The sun., 1906-01-12
TRICKS OF SMALL DEALERS.
LYING SCALES ARE COMMON, SAYS
CITY EXPERT DERRY.
He's the Head OF the bureau Of weights
and Measures, and lie wants More
Money TO Prosecute NiolatOrs or the
Law-HOw Their Games Are worked.


Law-HOw Their Games Are WOrked
Patrick Derry, chief of the Bureau OF
Weights and Measures, tells the Mayor in
his annual report that he found plenty OF
dishonest tradesmen last year Mr. Derry
fills a page of the city Record, describing
petit larceny devices used by tricky store
keepers. He says;
The general public. it seems possesses
little knowledge of scales or weights and
people are often cheated by the most glar-
ingly clumsy methods of dishonest dealers.
who give them shorter weight than they ex-
pect or pay for. These dealers are usually
found in the neighborhoods populated by
people Of small means. and the greatest out
RACES are perpetrated against the very poor
Food is not cheap. and pound for the price
OF pound s only what a poor man or a
woman should receive from a butcher or
grocer but by the use of spring scales ad-
jtlsted for the purpose. or light weights on
counter balances. some unfortunate people
receive only fifteen. some fourteen. some
Others even as little as ten and one-halr ounces.
when they supposed they were receiving ana
actually paid for a pound.
Mr.. Derry has referred to the Corporation
Counsel for prosecution 1 GAP cases Of this
kind of cheating, but these cases, he says,
do not begin to show the extent OF the
wrongdoing. Mr. Derry says. hcca use
the ordinance under which the bureau
operates does not give inspector sufficient
power An inspector may know that
grocer, for instance, il selling three pound
packages of sugar for three and a half
pound packages, but unless he purchases
a package himself and detects the fraud,
or unless a customer makes specific com
plant, it is almost impossible to get evil
dence
Mr.. Derry describes some of the dishonest
tradesmen'S tricks. Here are tricks OF
the butchers trade
Butchers in the retail trade, as a rule. use
spring scales most of which present to the
view of a purchaser dial upon which NOV
ing hand indicates the weight of the object
being sold. BY removing the glass front
and loosenlng u little screw, adjusting the
hand trite. ghtening the screw again and
replacing the glass front. the butcher may
rob hundreds OF people ont of an ounce or
more in every pound of meat he is paid for.
Some spring scales do not require this labor
10 enable the butcher to steal his customers
money. The scale manufacturer provides at
the side or back or top of the scale little adj
justnR screw which by touch sets the scale
against the customer.
Some butchers have their scales set prop
erly and conforming when empty to the stand
ards. but each day, when commencing busi-
ness, strip Of fat or a slice or two of salt
pork or bacon is attached to the under side.
or pan. of the scale: some artists" use putty
to enable the proprietor to rob his customers
OF from to Is per cent Of the money they
pay for meat
Some butchers with neat looking places
have a sheet of paper on the'scale, and under
II dozen or so tenpenny nails, or a couple
Of hooks innocently hanging from the slide;
or upon the hook properly belonging to the
scales hang pad of memorandum sheets or
tickets. any one Of which devices would
serve to rob the customer
Some butchers, as well as other kinds of
dealers, Mr.. Derry says. make the wages
Of at least one clerk by cheating in this
way:
They have well fabricated sltins on the
spring scales which keep the pan jumping
quickly up and down when meat il dropped
upon it and. oatching the weight at the lowest
point of the drop. quickly take of the meat,
the false weight TO the customer.
write out q memorandum ticket and pass the
meat and ticket to proprietor or foreman
W no weighs the meat upon true scale and
credits the clerk with the amount he has
d.iral.ded the customer Of
Some grOccrs attach 10 the cradle Of the
scoop or pan little scrap OF tea lead. which
destroys the balance of the scale and helps
dCfraud the customer Of perhaps an ounce
or more every time the scale il used In
where poor people lke. people
" ho buy tea. coffee. butter. &c, by the half
pound or pound such frauds make a terrible
percentage against the customer. Butter
is ordinarily sold in the back and darker
portions OF the store and the customer may
be defrauded quite neatly thus
The grocer takes from tub of water a
large wooden plate" of the size called four
pound, kept soaking so that the butter will
not stick TO it. places ii upon the scale and
weighs one pound or two pounds or even
half pound. az requested by the customer,
gives it a pat or two places II on one pound
plate and sends the customer on his or her
way rejoicing. unconscious that the large
water soaked plate robbed him or her of all
ounce or more of weight
Mr.. Derry hopes that the Board of Alder
men will pass him an ordinance which will
permit Of Furnishing cheating coal dealers
The ordinance is being drawn up by the
Corporation Counsel. There has been no
general inspection Of coal dealers scales,
although there are perhaps 500 in the city
Mr., Derry asks also for more clerks and
a contingent fund to pay inspectors e1-
penses, He says the bureau, for an infant.
has accomplished much in short time and
deserves well of the city.