OCR Text |
Show MAKINtT" OC&. How I'nele Sum Watches It anil How It la Made. Ridden mvny In n ilnrlt and cobwebby corner bencnth thu roof of tho treasury nt Wnshluijton Is n room tilled with a mysterious nssemblaca of rpacer-loolt-ln( apparatus uhloh has tho aspect of an nlchcmlst'n laboratory. Yet tho tt orlc dono thero has to do not with thn maldnir of cold or a vital elixir, hut with tlio analysis of food and drink, saya tho Kansas 'City Journal. It Is tho chemical dlvlalou of tho Intcrnnl rovonuo bureau, nnd one of tho mat-tern mat-tern It has In charge Is tho detection of fraud in vho sttlo of oleomargarino for butter. Itsceins startling' to learn thnt tho consumption ot oleomargarine) In this country has doubled In tho Inst flvo yenrs. Tho pooplo of tlio United States cat four million pounds nf It every month, or twenty-four thousand tons annually. Nearly all of It Is put up by tho (Trent meat packers of Chicago, Cincinnati. New Yorlt, Providence nml Kunsnu City. Tho mntinfacturo of it Is lawful, hut It Is not permitted to masqucrado ns butter In tho tnarkot. ' Suspected samples nro pounced upon . hy rovcnuo ngcntn nnd submitted to i rhemle.nl tcatn. Thrco-fourtlis of tho hotels and nearly nil of tho restaurants and boardlnfrhousos in tho United States nso oloomnrjiarlno. Tor their purposes this nrtlllclnl product is excellently ndnptcd. Whereas butter quickly spoils, olcomargarlno nlitays looltn nice and remains fresh Indefinitely. Somo of it which has lecn kept nt the treasury for throo years Is as good no over to-elny. It Is licttcr in flavor than nny except flrst-rnto butter. People Peo-ple who buy rancid butter for cooklug would do much hotter to purcliliSo, oleomargarine. oleo-margarine. Tho best of tho latter la not cheap, costing' nt much as twenty flvo cents n pound, thus approaching ordinary entiles of butter in price. Tho peculiar flavor ot butter Is due to tho presence of forty-flvo per cent, of fatty aeld. Tlicao acids nro volatile anil rapidly decompose, banco tho rapidity with tho bubstaneo stvills. Oloouianrnrlno contulns very little of such dcntmctXilo material. It is mado from beef f.tt, tvliich Is removed from the nulmnl in tho process of slaughtering, slaughter-ing, washed and placed In a cold-water until. Next tlio fat is cut Into small pieces by machine, nnd cooked until thu liquid portion has bopnrutcd from tho tissues. Tho liquid fat is settled until perfectly per-fectly clear. Then It Is pressed to extract ex-tract tho itvariue, leaving n pure "oleo oil," wiilck, churned together with mtllc nnd butter, bccomei oleomargarine oleo-margarine Tho fat being nlmost lasloloss, butter Is put In to glva tho requisite llavor, tho best oleomargarine huvlnjr twenty per cent, ot tho Unost butter. |