Business & Finance: Margarine

In 1868, M. Mege-Mourees, a French scientist, invented margarine as a substitute for butter, by churning beef fat with milk. The product was called oleomargarine. In 1906, vegetable oils were first substituted for the oleo oils, to lower the price and improve the product. Up till this time, margarine was considered only a nasty substitute for butter; good grocers would not sell it, and some sellers were arrested for handling it. Its only lure lay in its cheapness.

The introduction of vegetable oils, however, turned the tide abroad. Yet the product failed of...