Jim Devine wrote:
>
> BTW, I still remember when there were stores on the Illinois/Wisconsin
> border that sold "Oleo"

When stories began to appear in newspapers about diet in war zones back
in 1940, at first I didn't know what they were talking about when they
referred to margarine -- the only word I knew for it was oleo. And yes
indeed, at that time it was sold bleached with a tablet of coloring in
the (squeezable) package. To get it to mix one had to first let the
'oleo' soften, then squeeze it until the color was mixed. As made,
oleomargarine had a yellow color and it had to be bleached to conform to
the law against making it look like butter. Joe McCarthy first tried a
campaign against colored margarine as a political gimmick before his
secretary suggested to him that hunting reds might be a better gimmick.

Carrol

Reply via email to