The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-03-18

THE fight must go on. The cause
of civil liberty must not be surrendered
at the end of one or even enc hundred
defeats"
So said the immortal Lincoln in a
letter to H. ASbury, on November 10
1858 and today these words rise tc
haunt us not infrequently, for civil
liberty is rapidly becoming something
of a misnomer, though the courts &C
on uninterruptedly.
And one of these fights which hao
something to do with civil liberty,
occurred in the Senate this week when
the much talked of bill on "the manu-
facture and sale of oleomargarine came
I'D in the Senate for consideration on
General Orders. The bill had been on
General Orders for weeks and had been
progressed" from time to time. To one
who receives much mail, the delay was
premeditated so that the author might
work up sympathy in the rural dis
tricts and start an avalanche of letters,
petitions, resolutions, and what have
u,
sinister motives were unavailing for
after some three of the Senators lifted
the rafters, the bill was finally killed
by vote of 35 to q.
This writer was not member of the
committee which heard the pros and
cons of the bill, but he heard plenty of
argument on the floor-plenty to have
him vote against the bill when his
original plans were to vote therefor.
1t was peculiar proposition. On the
one hand there was Senator Fay
CravenS, author of the bill, urging its
passage and threatening members of
the Senate of eternal wrath of agricul-
turists and dairymen if they dared to
oppose it, and on the other hand there
were agriculturists and dairymen fight
ing the bill as too drastic and one which
would bring about retaEatory measures
in states buying Minnesota butter, not
ably the southern states.
1t was Senator Arvid Ruotsinoja, of
Meeker county, a dirt farmer and real
thinker who sounded the economic, logi-
cal, indisputable facts that caved in
the best that Senator CarvenS had to
offer. 1t was learned that not single
dairy organization appeared before the
committee considering the bill in OPP
position to it, and of course, when such
organizations as the Land O. Lakes, the
Farm Bureau and the Twin City Mix
Producers Association, and their like,
did not appear in opposition it gave
Senate members reasons for suspicion
that all was not well.
But, while Senator Cravens had
mailed a letter to all creamery ascot
ationS in the state urging support,
and while many members were besieged
with kilograms, letters and petitions,
when the purport of the propaganda
that was issued came up against the
cold light of reasoning fact, as expressed
by Senator Ruotsinoja, there was little
left for Senator Cravens to say.
Let me, if you will please, quote a
brief statement of the highlights con-
tanned in the Ruotsinoja speech before
the Senate. He said:
"At the present time, there is much
agitation about the oleomargarine bill
which is pending before the Senate.
My personal conviction is that this bill
should not be passed. There is some
support for this bill, but that is because
the people have been misinforme6 and
do not understand what the bill con-
tainS.
Minnesota at present, has a law that
prohibits the sale of oleomargarine that
contains any foreign ingredients such
as cocoanut oil, etc. 1t also prohibits
the sale of oleomargarine which does
not contain at least sixty-five per cent
ANIMAL fat such as pork or beef fat To
ascertain the contents of oleomargarine
offered for sale on the Minnesota mar
kets, bought pound recently. The
formula printed on the package in
formed the ingredients were as fol-
lows: 10 per cent pork fat, Is per cent
moisture, 81 per cent salt, ~ per cent
milk solids and 10 per cent cottonseeo
oil. From these percentages it can be
seen that the oleomargarine contained
no imported products.
There is consumed today in Min
nesota less than 100000 pounds OF
oleomargarine. From the figures, we
can see that, outside of the salt, only
10 per cent, namely, the cottonseed oil
is produced outside of Minnesota
Otherwise, the oleomargarine is en-
tirely Minnesota product. This II
per cent of cottonseed oil, less thar
100000 pounds annually. amounts tt