Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-26
1T - IOO-OO-O-O! woodI
W. "Kioo-oo-o-o! Any kioo
~ today?"
While this more or less

today?"
Il While this more or less
musical cry Is heard but
rarely about the city streets and alleys at
this time of the year. the season is fast ap-
proaching when the hucksters selling coal
by the peck and wood by the bundle is in
the height of his glory-and then will come
another busy time for the District sealer Of
weights and measures and his corps of as
sistants, for tand it is much to be regretted)
some peddlers of coal are not always honest
in their dealings, and it is within the pro-
vince of the sealer of weights and measures
to stand between the public and any I'M
scrupulous dealers who would take undue
advantage. Not the coal and wood buck
sters alone. however. come under the
watchful eye of the District sealer, for it is
! his constant duty to keep all itlnerant mer-
! chants. as we'll as all storekeepers under
supervision. but the vendors of coal are
| mentioned first because theirs is a more
! transient existence and among them have
been found probably more instances of
cheating In the sale of the precious black
I diamonds to the poor during the winter
than among any other class of men who
make living by hawking various kinds
of merchandise from door to door.
Although in Washington there are about
625 itinerant merchants who doing
business under the authority of hucksters
! licenses, and for each such license the
Charge Oh Sl- per dfliluIn Is Iduc 50 tIdl
the Districts revenue from that source
alone is upward of 81 500. These licenses
apply to all alike, from the humble banana
peddler with his push-cart on the corner
to the more pretentious oil and fuel ven
ders who have charge of bfg-wheeled tanks
and heavy wagons which go from neighbor-
hood to neighborhood, making comparative
lly large sales.
l. x +
The hucksters, as a class, of course. are
honest, but honest and dishonest alike must
submit their scales and measures to the
District sealer for examination and ap-
sproval and, afterward, in their business On
the streets. they must come under the
supervision of that officials inspectors
Coal by the peck and wood by the bundle.''
/ 1t Is obvious, are most in demand by the
poorer classes in the city, and 1t Is among
the alley residents that these travelling
merchants find a majority OF their custom
,ers. 1t has often been stated that the
poorer classes pay more for what they buy
and get less for their money than the
people to whom the cost of any purchase
Is a small consideration.
! This Is considered true In the purchases
of all classes of provisions and merchandise
made by the alley populace. and even the
most cursory glance at the rate card" II
such thing existed, would be a startling
experience to the well-fed pater familias
OF any household of the upper strata No
other phase of city life than this same
Z
OF small sales offers a fuller confederation
of the trite axiom-"Half the world knows
not how the other half lives"
! AS an example In point 1t might be
shown over and over again every day in
the year how the alley customers Of the
huckster in paying a few pennies for a
quart of potatoes gives for that necessity
of life price that would stagger the aver
age householder II he should be called upon
to pay in like proportion for his purchase
OF potatoes by the bushel. Similarly -four
by the pound would yeritably be worth its
weight in gold If the financier behind a
corner in wheat could send his enormous
holdings to the mill and dispose OF all the
product In like ratio.
In actual figures 1t can be shown that
the huckster who sells coal has q poor day
indeed when his profits are not spelled in
numbers which represent 70 per cent on his
original investment. For instance the coal
vender with his wagon will buy load OF
white ash coal at the rate Of $3.50 per
ton and white ASH being the lightest of
anthracite will readily yield him thirty
four to thirty-six bushels to the ton. The
regulation price of coal by the bushel Is 30
cents, and simple multiplication will show
that the vender receives $40 and sometimes
more for his product
Instances are readily cited by Sealer of
Weights and Measures w. c. Haskell
where these vendors Of coal have been
found selling three pecks and even less for
q bushel, and the profits secured by such
dishonest methods reach well over the 100