The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1915-07-02
CLEO FRAUDS TOTAL
sum OF $27,OOO,OOO
Secretary McAdoo's Known lnVestI.
cation Covering Stretch of Thir-
teen Years Back.

| Washington.-How Vi0iators Of the
OieOmaTgarine law have defTaudeC
! the federal government out Of at leas
$27, 000,0 900 due in stamps and specia
taxes was revealed this week by Sec
rotary MCAdoO in a statement based
upon a preliminary report on sweep
ing investigation conducted by Com
missioner Osborn of the internal rev
enue bureau.
Frauds committed as long ago as
1902 Immediately after the enactment
Of the law have been uncovered by
the commissioner.
Unpaid taxes aggregating 1851, 900
have been recovered and deposited in
the treasury, with the prospect Of fur
Their large collections. Forty-two Vio-
lators of the law have been convicted
since the 1st Of January and twenty
nine of these have been given prison
sentences.
Fines aggregating $4,000 have
been assessed in addition to the re-
coVeries actually made and the an
nouncement declares that while fraud
ulent practices of this sort have been
checked, the investigation will be con-
tinued land every lawbreaker brought
to justice"
The announcement shows that
since 1902 more than 20O,000,00O
pounds Of colored oleomargarine have
been manufactured and fraudulent
ly sold as uncolored oleomargarine.
ut is believed" 1t says, that a
great part of the product reached con-
sumers as butter This amount rep
resents more than twice the average
yearly consumption Of both colored
and uncolored oleomargarine by the
people of the United States since the
present law went into effect
approximately 185,000,0O0 pounds
of this 20000O,000 pounds were sold
by oleomargarine manufacturers to
dealers as uncolored oleomargarine
and then in many cases sold to the
ultimate consumer as butter. The re-
100000 pounds were made
by butter manufacturers and sold as
butter without the payment of any
tax"
The law imposes a tax OF 10c a,
pound on colored oleomargarine and
Nc per pound on the uncolored prod
uct. In perpetrating these frauds the
oleomargarine manufacturers have
paid only the Nc when they should
have paid 10c, or in the case of but
ter manufacturers who sold the prod
uct as butter no tax was paid when
the government should have received
l0c per pound.
The announcement says that six
million frauds have been detected In
TWO years and that as a consequence
Of the activity of the internal revenue
bureau, aided by the department OF
Justice, receipts under the oleomar.
sarine law in 1914 and 1915 have been
"A per cent Of the total collections
since 1902. The total collections from
1902 to 1913 were $9,628,s65, while in
1914 and 1915 $3,O41,O40 was collect.
I'd.
While there was total Of approx.
nately $27,000,OO0 in taxes due the
from the larger offenders,
continues the announcement, only 81.
10000 was within the assessable pe
Tod of years fixed by the statute, the
emaining taxes being unassessable
md recoverable only by suit Steps
vii be taken to recover this balance
rom one manufacturer alone 1t is be-
ieved the total collections ultimately
will reach $1,150,O0O. The recoyeries
epresent the seizure of plants, as.
essment OF evaded taxes and negotia-
ions to settle civil liability.