OLEOMARGARINE

OLEOMARGARINE. In 1869, Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès, a French food research chemist, found a way to produce artificial butter. Chicago-based meatpackers championed margarine because it could be made from excess animal fat that had been going to waste. Margarine proved popular among consumers who could not afford butter.

Dairy interests in the United States, fearing that cheap oleomargarine would undermine its market share, successfully appealed to Congress for help. During the House debate, Rep. William Price (R-Wis.) said: “If I could have the kind of legislation that I want, it would not be a source of revenue, as I would make the tax so high that the operation of the law would utterly destroy the manufacture of all counterfeit butter and cheese as I would destroy the manufacture of counterfeit coin or currency.” Representative David B. HENDERSON (R-Iowa), a future Speaker of the House of Representatives, compared margarine to the "witches’ brew in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” Congressional opponents of the levy sought in vain to scuttle the bill through “killer” amendments. Rep. John Adams (D-N.Y.) offered an amendment that would tax chicken incubators “in order that the great American hen may be properly protected.” Yet another opponent, Rep. George Tillman (D-S.C.), claimed that margarine, “when it is honestly made out of good materials,” was actually better tasting than butter.

On July 23, 1886, Congress passed the Oleomargarine Act, which imposed a 2-cent-per-pound tax on oleomargarine, a butter substitute made from animal fat. Ten days later, President Grover Cleveland signed the bill into law. The resulting statute remained in effect until 1950. The legislation set into motion the modern era of commercial regulation by the federal government. Less than a year later, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, establishing the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroad rates.

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Source:

Glass, Andrew. "Congress Passes Oleomargarine Tax, July 23, 1886," Politico July 23, 2016, Online: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/this-day-in-politics-oleomargine-act-109244