The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1913-03-13
he DEFENDS THE
0LE0 COMPROMISE
MacVeagh Says Government Never
Charged Fraud.
The COLOR ONLY WAS INVOLVED
The Former Secretary Of the Treasury
Declares the Manufacturers Bought
OH Later Found Treated
With Sulphur.

| lnlcagO, Mar. 1O.-F'ranklin Mac
Veagh, former secretary of the treas
ury, has issued a statement defend
ing his compromise of the oleomar
garine suits, in which the government
accepted $123,O00 in settlement Of
claims totalling $1,2OO,900. Mr.. Mac
Veagh asserted that no intentional
fraud existed in the cases and that
the settlement was on recommends
ton of the bureau of internal reve.
nue..
These were not fraud cases." said
Mr.. MacVeagh. "No fraud was com,
ml'ted and no fraud therefore wa2
compromised. There are oleomargar-
inc cases and oleomargarine cases.
These Of which the public has heard
most are fraud cases.
Manufacture of two kinds of cleo.
margarine is permitted by law. One
may be artificially colored, as may
butter and cheese. This kind must
pay a tax of 10 cents pound. The
other and usual kind is taxed at I,
OF cent pound and must not be
artiiicially colored. 1t may be nat
Nrally colored by the cclors naturally
permitted in it's ingredients. There
is constant effort to obtain natural
color in the permitted ingredients
This effort is, of course, an entirely
legitimate enterprise and within tne
law.
Crude Oil CoIored.
1T happens that cotlonseed oil IS
one of the chief ingredients Of oleo-
margarine and also that this oil in
its crude state is colored In the pro-
cess of refining cotton seed oil, how
ever, for use in oleomargarine, the
color has been lost, at least in any
process not too expensive to become
commercially available. Thus the
are searching for
process of refining cotton seed oil by
an economical process without losing
its color.
Now an Ohio chemist claims to
have invented method that solves
the problem and an oil company in
an oleomargarine COM
pany-used this invention and in 1911
was claimed to be natural. This oil
was offered to oleomargarine manu-
facturers.
"The oleomargarne people brought
the oil to the attention of the bureau
Of internal revenue. The oil then was
.ested by the chemical laboratory OF
he bureau, by the laboratories of the
,leomargarine manufacturers and by |
private laboratories. 1t also was test
I'd for sulphur continuously by the |
bureau of animal industry. No one
'ould find any artificial color.
Began to Use Oil.
Finally the manufacturers of oleo-
connected with these cases
became apparently so certain of the
egality of this oil that they began &c
Use it with the knowledge of the bu-
eau of internal revenue, but without
he bureaus final decision.
"The oil was thus openly used for
ONE months when the bureau, by
ew chemical inquiries, became salts.
ed that the oil, after all, was arti-
cially colored by sulphur. When this
,as announced all manufacturers OF
quit using the oil.
ut must be understood that manu-
acturers of oleomarGarine were not
of the oil. They We're
aerely purchasers.
District Judge Lands is expected
his week to instruct the special :
rand jury he caused to be sum-
toned to reopen the investigation Of
LEGGED oleomargarine tax frauds.
Witnesses subpoenaed include officers
Louisville concern manufactur- =
lg cottonseed oil. q,