THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, DECE3IBER 8. 1912.
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War Is Being Waged Relentlessly on
Illicit Dealers Who Sell "Moonshine"
Butter as Product of Dairy Country
Butter Must Be the Real Thing Fate
of Butter Counterfeiters
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BY WILI-IAif ATHERTOX DU PUT.
C W. RESH country butter! I"resh
country butter!"
Such is the cry that has rung
through the streets of every city in
the Nation in the past few years and
back of which, in a vast number of
cases, has been a monumental fraud.
The householder who has heard this
call and has turned his attention to the
individual who was making it has
been treated to a sight that has taken
his mind back to the days of his boy
hood in the country lanes that run be
tween grassy meadows. A freckled
faced boy with a wide brimmed hat, a
checked shirt, one gallus and brogan
shoes, ts responsible for the call. Be
side him plods an old, gray mare with
cockleburs In her tail. She draws a
filapidated, country wagon, much be-
spattered with mud. The rural atmos
phere is accentuated by fresh, pine
boughs that are stuck into the sides
of the wagon bed, and give forth their
pungent odor in this crowded city
street.
Truly, thinks the householder, here
is a chance to get butter fresh from
the farm's churn.. He investigates and
finds that he can buy at a price five
cents cheaper than that of his grocery
store. He has made . a find and asks
the boy to come that way again.
As a matter of tap t he has bought
oleomargarine, or "moonshine butter"
as it is called , by the Government
agents. Not only has he- been deceived
but the law has been violated and the
supposedly country boy and his em
ployer has taken a chance of going to
prison for their deceit. The profits
are such, however, that the unscrupu
lous dealer has assumed the risk. Often
he has waxed wealthy. Of late he has
been quite regularly, going to prison,
and his fellows are getting discouraged.
The "Country Batter" Game.
This country wagon is but one of
a dozen of its kind. Its owner has
gone out among the farms to purchase
his rolling stock. The horses run loose
at night in a pasture that they may ac
quire the cockleburs and they are
never curried. It often happens that
the boy is really from the country. If
not- he is dressed for the part.
The individual who is back of the
wagon and the boys, probably began
business in a corner grocery. There
he handled butter and eggs. Creamery
and country butter had sold for 40
cents a pond. Yet he has bought
colored olemargarine for 25 cents. A
tub of this olemargarine has been
placed under his counter. His butter
had cost him 30 cents a pound and a
tub of butter was beside the oleomar
margarlne. Presently he got in the
habit of dipping in the oleo tub when
a customer asked for butter. The con
sumers rarely complained and he even
tually sold colored oleo quite regularly
as butter. -
This oleo has been colored in the
manufacture and a tax of 10 cents a
pound had been paid on it On oleo
that was uncolored there was a tax of
but one-fourth of 1 per cent. This
uncolored oleo could be bought for 15
cents a pound and a little package of
coloring matter would be thrown in.
Soon the dealer saw the possibilities
of coloring his own. product and sav
ing the tax of 10 cents. He bought
one tub of colored with the internal
revenue seals on it. When the oleo
in this tub was all sold he mixed color
into a tub of the white and placed it
in the tub that had contained the yel
low. - Thus he had, at a cost of 15
cents, a product that he could sell for
35 or 40. Then he saw the vision of
big money. - -
The corner grocery was given over.
He operated his butter .business from
his own home in the suburbs or from a
loft in the wholesale district. He bought
large quantities of the uncolored oleo.
mixed it with a bit of cream or butter
and with the requisite amount of col
oring matter and sent forth his coun
try butter wagons. He might have a
dozen of them selling to only the best
trade. He did an enormous business
and profits were so large that he waxed
wealthy.
Enter the Slenth.
The sale of oleomargarine is, how
ever, a matter In which the Federal
Government has a hand. Because
colored, oleo is subject to a tax of 10
cents a pound and the uncolored is
subject to a tax of one-fourth of 1 cent
a pound,' the internal revenue super
vises its manufacture and sale. It wants
to prevent an avoidance of sale with
out payment of the tax and it wants
to prevent its sale under the false pre
tense of being butter.
There are about 1000 men In the In
ternal Revenue Service, under Commis
sioner Royal E. Cabell, their chief duty
being to collect the tax on liquors and
tobacco. Any and all these men may,
however, be put on the trail of the
moonshine butter people and It has
happened in the past two years thit a
considerable force has been working
along this line and that matters have
been quite merrily stirred up in. many
communities.
At first the sleuths were not familiar
with the country butter dodge. It had
developed in almost all of the big
cities before it was finally detected. In
the end it was discovered by tracing
the oleo to the consumer. When it was
found that a given dealer was handling
large quantities of oleo the sleuths
grew suspicious -of the form in which
it reached the consumer. When the
country wagons were found leaving
the premises of such a dealer they
were followed and their vending of al- '
leged country butter was Investigated.
The revenue agent, suspecting a given
country wagon, would shadow it. At a
household where the product was sold
a call would Immediately follow and
inquiry would be made as to whether
or not the purchaser thought she was
getting butter. The agent would tell
of the suspected imposition and par
chase the package from the housewife.
It would be sealed with its record and
sent to a Government laboratory,
where it would be tested and found to
be oleo. The revenue agent would
follow the wagon until he had secured
a score of samples. His case would
be thus made absolute. Arrests would
be made and, recently, many convic
tions have been secured.
In a certain Western community the
political leader of the district made a
fortune in the "country butter" bus!
ness. In the city of Washington itself
two dealers were sent to jail for the
same sort of operation. It has been
done in nearly every city in the country.
It is now becoming almost as well
known as the old gold brick game and
consequently dangerous but it has
ranked among the-, most lucrative of
grafts in its time.
Some Millionaire Moonshiners
A revenue agent was recently In
Leavensworth, Kansas, where one of
the biggest Federal prisons is locatea.
He remembered that a certain butter
moonshiner from a certain very busy
city was there Incarcerated for the
sins of the past. When he had1 prev
iously known this individual he had
ridden in a limousine and given din
ners to chorus girls. He went to see
his old acquaintance, whom he found
mixing mortar. He prayed most ab
jectly for assistance in getting a pa
role. The story of this man is spectacular.
He began as the operator of a string
of grocery stores in the given town.
He evidently saw the light of the pos
sibilities of moonshine buter. One of
the stores grew into a four-story build
ing. To the fourth story of that build
ing there were no stairs. There was
a lift and when it reached the floor
in question it locked into it. The
windows were barred with steel and
every possible entrance was metal
plated. It was a fortress that might
have withstood an artillery attack.
This dealer bought great quantities of
oleomargarine and sold great quanti
ties of alleged butter. This butter was
retailed through the owner's store
and wholesaled to other dealers. The
business in it was enormous. The
revenue agents grew suspicious and
many attempts were made to get Into
the fourth story but to no avail. In
the end a raid was executed which
called for the Bcaling ladders of a fire
company and for its grappling irons
in tearing the bars off the windows.
When entrance was finally gained
a most complete plant was found. I
this plant the oleo was rechurned with
certain amounts of cream and properly
colored.' A most excellent Imitation of
butter resulted and It had deceived the
people so long that a fortune had re
sulted to the operator of the scheme.
Much of this money was seized by the
Government In lieu of the oleo that
had been sold without paying the tax.
What was left Is doing the operator
little good in his present place of resi
dence. There are many others of his
kind in similar homes for the erring.
Sleuthing for tbe Manufacturer.
Now, oleomargarine is an entirely
wholesome and legitimate product and
there are great factories engaged in
its production. Animal fats and vege
table oils, such as cotton seed oil, ara
its chief constituents and It Is usually
a by-product of the packing business
in such centers as Chicago. It is con
sequently made under the supervision
of the Government in Its meat inspec
tion work and is pretty sura to be en
tirely clean and wholesome, which la
more than can be said of much butter.
One of the amusing features in one of
these establishments is the presence of
manicurist who takes care of the
fingernails of all the employes whose
hands come in contact with the oleo.
The Government likewise holds that
the nutritive value of this product is
but two percent below that of butter
(Concluded On Page 6.)
rILLIAlt pears! Aw' ripe
Punny each!"
Archibald Keith, stalking
.long to keep an appointment with
Hiss Isabel Martin, heard the coster's
raucous cry, and it awakened an im-
mediate Interest within him. Archie
had many fervent likes and dislikes.
but If there was one edible which ap
pealed to him more than another it
yras a fine, luscious pear.
Archie glanced at the man's barrow
as It passed. The bright lights of the
bop windows cast an alluring glamour
over the neatly arranged rows of yel
tow fruit. Certainly they were re
markably fine pears and extremely
cheap. Archie's mouth watered
Archie looked at his watch. The ap
pointment was timed for eight-ten
punctually, outside Baskell's corner
(hop. It was now two minutes past 8,
and Baskell's but three or four minutes'
walk. Tes, he would just have time to
reach the rendezvous before Isabel
turned up.
He strode back to the barrow and
purchased a pear. Then he hastened
on toward Baskell's, the pear in his
hand.
And then he met Percy Locke. Of
course he would meet some one he
knew! It was just his luck! He was
ft man who rather prided, himself on
his fastidious deportment. In the of
fice he was a recognized authority on
etiquette.
"Cheer-ho!" observed Locke rather
wanly. Clearly Locke was at a bit of
a loose end. "Been buying pears, old
Aian?" he remarked, evidently desirous
of leading up to conversation.
"Looks like It!" admitted Archie
shortly.
"Doing anything particular?" queried
Locke wistfully.
"Yes; fearfully busy!" said Archie.
"Can t stop a minute! So-long!"
He hurried on, glad to have escaped,
yet resentful of Locke. Dash it all!
What did Locke a married man, too
want to go mooning about the street
for?
He and Locke, who were employed In
the same office, had been pals at one
time, and that circumstance rather in
creased Archie's annoyance. A man
who used to be a pal ought to have
better tact!
There had been no violent quarrel to
sever their friendship. After two or
three years of close acquaintanceship
Locke had got himself married, and
Archie had become engaged, and so, as
is the way of the world in such mat
ters, they Just drifted apart.
Archie had met Mrs. Locke ft nice
little woman, he thought, and rather
too good, if anything, for Locke. He
had Introduced Miss Martin to Locke,
too, and Locke had congratulated him
very warmly on his choice.
Archie looked at his watch again as
he reached Baskell's corner. It was
Just seven minutes past eight. He had
three minutes in which to consume his
pear.
Baskell's corner Itself was brilliantly
Illuminated by arc lamps and offered
no concealment to a man who desired
to consume edibles In secrecy. But on
one side of the corner there ran a dark
little side street, a promising place for
privacy.
Up this side street strolled Archie
and waited only till he was in the outer
darkness beyond the arc lamps before
his teeth met In the pear's melting
tissue.
He had only taken his second bite,.
for the assimiliation of a juicy pear
is a matter for extreme care to a man
who values his ties and waistcoats,
when Miss Martin put in an appearance
under the fizzing electric lamps.
She was early a good two minutes
early.
Acbie, his mouth full of luscious
pear, stared at her in dismay. Then he
glanced tentatively at the fruit in his
band. Should he throw it away forth
with and go forward to greet her? But
it was the finest William he had ever
tasted. To waste it would be a sin.
"No, I'll finish It," thought Archie.
"After all It's her fault for being
early."
So while Miss Martin gazed with
much interest at the contents of Bas
kell's window Archie, a score of yards
away in the darkness, was disposing
of his pear as quickly as possible.
There was still a good half to finish
when suddenly he ceased munching, for
Locke had appeared beneath the arc
light and was talking to Miss Martin.
"Awful cheek," muttered Archie un
reasonably, with his mouth full of
pear.
In order to curtail the Interview as
soon as possible he recommenced his
attack on the William, relishing its
flavor to the utmost and yet keeping
an aggressive eye on Locke and Miss
Martin earnestly.
At first she hesitated, glancing along
the crowded thoroughfare as though In
search of Archie. Then, she nodded,
and this seemed to please Locke so
much that he half made a movement
toward taking her arm.
Archie finished the last mouthful
with one convulsive gulp, and then
took out his handkedchief to wipe his
lips and fingers. It was an operation
which needed thoroughness; and when,
preparatory to striding along to inter
rupt the interview, he looked again
under tbe arc lamps Locke and Miss
Martin had vanished.
"Well, that's a nice thing!" he ex
claimed blankly.
It occurred to him that they might
be looking for him just around the
corner, and he hastened into the thor
oughfare. He was just in time to see
the couple clambering onto a bus as it
jolted forward.
Archie was a young man very much
in love, and so jealousy was his im
mediate emotion.
'Carrying on!" he puffed. "Carrying
on under my very eyes, though they
didn't know I was looking! Upon my
word, it s a bit. too thick! You ask a
girl to meet you, and when she turns
up a married man a married man.
mark you! comes along and persuades
her to go off with him!"
Waking to action, Archie mounted
the next bus that came along and fol
lowed In the wake of Locke and Miss
Martin.
They were seated side by side on top
of the vehicle. He could see them still
talking animatedly, and a fiery imagi
nation painted in the words they were
probably saying to each other.
Then Archie remembered how evi
dent had been Locke's admiration on
introduction to Miss Martin. Now he
came to think of It. they had been
wonderfully friendly on the three or
four subsequent occasions upon which
they had met. And now this climax had
come along!
Archie's bus presently rumbled past
the other vehicle. Archie turned In his
seat to watch the guilty pair. It Irri
tated him all the more that they did
not look a bit guilty.
When some 50 yards separated the
vehicles the back bus stopped. Archie,
leaning over the rails, saw Miss Martin
and Locke descend and botii went Into
a shop. I
Archie clattered down the steps of
his vehicle, but found it impossible to
dismount, for .threatening traffic jos
tled along behind the bus, like sharks
in the wake of a ship. Another 50
yards had been traversed before Archie
was able to gain the pavement and
hasten back.
He was Just in time to see the cou
ple he was shadowing mount another
bus. Locke was carrying a great mass
of flowers, but he gave them into Miss
Martin's hands when they reached the
top of the conveyance.
Wildly Archie signaled to the con
ductor. "Full inside and on top!" shouted
that official Inexorably.
And so Locke and Miss Martin were
borne from Archie's sight and he stood
staring blankly after the bus till It
had vanished In tbe mosaic of traffic.
It was an enraged Archie who per
ambulated blindly through the streets
for the next hour. At one moment he
was resolving never to see again the
fair but false face of Miss Martin. In
the next minute he was determining
to seek her out and demand an explan
ation of her conduct. 1
It was this latter decision which pre
vailed when he turned his footsteps
toward the road in which Miss Martin
resided. He took up his station on the
footpath opposite to her dwelling and
disposed himself to "keeping under ob
servation" with all the zeal of a newly
joined policeman anxious to win his
spurs.
At last his vigilance was rewarded.
Round the corner and up the road there
advanced the figures of Locke and Miss
Martin. As Archie had expected, the
fellow was actually, having the ef
frontery to escort her to her homel
All Archie's smoldering jealousy
blazed into passion at the sight. He
strode across the street and faced
them with infuriated countenance.
"What does this mean?" he shouted.
"Sneaking off with each other behind
my back! At least you thought you
were sneaking off out I saw you!
Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?
Locke and Miss Martin were dis
mayed to silence by the fierce outburst
"It was my fault said Locke, re
covering his power of speech by de
grees. "I I asked Miss Martin to come
with me. I didn't know she was wait
ing for you when I asked her.'
"I didn't know it would- upset you
like this!" confessed Miss Martin tear-
BULWARK OF BALKANS
(COXTSTTJED FROM PAGE S.)
great mosques and a hundred smaller
ones, today the Muezzin calling the
faithful to prayer chants his "Alleh-el-Allah"
only from the slender minaret of
the Banyabashl Djamia.
Friday is market day in Sofia. It is
the best day to get acquainted with the
Bulgarians, and as you may imagine,
it is much safer to market with them
than it Is to fight them. Friday is the
day you will see them dressed in their
best bibs and tuckers, for it is a day
of visiting and small talk, as well as
a day of trade and barter, and what
nation will not dress in its best to go
visiting? From seven in the morning
until one In the afternoon it seems that
the entire town acts as if celebrating a
victory in the field. Farmers' carts,
wooden-wheeled ' and ponderous, line
the street curbs. There is a hum and
bustle about tbe place, and the kaleido
scopic elfect of the colorful garbs of tbe
different nationalities hints of scenes
much nearer the edge of the Orient.
Since long before daylight peasants
from the surrounding countryside have
been arriving on foot and in bullock
carts. By noon the square surrounding
the great mosque resounds with the
monotonous drone of a myriad insects
which have settled about the edges of a
giant sugar lump. Turkish women in
baggy yellow bloomers and slippers
shaped like a sled-runner, squat along
the curb or even In the middle of the
sidewalks, selling embroideries. Bul
garian wool growers from' the moun
tains. In heavy sheepskin coats which
they wear the wrong side out in Sum
mer and the right side out in winter
to distinguish the seasons are dispos
ing of their produce to the wholesale
merchants of the city by the cartload.
Strings of puny pack animals laden
with wood divide the crowd under pro
test as they pass through from time
to time, their little hoofs spattering
n the dust like dropping shrapnel. Now
and again a group of Bulgarian beau
ties, dressed in all the nnery at their
command, with lavender sunshades
which seem unnecessary in view of
their dusky complexions, chatter their
way through the throng, followed per
sistently by a couple of Bulgarian Beau
Brummels, also attired in the height of
Slavonic fashion. There are Greeks in
white accordion-pleated skirts, Kurds
in round alpaca caps, foreign army offi
cers In variegated uniforms.
Characteristics of Bulgara.
But you will be particularly inter
ested in the Bulgars themselves. Com
placent and comparatively uncommuni
cative, a look of sturdy determination
characterizes their features. From
their very appearance they constitute
a nation that is not to be trifled with.
They seem only to tolerate the Turk
in their midst and It is evident from
their treatment of him that, they hate
and despise him with a bitterness in
born and centuries old. And you do
not wonder that they make good sol
diers. They are well-knit and strong
and inured to hardship. They place
implicit confidence In their leaders, and
patience, perseverance and endurance
are theirs to a remarkable degree. Un
like the usual run of Southern races
they are phlegmatio and taciturn; they
are thrifty, yet markedly adverse even
to the slightest display of wealth.
Deliberately and unostentatiously the
Bulgarians have been preparing for a
possible war against Turkey for the
past 15 years. Confident of themselves,
they have hoped for the time when war
might be declared upon a sufficient ex
cuse before -the powers could step be
tween. They ached to square accounts
with the Mohammedans and clean the
slate of five centuries of oppression.
At last that time has come and the
Bulgarians will not be satisfied until
they see the Turk, a bruised and bleed
ing menace to civilization, pushed off
the map of Europe, cowed and cornered
beyond the Bosphorus. No medal of
gold, no laurel wreath would appease
the aspirations of Czar Ferdinand half
so much as to be permitted to snatch
with his own hand the Star and Cres
cent of Islam from the Mosque of St
Sophia.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt Bul
garia Is the bulwark of the Balkans.
(Copyright by Blair Jaekel, 1912.)
fully. "You see. when Mr. Locke begged
me to come with him I"
"Begged you to come with him!" ex
claimed Archie. "All right! That set
tles it! I've done with her done with
her for good and all! See? You can
meet her every evening in future for
all I care! Take her on buses and buy
flowers for her I don't care! I've ut
terly done with her!"
Wrathfully Archie turned and strode
away.
Locke and Miss Martin stood staring
at each other in consternation. Then
Locke went hurrying after Archie's
vanishing form.
"I say, old man," he called soberly,
"you're jumping to conclusions, you
know. If you'll let me explain"
"There can't be any explanation,"
said Archie shortly over his shoulder.
"But there Is!" protested Locke.
"Look here!" .exclaimed Archie, halt
ing again. "It's no good trying to
gammon me! Didn't I see with my own
eyes what happened? While she was
waiting for me you came up and per
suaded her to go off gallivanting with
you instead! Buying her flowers! I
saw you!"
"Did you notice Just now that she
wasn't carrying them any longer?"
queried Locke. "Or were you too er
excited?"
"Forgotten them somewhere, I sup
pose?" sneered Archie. "Or left 'em
somewhere, so's I shouldn't suspect"
' "They weren't forgotten," said Locke,
"but they were left somewhere."
"Ah!" cried out Archie. "Thought as
much."
"They were left," continued Locke
steadily, "with my wife."
"Left with your wife?" echoed
Archie.
"Yes. You see, old man, my wife's
been" his voice faltered momentarily
"been a bit queer lately. Pretty bad,
the doctor said; but she's better now.
And, you see, we we haven t made
many acquaintances somehow. And to
night a fancy came on her that we
were lonely sort or people, witn nu
friends. So I I went out to try and
find some one I knew to take home
with me to try to cheer her up. 1
meant to ask you, but you said you
were in a hurry."
'Well?" asked Archie in a low voice.
Next I saw Miss Martin standing
under some electric lights, and I went
across to her and asked her to come
and try and cheer my wife up a bit
She hesitated a bit at first, but at last
she agreed, and she came with me and
cheered my wife up like 1 o'clock! Miss
Martin's a brick, old man, and you're
a. luckv fellow."
"Yes. pointed out Archie, "isut wny
didn't you send for me?"
Well. Miss Martin said she was sure
you wouldn't mind very much when you
knew why she hadn't kept the appoint
ment You see, we naa no iaea you
were looking on all the time, as you
seem to have been. And I was in a bit
of a hurry, too. You see. Id been
longer finding some one than I thought
I d be. There was a snop passea
earlier in the evening, and it had a
stunning lot of flowers, and I wanted
to buy some there for the wife before
the shop closed. That was why we
didn't wait"
"Old man," stammered Archie, put
ting out his hand, "I apologize! See
you in the morning. Must run back
now. I can just catch a glimpse of Isa
bel waiting by her gate."
And next morning Archie's first
words to Locke were:
"Old man, we're both coming round
to see you and your wife tonight."
(Copyright. 1912.)
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