S. S. HADLEY,
Cedar Rapids, Nebr.
Here is one signed by B. J, Tierney, of Ansley, Nebr., which reads
as follows:
ANSLEY, NEBR., April IS, 1900.
J. A. HAKE, Esq.,
South Omaha, Nebr.
DEAR SIR: I understand that a committee from the South Omaha Exchange will
visit Washington, D. C., in the near future for the purpose of discouraging the
passage of House bill No. 6, regarding the manufacturing of butterine and oleomar
garines, and I trust you may be successful, for in my opinion the passage of such a
bill would be against the interests and highly detrimental to farmers and all grow-
ers of stock, inasmuch as the effect would be to limit the use of all animal fats and
oils.
This section is practically an agricultural and farming region, bnt I am shipping
from Ansley annually about 1,000 head of cattle and from nine to ten thousand
head of hogs, and I estimate that if the proposed bill should become a law it would
diminish the aggregate value of the stock shipped from this place alone from $4,000
to $6,000, all of which must of necessity fall on the grower.
Sincerely believing that the best interests of the small farmer and stock growers
will be promoted by the defeat of the proposed measure, I am,
Yours, truly,
B. J. TIERNEY.
Here is one, dated Lewellen, Nebr., April 10. That is in your dis-
trict, Mr. Neville?
Mr. NEVILLE. Yes, sir. That is from Mr. Delatour, isn't it?
Mr. HAKE. Yes, sir. Mr. Delatour's letter reads as follows :
LEWELLEN, NEBR., April 10, 1900.
J. A. HAKE, Esq.,
President South Omaha Live Stock Exchange.
DEAR SIR: I trust the South Omaha Livestock Exchange will take an active part
in trying to defeat House bill No. 6, which contemplates a tax of 10 cents a, pound on
manufactured butter, butterine, or oleomargarine. The increase of the tax will pro-
hibit the manufacturing and sale of said articles. The enactment of this law will
reduce the value of our stock from $1 to $2 per head. The law as itnow stands seem*
to be liberal to the dairy interest and it should not clamour for any more legislation,
and especially for legislation that will result in great damage and loss to another
legitimate industry.
Very respectfully, yours, 8. P. DKLATOUB.
(*160) .
OLEOMABGARINE. 743
The CHAIRMAN. Who is Mr. S. P. Delatour? What is his occupation!
Mr. HAKE. He is a grower of stock and is outside of the agricultural
districts. They raise very little crops in his di strict raise some corn and
some alfalfa, but he is practically a range man.
Mr. NEVILLE. He is one of the brand commissioners of the State of
Nebraska.
Mr. HAKE. This letter of Mr. Tierney and those of the others go to
show who they are. Here is a letter from Mr. T. B. Hord :
CENTRAL CITY, NEBR., April 7, 1900.
The REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OP NEBRASKA,
The Senate and the House of Congress, Washington, D. C.
GENTLEMEN : Being largely interested in the production and maturing of cattle,
hogs, and sheep in the State of Nebraska, I feel it to be a great injustice to not only
myself but to producers at large to have the present oleomargarine bill now pend-
ing in Congress; if passed, would positively prohibit the manufacture of oleomarga-
rine or butterine, for which the butter fats of the cattle, hogs, and sheep is used.
Last year I matured and disposed of 17,000 cattle, 12,000 hogs, and 12,000 sheep.
It means $2 a head on each head of cattle matured, 50 cents on each hog, and 25 cents
on each sheep, amounting to $43,000. We are practically feeding the same numbers
this year.
Such a reduction last year would have shown a loss in our business and this year
a much greater one, and we sincerely hope that you will use your best endeavors to
defeat said bill.
Very respectfully, yours, T. B. HORD.
T. B. Hord is a grower of cattle on the ranges and a feeder in the
agricultural districts. He moves them down from the ranges and feeds
them on corn and prepares them for the market.
Mr. DAHLE. Eegardiug the way he expresses it there, do you regard
it as a fair statement as to the amount of difference it would make on
the value of hogs, cattle, and sheep ? That does not agree with your
claim, as I understand it.
Mr. HAKE. Practically it does on cattle.
Mr. DAHLE. It does on cattle?
Mr. HAKE. That question
Mr. DAHLE. How about hogs?
Mr. HAKE. Twenty cents; of course
Mr. DAHLE. You figure about 20 cents?
Mr. HAKE. Yes, sir. He has estimated 50 cents.
Mr. DAHLE. How about sheep?
Mr. HAKE. Sheep hardly enter into the business that he does. Of
course he does not understand much about that.
Mr. DAHLE. He does not understand it?
Mr. HAKE. This letter is gotten up and written by himself, you
understand.
Mr. DAHLE. Does it appear that he does understand it from that?
Mr. HAKE. He understands that the fat out of a certain animal, and
to a certain amount, and of a certain variety goes into these oleo oils,
and he takes it that the sheep, knowing them to be tallow producers
the same as the cattle, that the tallow of these sheep would enter into
it the same.
Mr. DAHLE. But it does show that he does not know anything about it?
Mr. HAKE. I do not think that he fully understands that.
Mr. DAHLE. He does not understand that fully?
Mr. HAKE. I think it shows a larger estimate than the absolute facts
would warrant.
The CHAIRMAN. I would suggest that there are two or three of these
gentlemen, and we had better let them be heard and then ask them
questions.
(161)
744 OLEOMABGABINE.
Mr. DAHLE. Very well.
Mr. HAKE. Here is a letter from the feeding station of the Standard
Cattle Company. It is as follows :
STANDARD BATTLE COMPANY,
OFFICE OF THE GENERAL MANAGER,
Ames, Nebr., April ll t 2900.
Mr. J. A. HAKE,
Union Stock Yards, South Omaha, Nebr.
DEAR SIR: Answering yours of the 17th instant, we have fed about 65,000 cattle
here the last fourteen years and are largely interested in the cattle business, as you
know. We do not attempt a very large business in hogs. We generally have about
2,500 on hand; less than this now because of cholera last year.
1 certainly do not approve of the bill to tax oleomargarine products 10 cents per
pound and think it to be an unjustifiable thing to do. I think they should be sold
as oleomargarine products and a heavy penalty exacted, for noncompliance of the
law, and the only doubt I have in the matter is whether it is practicable or not to
detect their being placed on sale as butter.
Yours, truly, R. M. ALLEN, General Manager.
Mr. Allen is the manager of the Standard Cattle Company, and he
has four or five thousand cattle a year. They used to feed 3,000, but
have increased their feeding very much lately.
Here is another letter:
GRAND ISLAND, NEBR., April 10, 1900.
J. A. HAKE, Esq.,
President South Omaha Live Stock Exchange, South Omaha, Nebr.
DEAR SIR : In answer to your letter regarding the House roll No. 6 my views agree
with those of the Live Stock Exchange.
As long as the manufactured butter is a healthy product, and not being prohibited
by our Government to be put in the market, it surely is a wrongful move of Congress
to the stock men of United States to put a tax on this product, decreasing the value
of their stock.
It looks to me that if Congress passed such a law they would be making a class
legislation of it, favoring their citizens engaged in the creamery business and dam-
aging their citizens engaged in the stock business. As we are all citizens of United
States, it surely is wrong to tax one to protect the other.
I therefore herewith express my sincere hope that your committee will be suc-
cessful in defeating such law.
Very respectfully, JOHN REIMERS.
Here is a letter from Mr. N. L. Anderson, of Sacramento:
SACRAMENTO, NEBR., April 7, 1900.
DEAR SIR : I desire to enter an earnest protest against the passage of a bill now
pending in Congress which seeks to tax the manufacture of oleomargarine so high
as to prohibit its manufacture. As you know, I am a large feeder of cattle in
Nebraska (running from 500 to 1,000 head every year). My beef cattle bring $2
more per head than they would if the oleomargarine product in them could not be
used for butter.
I am reliably informed that butter so manufactured is equal in every respect to
dairy butter and sells for considerably less money in the market. I also think that
the passage of such a law would be class legislation and against the best interests
of the producers of beef cattle and the consumers of butter.
Yours, truly,
N. L. ANDERSON.
The NEBRASKA REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.
Mr. Anderson owns about a section and a half of land, on which he
raises corn largely and feeds the products to cattle.
The letter I am about to read here I presume you have something
of this kind, but this is a little extravagant, gentlemen, I will admit,
but I read it:
SIDNEY, NEBR., April 9, 1900*
The NEBRASKA DELEGATION IN CONGRESS.
GENTLEMEN : A resident of Nebraska for nearly thirty years, I have noted, as you
have, its rapid development in wealth. My observation and experience has con-
vinced me the greatest factor in creating its wealth has been its live-stock industry.
(162)
OLEOMARGARINE. 745
Cattle raising was its first attempt; then came feeding and fattening for market.
Hog raising became a great factor at once, and sheep raising and sheep feeding rap-
idly followed. So that Nebraska is preeminently a stock State. I am amazed that
there should be anyone who may be interested in House roll No. 6 indulging the
hope that a single member of the Nebraska delegation will support it. The loss to
the Nebraska live-stock interest would be severe by its passage.
We had in 1898 in the State 716,017 cattle, 2,339,086 hogs, 1,193,250 head of sheep.
The loss on sheep and swine if this bill becomes a law will be $1 per head, or a total
loss in these two classes of stock of $3,532,336. The loss on cattle will be from $3 to
$5 per head ; at a minimum of $3 per head the loss to cattle in this State would equal
$2,148,051, or a total loss on cattle, hogs, and sheep, in Nebraska of $5,680,387. The
loss on this same basis in the nation holds a ratio even greater than in Nebraska.
In 1897 there were in the United States 15,941,727 head of milch cows, of other cattle
there were 30.508,408, of sheep there were 36,818,643, of swine there were 40,600,276,
which by the passage of this bill would represent a lost value of the enormous sum
of $168,944,141 on these three classes of live stock. This great loss to be consum-
mated by the passage of this bill for what purpose? Simply to enhance the price of
butter, the product of 15,941,727 milch cows.
We understand, of course, the plea for the bill is pure butter. A certain per cent
of pure butter will be made, but a large per cent, as is the custom now with cream-
eries, will be old refuse gathered up in the stores, reeking with tilth, washed in the
fresh buttermilk of the creamery, worked over and labeled second creamery, and of
course will be sold as pure and at a price beyond the reach of thousands of poor
people in our large cities who are glad to get pure, wholesome batterine at a price
within their means. The passage of this bill means the poor eating no butter.
Gentlemen, for these reasons I urge you all as Nebraskans to oppose this bill.
Very truly, yours,
MATT. DADGHERTY.
Here is another one, signed by Col. F. M. Woods, and another by
George Harvey, and another by A. M. Treat, of Chappell, Nebr. Some
of these letters, the last two, for instance, are from Mr. Neville's district.
Mr. NEVILLE. Matt. Daugherty is from my district.
Mr. HAKE. Yes; Chappell is in your district.
Mr. NEVILLE. Yes; Delatour is from my district, and Tierney. He
is at Ansley.
Mr. HAKE. Yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there any gentlemen of the committee who
desire to ask Mr. Hake any questions?
Mr. DAHLE. When you were saying or figuring that oleomargarine
costs about half what butter costs you advanced that idea?
Mr. HAKE. Yes, sir.
Mr. DAHLE. At what prices do you figure the two, respectively?
Mr. HAKE. Fifteen to thirty cents. Fifteen to thirty cents for cream-
ery. It costs 25 to 30 cents with us, but that is in our country, you
understand. I presume it might not cost as much in other places. It
costs from 15 to 25 cents, and we rarely buy it for less than 25 ceuts,
and sometimes pay 30.
Mr. CHEEK. Creamery has been as high as 32 cents.
Mr. DAHLE. You figure creamery from 22 to 35 cents?
Mr. HAKE. Twenty- two to thirty cents.
Mr. DAHLE. And oleomargarine?
Mr. HAKE. It has been 13 to 15 cents.
Mr. DAHLE. 1 can only say that that is away too high.
Mr. HAKE. How?
Mr. DAHLE. Butter in the summer is worth with us 16 cents, that is
creamery butter.
Mr. HAKE. I have never bought it that way.
Mr. DAHLE. Well, I have sold lots of it that way.
The CHAIRMAN. That would be argument, Mr. Dahle.
Mr. DAHLE. Yes, I know; but I am sorry that we get into our records
things that look away off. I would like to correct them.
(*163)
746 OLEOMARGARINE.
Mr. BAILEY. These figures, yon do not intend to say that they are
technically true. The general impression and belief of the cattlemen
in your country is that the killing of this industry must materially
affect the cattle and stock interests of the Northwest, and the whole
country.
Mr. HAKE. Yes, that is it.
Mr. BAILEY. As regards technical knowledge, you do not pretend to
have absolute technical knowledge?
Mr. HAKE. No, sir, and it varies; it varies with the seasons the
price of the product of cattle and the price of hogs. Again, with hogs
or sheep the product is not as high, and we could not make an arbitrary
figure that would cover all this.
Mr. NEVILLE. There was about 4,000,000 pounds sold in Nebraska
last year.
Mr. HAKE. Yes; sir.
Mr. NEVILLE. As I understand the statistics, between three and four
millions. And it was sold at as low as 15 cents a pound oleomar-
garine.
Mr. HAKE. I think so. I never bought any of it.
Mr. NEVILLE. Was it colored?
Mr. HAKE. I think it was, yes. I never saw any of it.
Mr. NEVILLE. In imitation of butter?
Mr. HAKE. I think it was colored. I know it is colored.
Mr. NEVILLE. Now, is it not true that there is a law in Nebraska
which prohibits this coloring of butter?
Mr. HAKE. There is a law which prohibits its sale, and permitting it
to be manufactured and shipped to other States. Under the interstate-
commerce regulations other States enjoy the same privileges and we
simply deprive our citizens of the privilege of manufacturing it. But
the other States manufacture it and ship it to us. That is the result.
Mr. DAHLE. Any State may send out what it manufactures
Mr. NEVILLE. Yes ; sir.
Mr. DAHLE (continuing). But under the law of Nebraska it is pro-
hibited?
The CHAIRMAN. I would suggest that that matter of the law will
speak for itself.
Mr. NEVILLE. My question was intended to bring out a fact with
reierence to it. He was simply quoting the prices and the difference
in prices between butter and oleomargarine. I simply wanted to show
that all of it sold there is in violation of the law, and the plea is that
it must be continued to be sold in violation of law.
The CHAIRMAN. We will go over that matter in the committee.
Mr. NEVILLE. These people who have written letters here, how were
they notified as to the contents of this bill?
Mr. HAKE. It has been a matter of consideration with our people,
and has been agitated.
Mr. NEVILLE. You sent some communications?
Mr. HAKE. Yes; we have gotten the business up.
Mr. NEVILLE. I notice that in each one of these letters I have
received letters from one of these gentlemen you refer to, and also from
John Bradt. You know him?
Mr. HAKE. Yes, sir.
Mr. NEVILLE (continuing). And 1 notice that in these letters I have
received, and also those you have read here, they simply speak of this
as a tax upon oleomargarine of 10 cents.
Mr. HAKE. Ten cents a pound?
(*164)
OLEOMARGARINE.
747
Mr. KEVILLE. Yes, 10 cents a pound I mean. As a matter of fact,
your organization simply knew that it was proposed to tax it when in
imitation of butter?
Mr. HAKE. Yes, the framer of that bill knew that it was absolutely
impossible to make lard and sell it for butter.
Mr. NEVILLE. Did Mr. Delatour and Mr. Tierney know this?
Mr. HAKE. Yes, they knew it, and we have known that the committee
only meant to tax oleomargarine the 10 cents a pound when it was
colored in imitation of butter.
Mr. NEVILLE. They knew that?
Mr. HAKE. I should say they did. They are intelligent people, all of
them, and no doubt knew it.
The letters of Mr. Woods, Mr. Harvey, and Mr. Treat, submitted by
Mr. Hake, are as follows :
SOUTH OMAHA LIVE STOCK EXCHANGE,
South Omaha, Nebr., April 7, 1900.
The NEBRASKA DELEGATION IN CONGRESS:
Our National Legislature is now considering a measure contemplating the taxing
of oleo oils, oleomargarine, or butterine to the amount of 10 cents per pound. As
these products are manufactured from the oils extracted from the fats of cattle,
hogs, and sheep, the animal of right should be, and is, worth from $1 to $3 per head
more where the product ean be manufactured into a valuable article than when
used as ordinary tallow and lard. I believe the passage of such a measure would
be legislating in the interest of a very small minority and not in the interest of
the masses.
Oleomargarine or butterine, being absolutely pure and wholesome, and furnished
tie consumer at about half the price of creamery butter, is a very desirable com-
modity for the laboring masses, and, in fact, all people of moderate means. As this
tax practically prohibits its manufacture, I desire to enter my earnest protest
against the passage of any such measure. Having been engaged in the live stock
industry all of my life, selling somewhere near 10,000 head annually, I ask your
cooperation in defeating House bill No. 6.
F. M. WOODS, Auctioneer.
To NEBRASKA DELEGATION IN CONGRESS:
Congress is now considering a measure contemplating the taxing of oleo oils, oleo-
margarine, and butterine 10 cents per pound.
As these products are manufactured from the oils extracted from the fats of cattle,
hogs, and sheep, the animal of right should be, and is, worth from $1 to $3 per head
more where the product can be manufactured into a valuable article than when
used as ordinary tallow and lard.
I believe the passage of such a measure would be legislating in the interest of a
very small minority and not in the interest of the masses.
Oleomargarine or butterine, being absolutely pure and wholesome, and furnished
the consumer at about half price of creamery butter, is a very desirable commodity
for the laboring classes, and, in fact, all people of frugal habits and moderate means,
and the tax practically prohibits its manufacture.
I am engaged in producing, shipping, buying, and selling meat and fat-producing
animals, and am interested as much and more in their value than the dairyman can
possibly be in the product of the dairy.
I therefore desire to enter my earnest protest against the passage of any such
measure, and ask your earnest cooperation in defeating House bill No. 6.
GEO. HARVEY,
Kearney, Buffalo County, Nebr.
APRIL 11, 1900.
CHAPPELL, NEBR., April 10, 1900.
To NEBRASKA DELEGATION IN CONGRESS :
Our National Legislature is now considering a measure contemplating the taxing
of oleo oils, oleomargarine, or butterine to the amount of 10 cents per pound. As
these products are manufactured from the oils extracted from the fats of cattle, hogs,
and sheep, the animal of right should be, and is, worth from $1 to $3 per head more
where the product can be manufactured into a valuable article than when used as
(*165)
748 OLEOMARGARINE.
ordinary tallow and lard. I believe the passage of such a measure would be legis-
lating in the interest of a small minority and not in the interest of the masses.
Oleomargarine or butterine, being absolutely pure and wholesome, and furnished the
consumer at about half the price of creamery butter, is a very desirable commodity
for the laboring masses, and in fact all people of moderate means.
As I have been and am still engaged in raising, buying, and shipping live stock on
foot, and as this measure would practically prohibit the manufacturing of a part of
the animal into a most valuable product, thereby reducing the price of killing stock,
I desire to enter my earnest protest against its passage, and would respectfully ask
your cooperation in endeavoring to defeat this measure.
A. M. TREAT.
STATEMENT OF MR. W, B. CHEEK, OF SOUTH OMAHA, NEBR.
The CHAIRMAN. What is you occupation?
Mr. CHEEK. I ain vice-president of the Live Stock Exchange at
South Omaha, Nebr.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you desire to make any statement to the com-
mittee ?
Mr. CHEEK. No; I have no argument on the subject aside from that
which has been made by Mr. Hake.
The CHAIRMAN. Do you know anything about the retail sale of oleo-
margarine in your city?
Mr. CHEEK. Yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Will you tell us how it is sold? Is it sold openly as
oleomargarine, or secretly?
Mr. CHEEK. It is sold openly in the grocery stores and butcher
shops as oleomargarine. For instance, in my shop, where I buy my
meat, is a table, and on tbat table is butterine in boxes and tubs, and
stacked up outside of the boxes, and marked at all the way from 12J
cents to 18 J cents. I believe what they call prime butterine sells for
from 18J cents to 19 cents.
The CHAIRMAN. What does the creamery butter sell for?
Mr. CHEEK. I have never been able to buy it for less than 18 cents.
The CHAIRMAN. Dp you know of any complaint from the consumers
of the oleomargarine in your district?
Mr. CHEEK. No, sir ; I never heard of any.
The CHAIRMAN. What class of people is it that consumes that oleo-
margarine?
Mr. CHEEK. The laboring class principally men working in the stock
yards and packing houses, and general laborers.
The CHAIRMAN. Have there been any claims of illegal sales?
Mr. CHEEK. No, sir ; no complaint at all.
The CHAIRMAN. I will ask you this question: Has there been any
decrease in the price of dairy cattle in your country?
Mr. CHEEK. No, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Has there been any decrease in the price of the dairy
product of butter ?
Mr. CHEEK. No, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Has there been any decrease in the value of your
dairy farm land?
Mr. CHEEK. I should say not. It has been on the increase.
The CHAIRMAN. It has increased?
Mr. CHEEK. Yes.
The CHAIRMAN. Then do you know of any reason why, in that
country, there should be any protection given to the dairy interests over
the oleomargine interests?
Mr. CHEEK. I see no reason at all. There has always been an excess
ive demand for dairy products.
(*166)
OLEOMARGARINE. 749
The CHAIRMAN. The demand for dairy products has been greater
than the supply !
Mr. CHEEK. Yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. How large a place is South Omaha!
Mr. CHEEK. Twenty-five thousand.
The CHAIRMAN. What character of industries have you there!
Mr. CHEEK. Packing houses, stock yards, and miscellaneous manu-
facturing a few foundries, and things like that but the principal
industries there are the stock yards and packing houses.
The CHAIRMAN. How many people are employed there!
Mr. CHEEK. Eleven thousand men, I think.
The CHAIRMAN. Can you tell this committee which there is the most
consumption of there, dairy butter or oleomargarine!
Mr. CHEEK. I should say the principal consumption was dairy but-
ter. A large amount of oleomargarine is consumed, but the principal
consumption is dairy butter.
Mr. DAHLE. Do you have a dairy commissioner!
Mr. CHEEK. I never heard of any.
Mr. DAHLE. You do not have one in your State!
Mr. CHEEK. No, sir.
Mr. DAHLE. Do you have any State official to see that the law is
enforced as refers to butterine?
Mr. CHEEK. Our city has a health inspector, who looks after every-
thing of that kind. He looks after the purity of the meat in the meat
shops and the purity of the groceries. He is a health commissioner.
Mr. HAKE. I want to make an explanation. Mr. Cheek said that the
butterine was a little higher than the butter. I presume that the com-
mittee understands that while oleomargarine is made out of the fat of
the animal altogether, butterine is supposed to be one- third pure butter.
The CHAIRMAN. We draw no distinctions between them.
Mr. HAKE. It is a mixture; it is part butter and part oleo oil.
Mr. DAHLE. Is it butterine that is sold with you, or oleomargarine!
Mr. HAKE. It is both.
Mr. DAHLE. Both! Then, when you spoke of it being half the price
of butter is that for butterine or for oleomargarine!