Daily Republican., 1882-06-12
SHORT MEASURES.
NOW THE MARKET PEOPLE OF
WILMlNGrOE ARE SHAMEFUL
LIZ DEFRAUDED.

y
, WILMINGTOE ARE SHAMEFUL
LIZ DEFRAUDED.
a representative of the REPUBLICA!
on Saturday afternoon after the pape
had gone to press and the reportoria
and editorial work had all been finish
ed up for the week, took stroll u
King street amongst the berry mer
who were dealing out strawberries a
the rate of a hundred quarts (no no
auarts) every few minutes. There wa
every apprehension of a glut in th
market, and the avidity with which
people bought, and hucksters sold
caused the man of the pencil to tarry q
moment and take in the surroundings
Here you are for your nice fresl
berries at 8 cents quart" Justify san
out a youthful veuder, as he dexterous
ly piled his scoop and measure in an
swer to the demand for berries.
Near by him was an elderly gentle
man not so demonstrative, who work
ed along as regularly as clock work
scoOping up the berries and Pourin,
them into untitled baskets and bags a
they were presented.
Quart does that youngster say
Yes he said quart"
Quart, did that elderly gentlema,
say ?' Yes, he said quart Too. Is i
possible, are these both quart measures
and do they hold the same quantity o
berries were thoughts that ran speed
lily through the reporters mind
This needs investigation thought h,
and he further concluded that right
then and there he would investigate
the matter. A lull occurring in tht
crowd the reporter took rule measure
from his pocket and stepping up to 8
stand took the measure of little wizer
faced cup which disgraced the name OF
quart.
He then stepped to another stand and
took the measure of another quart and
found that their were three eighths OF
an inch difference in the height of the
cups and three sixthteenths of an inch
difference in the diamaters of the two
cups. Here indeed Was a discovery.
Either the man with the big measure
was cheating himself or the man with
the little cup was cheating the people.
There was no other alternative. Which
could it be.
AS it was not likely a man would
give larger measure than the law pre-
scribes, the man with the pencil and
rule jumped to the conclusion that the
man with the little short measure must
be cheating the people. When the
next customer came along and stopped
at the short measure stand in response
to the cry of "eight cents quart" the
man with the pencil said "You don't
call that quart, do you?" No answer.
"That is no quart measure" he con.
tinued. No answer. Ladies', that
man has no quart measure and if you
think you are getting quart of berries
from him for eight cents or any other
price with that measure, you are de.
ceived:
The reporter continued: ''If you
will go on to the next man there with
that big measure you will get an hon.
est quart of berries" OF course the
ladies' passed on and the short measure
man lost their custom. The berry man
looked daggers at the reporter and the
latter looked defiance at the berry man
and told him he was defrauding the
people and that if he did not put away
that bogus measure called a quart he
would be visited very soon by police.
man. The bogus quart then soon left
the stand and disappeared beneath a
fruit table and berry box took its
place as a measure. or course such a
colloquy could not take place without
word flying like lightning all along
the line of short measure dealers, and
the large quart took the place OF the
small one in many instances.
BY this time the short measure man
found a tongue evidently accustomed
to profanity and In no aimable mood
he informed the REPUBLICAN man
that his measure was much larger
than some others along the street and
If he was cheating the people, three
thirds OF the people in market were
cheating them. We informed him that
he was too sweeping in his declara.
tions, as three thirds meant all that
We knew there vas one honest dealer
at least close beside him with a big
broke his three.third theory.
He then modified his assertion and
came down to thrse-fourths, which We
did not contradict, not knowing whether
it was true or false. After relieving
himself of food of billingsgate aud
showing that a strawberry man could
also be a blackguard, he advised him to
60 on up the street and examine the
other dealers measures, including bogus
half pecks, and bogus weights. We
assured him that we were no detective
but we had no objections to taking a
squint at the other dealers as We passed
up the street, when it suited our conve-
nience to 60. Having gone thus far we
went little farther and gave each
measure as we passed along a searching
glance, and when we got up as tar as
Davidson's marble yard, came to the
conclusion that what the man told us
about nearly all the dealers in straw
berries using small measures was too
true.
On Saturday evening there were
about forty strawberry dealers on King
street from Third up to Fifth. Of this
nuIu UeE tubTb WtTo NoIy low WIZ LOU
honest legitimate quart measures.
Some of them had measures which alb.
solutely gained bogus quart in every
three honest quarts of berries. Others
gained one in four and one in five. In
the first place the boxes are so curtailed
in size that when they reach the mid
dleman they do not hold an honest
quart, and yet short measure dealers
could gain quart in every three and
four boxes. Some Of the measures fell
a full gill short Of aquart.
Amongst the berry dealers on King
Street who had honest quart measures
were Mrs. Mousley below Third street on
King; r. Messick, s. W. corner 3rd
King; j. W. Sherwood, 3O7 King; r. p.
Geary, 311 King; J. Walls, s. w. cor.
4th and King, . lady name unknown,
same corner; W. Wilson. s. W. cor. 4th
and King and W. S. Heisler, 4l5 King.
There may be others below Third
street and above Fifth street and we do
not say there may not be others between
those two streets who have honest meas