Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-05-19
MAKE SPECIFIC CHARGES
Coal Dealers Accuse the Sealer Of WEIGHTS
and Measures.
Claim He is Incompetent and Negli-
gent and Respond to His AlleRa.
lions Against Them.

weights and measures, signed BY Messrs
G. w. Merrill and Charles Werner. The
communication was dated yesterday and
is as follows:
Relative to the serious reflections cast
upon the merchants of this city by Gen.
Frank A. Bond sealer of weights and
measures. before your honorable board on
the 18th instant, we wish to present a
statement of a few facts, with proofs.
showing incompetency on the part of the
sealer and his assistant and a wiliful ne
eject OF the duties OF lis office.
General Bonds Claim.
General Bond claims that the former law
made the sealer appear as a pirate, who
grabbed everything in sight He also
claims that at his instance the new law
was passed changing the Office so as to pay
the sealer fixed salary instead of the fees
collected. and that the original BILL as
Drawn by himself, passed the lower house
OF congress without change, but was slight
~ amended In the Senate. He does not saw
mat TINS Dill. so passed by the House. not
ohiy conunued the fee system Of payment
LOT the seaIer, but increased his compensa-
tlon from H,OOO per annum tc from s.. Go
70 $1,000 per annum (see Senate report 100
:, ii l,, congress- Second SESSION.. Thus
- VIII ne seen that had Gen. Bonds House
Dill not been amended in the Senate he
would have been considered py the Iner-
chants pirate In chief two or three times
as bad as his predecessor.
As to the SALARY.
FURTHER the Senate committee believed
ana recommended that $1,000 should ba
the salary of this Office, and that as the
correctness of weights was a public CON-
Germ no fees should be exacted How these
recommendations were overcome and the
s s,aa zinc. increased 500 ON the last day of
the session through his personal efforts
General Bond may be able to exnlain CO.
fanny our merchants would be glad to
know why the fees were not abolished. as
recommended. General Bond challenges
any one TO specify a case where the order
OF the Commissioners respectine toIaranc
mas been violated
Instances Are Cited,
I'VE make the following specific charges.
Not over six weeks age the assistant
sealer of weights and measures inspected
the large number of scales of William M.
Calf & Company. grain dealers. and pro-
nounced them correct. At the same time
Gait g. Company knew of their own knowl-
edge. by comparing with their other scales.
that one OF their wagon scales was not
weighing correctly. and showed an error
OF several hundred pounds more than the
tolerance allowed by the order of the Com
missioners They had Immediately sent
Tor a scale repairer. and while they were
waiting for his arrival the sealer entered
upon his regular tour of inspection. He
made the usual test and failed to find any
error In this scale. which his certificate
attached thereto will show.
II the assistant Sealer was an expert
as claimed, why did he not find this scale
to be incorrect when he had his test
weights with him? Why did he pronounce
as correct a scale which, under heavy
draft, the owners knew to be largely in
correct. as checked by their other scales,
i1ISf fr,I9
A Broken Beam Rod.
"Again-B. B. Earnshaw & Brother sent
for the assistant sealer and showed him a
piece of beam rod which had broken from
the Howe scale at their place, and asked
him If the scale would work all right with
out 1t. The assistant sealer pronounced
the scale, which is a District scale, used
for public weighing, to be correct in the
absence of this vital connecting link, say
ing 1t was not a part of the scale but
some foreign piece that had fallen under
1t. This scale Is at the present time in the
same dilapida ted condition.
Again. and We desire particularly to
call your attention to the following state
ment:
From October 81 1888. to April %, 1897.
the assistant sealer made seven trips to
Benning to test the Pennsylvania Railroad
Ccmpany's large 1OO-ton railroad track
scale near that place.
A Convenient Expedient.
This scale is located some distance from
the highway, down the track, and as 1t
would involve considerable labor 70 carry
the test weights over to it, .he expert as
sistant sealer had recourse to convenient
expedient. Before starting he weighed his
laborer on scale he knew to be correct
and on arriving at the aforesaid 100 tons
railroad track scale he placed said laborer
upon one corner Of the scale platform,
verified his weight on the scale beam. tack
ed to town and collected his fee therefor
Seven trips of this character he made, and
Only once was he known to carry his test
weights and place them upon the scale.
AT the time of his last trip, on April q
last. he was unable to open the door of the
office. and reached through a broken glass
window and pasted his certificate upon the
scale. certifying to Its correctness, without
ever having tested it by Weighing even his
live weight. 1t is understood that for this
last service the yardmaster at that place
sent word to r. L. Franklin, who has
charge of the scale. to protest against the
payment Of the bill.
Matter of Test Weights.
Gen. Bond says his office is furnished
with only 2,24O pounds of test weights.
While this may be true. it will be found
that when Gen. Bond entered upon the
duties of this Office there were several tons
of these test weights. the property of the
District. and that they were sold by his
recommendation, ostensibly because they
were incorrect. but really because 1t was
too great labor to haul them around.
"If these condemned weights were in
correct, did not the sealer of weights and
measures fail to do his duty in not re-
sealing and making correct these weights,
according to the standards furnished by
the government, rather than sacrifice Dis
tr.ct property at junk sale?
Gentlemen, there Is considerable CORE
spo ndence on file in your Office which
shows a general dissatisfaction with the
methods used in testing scales and the
results obtained.
The correspondence.
1--WE respectfully invite your attention
to letters sent your honorable board by
Mr.. ]. B. Kendall of this city. dealer in
metals and general supplies. from Feb
ruary to February 10. 1907, in which.
among other statements. he says that
scales inspected and passed by the Dis
trict sealer would weigh right up to 1000
pounds, but when loaded to 1900 or $500
pounds would be to o per cent out Of the
way He also reports that the assistant
sealer absolutely refused to give him
test to the full capacity of his scale. even
to the extent of the weights in his posses
sion.
1--WE also respectfully invite your atten-