Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-05
IMPOSING UPON PATRONS.
Hucksters Said to Be Engaged in
Cheating.


Mr.. w. c. Haskell, the District sealer of
weights and measures. is just now devoting
the greater part Of his time and that of his
force to the Investigation of measures used
by the hucksters who drive about the
streets. and he has discovered that In a
number of instances these men are impos-
Ing upon their patrons In one case a buck
ster was found to be using a measure
which had been shortened by the removal
OF one of the slaves, thereby reducing it's
extent just about 20 per cent To all ap-
pearances the measure was correct, the
stave having been removed in q most in
Senious manner. fre. .r
In another case. a measure intended to
represent. respectively. a peck and half a
peck. had been shortened by the Insertion
of double bottom. and, while the half
peck portion OF the measure remained true
the peck portion was shortened between Is
and 20 per cent. In still another case, a
huckster, against whom suspicion rested
was hailed on the street, but instead of
stopping and permitting an examination
OF his measures, whipped up his horse and
attempted to escape. He was oyertaken
however. but It was found that during his
flight he had thrown away his measures.
These men," remarked Mr.. Haskell to-
day to \ reporter of The Star, do prac-
tically all Of their business with the poorer
classes Of people. the very people, by the
way, who can least afford to be chea ed
The men offer their wares at prices some
what lower than those asked by the honest
dealers. but even then, by means Of their
short measures, rob their patrons any
where from Is to 20 per cent. That Is,
their measures represent such shortages
or course. now and then, we find q reput-
able dealer with short measure But
such men, upon learning of the fact
promptly destroy their short measures and
obtain new ones OF the lawful extent.
When Prosecutions Are Unnecessary.
In such cases. OF course, we do not prose-
cute. for the standing Of such dealers and
their prompt willingness to remedy defects
in their measures and scales render prose-
cutions unnecessary. But the others we at
once carry into court. and in justice to the
judges Of the Police Court 1t Is only fair to
say that punishment warranted by the Of
Tense is inflicted. Warrants have been
sworn out against the two huckSters from
whom we took the shortened measures
mentioned and we expect to see them pun
ished.
las 1 say. sometimes We find dealers
using measures or scales not up to the re-
quirements Of the law who are unaware Of
the shortage. We have no trouble with
fonest men found in possession of unlawful
measures or scales. Now, in one case we
found an oil company here with short
measures, which measures by the way had
been sealed TN Baltimore as correct al
though we found them to be an ounce
short to a gallon. The company had no
idea of anything being wrong until we In
formed 1t, and its managers Immediately
remedied the defects. 1t Is only with the
dishonest dealers that we have trouble. and,
as l have said, such men do business, as q
rule with the poorer classes. Our force Is
far too limited to cover the entire field
thoroughly. but we are doing the best we
can, and trust that Congress at it's next
session will give us a larger force. a step
which 1 have urged in each Of my annual
reports should be taken