Askov American., 1943-11-11
Move ToRelease
Federal Control
OF Oleo Fought
New Legislation As Nation
al Policy Has Interesting
Possibilities, Brandt SAYS.

Continuing his battle against the
oleomargarine interests, John Brandt,
president of Land O'Lakes Creamer-
les, Inc, and head of the National
Cooperative Milk Producers Fedora
ton, this week said that the quest
ion of oleomargarine control legis-
lation as national policy has inter-
esting possibilities.
While in the United States bill
has been introduced in Congress and
is now being seriously debated in
committee, to eliminate all controls
on this imitation product, Brandt
pointed out that Canada has not seen
fit to relax its outright prohibition of
the product even under stress of war
needs.
GA house committee in Washington
Tuesday voted to defer action on
repeating legislation regulating the
manufacture and sale of oleomarga-
rine during the present session of
Congress. The repeater would have
lifted present taxes on margarine,
amounting to IA cent per pound, or
10 cents on colored oleo.)
Sale Not Limited.
''In the United States we have, at
present, laws which limit fraudulent
practices in the sale of this product;
but the federal laws have always
made oleomargarine readily avail
able to those who may want to buy
the product" Brandt said. 'The fed
eral tax on uncolored oleomargarine
is only one-fourth of one cent per
pound which does not limit the sale
of the product.
"On the other hand, in Canada, the
national policy has been based on the
theory that the Dominion needs
strong dairy industry as matter of
providing the best possible diet and
protecting the health of the people.
AS result there is an outright ban
on the manufacture and sale of oleo-
margarine for domestic. This rule
has not been changed during wartime
There is only one oleomargarine fac
tory in Canada. This is located in
Newfoundland and the entire output
of this plant is shipped to the British
Isles"
No Subsidy.
"The oleomargarine people COM
plain that a prohibitive tax prevents
the sale of their product to the Amer
ican people," Brandt declared recen-
Ac
people, who have never taken the
trouble to look up the federal law,
have been so taken in by the oleo
argument that they have called the
oleomargarine laws form of sub
siby for dairy farmers. Nothing
could be farther from the truth.
1.-THE federal tax on oleomargarine,
Brandt continued, "is only one-fourth
cent per pound. By no stretch of the
imagination can anyone call this a
'prohibitive' tax that prevents the
oleomargarine people from selling
their product to the American people
"Of course, this tax of one-fourth
cent per pound is not the tax that the
oleomargarine people talk about. But
it is the tax that applies to all except
a very small part of the oleomarg-
arine manufactured at the present
time. And it is the tax that they
would lead the people to think that
they are talking about because they
constantly refer to all oleomargar-
inc.
Tax Protects Consumers.
There is an additional federal tax
of 10 cents per pound on the manu-
facture and sale of oleomargarine, but
this tax applies only if the product
is colored yellow in imitation of but
ter This however, is just as much
protection for consumers as it is for
dairy farmers.
''The 10 cents tax on colored oleo-
margarine protects the people by
making it difficult for the oleo inter-
ests to fool the consumer into think
ing he his getting butter when he his
not. Retention of this tax is in the
national interest. 1t is demaned by
dairy farmers, who have always said
that the oleo people could color their
product with any tint they might
possible desire except the yellow that
means real butter to the great mass
of the American people,"
Aged Finlayson