The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1937-03-18
By Vim Weber

10y VIII VSOSA
''The fight must go on. The
cause of civil, liberty must not be
surrendered at the end of one or
even 100 defeats"
So said the immortal Lincoln in
a letter to H. Asbury, November
10, 1858 and today those words
rise to haunt us not infrequently,
for civil liberty is rapidly becom-
ing something of a misnomer,
though the courts go on uninter-
ruptedly.
And one of those fights which
had something to do with "civil
liberty" occurred in the senate
this week, when the much talked
of bill on "the manufacture and
sale of olemargarine" came up for
consideration. 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 preme-
ditated so that the author might
work up sympathy in the rural
district and start an ava
lanche of letters, petitions, re-
solutions, and what have you
in support of the bill. But
such sinister motives were I'M
availing for after some three or
four hours of consideration, dur
ing which the stentorian voices of
not a few of the senators lifted
the rafters, the bill was finally
killed by a vote of 35 to 81.
This writer was not a member
of the committee which heard the
pros and cons of the bill, but he
heard plenty of argument on the
foor-aplenty to have him vote
against the bill when his original
plans were to vote therefore. 1t
was a peculiar proposition. On
the one hand there was Senator
Fay Cravens, author of the bill
urging its passage and threaten
ing members of the senate of the
eternal wrath of agriculturists
and dairymen if they dared OPP
pose it and on the other hand
there were agriculturists and
dairymen fighting the bill as too
drastic and one which would
bring about retaliatory measures
in states buying Minnesota but
ter, notably the southern states.
It was Senator Arvid Ruotsino-
ia, of Meeker county, dirt farm
err and real thinker who sounded
the economic, logical, indiSput-
able facts that caved in the best
that Senator CravenS had to offer.
1t was learned that not a single
dairy organization appeared be-
fore the committee considering
the bill in opposition to it, and OF
course, when such organizations
as the Land O'Lakes, the Farm
Bureau and the Twin City milk
producers association did not ap-
pear 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
associations in the state urging
support, and while many men,
bers were besieged with tele-
grams, 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 contained in the Ruot-
sinoja speech before the senate.
He said:
"At the present time, there is
much agitation about the oleo-
margarine bill, which is pending
before the senate. My personal
conviction is that this bill should
not be passed. There is some sup
port for this bill, but that is be-
cause the people have been mis-
informed and do not understand
what the bill contains.
Minnesota, at present, has
law that prohibits the sale of OIL
eomargarine that contains any
foreign ingredients such as cocoa
nut oil, etc. 1t also prohibits the
sale of oleomargarine which does
not contain at least IS per cent
animal fat, such as pork or beef
fat. To ascertain the contents of
oleomargarine offered for sale on
the Minnesota markets, l bought
a pound recently. The formula
printed on the package informed
the ingredients were as follows:
70 per cent pork fat, Is per cent
moisture, 312 per cent salt, 112
per cent milk solids and 10 per
cent cottonseed oil. From these
- l,o<