The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-10-06

RAaon Building was about finished, when what happens? OPM and Ord nance move in, leaving the Gov. just one wing for his immediate staff. The Gov. is ensconced there now in all his splendor, looking just as handsome, hale and hearty as ever, handsomer even in the flesh than the new life-size painting of him that hangs on the wall at the side of his desk.
 Somehow, the Cows best efforts just don't jell. The campaign to build up civilian morale Is in ditch. The nutrition campaign backflred. And now the Gov. is up to his ears in of all thnigs-oleomargarine.
 BATTLE OF FATS
 Unless you're a dairyman or an oleo manufacturer, you probably haven't been following this battle of animal vs. vegetable fats, but 1t is one of those lovely rows that happen in Washington every so often, mak- irg 1t such a jolly place. More fun. T never was more surprised in all my life," Governor McNutt confesses, than at all the repercussions this stirred up."
 The Food and Drug Administra- ton, now one of McNutts' babies in the Federal Security Agency family, but before that longtime Depart ment of Agriculture demander of pure foods, recently issued an order raising the minimum standards for oleomargarine. Food and Drug held the customary hearings, though some of the dairy industry people say they didn't know about 1t ard didn't have a chance to speak their piece. Anyway, after the hearings, the order was put out over McNutt's signature, specifying that oleo must have so much fats and so many vita rnins. What had happened, of course, was that oleo industry re- search had been improving the quail ity of the product so that it was vitamin enriched, and 1t even had @ pretty close imitation butter flavor.
 Shortly after the new oleo order was issued, the Consumers Counsel Division of the Department of Agri- culture sponsored a broadcast in which cnsumers were told that oleo- margarine was much cheaper than butter, and that 1t was now an im- portant food of its own account. That was when the fireworks really began.
 Dairymen and creamery men be- gan to see oleo nightmares. They held local protest meetings, and then national meeting in Chicago. A United Dairy committee of two rep resentatives from each of 9 prin- cipal dairying states and one repre- sentative from each of 10 principal dairy industry trade associations was formed to fight.
 Congressman Bernard J. Gehr- mann of Mellen, Wis, and August Fl. Andresen of Red Wing, Minn., were two of the leaders. Consumers Cour. sel and. Food and Drugs caught 1t, plenty. Cleo manufacturers were charged with raising a fund of @ million and a half dollars to adver- tiSe the new standard oleo, which they claimed even tasted like butter. Ardresen finally introduced a bill which would prohibit the sale and movement in interstate com merce of oleo made under McNutt standards.
 SET FOR SECOND HEARING
 With all this fat in the fire-butter fat and vegetable fat--a delegation from the United Dairy committee, headed by R. E. Ammon of Madison, Wis, came down to Washington to see McNutt to ask that the hearings be reopened so the dairvmen could have their say.
 But consider the grease spot this put Governor McNutt on. He called a press conference to explain his side of the predicament. Reporters were kept waiting 45 minutes while the dairymen were closeted in McNutt'S handsome milk house. Then the re- porters were ushered out of the re- ception room and into an ante room so they wouldn't meet the protesting dairymen as they came out of the McNutt offlce. That one was too old, and didn't work. MT. Ammon and his committee came out smiling. The governor had agreed to talk the thing over with his Food and Drug people again, and see If they should reopen the case.
 But pity poor Paul. If he sticks to the new oleo standards he has made all the dairymen sore-and there are a lot of votes in those 2 dairying states, Governor. If he lets down the Food and Drug Administration in its long, hard-fought, sincere efforts to improve the quality of all food products, he will have compromised the virtue of one of the few lily whites left among Uncle Sam's de- partmental nieces.