of the co
"a sumer 1 am pleased to state that all
: the demands OF the dairymen, as stat
q above, were reported in the bill.
~ The fixing of the tax was left to I
% revenue department, and while tn
- asked that tax OF 20 cents a pound
~ imposed on the product, they agreed tt
- a tax of one cent which could and wo'
q, be collected under this new law, wo'
- be enough to enforce the law. Fines a
-, penalties were increased and made me
y, 20 severe so that felt that II the bill as
t ported becomes law, the dairy intere
of the United States will be far bet
protected than under the old law.
. w. e. CARTER, President of the W
20 mont Dairyman's Association.
,s Rutland, VT Feb. 3, 1912.