margarine served in a public eating establishment must be labeled as such under the terms of H. R. 2023. Furthermore, the bill would require, in addition, that a public eating place which serves margarine must post a notice to this effect, or must so state on the menu. This goes much further toward eliminating the danger of deception in the very small area where any such danger exists than the unjustified proposal for a ban on yellow margarine. We need not tell you again that the colored people of this country are among the very lowest-income groups. The Federal and State antimargarine laws increase the cost of margarine, a food product as good and nutritious as butter. In many instances, due to these discriminatory laws, families cannot buy margarine. As we have stated, when it is purchased, the discriminatory laws force them to spend extra time in the kitchen, mixing color into margarine and wasting margarine in the process. On behalf of the 14,300,000 colored consumers in this country, we plead with you to do away with all punitive Federal laws aimed at margarine. The proposed color ban against margarine is as unfair and unjust as discriminatory race and class laws. On behalf also of the hundreds of thousands of colored farmers and their families, we urge the repeal of the Federal antimargarine laws. As this committee knows, most of these colored farmers produce cotton and cottonseed. The income of these farmers is among the lowest of any group in this country. Cottonseed oil, which is made from cottonseed, is one of the principal ingredients of margarine. The antimargarine laws, over a long period of years, have decreased the use of cottonseed oil in margarine and thereby have lowered the price of cottonseed and the income of of colored farmers. These farmers are in an unenviable position as it is. For the sake of the farmers, the consumers, and for the sake of fair play and fair competition in our free-enterprise system, we again urge this committee to approve legislation scrapping the outmoded and un-American antimargarine laws. The CHAIRMAN. We will recess at this time until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. (Whereupon, at 4:50 p. m., the committee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a. m., Wednesday, April 13, 1949.) OLEO TAX REPEAL WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 1949 UNITED STATES SENATE, The committee met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a. m., in room 312, Senate Office Building, Senator Walter F. George (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators George (chairman), Lucas, Hoey, and Millikin. Also present: Senator Fulbright; Mrs. Elizabeth B. Springer, acting chief clerk. The CHAIRMAN. The meeting will come to order. I will place in the record at this point a statement from Dr. Deuel, of the University of Southern California, together with the transmitting letter; also, a telegram from Mr. W. J. Knutsen, president of the United Dairymen's Association, from Seattle, Wash., with special reference to the testimony offered before this committee yesterday by Mr. Merritt M. Nash, Fall City, Wash. (The material referred to is as follows:) THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, Hon. WALTER F. GEORGE, Chairman, Senate Finance Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, DEAR MR. GEORGE: I understand that the Senate Finance Committee will hold hearings soon on the pending oleomargarine bill which is H. R. 2023. I personally appeared before the House Committee on Agriculture last March and testified in some detail in connection with the nutritive value of oleomargarine. My testimony is set forth at length beginning on page 47 of the printed record of these hearings for March 9, 1948. I would very much like to be present at the hearings of the Senate committee, but unfortunately it is physically impossible for me to be in Washington at that time. Since I am interested in the subject matter of this bill, I am sending you a brief statement which I would appreciate your inserting in the records of the proceedings. Thanking you, I am, (Signed) H. J. DEUEL, Jr., Professor of Biochemistry and Nutrition. STATEMENT OF H. J. DEUEL, JR., SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA The record will show that I appeared before the House Agriculture Committee of the Eightieth Congress on March 9, 1948, in connection with proposed legislation then being considered with respect to removal of Federal taxes and restrictions on oleomargarine. At that time I testified at some length on the nutritive value of oleomargarine based on many experiments personally conducted by me and upon certain experiments conducted by others. 253 This testimony is set forth at length in the printed hearings of the House Agriculture Committee on pages 47-103 and contains my testimony and exhibits set forth in full. In connection with H. R. 2023 which is before your committee, I can only repeat what I previously stated to the House committee last year and for the convenience of your committee, I am attaching a copy of the testimony I previously gave. Since that time the scientific development in this field has served to confirm what we already knew. Furthermore, I can add this statement. In my previous testimony, I referred to an experiment undertaken by my laboratory, under my personal supervision, which involves the feeding of several generations, of rats. I reported that up to that time, this experiment had continued for a period of over twenty generations and that at the twenty-first generation the animals receiving oleomargarine had maintained their vigor, growth rate and other traits and characteristics of interest. Since that time, this experiment has continued through the twenty-fourth generation. For your information, this approximates between 700 and 800 years of human life. I want to state that at the twenty-fourth generation the animals are in fine condition, the growth rate is similar to that of the original group, no failures have occurred in pregnancy or lactation, and it definitely appears that the animals could continue on the diet indefinitely. I could also add that since my appearance before the House committee, we have conducted a careful examination as to the keeping qualities of the vitamin A in butter and the vitamin A in oleomargarine. Our experiments establish that the vitamin A in oleomargarine keeps just as well as the vitamin A in butter and, in fact, it keeps a little better in oleomargarine. In other words, there is a somewhat greater loss of vitamin A values in butter than in oleomargarine when the products are kept under identical conditions over a period of time. As a scientist very much interested in the field of human nutrition, I want to go on record in supporting H. R. 2023. Hon. WALTER F. GEORGE, SEATTLE, WASH., April 13, 1949. Senate Finance Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C.: We are advised of purported evidence before Senate Finance Committee this morning by one Merritt M. Nash of Falls City, Wash., saying that he personally favored passage of Poage oleomargarine bill H. R. 2023 on the grounds that as a dairy farmer he could meet oleomargarine competition, but admitted that he did not produce any butter or sell any milk or cream for butter, but was a grade-A shipper on the Seattle market. We are further advised that Mr. Nash offered to open the legislative doors wide to a resumption of the famous filled-milk traffic. Will you kindly place in the record of the hearing this telegram advising you that Mr. Nash's views are not supported by the farmer-owned and farmer-controlled dairy organizations of the Pacific Northwest representing approximately 40,000 dairy farm families. Neither are his views shared by the members of the Washington State Legislature which only recently and with only two dissenting votes passed a new law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of yellow oleomargarine in the State of Washington. We respectfully ask for the passage of the Gillette-Wiley substitute amendment which is before your committee and is sponsored by all the Senators of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and by Senator Ecton, of Montana. (Signed) W. J. KNUTSEN, President, United Dairymen's Association. The CHAIRMAN. I will place in the record also a statement by Mrs. Robert Fielden Webster, chairman of legislation of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs, attaching a resolution passed by the State Board of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs. (The material referred to is as follows:) STATEMENT OF MRS. ROBERT FIELDEN WEBSTER, CHAIRMAN, LEGISLATION, ILLINOIS FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS For many years the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs has gone on record favoring the removal of taxes and fees imposed by the United States Government on oleomargarine. We have further gone on record as opposing the legislation in our State which prohibits the coloring of margarine. This is not a spur-of-themoment interest in our federation of 80,000 women, but one which has existed since 1944 at least. The resolution passed by our State board which accompanies this statement was merely a reaffirmation of our position on the question. We feel that it is important that H. R. 2023 be passed without crippling amendments and trust that the overwhelming attitude of housewives in our large agricultural State will be taken into consideration by the Committee on Finance and by the United States Senate. (The resolution accompanying Mrs. Webster's statement is as follows:) TEXT OF RESOLUTION REGARDING MARGARINE PASSED BY THE STATE BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS, DECEMBER 8, 1948 Whereas the American Medical Association, the New York Academy of Medicine, the National Research Council, and other leading scientific organizations have now approved margarine as a wholesome food product; and Whereas yellow is the accepted color for a bread spread, and American housewives spend needless hours mixing in the color at home; and Whereas discrimination against wholesome and nutritious food products such as yellow margarine is wrong in principle and out of keeping with American traditions of free enterprise, and Whereas the current high cost of living makes it more important than ever that margarine be made freely available to consumers in the yellow color in which they deisre it: Therefore be it Resolved by the Board of Directors of the Illinois Federation of Women's Clubs assembled in Chicago, Ill., December 8, 1948, That it urge the immediate repeal of those provisions of the Illinois State margarine law which now prohibits the manufacture and/or sale of yellow margarine, and that it urge the immediate repeal of the Federal margarine law which taxes yellow margarine 10 cents per pound and imposes burdensome levies on retail and wholesale dealers in the produce; and be it further Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to all members of the Illinois General Assembly, to the Governor of Illinois, and to the Illinois delegation to Congress. The CHAIRMAN. The first witness this morning will be Senator Wiley. Will you proceed, Senator? STATEMENT OF HON. ALEXANDER WILEY, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WISCONSIN Senator WILEY. I want to offer for the record-because of a statement that was made by the chairman, as I understand it, at the opening meeting of this committee an amendment in the nature of a substitute, H. R. 2023. This amendment was proposed by Senator Gillette, myself, and other Senators; so that the record at least will show that this committee is considering the substitute as well as the original bill that is before the committee. The CHAIRMAN. That is before the committee, Senator, and we are considering that. In fact, quite a good deal of the testimony has been directed to the substitute. But you may put it into the record. (H. R. 2023 is as follows:) [H. R. 2023, 81st Cong., 1st sess.] AMENDMENT (in the nature of a substitute) intended to be proposed by Mr. WILEY (for himself, Mr. GILLETTE, Mr. MILLER, Mr. BUTLER. Mr. THYE, Mr. WITHERS, Mr. MAGNUSON, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. LANGER, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. MORSE, Mr. GURNEY, Mr. MUNDT, Mr. AIKEN, Mr. ECTON, Mr. JENNER, Mr. CAIN, Mr. MCCARTHY, Mr. CAPEHART, Mr. JOHNSON of Colorado, Mr. CORDON, Mr. HUMPHREY, Mr. DONNELL, Mr. FLANDERS, and Mr. FERGUSON) to the bill (H. R. 2023) to regulate oleomargarine, to repeal certain taxes relating to oleomargarine, and for other purposes, viz: Strike out all after the enacting clause and in lieu thereof insert the following: DEFINITIONS SECTION 1. (a) The term "oleomargarine" as used in this Act includes(1) all substances, mixtures, and compounds known as oleomargarine, margarine, oleo, or butterine; (2) all substances, mixtures, and compounds which have a consistency similar to that of butter which contain any edible oils or fats other than milk fat if (A) made in imitation or semblance of butter, or purporting to be butter or a butter substitute, or (B) commonly used, or intended for common use, in place of or as a substitute for butter, or (C) churned, emulsified, or mixed in cream, milk, skim milk, buttermilk, water, or other liquid and containing moisture in excess of 1 per centum and commonly used, or suitable for common use, as a substitute for butter. (b) For purposes of this Act, "yellow oleomargarine" is oleomargarine, as defined in subsection (a) of this section, having a tint or shade containing more than one and six-tenths degrees of yellow, or of yellow and red collectively, measured in terms of the Lovibond tintometer scale read under conditions substantially similar to those established by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, or the equivalent of such measurement. (c) The term "commerce" as used in this Act, means trade, traffic, commerce, transportation, or communication among the several States, or between the District of Columbia or any Territory of the United States and any State or other Territory or between any foreign country and any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, or within the District of Columbia or any Territory, or between points in the same State but through any other State or any Territory or the District of Columbia or any foreign country. PROHIBITED ACTS SEC. 2. The manufacture, transportation, handling, possession, sale use, or serving of yellow oleomargarine in commerce, or after shipment in commerce as yellow oleomargarine, or in connection with the production of yellow oleomargarine for shipment in commerce, is hereby declared unlawful: Provided, however, That yellow oleomargarine manufactured or colored within the borders of a State or Territory in which it is to be consumed shall not be subject to the provisions of this Act but shall be subject to the laws and regulatiosn of such State or Territory. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to limit in any way the applicability of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. ENFORCEMENT SEC. 3. The Administrator of the Federal Security Agency is authorized and directed to administer and enforce this Act and to prescribe and enforce rules and regulations to carry out its purposes and policies. The enforcement provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act including the provisions relat ing to injunctions and seizures, shall be available for the enforcement of this Act. PENALTIES SEC. 4. Any person, firm, or corporation violating any of the provisions of this Act, or of the rules and regulations issued in connection therewith, and any officer, agent, or employee thereof who directs or knowingly permits such violations, or who aids or assists therein, shall upon conviction thereof be subject to punishment in the same manner and to the same extent as persons who violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. APPROPRIATIONS SEC. 5. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated annually, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary for the adequate enforcement of this Act. REPEAL SEC. 6. The following sections of the Internal Revenue Code (relating to taxes on colored and uncolored oleomargarine, to special occupational taxes on manu |