COTTON FARMERS AND OLEOMAR GARINE
Dairman, Hoard's
Cotton Farmers and Oleomargarine [From HOARD'S DAIRYMAN, Ft. Atkinson, Wis.] PROPAGANDA is subtle and its origin is often unknown to the uninformed. Like the chameleon, it takes on the color of...
...The real interest of the cotton farmer rests on the 91 per cent used In other products...
...6. During the past three years we have imported from abroad 111,262.000 pounds of cottonseed oil...
...This we have attempted to show in actual dollars and cents...
...These farms averaged an annual income of $150.60 from milk as compared with $1.53 income from cottonseed oil used in oleomargarine...
...Like the chameleon, it takes on the color of that to which it attaches itself In order to escape detection...
...As pointed out above, an income of $1.53 per farm from cottonseed oil u-'ed In oleomargarine is small as compared to an $8.44 Income per farm from cottonseed cake and meal, to say nothing of the $150.60 per farm he receives from dairy products...
...Isn't this a rather pitiful portion to raise a big outcry by the producer'1 3. The wholesale value of cottonseed coke and meal averaged $58,607,000...
...WE hold no brief for trade barriers between states, but we do hold that the state oleo taxes do not constitute such trade barriers...
...Those who have been in the fight for years can see the oleomargarine interests responsible for much of the publicity that has appeared...
...The discussion rests largely on the effect of these taxes on the cotton farmers of the South...
...This is, perhaps, the most enlightening comparison as to where the real interest of the cotton farmer lies...
...In other words, oleomargarine has taken 8.9 per cent of the production of cottonseed oil during the past three years...
...LET us examine where the real interest of the cotton farmer lies...
...This is 98 times as large as the $5,318,000 they received from the cottonseed oil used in oleomargarine...
...4. The farmers in the 16 cotton states had an average annual dairy income of $523,036,000...
...This is not a true picture of the situation and Is the result of a desire of larger profits by the oleo interests...
...The answer Is, they are not concerned with anything other than their own self-interest...
...Who buys this cake and meal...
...The cotton farmer has five times the financial Interest in this market and its welfare that he has in the oleomargarine manufacturer who tries to weep on his fhoulder...
...5. There are 3,473,006 farms in the 16 cotton states...
...This is 79 per cent of all the cottonseed oil used in oleomargarine...
...Why don't the oleomargarine interests that are so deeply concerned about the market for the South's cottonseed oil, set their propaganda machine at work to overcome this foreign competition...
...The cotton farmer, himself, is coming to realize that he should, as Virgil tells in the story of the siege of Troy, "beware of Greeks bringing gifts...
...Isn't It largely the livestock and dairy farmer...
...For each dollar of income for cottonseed oil used in oleomargarine the cotton farmer averaged $98 from dairy products...
...2. The annual value at the mill of all cottonseed oil produced has averaged $110,433,000...
...If we assume the cotton farmer got half of this, he then securrd over five times as much from his cake and meal as from cottonseed oil used In oleomargarine...
...This is true of much of the discussion that has taken place concerning trade barriers as they concern state oleomargarine taxes...
...Expressed as a mathematical ratio, the interest of the cotton farmer in oleo is to his interest In milk as 1 is to 98...
...Note the following factual data gathered from federal governmental statistical reports, all figures used being the annual averages for the past three years: 1. Southern oil mills have produced 1,578,293,000 pounds cottonseed oil annually, of which the oleomargarine industry has used 140,578,000 pounds...
...The farm value of that portion used in oleomargarine averaged only $5,318,000, or less than 5 per cent of the mill value of all cottonseed oil...
...He recognizes that his own self-interest and that of his neighbor rests in the welfare of the dairy industry whether he is, or is not, a commercial dairyman...
...It represents them as being angry and desirous of retaliation...
Vol. 10 • March 1940 • No. 12
