The ranch., July 15, 1904, Page 6, Image 6

About The ranch. (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
6
THE DAIRY
The Oleo Decision.
Dairymen and farmers generally will
be pleased to know that the manufac
ture of oleomargarine is practically at
an end. This is at least true of the
colored article. The present oleo law
requires the manufacturers of oleo to
pay a tax of one-fourth of one cent
per pound on all oleomargarine manu
iactured to which no coloring matter
has been added, and a tax of ten cents
per pound on all oleomargarine colored
10 imitate butter. The latter tax is so
nigh that it prevents the oleo manu
facturers from competing with genuine
butter. They can, of course, continue
to manufacture the product without
adding coloring matter, but it is not
likely that they will find any very
great sale for their product in that
condition. Many have consumed oleo
in the past, never dreaming but that
they were eating good country or
creamery butter, as it is a fact that
modern appliances of the oleo manu
facturers have been improved to such
an extent and their skill in making
this product has been so perfected
that it was difficult, even for good
judges of butter, to tell the imita
tion product from the real article.
The dairymen for many years have
justly considered the sale of oleo as
an imposition upon the public, and
have looked upon it as an unjust com
petition. Various laws have been
passed to the effect that these manu
facturers should label their products
"oleomargarine" or "imitation butter."
These laws gave some relief, but when
the article reached the restaurants the
labels did not find their way to the
tables, and hence the consumer at
these places had no means of knowing
whether he was being fed on butter
or on oleo, and the result was that
imitation butter had a tremendous
sale in spite of legislation. This no
doubt had a depressing effect upon the
price of the genuine article.
Some time ago Leo W. Mcßay was
fined $50 for selling colored oleo upon
which a tax of only one-fourth of a
cent had been paid, as Mr. Mcßay
claimed his product was not "artifici
ally colored," because he had colored
it by using butter which was itself
artificially colored and which practice
is sanctioned by law. He evidently
desired to make a test case of it, as
the matter was taken before the United
States supreme court, which court has
recently affirmed the decision of the
lower court sustaining the constitu
tionality of the law. Justice White
rendered the decision and declared
that the main question brought up by
the attorneys for Mcßay, that a tax
of ten cents per pound was prohibi
tive and confiscatory, and an evident
attempt on the part of the government
to exercise police powers within the
states, was irrelevant and had nothing
to do with this case. He held that
that was a matter for congress to de
cide upon, which it has done, and he
did not consider it the business of the
supreme court to go into details as to
the law. The main point, in his opin
ion, was whether congress had gone
beyond its power in imposing this pro
hibition tax on oleo and on this point
Justice White said:
"It is the duty of the judiciary to re
strain the acts of congress beyond the
powers given that body by the consti
tution, but if we sustain appellant's
contention, it would mean that this
court not only has the power, but also
whether in our judgment it is wrong.
We hold that responsibility to deter
mine the question of power does not
embrace the right to go beyond that
and assert ourselves as regulators of
the policies of congress and of the
government."
The decision of the supreme court
was not unanimous. Those who dis
sented from the majority opinion
were Chief Justice Fuller and Justices
Brown and Peckham. If the manufac
turers of oleo desire any further re
dress it is evident that they must
THE RANCH
look to congress for it, but they put
up a stubborn fight before the law
was passed by congress and lost
against heavy odds from the ranks of
the dairymen, and it is not likely that
they will obtain any relief on this
question for a good many years to
come. This is one of the instances
where the farmers and dairymen as
serted themselves and came out ahead.
Storage Receipts and Prices.
Editor Willson, of the Elgin Dairy
Report, says he has been looking into
the butter situation somewhat, from
the standpoint of production and price,
during the past four or five years, and
gives a few statistics that he thinks
may interest his readers. It will be
seen by this that prices during the
years 1900 and 1901 were very much
higher than at the present time, and
yet the supply of butter in the two
principal markets, New York and Chi
cago, was a good deal larger than the
present year, while at the same time
the competition from oleo was much
stronger, which has at the present
time been eliminated. The question
that comes to the front at the present
time is whether we are entering on
an era of low prices, which prevailed
for many years, for other products.
Statistics are sometimes peculiar
things. They leave us, when we study
them, as much in the dark as before,
or rather befog us; and we do not
know what basis to work upon. This
is especially true of the butter situa
tion this year. Dealers and specula
tors are a good deal at sea, as to
whether present prices are safe at
which to put away fancy goods or
whether they are beyond what might
be called the normal limit, considering
the supply and demand.
Comparing the figures shows the re
ceipts for 1900 in the two markets
were over 80,000 packages less in 1904
than in 1900 and prices about 1 cent
lower. With the increased consump
tion will some one tell why with a
decrease of almost 15 per cent in the
receipts and oleo eliminated prices are
lower? The following figures give the
comparative receipts and prices at the
New York market:
May 1 to June 20, 1904, 336,841, 18*4;
May 1 to June 22, 1903, 346,553, 21%;
May 1 to June 23, 1902, 346,536, 22*4;
May 1 to June 24, 1901, 383,601, 19%;
May 1 to June 25, 1900, 395,870, 19%.
The Chicago receipts and prices were
as follows for the periods named:
May 1 to June 20, 1904, 270,015, 17%;
May 1 to June 20, 1903, 272,376, 21;
May 1 to June 21, 1903, 293,741, 22;
May 1 to June 22, 1901, 290,052, 19;
May 1 to June 23 1900, 294,189, 18%.
Marks of a Good Cow.
Those who keep but one or two
cows naturally want them for general
purposes, do not want a mere butter
cow nor yet a mere milk animal, but
one which combines both in as great
a degree as can be found. Such cows
are not plentiful, we admit, or at least
are not often for sale at a moderate
price, so that when they are offered,
it behooves would-be purchasers to
be able to tell them.
We do not believe in very small
cows, nor yet in large, heavy animals,
as neither, as a rule, are capable of
filling the bill, the former too often
falling short in the quantity, while the
large ones are apt to run too much to
flesh to make them profitable dairy
animals. The medium-sized ones in
variably produce the best results, and
a heavy milker and a large butter
maker is seldom fat, as the majority
of the food she consumes is converted
into milk and butter. The head should
be fine, but bony, with small horns,
large, mealy nose and shapely ears.
The base of the horns and the inside
of the ears should be of a bright gol
den color. We have never yet seen
an animal with horns and ears well
colored (golden yellow) which failed
to make a fine quality of butter and
highly colored. It is said to be an un
mistakable sign. The body should be
of good size, and the width and depth
rapidly increase as It runs to the rear
or hind quarters. The milk veins
should be large and prominent, and
the udder need not necesarily be large,
so It is not meaty, but is small when
milked out. The teats should be of
good size, and only have a single hole
in each; we have seen quite a number
with teats having two holes. The hair
should be fine, and soft, while the skin
should be pliable, and almost as soft
to touch as velvet or kid. In color it
should be tinged deeply with yellow,
especially on the shoulders and flank
and along the back. Color of the hair
is rather a secondary matter, though
the best cows are generally yellow,
tawn, gray or white, with dark marks
edged with yellow. Black cows but
seldom prove to be good general-pur
pose ones, though of course there are
exceptions frequently met with.
Pasturing cows on green, fresh,
rank rye will impart a peculiar flavor
to the milk and butter, very much the
same as fresh grass pasture does in
the spring, only with the rye the flav
or is likely to be much more intense
than with the grass. In fact, it has
been known to get so strong as to be
LIGHT AND DARH,
Day and night, sunshine and shadow
are not more different from each other
than a healthful from a sickly woman.
The healthful woman carries light and
sunshine with her wherever she goes.
The woman
s*i«^s!lir Idr casts a siia<*°w
%lr - iS^y^ Those who suf
*> '.y' '"•■-■ N smile and sing.
111-health in woman is generally trace
able to disease of the delicate womanly
organism. Many women have been re
stored to happiness by the use of Dr.
Pierce* Favorite Prescription. If there
is an invalid woman, suffering from
female weakness, prolapsus, or falling of
womb, or from leucorrhea who has used
Dr. Pierce' Favorite Prescription with
out complete success Dr. Pierce would
like to hear from such person—and it
will be to her advantage to write as he
offers, in perfect good faith, a reward of
$500 for any case of the above maladies
which he cannot cure.
«I feel it my duty to inform you that I had
been a sufferer for many years from nervous
ness with all its symptoms and complications,"
writes Mrs. O. N. Fisher, of 1861 Lexington Aye,,
New York, N. Y. "I was constantly going to
see a physician. I was induced to ask Dr.
Pierces advice. I then took five bottles of ' Fa
vorite Prescription.' I am not now cross and
irritable, and I have a good color in my face :
have also gained about ten pounds in weight
and one thousand of comfort, for I am a new
woman once more."
The dealer who offers a substitute for
Favorite Prescription ■ does so to gain
the little more profit paid on the sale ci
less meritorious medicines.
Dr. Pierces Common Sense Medical
Adviser is sent free on receipt of stamps
to pay expense of mailing only. Send 21
one-cent stamps for the paper-covered
book, or 31 stamps for the cloth bound.
Address Dr. R. V. Pierce, Buffalo, N. Y.
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