The Alaska citizen., 1910-10-10
WOOD INSPECTOR NEEDED.

Early as il is in the season num- 1 erous complaints have been made to ]. The Citizen in regard to alleged !. short measure given by some of the 1. men selling wood in town. This is not the first time these complaints . have been heard. for they have been IF, uuent every winter. and there is little doubt that many hundreds of cords of wood that existed only in the imagination of the men mak- iug the sale have been charged and paid for
 l. is easy enough to advise that the wood should always be measured before it is paid for, but this is not always feasible. Frequently the man ordering the wood is not pres ent when 1T is delivered and kicks made later have not the same force as those voiced before the wood is unloaded Neither is it every woman who knows just how to measure a cord wood. but there is every reason why she should be protected to at l least a reasonable extent
 i In nearly every city of any size elsewhere there is an inspector of weights and measures, and deal CTS are kept within reasonable bounds through fear ot a penalty accruing from an attempt to eXtort from the purchaser money for some thing which that purchaser has not received In Canada the govern ment takes care of the consumer by appointing in every town weights and measures inspector. and it is this officials duty 10 inspect all the scales in use and keep the same kind of tab on commodities sold by measure.
 Such an official could be appointed for Fairbanks by ordinance. and, if one-tenth of the complaints made are warranted his salary would be saved to the public in one month  al this time of the year. Let an ordinance be passed providing a severe penalty for the man who tries to sell for a cord of wood honest dealers will soon quit the practice of trying to hand out short measure No honest man will be hurt. but the man who is trying to steal will be afraid to take a chance
 in continuing dishonesty because he knows that the publicity that would be given 10 his first appearance be fore the city magistrate would ma teriaIly harm his business.
 One of the present city officials could be appointed inspector of measures al triiing increase in his salary and the mere fact that he was there to enforce the ordin- ance would. of itself, be sufficient in almost all cases to stop the dis honest practice. Such an appoint ment is urged on the city council. } any member of which can easily con vince himself that there are many complaints being made if he will take the trouble to inquire among his acquaintances. This is the time , of the year when most people are getting in their winters wood and it would seem to be a good time to in augurate new order of things, whereby the householder and mer- chant can be afforded some degree of protection and assurance that they are getting what they are paying for.
 That there are men engaged in the wood business who conduct their business honestly goes without say ing. These would not be hurt in any particular by the ordinance, They would instead. be helped be cause the illicit competition they have had to cope with would be eliminated. But tha1 the practice of giving short measure has been indulged in by others is equally cer- tain, and this practice should be stopped