Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1864-10-20
THE EVENING STAR.
Tricks of Shopkeepers

The London Builder has an arhcle npou
sundry tricks of shopkeep'eri' oonn,arnsrt in
which, doubtless, nave lneii 'o
Great Facilities for fraud ar" Afforded hv ths
kind of small weighirS machines efssn used
by fshmoDgers AID bakers, and on account of
the greater number of tulcra (six), and the
great areas of the disk and the scale pan in
which the conestibles or the weights are re-
spectiyely placed. There is now an itinsrant
buyer and seller Of gold and silver objects
travelling in the country districts of Bucxing-
hamshhe who uses 4 small pair OF steel scales
especially made for country use. His weights
are, Of course, stamped, and are correct, but
one arm OF the beam Of the scale Is longer than
the other. When he buys, he puts the article
in the scale fitted to the long arm. He man
ages TO travel about, like an affable bagman
tnat ne lis' win horse and gig; and we only
nope tnat sharp Householder may some day
manage TO sell ahorse with one leg longer than
the other 10 this tinguished member of the
giGocrdcy.
oacconists have particular preference for dy
hamlcal meanso Of increasing their gains Hold
ing up the scales in the left hand, the TWO or
fhree ounces OF tobacco are brlskly banged up
on the scale, which has the effect Of causing
the whole to uickly vibrate up and down,and
then, after two or three oscillations producing
an apparent balance, the scales are quickly
banged on to the counter, and the parcel is
wrapped up and sold II is not an unusual
thing TO observe publicans pewter pots with
the bottoms stuck up, so that with this and q
careful development of froth on the top, the
customers get very much less THAI the "impe-
Iia1 pint" But then. if the beers be adulter-
q ed with say, s'nuXyomica,' y these two mega
tive frauds produce positive benefit to the
consumer, upon the same principle that a no.
m9pa!hic quack is, perhaps, safer than an alo-
pathic quack. In the same way the bottoms
Of dry measu are sometimes driven up. brass
weights are filed away, and the leaden plugs
OF east-lron weights are partly cut out. At
The same time, these latter expedients too
clumsy to be at all safe, and are liable to be
instan ily detec ted by the inspector
The steelyarus used by itnerant truitsellers
greatly facilitate fraud, even when correct
weig hts are used. As IL is, weights -particu-
larI'y brass weights-are contin ually liable to
get light. and this is especially the case through
The. salt and grease turthering the effects of
fri etion on the weights of sugar bakers, gro
c'ns, oilmen and salt merchants. A great num-
Ar Of the shopkeepers OF the metropolis pay
End of insurance premium against any nm
fortunate results of the visits of the inspectors
Ot weights and measures. They pay certain
sum per quarter to some weight and scale
marker IN the neighbOrhood, who examines at
intervals the state Of the weights and scales,
and engages to pay fine which may result
from their honestly defective state. This plan
Is no doubt very practical, and for our own
part If we were inspecting weights and
measures, we should pay very particular
visits TO the shops not under this kind of super.
visien.