There are several pertinent facts relative to this bill which I feel should be given due consideration by your committee-facts which I feel indicate the urgent need of maintaining existing taxes. This isn't just a question of butter versus oleo; the issue involved is the protection of our great dairy industry, the consuming public, and maintaining the fertility of our soil. It is a known fact that the present production of milk is insufficient to provide the consuming public with adequate amounts of dairy foods to provide a nutritional diet that is recommended by scientists and dietitians. It is also a known fact that dairying as part of a well-balanced agriculture is the best practice known for the conservation of our soils. Dairy farmers also provide the major part of the market for cottonseed and soybean meal, which market provides for the largest percentages of the income to the producers of these products. Figures released by Federal agencies show that the cotton farmers' income from cottonseed cake and meal is approximately seven times greater than their income from oil used to manufacture oleomargarine. Soybean farmers' income from meal was, as shown by these reports, over four times greater than the value of oil used in oleomargarine. The oleo industry can and will use any other vegetable oil they can purchase at a lower price, and the possibility of using mineral oil in their product is being explored. Butter is the stabilizer of the dairy industry, providing a steady year-round market for butterfat and especially during the period of flush production. If the unrestricted sale of oleomargarine, colored yellow to resemble butter, is permitted, there will undoubtedly be a drastic curtailment in milk production_as a whole and especially in the major butter-producing States. This will mean a very short supply of milk during the seasons of low production and consumers will be unable to secure sufficient milk for a minimum nutritional diet. The cotton and soybean farmer will lose a considerable portion of the market they now have for cottonseed and soybean meal. The decrease in the number of dairy cows will intensify the problem that we all are now concerned with, the depletion of our soil fertility. If the consumers were given the correct information as to what their interests are in this bill, public sentiment would be as strong for the defeat of this legislation as it now is in favor of passage. Under present regulations governing the manufacture and sale of oleomargarine, it is permissible to add diacetyl so as to make the product taste and smell like butter. The mixing of the product in skim milk further adds to the butter flavor and aroma. It is also permissible, under these regulations, to add benzoate of soda as a preservative. If the manufacturers of oleo are permitted the unrestrictive use of yellow color, the consuming public will undoubtedly be the victims of the fraudulent sale of this product as butter. With the price incentive what it is at the present time, who is naive enough to believe that unscrupulous manufacturers and distributors will not take advantage of a situation such as this. I hope the members of this committee will seriously analyze the reason why the oleo interests are so determined to have the privilege of coloring their product yellow. If these oleo witnesses were honest with you they would tell you that the reason they want the yellow color is so that the consumers in homes and in public eating places will be led to believe they are eating butter. If the Federal taxes on yellow-colored oleo are removed, the consuming public will have lost the last measure of protection they now have. Yellow color is nature's trade-mark for butter and all butter made, regardless of time of year or type of feed fed to cows, contains the yellow color in varying degrees according to carotene content of feed consumed by the cow. Any manufacturer that cannot get public acceptance of his product without dressing it up to resemble a superior product has, in my opinion, a very weak case and should not be granted special privileges under Federal or State statutes. NATIONAL-AMERICAN WHOLESALE GROCERS' ASSOCIATION, Hon. EUGENE D. MILLIKIN, Chairman, Senate Finance Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. May 14, 1948. DEAR SENATER MILLIKIN: National-American Wholesale Grocers' Association, with members in every State of the Union, represents approximately 75 percent of the wholesale grocery volume of the United States. The association favors the enactment of legislation to repeal the tax on oleomargarine, along the lines of the bill now before your committee and on which measure hearings will begin May 17. At Atlantic City, on January 22, 1948, this association adopted a convention resolution reading as follows: "Repeal of margarine taxes: We advocate repeal of the existing Federal and State statutes that impose taxes on sales of oleomargarine, and also provide for occupational license fees on manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers of margarine. "We recommend that our members study this subject and cooperate in the program to bring about elimination of these penalties, which obstruct the free movement of wholesome food products manufactured from raw materials produced in the United States." May I ask you please to include this communication in the record of the hearings? Thanking you in anticipation of your consideration and kindness, I am M. L. TOULME, Executive Vice President. STATEMENT FILED ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION WITH THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, MAY 17, 1948, BY H. FRANCES BOYER OF THE LEGISLATIVE-FEDERAL RELATIONS DIVISION OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION I represent the National Education Association, which has a present membership of over 400,000 teachers and administrators. Its business is transacted through a representative assembly, boards, committees, and commissions. Since the beginning of World War II living costs in the United States have steadily increased while the income of teachers has lagged far behind. This is to say, living costs have mounted more rapidly than teacher income. In many States today the buying power of teachers is below the 1935-39 level. It is an under- rather than an over-statement to say that half of the teachers in our public schools today are forced to subsist on a near-poverty level. The imposition of any tax upon any object that increases the cost of living is a direct attack not only upon the well-being of teachers but upon the basic educational safety of the Nation. The present tax program imposed upon oleomargarine is vicious and therefore unsound. It is offensive to the principle of justice and the spirit of fair play which lies at the very base of the American way of life. The tax on oleomargarine should accordingly be adjusted downward, if not entirely removed. This is in line with a basically sound economy. It treats the consumer fairly. It places production on a sound basis. For these reasons the National Educational Association supports the proposal to eliminate the inexcusable and unjustified levies now imposed upon oleomargarine. NATIONAL WOMEN'S TRADE UNION LEAGUE OF AMERICA, Senator EUGENE F. MILLIKIN, Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR SENATOR MILLIKIN: The National Women's Trade Union League urges repeal of all restrictions against the free manufacture and sale of oleomargarine. The thousands of housewives in the league's membership tell us that the unjust restrictive taxes on oleomargarine should be repealed; that repeal would tend to lower the price of milk and make other milk products more plentiful and within reach of the average consumer. It is a direct attack on our competitive system, which is the backbone of our economy, for the producer of one product in the United States to demand protection against another domestic product such as is demanded by the butter industry against oleomargarine. Furthermore, it is the only instance of such an atack by one industry against another. Scientific research shows that, from a nutritional standpoint, margarine is the equal of butter, "containing the same amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrates, and calories per unit of weight" (from the report on margarine by the New York Academy of Medicine). Furthermore, the consumer is protected by our Federal and State pure-food laws, which guarantee proper labeling and standard of purity of food products, including margarine. Ninety-nine percent of modern margarine is fortified with 15,000 units of vitamin A per pound, which is far above the minimum of 9,000 units required by law. Finally, another reason we support repeal of the taxes is the fact that these taxes prevent many grocers in small communities from having margarine on their shelves, thus depriving the very groups that need it most of this important nutritional food. With the high cost of living, moderate- and low-income families cannot afford butter, but they can afford the less expensive margarine where available. Please, may we ask that this statement be made a part of the record of the hearings. DEAR SIR: Following is a statement of our views on the oleo tax repeal bill: We believe that no country, and no product should masquerade under false colors. Let oleo sell the public on its own merits, wearing its true colors or else pay for the privilege of using butter's color, for yellow is butter's natural color. We don't try to make butter red like jam or brown like peanut butter when used as a spread. Butter's market was developed on its own merits. Cleo manufacturers have the same plivelege of building up their product on its own merits. Make the housewife like oleo for what it is. And it is not yellow. To let oleo take over butter's natural color without making it pay for the privilege in the form of a tax is thievery at its worst. For using the yellow color is a privilege. When oleo is colored yellow it is then masquerading as butter. Protective laws are necessary and wise to prevent fraud. Everyone recognizes, for instance, the necessity of protecting patent rights. Marketing rights also should be protected in every instance. It is for the benefit of the consumer as well as for the butter manufacturer that we have an oleo tax. We butter people do not try to fool the public by bleaching our product and selling it as lard or coloring it gray or green and selling it as oleo. The United States must have a healthy economy. Tariffs are enacted and enforced to protect the United States producer from competition from abroad on the same products that we raise within our country. Yet here within the United States we have the situation where the oleo product wishes to trespass out of its own circle and sell itself to the consumer on the reputation butter has built for itself. And they advocate that to remove the protective tax is fair. If oleo is so wonderful why is it trying to be like butter? Strip the tax from oleo and the consumer will be buying colored oleo at higher prices. It is certain that there will be "butter-legging” on a large scale. It was tried during the war when the tax was on. Give the oleo manufacturer a free hand by taking off the tax and the consumer will be defrauded on a large scale. The attempts during the war to sell oleo as butter proves alone that the oleo people are constantly trying to falsify their product. Their attempt to repeal the tax on their product only adds to that proof. If butter isn't superior to oleo and doesn't have something that oleo doesn't have then why are the oleo people trying to make their product as much like butter as possible? Why don't they choose some other color? Or, if they really think a lot of their product why don't they proudly fly their own color on the market as the butter people always have been proud to fly theirs? The dairy industry is a vast industry in the United States. It is necessary for the health of the people. Let oleo take over the butter market and it will be taking away the dairy herds of the country. For the farmer cannot make a profit on milk alone. He must have an outlet for his byproduct--butter. Take away the market for this byproduct and the consequences will be serious. The economy of the United States dairy industry will be damaged. The people will suffer greatly from the lack of nourishing butter and fluid milk for their tables. Respectfully submitted. By HARRY HULTEEN, Manager. OHIO FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, Hon. EUGENE D. MILLIKIN, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: We believe that the long-time interest of both the consumer and the producer is best served if oleomargarine is not permitted to be colored to imitate butter. We believe that the dairy farmer is fully justified in requesting such protection. It appears that in States where oleomargarine is permitted to be colored so as to imitate butter, the price to the consumer is increased several cents per pound. The following is the resolution of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation on the oleomargarine issue: "We vigorously reaffirm our demands that oleomargarine be properly labeled and marketed solely on its own merits, and that all attempts to camouflage or represent it as butter be explicitly prohibited." Farmers have never had any desire to interfere with the sale of oleomargarine. What they do believe is that there should be adequate safeguards to prevent fraud. It seems clear to us that such safeguards would be in the public interest. We shall greatly appreciate your support of any amendments to the oleomargarine bill which will expressly prohibit oleomargarine from being colored to imitate butter. Yours very truly, PERRY L. GREEN, President. THE OHIO MILK PRODUCERS FEDERATION, INC., Senator EUGENE D. MILLIKIN, Chairman, Senate Finance Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. HONORABLE SIR: There are 22 million milk producers in the United States who in 1946 had a cash income from milk of $3,716,000,000 and a cash income from cattle and calves of $3,715,000,000. Ohio has 170,000 farms where milk is produced. One out of every 15 people in Ohio depend upon the dairy industry for a livelihood. Milk and dairy products supply one-fourth of nutritional requirements of our American people. In view of the importance of the dairy industry in the Nation's economy, it is very difficult for many of our milk producers to understand why only 1 day has been allotted to the dairy industry to present testimony on proposed oleomargarine legislation. I wish to present very briefly some of the important factors which should be considered: We must protect consumers against fraud The biggest reason for denying yellow color to oleomargarine is to protect consumers against fraud. Butter is a natural product and has always been identified by its natural yellow color. It varies in the shade of yellow depending upon breed of cattle, feed, and seasons of the year. Color is added to butter only for the sake of giving it uniformity, but never to sell butter for anything else than what it is-butter. The only reason in wanting to add yellow color to oleomargarine is to disguise it, and have it used as a butter substitute. In spite of the fact that 700,000,000 pounds of oleomargarine was produced last year, in public eating places and private homes it is repeatedly served and spoken of as butter. Opportunity and incentive for fraud There are many people today who, unfortunately, are seeking opportunities to defraud. Substitution of colored oleomargarine for butter offers a tremendous opportunity for fraudulent opportunities. The incentive of 100-percent profit or more is so great that many people will not be able to resist it. Butter is the balance wheel of the dairy industry Milk production being a natural process which must be carried out 365 days of the year cannot be regulated as can production in a manufacturing plant. Milk production is invariably highest in the spring and summer months, and if we are to have adequate supply of fluid milk in the fall and winter months there must be some means of handling the excess production during the flush season. This is the period in which the bulk of the butter is produced. Because it is the balance wheel in milk production butter is one of the basic factors in pricing milk in large fluid-milk markets like Cleveland. During the war butter prices were frozen at a level that made it impossible for butter to be produced in competition with prices for other dairy products. In addition, butter manufacturers were required by the Government to set aside 50 percent of their butter production. As a result, butter suffered a tremendous set-back from which it has not yet recovered. It is still, however, one of the biggest factors in the whole economy of the dairy industry. One of the Nation's greatest industries is surely entitled to proper safeguards against fraudulent competition. Soil conservation and water supply From a long-range point of view, the matter of soil conservation and preservation of our water supply is a most important consideration. We cannot continue to deplete the soil fertility and water supply of this Nation and maintain our present standard, so far as our food supply is concerned. We must choose the type of diet which this Nation will have in the years ahead. The dairy cow world's greatest food factory Not only does the dairy cow supply 25 percent of the nutritional requirements of our Nation, but she also supplies our most perfect food. We have no other factory that can convert grass, hay, and grain into our best food product. This, however, is only one of the facts involved. Soil conservationists today insist that at least 50 percent of our farms should be in so-called cover crops-that is, pasture and meadows. This can only be done where dairying is an important part of the agricultural enterprise. Each year $250,000 are spent to dredge from the Cuyahoga River (here in Cleveland) silt that has come from the topsoil of counties surrounding Cleveland. The cost of dredging is only a small factor when measured against the productive value of the lost soil. Attached is an article from Collier's entitled "Are We Short of Water?" This is a problem which should cause us grave concern. This problem as this article points out is a general one. In Huron County, 50 miles west of Cleveland, farmers have for the last several years found it necessary to haul water for their cattle at certain seasons of the year. Soil conservationists tell us that our average rainfall in Ohio is 40 inches. In a recent study 41 inches of rainfall on grassland showed that 40 inches were returned to the soil. In a cornfield only 26 inches went to the soil and 15 inches ran away carrying with it part of the topsoil. Conservation of our water supply depends on cover crops, pastures, and meadows, which in turn depend on the dairy industry. In this brief outline, I have tried to give you some of the factors which must be studied and analyzed in great detail in determining the far-reaching effects upon our Nation's food supply. If proper safeguards are not maintained, irreparable damage will be done to an industry which is most important to this Nation's welfare. Respectfully yours, THE OHIO MILK PRODUCERS FEDERATION, INC., OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA., May 15, 1948. EUGENE D. MILLIKIN, Chairman, Senate Finance Committee. Our membership which manufactures 90 percent of the butter made in Oklahoma is requesting that the American Butter Institute represent us in opposition to proposed oleo legislation at the hearing to be held by the Senate Finance Committee. C. O. JACOBSON, Secretary-Treasurer, Oklahoma Butter Institute. |