Evening star., 1916-10-08
e Sam Running Down C0unterfeiters of Butter

that he was under surveillance Of the
revenue officers. so he sold his business
for s7oO to his own brother. The vender
brother was caught, whereupon he
broke down and told the truth. Tho
brother was arrested as he was about
to take flight. The one got off with a
fine, but the other was sent to prison,
and. in addition. fined an amount equal
to that which he had taken from his
brother.
But nothing will deter a certain large
class of these petty offenders who think
the game worth the candle, the profit
worth the risk. for the small number q:
the field force makes IL extremely diff
cult to cover all the great territory
where the moonshners operate
But. unfortunately. not all adulter-
ated butter is made merely by the addi-
tion of water, which is, at least harm
less, but is made by the addition of
other things not so pleasant TO contem-
plate. or by refining or making a new
uniform product from different parcels
of butter or butter fat. in which chemi-
Gals are introduced to deodorize the ran
cidity. II lard or other animal fats or
certain oils are introduced. the product is
oleomargarine rather than the technical
adulterated butter.
Process or renovated butter Is butter
by which it is melted. clarified or re-
fined and made to resemble genuine but
ter. The manufacturers of this butter
are under the supervision of the Secre-
tary of Agriculture. as we'll as the rev.
enue men. and the product must he
packed in containers bearing the words.
renovated butter" or process butter"
but so marked it cannot be sold at the
prices of pure butter.
The expert field man always has his
eyes open and his wits active. Not very
long since a revenue field officer went
into a little store in the country to buy
some eggs for his own use, not sus-
pecting that there was anything wrong
about the place. He found two old peo-
pie engaged beating down lot of but
ter into some tubs. They told the young
man to wait until they finished their
work. He waited. when he that
they were packing renovated butter
and oleomargarine in new tubs with
out labels. very patiently.
When they had finished they sold him
a few dozen eggs. and he went off, He
coolly turned into an alley and waited
until a truck came up for the butter
Following it to the express Office he
found by its direction that its destina-
tion was one of the institutions sus-
tanned by the state. which was paving
the price for pure butter He went on
the same train with the artificial stuff
and on arrival seized it in the name
of the United States TO the surprise of
the expressman and the CONSERVATION
of the shipper and superintendent.
Constant vigilance is necessary. for
until human nature is changed persons
will be found ready to believe that they
can get away with new means to sell
the counterfeit production and escape
the consequences. Some invest thou
sands of dollars in their Illicit plants
others make their butter mixtures in
back rooms and use tin washboilers
for melting tanks.
Mr.. Keith and the men under his su-
pervision. whom he watches as cat
does mice. pit their wits, their courage,
experience and resources against the
counterfeiters and always win. No
without coming under suspicion, and
sooner or later the offender will be To-
Gated and properly dealt with.
The department maintains. under DR..
A. B. Adams and his six assistants, "A
well equipped laboratory, where sus-
pected samples are examined to deter
mine whether they are oleomargarine
or butter; if oleomargarine. whether
they are artificially colored; If butter.
whether they are adulterated or reno
waited.
During the fiscal year 1915 the total
revenue from oleomargarine, including
special taxes for licenses to wholesale
and retail dealers. was nearly s1,700.-
900.
The amount of butter annually
turned out from the creameries and
dairies and by farmers of the United
States is estimated at 100000. 900
pounds. There is manufactured in the
same time one-tenth of that amount
of oleomargarine. about 100000 900
pounds. The amount of adulterated
butter is not very great, while about
100000 pounds of renovated" but
ter are annually sold to the unsuspect-
ing public.
During the past year large amounts.
not yet exactly determined, have been
collected in unpaid taxes and fines.
Numerous convictions have been made
and many Illicit factories and sales
routes have been closed: but there is
still work for many more than the little
force available for \the purpose. It's
members have to make up in quality
what they lack in numbers to effective
ly protect all the Mrs. Housewives from
the designs of the unscrupulous deal
ers in counterfeit buffers.