realizing handsome profits, but in spite of this we persisted in refusing. Then he predicted that in the course of time we would be forced, in self-protection, to do as others were doing. That was more than five years ago, and we have never had occasion to change our course yet. Sometimes we receive orders from country dealers for small lots of oleomargarine, and these we fill, but we buy it from the factory and send it directly away, so that we may truly say that no bogus butter ever enters our store. I believe that oleomargarine, as it was originally made, and as it was sold when it was first introduced, was wholesome; and I would not object to its sale now, always providing that it were sold as oleomargarine, and not as butter. I believe, too, that much of the bogus compound that is now sold is not wholesome, since it seems to be reasonably well established that the competition in the manufacture of the product has prompted unscrupulous men to make use of materials that are not fit for human food, and to employ processes in the manufacture that are dangerous to public health.

"If the manufacturers would agree to allow their product to be sold on its merits, to have it placed before the consumers as oleomargarine, or-if they prefer the name-as artificial butter, there would be no opposition on the part of legitimate dealers. But this they will not do. All their efforts seem to be directed toward deceiving the consumer's. If they are honest in what they claim, that their product is equal to most dairy butters and superior to the lower grades, why do they send it to market in packages designed to imitate those used by legitimate dairymen and creameries? Then again, although they sell the stuff as oleomargarine or as butterine, or under any of the names that the compounds have assumed, they must know that the retailers whom they supply dispose of it in most cases as natural butter. They individually comply with the law, in that they sell their sham product for what it is; but do you for an instant suppose that these bright, enterprising business men, who keep themselves well informed in all matters concerning the trade they are interested in, are not aware that they are accessories to the violation of the law? Do they not know, as you and I do, that not one out of a thousand of the consumers of butter in this city would buy artificial butter when it was presented to them in its true colors? As far as we are concerned, we will have nothing to do with this artificial stuff. We look upon butterine-the latest name of the swindle—as one hundred times worse than the original oleomargarine, and as far as we are concerned we shall decline to deal in imitations of any kind."

"Do you think there is any great quantity of oleomargarine or butterine sold in this city at present ?"

"I have no means of knowing definitely how much is sold, but any dealer in butter will tell you that his sales have fallen off, that the prices have been reduced, and that the business is in a bad way. I know of houses in this city where the same grade of oleomargarine is sold from different tubs as fine or medium dairy butter at from twenty-five to thirty-five cents a pound, and yet, notwithstanding the difference in the retail price, the stuff sold is the product of one factory."

Mr. Benjamin F. Smith, of Washington Market, who is one of the oldest and best known dealers in the butter trade, said that, so far as he knew, no bogus butter was now being sold in the market. "The fact is," continued Mr. Smith, "that all the dealers are bitterly opposed to the traffic and keep a sharp lookout for violations of the law. If any dealer tried to retail the stuff he would get into trouble, and so for the past year or so the traffic has been suspended. Of course, if people come to us and ask for oleomargarine or butterine, as they occasionally do, we get it for them, but the understanding is that we sell it for what it is."

"The oleomargarine men claim that they do not imitate butter, but that their product is intended as a substitute for that of the dairy. In what shape does oleomargarine come to market?"

"You might just as well ask me in what shape dairy and creamery butter come, for there is scarcely a package used by the dairies or creameries that is not imitated by the manufacturers of the bogus compounds of beef and hog fat, nitric acid, and other choice ingredients. Here I have some Western creamery. You see it is packed in layers in ash tubs. In the trade they

are called Welsh tubs. Well, I can get you oleomargarine and butterine that is put up in exactly the same way. There is a half-firkin tub of State dairy butter, a famous medium brand, and next to it stands a tub containing State creamery butter. These, too, are closely imitated, and if a dealer is not an expert and able to judge he is liable to be imposed upon.

Some of

the fancy priced butter comes in one and two pound rolls, stamped and covered with linen cloth, and arranged in a box on sliding shelves. This style, too, the oleomargarine men imitate, and the average consumer, who too often takes the package as an index of the contents, is very often deceived."

"Do customers ever ask you whether your butter is genuine ?"

"Our regular customers know us, and do not need to ask; but transient customers very often inquire whether our butter is genuine or dairy. I have never tried it yet, but I believe that if I put some sham butter on my stand and offered it to my customers as they came to make their purchases, taking care to inform them exactly what it was, there is not one out of a hnndred that would buy a pound of it. You can put it down as a fact that only the cheap res taurants and boarding houses buy oleomargarine on its merits. They purchase it largely, and know exactly what they are buying; but, when the average consumer invests in the stuff, it is because he is led to believe that he is buying the genuine article.”

Mr. H. Rohr, grocer, of No. 574 Seventh avenue, a leading member of the Grocers' Retail Union, said: "This infamous traffic in bogus butter is rapidly ruining our trade, so far as dealers of moderate capital and of recent establishment are concerned. Many customers that formerly bought butter from the grocer in the neighborhood now prefer to go to dealers of established reputation, such as Acker, Merrall & Condit or Park & Tilford, for instance, of whom they are morally certain to obtain nothing but the genuine article. In the last three years, owing to the lack of public confidence caused by the almost universal sale of these vile compounds, the retail trade in butter has fallen off fully 33 per cent., and if some action is not taken soon by the authorities I fear that the falling off in the future will be greater still. While my own business, taking the sales of sugar and other standard groceries, has increased probably 50 per cent. in the past four years, my trade in butter has decreased nearly as much, and I suppose there are hundreds of other reputable retail grocers who will tell you the same story. My only transaction in bogus butter occurred about a year ago, and illustrates very aptly one phase of the traffic. One day an old lady, who kept a boarding house in my neighborhood, came to my store and asked me if I ever sold oleomargarine. I told her that I did not deal in it. She asked me whether I could get her some as a special accommodation. I went to a factory and bought a single tub, of which the old lady purchased fifteen pounds. Soon afterward she visited me again and asked me to enter the oleomargarine on my bill as butter, explaining that if her boarders complained of the stuff and asked any questions she wanted to have my bill to show. 'Don't you see, madame,' I answered, that that would render me amenable to the law?' Well, the old lady refused to buy any more, declaring that she would go to the factory in future for her supply, and I sent back what remained in the tub to the manufacturer. I have no doubt that many grocers are furnishing boarding houses with butter on the terms proposed by the old lady to me, but I could not afford to do it. I am willing to sell oleomargarine if a customer asked for it, but I will only sell it as oleomargarine."

HOW THE EXECUTION OF THE LAW IS OBSTRUCTED.

The appended interviews with counsel of the State Dairy Commissioner will serve to show how the violators of the law resort to all possible subterfuges to evade the penalties it imposes, and also give some important information as to other statutes governing this nefarious traffic:

“There has been considerable misconception among retail dealers as to the status of the laws regarding the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine," said Mr. Frank Oliver, the counsel in this city for the State Dairy Commisioner, "and for some time after the announcement.

that the Court of Appeals had declared the act of 1884 unconstitutional, the prevailing belief among them was that they might go on selling their compounds of beef fat, neutral lard, and artificially colored counterfeits of natural butter with impunity. A few timely arrests disabused their minds of this erroneous impression, but there are still numbers of them who persist in evading the law. Thus far there has been only one conviction in the Court of Special Sessions for violations of the law under the latest act, and this was on the confession of the defendant of his guilt, and one in the Court of General Sessions. The latter is the case of Benjamin J. Hill, a Harlem grocer, who was accused of selling oleomargarine or butterine as butter. In the affidavit upon which the charge was made, which was sworn to by one of the Commissioner's inspectors, it was asserted that Hill had offered to sell him a quantity of butter, but failed to inform him that it was an imitation of the natural product, and also that the deponent had closely inspected the tub containing the so-called butter, and found upon it no brand or printed label, as required by law, designating it as oleomargarine. The bogus butter thus produced the inspector submitted to Charles W. Stillwell, a professional chemist, for analysis, and it was found to be a compound of animal fat, curd, salt-water, and coloring material, and to contain no characteristic of the genuine article save in color."

"Can you give me the certificate of analysis in that case ?"

"No. I have no copy of it. But all the compounds are very much alike, and this, which is the certificate of analysis in another case, will serve equally well.

Animal and butter fat.

Curd......

Salt (ash)....

Water at 100 deg. C.............

Here is the analysis:

87.41

1.30

2.91

8.38

100.00

"Here is another which shows 85.01 of animal and butter fat, 1.09 of curd, 2.36 of salt (ash), and 11.54 of water. Appended to each certificate are the words: 'This sample is composed mainly of animal fat, and was not produced from unadulterated milk or cream from the same. It was not produced from milk or cream alone. It contains coloring matter, whereby it is made to resemble butter, the product of the dairy, and it is in imitation and semblance of butter produced from unadulterated milk or cream from the same.'

"You will observe that this certificate does not specify what sort of animal fat is used, nor the materials used for coloring. It may be the fat of beef cattle, or of horses, or of hogs, or, in fact, of any animal; but it is not necessary in these proceedings to go into details. It is sufficient to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the court that the product is not what the seller represented it to be to the purchaser, as herein lies the violation of the law.

"There are other laws under which we can take action against these sellers of bogus butter besides that of 1885, and the decision of the Court of Appeals in the so-called test case (that of the people against Marx) clearly points out the fact of their existence. Section 403 of the Criminal Code provides that any person who sells, or manufactures, or offers for sale for human food any substance in imitation of any such food product, without disclosing the fact that it is an imitation, and displaying a suitable and plainly visible mark that it is an imitation, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and Section 407 provides that any person selling food or drink, adulterated or diluted, as unadulterated or undiluted, without first disclosing the same and informing the purchaser of the bogus nature of the product, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and be subject to an imprisonment not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding $500.

"This section clearly provides that the intention to defraud shall be shown, and it is held that the withholding of the information as to the fraudulent nature of the product by the seller would be positive evidence of intent to defraud.

"My experience of the trial of cases of this kind has been somewhat limited, but in all the cases that have so far come up the defendants have invariably denied that they represented the stuff they sold to be butter.

"In the Hill case notice of appeal was given after the close of the trial and the payment under protest of the fine of $100. It should come up before the Court of Appeals at an early day, but I have not seen it on the calendar for the next sitting of that tribunal. There are now pending four cases in the Court of Special Sessions, and thirty-three in the Court of General Sessions. There have been complaints as to some of the minor courts that proceedings of this nature were unnecessarily delayed in order that the judges below might await the opinion of those in the higher court; but I do not attribute the delay to this cause. In the case of the Court of General Sessions, where the calendar is overcrowded, oleomargarine cases must wait, as liquor license cases do, and hence it is that nearly all the dealers arrested elect to be tried in that court. In many of these cases a civil suit is pending for the recovery of the $500 penalty for the violation of the law, but many dealers have preferred to pay the penalty rather than go to trial.

"The four cases that are to come before the Court of Special Sessions will be heard next week. They are all for selling oleomargarine for butter, as are all that have been acted upon hitherto, and the defendants are John H. Lyddy, Jolin Howell, Charles H. Rohrs, and Herman Schnaars, all grocers."

At the time of the trial of the Marks case in the Court of General Sessions, and after notice of appeal had been given, the dealers in oleomargarine asserted openly that no more trials for violations of the act of 1885 would be held until after the decision of that appeal by the court in Albany. They intimated that the ground for their assertions came from the office of the district-attorney. Several members of the trade who were deeply interested in the suppression of this nefarious traffic and the enforcement of the law called upon DistrictAttorney Martine, who had then newly assumed office. He assured them that he was in ignorance whether any such agreement had been entered into by his predecessor, and declared that if any arrangement of that sort had been made it would not influence his action. And that it did not was evidenced by his subsequently bringing several cases to trial. That they were postponed was due to the crowded condition of the calendar.

"You can scarcely conceive to how great an extent this fraudulent traffic in counterfeit butter, whose component parts are animal fat, nitric acid, and other deleterious articles, is practiced by unprincipled grocers and others," said Mr. Arthur C. Salmon, the counsel for the State Dairy Commissioner in the City of Brooklyn and Kings County, when asked as to the progress made by the department in its efforts to enforce the law. "I came across a case not long since in which it appeared that five different samples of alleged pure butter were purchased at a single store for as many different prices, and each of these samples proved, upon analysis, to belong to the same grade of oleomargarine. It is not unusual for dealers in this counterfeit butter to sell the contents of a single tub at as many as three different prices, the rate being fixed in each case entirely by the character of the custon.cr.

"We have detected oleomargarine in the stores of dealers in every part of the City o Brooklyn, some of whom seemed to be above suspicion; but I believe that at present very few first-class grocers handle it. As to how much bogus butter is sold here it would be hard to say, but the latest statistics I have seen show that the sales in the State in 1884 amounted to 40,000,000 pounds. Inasmuch as the traffic has not been materially interfered with in many parts of the State, the increase in 1884 must have been considerable."

With regard to the act of 1885, which was passed while the test case was under consideration in the Court of Appeals, and which is referred to in their opinion, Mr. Salmon aid:

"This enactment prohibits the manufacture or sale of any oleaginous substance in imitation or semblance of butter. It not only prohibits the sale of oleomargarine as butter, but if sold at all it must not be colored or made in imitation of cream butter. The intention

of the legislature is plain. All cases now being prosecuted by me are cases where the defendants have sold oleomargarine as butter, the product of the dairy, the sale being clearly a fraud upon the public, although they swear in court that it was sold for what it was. That seemingly respectable tradesmen should engage in such a traffic I cannot explain, except perhaps upon the hypothesis that the enormous profits to be derived from dealings in the cheap. and bogus product tempt them to risk the chances of detection and prosecution. I am informed that the price of oleomargarine delivered at the factory is from eleven to thirteen cents a pound, and yet last winter I convicted a man of selling a pound of this stuff for thirty-seven cents, which was then the price of fine creamery butter. Is it natural to suppose that he sold

this stuff to a purchaser who knew exactly what it was? "The law of 1885 was one of the results of a very close and exhaustive examination into the healthfulness of oleomargarine by the Senate committee on public health. They heard a great deal of evidence pro and con, and unanimously favored the passage of the act. It may be possible to make oleomargarine in such a manner and of such materials that it will not be absolutely unwholesome; but how can that be guaranteed to the public? When you consider that as competition grows, as it does grow every day, its selling price is reduced, and the necessity for cheapening the materials and the processes of manufacture is increased, it is easy to see how great is the temptation to utilize material that is unfit for human food. When you consider further that this sham butter depends for its sale upon fraud and deception, and further still that it can be made of any animal fat, no matter in what condition or whence obtained, I leave it to you to decide whether you would regard it as a wholesome or safe article of food to give your children. They can still sell their bogus butter to those who want to purchase it, provided it is not colored or made in imitation of butter; but I fancy that their customers, should they try to sell their products on its own merits, would be few and far between.'

Assistant State Dairy Commissioner B. F. Van Valkenburgh, who was appointed under the act of 1884, and who has had many years of experience in the butter trade, said yesterday: "When the Court of Appeals decided against the constitutionality of the act of 1884 a good many cases of violation of the law were left on the calendar, and the impression among grocers was general that they could go right along selling bogus butter. It was hard to make them understand that the new law was in effect, but during the summer months, when trade was dull, we found very few violations of the law. In September, however, when the cool weather began to set in, there was a marked advance in the price of dairy butter, and this gave the conscienceless traders in the bogus stuff the opportunity they craved. Since September last we have made over one hundred arrests, and many of the cases are still pending in the courts. In nearly all of these, the defendants declared that they sold the bogus. butter as oleomargarine, and in this their clerks unblushingly backed them up, but in no case did we make an arrest until we had sure proof that the product was sold as prime dairy butter. The temptation to deal in oleomargarine is a very great one, for the retailer can realize a profit much greater than that of a pawnbroker. He can buy the bogus butter for from eleven to fourteen cents a pound, and sell for from twenty-six to thirty-two cents a pound. They do not dare to sell it cheaper than this, for fear of attracting the attention of our inspectors; but we are generally provided with evidence showing that they represent their wares to be dairy or creamery butter. Some of the oleomargarine compounds that come to this market are such perfect imitations of butter in color, taste, and general appearance that only an expert can distinguish the difference. Even they are deceived at times by the tests of taste and smell, and have to resort to more severe tests.

"The manufacturers claim," continued Mr. Van Valkenburgh, "that they sell their product for what it is-oleomargarine—and this I am not in position to dispute. But the fact remains, and I can easily prove it, that in every possible way they send their wares to this and other markets so packed as to deceive the public. The product of some oleomargarine factories comes in what are known to the trade as Orange County pails; that of others in hickory