of 129.2 F. will kill anthrax rods, but spores resist prolonged boiling.
The spores develop in the rods rapidly after the death of the animal,
under proper conditions, and will remain active for years. They are
not destroyed by drying or putrefaction when exposed to oxygen
(Maguire).
"Klein also affirms that the anthrax spores will resist prolonged
boiling.
"Vantieghem is quoted by Magnin as saying that a temperature of
121 F. is fatal to most bacteria; but he has studied the bacillus that
is able to multiply and form spores in a culture fluid at 165.2 F., but
which cease to multiply at 171.5 F. Magnin also states as coming
from Lebedeff that septic blood does not lose its virulence at the end
of forty days, or by being heated to the boiling point (212 F.) for
from three to twenty-four hours, and that the bacteria in it are capa-
ble of multiplying after such exposure.
"Arloing and Chauveau have found what they consider to be the
bacillus causing gangrenous septicaemia. When fresh it is destroyed
by a temperature of from 194 to 212 F. , but when dried it required
248 F.
"The heat to be trusted for destroying pathogenic germs in practice
will be seen from the following:
"Dr. Van Bush, of Berlin, used a temperature of 149 to 167 F.
for the destruction of puerperal-fever contagion. The late Dr. Elisha
Harris, in 1859, employed a temperature at and above 212 F. to dis-
infect clothes of yellow-fever subjects. He quotes Dr. William Henry
as saying that ' the infectious matter of cowpox is rendered inert by
a temperature not below 140 F. , from whence it is inferred that more
active contagion is probably destructible at temperatures not exceed-
ing 212 F.'
"Dr. Henry could not communicate typhus after exposing flannel
shirts to 204 F. ; same with scarlet fever. He says : ' The experiments
which we have related appear to be sufficiently numerous to prove that
by exposure to a temperature not below 200 F. during at least one
hour the contagious matter of scarlatina is rather dissipated or
destroyed.'
"The following circular, issued to the customs officers December 22,
1884, shows what temperature is considered safe by the Government:
6 All circulars of the Department concerning the importation of old rags
are modified as follows: No old rags, except afloat on or before Janu-
ary 1, 1885, on vessels bound directly to the United States, shall be
landed in the United States from any vessel, nor come into the United
States by land, from any foreign country, except upon disinfection at
the expense of the importers, as provided in this circular or may here-
after be provided.
" 'Either of the following processes will be considered a satisfactory
method of disinfection of old rags, and will entitle them to entry and
to be landed in the United States upon the usual permit of the local
health officer, viz:
OLEOMARGARINE. 147
" '1. Boiling in water for two hours under a pressure of 50 pounds
per square inch.
" '2. Boiling in water for four hours with pressure.
" '3. Subjection to the action of confined sulphurous-acid gas for six
hours, burning li or 2 pounds roll brimstone in each 1,000 cubic feet
of space, with the rags well scattered upon racks.
" ' 4. Disinfection in the bale by means of perforated screws or tubes
through which sulphur dioxide or superheated steam at a temperature
of not less than 330 degrees shall be forced under a pressure of four
atmospheres for a period sufficient to insure thorough disinfection,' etc.
"James A. Russell, in Quain's Dictionary of Medicine, says: 'It is
extremely improbable that any contagium can withstand a temperature
of 220 F. (104.5 C.), maintained during two hours. When contagium
is shielded by thick material into which heat penetrates slowly, the time
necessary to reach the disinfection temperature may be long, and hence
the necessity for spreading clothing and opening out bedding in special
hot-air chambers, where the heat ought not to be less than 220 F.
(104.5 C.) nor more than 250 F. (112.1 C.).'
"The following is an abstract from the report of the committee on
disinfectants of the American Public Health Association: ' The experi-
mental evidence recorded in these reports seems to justify the following
conclusions: The most useful agents for destruction of spore-contain-
ing infectious materials are :
" '1. Fire, complete destruction by burning. ,
" '2. Steam under pressure, 230 F., for ten minutes.
" C 3. Boiling in water for one hour.'
"For the destruction of infectious material which owes its infecting
power to micro-organisms not containing spores, the committee recom-
mended:
"'1. Fire, complete destruction by burning.
" '2. Boiling in water half an hour.
" ' 3. Dry heat, 230 F., for two hours,' etc.
"It is alleged by the makers of artificial butter that the fats from
animals dying from disease could not be used in making these articles,
as they would 'stink' and taint the product, and the deodorization
would not remove said stink, etc. This is false, for we have tasted
and smelled of oil made from horses and dogs picked up in the streets
of New York and Brooklyn, dead of disease, and it had no unpleasant
taste or appearance; in fact, tastes as sweet as pure dried butter fat.
And, too, the suspicion is growing stronger and stronger among those
who are cognizant of the facts that those oils go into the artificial
butters. Why should so much pains be taken to render a sweet, clear
oil from dead horses and dogs? This would be adding unnecessary
expense if it was intended for lubricating purposes, and we do not
hear of its being commonly used in soap making.
: ' The following letter, in answer to one from us, will tell its own
story :
"BROOKLYN, N. Y., January 18, 1886.
" DEAR DOCTOR: In reply to yours of the 12th instant I would say
that all I can say of the oil I showed in New York was that it was
manufactured on Newtown Creek, by Mr. Henry Beran. Mr. Beran
has the contract for the dead animals and offal of the city of Brooklyn.
The oil in question was made from the comb fat (so called) of horses
that is, from the top part of the neck of horses which were obtained
148 OLEOMARGARINE.
from this city and tried out by the contractor. The horses were such
as die in every city from both accident and disease. There were a
large number of horses killed in Brooklyn last year that were suffer-
ing with glanders. Whether any of these horses helped to make up
this oil I do not know; nor does Mr. Beran. The specimen I had in
New York was a very fine oil, and it shows that an oil can be made
from dead horses which in taste and naked-eye appearances is as palat-
able as the best ' oleo ' oil.
"Mr. Beran has told me that he is satisfied that some of his oil has
been used for the manufacture of 'oleo' butter. He has always been
very careful about telling me to whom he sells it, and he evidently
thinks it is used for that purpose; in fact, he says he knows it has. I
give this as his own statement, and for what it is worth. I could not
prove it. From the odor, taste, etc. , of this oil I am of the opinion
that it can be used to make 'oleomargarine,' and that its use for that
purpose ought to be strongly condemned. I also hold that the use of
lard tried out at a temperature below 130 F., should be prohibited.
Hoping this will answer your questions, I am,
"Very sincerely, yours,
"E. H. BARTLEY, M. D.
' ' It might be asked if natural butter was not exposed to the same
contamination. We answer that it is not; for, in the first place, the
fat of milk is doubtless manufactured in the gland by the metabolic
action 1 of the protoplasmic cells, and consequently would not be apt to
contain disease germs even if they were in the cow's system, unless the
udder itself was diseased. Then, too, it is difficult to make good butter
from a diseased cow; and but few farmers would risk their reputation
by selling butter made from sick cattle. Furthermore, I am unable
to find a single authentic instance where milk butter has produced any
serious sickness, which, in consideration of the length of time it has
been known, is significant.
' k Dr. Alfred Hill, on account of assertions being made that the milk
quickly became rancid and produced typhoid fever, and that the but-
ter was very offensive which came from cows that had been partly fed
on sewage grass, made a thorough examination of the milk and its but-
ter which came from the Birmingham Sewage Farm, and found that
the keeping and other qualities of the milk were not in the least infe-
rior to ordinary milk. In regard to the butter, he says: 'In order to
test the quality of the butter made from it, I requested the wife of the
farm manager, who thoroughly understands butter making (although
no butter is ordinarily made on the sewage farm), to make a churning
for me, which she was kind enough to do. The resulting butter was
excellent in quality and retained its sweetness and other properties as
well as other fresh butter, although the weather at the time was exces-
sively hot; so that the conditions of the experiment were as unfavora-
ble as possible.'
"When we look over the ingredients used in making artificial butter
or preparing the fats and oils for the same, and find such powerful
acids as sulphuric, nitric, benzoic, salicylic, etc., and such alkalies as
caustic soda, bicarbonate of soda, carbonate of ammonia, saleratus, sal
soda, etc., and such drugs as sugar of lead, alum, carbonate of potash,
nitrate of soda, sulphate of soda, borax, niter, etc., and such easily
decomposed material as slippery-elm bark, rennet, yolk of eggs, cow's
udder, fresh vegetable pulps, etc., mixed with it, and after having
OLEOMAKGAEINE. 149
prepared this stuff according to the specifications of certain patents,
we can not repel the conviction that the greatest care must be exer-
cised or they will contaminate the product. By referring to patent
No. 263199, it will be seen that about 150 pounds of melted lard is
thoroughly 'washed' that is, mixed with 60 gallons of ice water
holding in solution 3 ounces of nitric acid (strong) and borax. The
lard solidifies in this solution, and while solid is washed in 60 gallons of
ice water. Every time this quantity of fat is washed in the acid water
1 ounce more of nitric acid is added, which shows that this amount
of nitric acid is considered to be taken up by the lard. In the manu-
facture of ' oleo ' under this patent from 5 to 50 per cent of this
deodorized lard is added to commercial oleomargarine oil.
' ' The whole is then subjected to a heat of 95 F. (which is not sufficient
to melt it) and churned with milk or cream, sugar, and coloring mat-
ter. It is then treated with ice water, which causes it to rapidly and
completely solidify. After mixing thoroughly and salting it is ready
for market.
' * It will be seen by this process that the fat, after being treated
with nitric acid, is never again subjected to a thorough washing, and
in view of the fact that fats possess the property of retaining free
acids with remarkable tenacity, it is difficult to believe that the marketed
product does not contain nitric acid.
"The following is the conclusion of Nothnagel and Rossbach concern-
ing the effect of small, greatly diluted doses of acids:
" ' When acids are used for too long a time the appetite and digestion
are finally injured and a series- of pathological conditions result.
" 'It is readily supposable that the long-continued administration of
diluted mineral acids to the living organism leads to the decomposition
of the alkaline combinations with the weaker acids, e. g., carbonic
acid, or with the albuminoids, the stronger acids uniting with these
alkalis and being excreted with the urine as mineral salts, so that not
only the blood, but the whole body, would become poorer in alkalis
and salts.
" 'Salkowski and Lasar proved directly that the alkalescence of the
blood is diminished by the internal administration of dilute mineral
acids.'
"We now return to the question, is artificial butter a wholesome
article of food? It seems to us, from the facts set forth in the fore-
going pages, that there can be but one answer to this question.
"We do not mean to say that every individual who eats artificial
butter will sicken and die any more than every man who uses ardent
spirits, tobacco, or narcotics to excess would do so, but what we do
mean to say is that it, like them, possesses physiological properties
4 unfavorable to health ' and are very liable to possess ingredients very
dangerous to health. Dyspepsia is a prevalent disease in this country
and is not acquired in a day, for a strong stomach will stand much
abuse before it will permanently rebel.
"Several instances are on record where pennies and other metallic
substances have been swallowed and digested; even jackknives have
been swallowed and their bone handles completely digested, but no
person would consider these healthy articles of diet.
"Strong, vigorous men and those whose habits are invigorating to
the digestive powers might substitute a food hard of digestion for an
easy one for a long time with apparent impunity, but weaker men
150 OLEOMARGARINE.
and those whose habits are sedentary and whose labors are mental,
which tend to debilitate digestion, would soon be injured.
u Fats as a whole are considered by medical men to be difficult of
digestion; and to substitute those hard of digestion for one that is
easy, and, too, for one which we believe is endowed by nature with
properties that not only render it, per se, easily digested and assimi-
lated, but which also render important aid in these processes to other
fats, must eventually produce sickness. The little genuine butter
added to these spurious articles helps as far as it goes, but the amount
in most of them is very small indeed.
"It is true we eat fats which, when raw, are more difficult of diges-
tion than some of the artificial butters, but it must be borne in mind
that they are eaten in conjunction with natural butter, and the cooking
process to which they are subjected no doubt renders them much more
easily digested. As is well known, 'drippings' are much easier
digested than the fats from which they come.
"That cooking renders fats much more easily emulsionized by arti-
ficial means is demonstrated by the following experiments:
"We subjected a portion of oleomargarine butter placed in a frying
pan to the heat of a cook stove, the same as would be employed to fry
a piece of meat, for about five minutes. (Our thermometer registered
200 C., and the heat went above this somewhat.)
' ' The fat was then poured off, and equal quantities of it and the
same specimen of ' oleo .' uncooked were exposed to the action of arti-
ficial digestive fluid, the two specimens being placed under exactly the
same conditions.
''At the end of four hours the microscope showed that the cooked
'oleo' was decidedly the best emulsion approaching in appearance
natural butter uncooked under the same circumstances. It was
intended to have artotypes to show this, but the experiments were not
completed in time, and we would add here that we are carrying on
various experiments with a view to demonstrating the differences
between natural and artificial butters, which we hope to publish in
our next annual report.
u As the fusing point of the cooked and uncooked 'oleos' remained
identical, the difference in the emulsions must have been due to chem-
ical changes produced by the heat, as the separation of the fatty acids
and glycerin, which again gives us a free fatty acid.
"After pouring off the cooked fat there remained in the frying pan
a considerable quantity of scrap.
' ' Fothergill says : 'But heat does liquefy fat, and separates (we believe)
plein from stearin and margarin. The liquid portions of fried bacon
is digested by many who can not digest the solid portion of bacon fat.
This is a well-known fact.'
"Furthermore, the great heat to which fats are subjected in frying
is probably sufficient to set free considerable quantities of fatty acids,
and also to cause partial breaking up of the whole fat.
4 ' The friends of the bogus butter ask us in a spirit of defiance to
show any cases of sickness produced by it. This is, in fact, a demand
for a complete demonstration, and may be answered by stating that
we have seen a great many cases of sickness, and much of it dyspepsia,
during the period in which the bogus butter has been sold, for which
we have been unable to assign a cause. This may have been artificial
butter, but the deceptive manner in which it has been handled has
OLEOMARGARINE. 151
prevented physicians from ascertaining its effects. Consequently we
must judge by its qualities.
" No person would gainsay that these articles, if they contained germs
of disease or such materials as enumerated above, were unwholesome.
We have pointed out the liability and great probability of their con-
taining them, and many things have been publicly condemned on less
liability to produce sickness; for instance, the water of Albany has
been used by nearly 100,000 people for several years and no serious
results can be shown, yet the conditions are present which render it
liable to produce disease, and this circumstance has agitated the public
mind to such an extent that some of the best medical and other men
of the city have devoted themselves to finding a better supply, and
they have finally decided that it is expedient to obtain it from another
source than the present, which will necessitate the expenditure of
$450,000.
" 'Bob veal' produces sickness in comparatively few cases, yet on
account of its liability to produce disease its sale is prohibited.
"Dr. Fox says, in connection with anthracic diseases, 'that large
quantities of this meat have been eaten with apparently no injurious
effects, but so many disastrous occurrences have followed its employ-
ment as to warrant the medical officer of health in condemning such
meat." ;
At 5 o'clock and 15 minutes p. m. the committee adjourned until
to-morrow, Friday, January 4, 1901, at 10.30 o'clock a. m.
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY,
UNITED STATES SENATE,
Friday, January h 1901.
The committee met at 10.30 a. m.
Present: Senators Proctor (chairman), Hansbrough, Foster, Money,
and Heitfeld; also Hon. W. D. Hoard, ex-governor of Wisconsin and
president of the National Dairy Union; C. Y. Knight, secretary of the
Nation Dairy Union; Hon. William M. Springer, of Springfield, 111.,
representing the National Live Stock Association; Frank W. Tilling-
hast, representing the Vermont Manufacturing Company, of Provi-
dence, R. L; Charles E. Schell, representing the Ohio Butterine
Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Frank M. Matthewson, president of the
Oakdale Manufacturing Company, of Providence, K. I. ; H. C. Adams,
and others.
The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. I am informed
that there are present two representatives of the dairy interests who
are anxious to get away, and who desire to make brief statements to
the committee before leaving.
Mr. MATTHEWSON. Mr. Chairman, I do not think there is any objec-
tion on the rjart of the oleo people to the dairymen going ahead, if
they are anxious to do so.
The CHAIRMAN. There are two of them, and they have said to me
that they will not take more than fifteen minutes each. You may
proceed, Mr. Hamilton.
152 OLEOMARGARINE.
STATEMENT OF JOHN HAMILTON, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I
come here as the representative of the department of agriculture of
the State of Pennsylvania, as well as a representative of the daily
union of our State. I want to say at the outset that Pennsylvania is in
favor of this bill. The State Grange of our State, at its meeting in
Lockhaven recently, passed resolutions favoring the Grout bill. The
dairy union, at its meeting in Corry just a few weeks ago, passed strong
resolutions indorsing the Grout bill. The people of the State gener-
ally endorsed the Grout bill. The oleomargarine question was made
a campaign issue in Pennsylvania; and if there can be an expression
of opinion of the people, I think that Pennsylvania's vote shows that
Pennsylvania, in all of her citizenship, is very much in favor of some
law that will repress the sale of colored oleomargarine in our State.
The governor, in his message which was given to the legislature only
a day or so ago, makes use of the following language in discussing the
oleomargarine question. It took about a column in the newspaper,
and closes with this sentence:
"I am much gratified at the prospects of the early passage in Con-
gress of the Grout bill. If this bill becomes a law, it will greatly aid
in the suppression of the oleomargarine traffic."
In my preliminary report to the governor as secretary of agricul-
ture only a week or so ago, I say:
"The passage of the Grout bill by the Congress of the United States,
whereby a 10-cent tax is imposed on all colored oleomargarine manu-
factured and the operations of the interstate-commerce law so sus-
pended as to oleomargarine trade, will greatly aid the State dairy and
fruit authorities in suppressing the oleo traffic. 1 '
The State Alliance at its meeting also passed resolutions indorsing
the Grout bill. The Republican platform of the State of Pennsylvania
indorsed the suppression of the oleomargarine traffic or its regulation
in our State. So we have practically the unanimous indorsement of
the people of our State, irrespective of party, in favor of the passage
of this bill.
Perhaps I could just as well stop what 1 have to say here now, and
not take the time of the committee, because this is as explicit a piece
of expression as any that can be presented; and yet there are one or
two other matters that I think the committee ought to have their atten-
tion called to, inasmuch as, so far as I know, the points that 1 desire
to discuss have not been fully presented.
Before taking up the items that I wish particularly to discuss, I
would like to refer to the argument of Judge Springer yesterday
for the purpose of getting rid of some things that seem to cloud a
little the bill itself. The Judge referred to the many State laws and
the difficulties that were encountered by the several States in their
efforts to suppress the oleomargarine traffic, or at least to regulate it
within their borders; and those gentlemen of the committee who were
here yesterday recall that most of the Judge's presentation was taken
up in the discussion of these laws. Now, if I had been going to make
an argument in favor of the passage of the Grout bill, instead of against
it, I think I would have taken the very same document. If that argu-
OLEOMAKGAKINE. 153
tnent showed anything at all in the presentation of these various laws
by the many States that have enacted them it shows this, that there is
necessity for national legislation in order to simplify this work and
make it effective throughout the United States. I think that is the
only conclusion that can be drawn from the argument as it was
presented.
There was also the constitutional question raised as to the power of
Congress in certain respects. Of course, so far as the conflict with
the Constitution is concerned by the passage of the Grout bill, this, I
think, can be said: That there is nothing given back to the States that
they did not surrender when the interstate-commerce law was enacted;
and if Congress had the right to pass the interstate-commerce law, and
it was ratified, it surely has the right to rescind the law wholly or any
portion of it that Congress may see fit. I think that part of the argu-
ment does not hold good.
As to the authority to tax, that is unquestioned. Congress does it
now in this oleomargarine matter, and it did it in a number of instances,
and of course that has no force.
So far as concerns the States taking advantage of this and levying
a tax, that was one of the points that the judge seemed to be serious
about and to which he asked the committee to give serious considera-
tion as to the States taking advantage of this law, in case it should
pass, to enact revenue laws, the amount received from the tax on oleo-
margarine to go for the general purposes of the expenses of the State.
We all know that such a thing would be unconstitutional. There has
been no instance of it in any of the States so far, and there is no State
that I know of that expects to levy any tax or license upon oleomar-
garine, the proceeds of which will be greater than simply enough to