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47
being supplied to the poor people of the East End of
London at 1s. and 1s. 2d. per lb. Moreover, as in each
case "butter" was demanded by the purchaser, and the
vendor sold what purported to be the article asked for,
and with no margarine wrapper or other notice to the
customer, it must be presumed that the tradesmen were
deliberately carrying on this class of trading because of
the large profit attached thereto. In any case butter was
demanded and margarine substituted without notice, and
to show that these transactions were not merely accidental,
it may be added that the analyses of several purchases
made by ordinary customers gave similar results,
i.e., "butter" consisting of only 2 per cent. of butter
fat. Of 13 purchases made at one shop purporting to
be "butter" at 1s. 2d. per lb., six consisted of margarine,
with only 2 per cent. or less of butter fat.
From the columns of the trade journals and assistance
received from a few of the more reputable traders,
it appears that the best brand margarine, or what are
termed "Fancy Margarines," are supplied at about 84s.
per cet., which works out at 9d. per lb. The retail price
of these best brands being generally about 1s. per 1b., a
gross profit of 33½ per cent. on the initial outlay is
shown. The usual standard of profit in the provision
trade, being, as I am informed, about 12½ per cent., it
can at once be seen that the profit on this line is much
larger than the profit usually obtained for provisions
generally. Many firms, in fact, seem to recognise that
1s. per lb. shows too large a profit by giving away cakes
with such two lbs. of margarine, while others reduce the
price to 11d., 10½d., and 10d. per lb. net.