Evening star., 1949-03-06
|HouseC Vote
On CoIored 0|eo Ban
Scheduled tuesday
By ChoImers M. Roberts

mittee will vote Tuesday on the
dairy butter interests yproposal te
ban the sale of colored oleomar.
garine, now available in 20 States
and the District.
If the measure should become
law, colored margarine would he
taken from groceries in the Dis
trict, Maryland and Virginia.
The committee yesterday con-
cluded its week of hearings on the
butter -oleo@ controversy. session:
marked up to the final hour by
wrangling among members. Al
the conclusions, the two chief an
tagonists-Representative Poage,
Democrat, of Texas. for oleo, and
Representative Andersen, Re
publican, of Minnesota, for but
ter-both tried to get in the last
word.
Poage Charges Deception"
Mr.. Poage charged the butter
dairy bill. introducted by MIR
Andersen and apparently sup
ported by a narrow majority OF
the 27-man committee. is a
tricky and deceptive suggestion. .
Mr.. Andersen declared it simply
was to prevent a fraud on the
public by those who would color
oleo yellow in imitation Of but
ter"
While there are some 80 bills
before the committee for consid-
Grafton at Tuesday morning s
executive session, the battle is be-
tween the Poage and Andersen
measures.
Both bills would end the pres
ent heavy taxes and license fees
on manufacturers, wholesalers
and retailers of oleo. They would
end the one-fourth-c -cent-a-pound
tax on white oleo and the 10-cent-
a-pound tax on the yellow variety
the reason so many housewives
now mix in the color themselves.
Results Would Be Widespread.
But the Andersen bill would go
further and ban the manufacture.
transportation or sale of any col
ored oleo. The results of such a
measure would be extensive. In
1899 about 900, 100000 pounds of
margarine was consumed in this
country of which about 101 100000
pounds was precolored. and on
each pound the consumer paid a
10-cent tax.
Yesterdays hearing again
brought up the statement made
Friday by Representative Sutton,
Democrat, of Tennessee, a COM
mittee member, that he had been
told that a dairy lobbyist had
threatened him with political
oblivion if he did not support the
butter point of view.
Mr.. Andersen said the story had
done harm to the lobbyist. Charles
w. Holman, of the National Co.
operative Milk Producers Fedora
ton. Mr.. Sutton said that as far
as he was concerned Mr.. Holman's s
earlier declaration that the report
was "a malicious lie" ended the
matter.
+ Many Support Andersen.
Half a dozen House members
testified at the final hearing yes
terday. all in favor of the Andre
sen measure. One. Representative
Vursell, Republican, of Illinois
said that if he were looking out
for my political hide. che would
take the oleo side of the controv-
ersy. But. he said. he personally
backs the butter-dair position
that free sale of colored oleo
would injure the dairy industry
One report heard at yesterday 6
meeting was that the butter dairy
forces will move in committee to
substitute for the Andersen meas
ure an identical bill introduced
by Representative, Granger. Demo-
crat, of Utah. The theory Of fsthis
proposal is that it would take
some of :, the steam out OF the
charge the butter bill is a Repub-
lican measure. Mr.. Granger was
the only Democrat on the COM
mittee to vote last year for the
dairy-butter position. The Demo-
cratic platform calls for tax re-
peal.
But Republican who will vote
for the airy-butter measure told
a reporter it makes little differ
ence what the committee votes.
He said the House would never
accept the Andersen measure and
would vote to substitute the Poage
bill if the committee backs the
butter lobby bill.
Early English cook, books re-
ferred to pie crust as the coffin. :"
apparently because mince pies IN
those days were baked in an OBJ
lorr chona