New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-08-06
|MANY WEIGHTS OF BREAD
Loaves Varying Several Ounces
Sold at Five and Ten Cents.
TESTS TO PROVE DIFFERENCE
Italians Who Sell by Weight
Supply Best Bread, Says
Woman Investigator.

Actual tests are said to have shown
that the purchaser of bread will be
In a better position to get more for his
money through the adoption of Chief
Driscoll's plan to have all loaves stamped
with their weight. AS things stand to-
day, some bakers give two ounces more
for the same money than others do, and
in some instances the difference is even
greater. A significant point is that among
the Italians where much bread Is sold by
the pound the 1oaves weigh more than in
any other class of stores throughout the
city. it is said.
Miss Winifred Gibbs, of the Association
for the Improvement Of the Condition of
the Poor, has been conducting personally
and through other agents of the associa-
ton tests to determine how the best value
can be secured for given sum.
My tests have been made among the
people among whom 1 worked" she said
yesterday "On the West Side, above 18th
street. l found the scent loaf weighs
twelve ounces. the Scent loaf one pound
seven ounces and the 10-cent loaf one
pound eight ounces In Greenwich Viii
lage conditions are about the same but
there the investigator found more of the
honey loaf. which is fully as good as the
other. but the scent loaf weighs fourteen
ounces, SO that the purchaser gets two
ounces more for his money
ION the East Side. between Sth and / 4th
streets. between Avenue A and Avenue D.
l found the conditions about the same as
on the same section of the West Side.
The big bakeries supply the great major
ity, and the small bakeries are almost a
negligible quantity. The standard loaf
weighs the same in the corresponding
portion of the West Side. Further down
town, in Elizabeth street I found a grocer
who had five different bakers supplying
him with bread. He sold for 10 cents a
pair of twin loaves that weighed one
pound ten ounces; another pair of twin
loaves weighed one pound eight ounces
and sold for 10 cents The grocer showed
me an scent round loaf which, he said,
was better bread than either of the others,
and it weighed one pound twelve ounces.
I'm Prince street I visited what appeared
a typical Italian bakeshop. There they sell
the bread by the pound and also by the
loaf. The scent loaf there weighed one
pound five ounces, the 10-cent loaf two
pounds two ounces and the 15-cent loaf
four pounds, and it was very good bread,
too. I did not weigh the bread in other
italian bakeries, but the Ioaves all seemed
about the same.
Our investigator in Greenwich Village
found an Italian family who made their
own bread but had it baked a q bakery.
It cost 43 cents for the loaf for week. The
-four, eleven pounds cost 80 cents, yeast
cent and baking cents. The same fam
fly would have had to buy dozen scent
loaves for the week. SO there was a saving
As to the nutritive value Of the bread
when It has been kept for some days, that
is matter for diettians to decide, and they
differ to some extent OIL whether the
coarser -four is better for diet than the
finer
Many families knead their own bread
and get it baked The bakers charge
cent for the ordinary scent loaf. but the
big italian loaves cost 5 cents to bake. II
is not always advisable to have bread made
in the house Many of the tenementS are
not proper places to have bread set in
These questions are somewhat aside of the
question OF the weight of bread, but they
are related to il. If the people knew how
to make their own bread, they could judge
better what they buy. and when the weight
is stamped on the loaf and the people know
what bread is the best, the loaf that
weighs more will get the preference II II
is equal in quality. whereas to-day people
do not know how much each style of loaf
weighs and they buy in the dark"