The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-10-02

lecelVe only the FlShes.
while a dry quart is 60 10 cubic
inches.
But it should be realized that moth
ing is more common than for a dealer
TO sell dry quart merchandise, such
| as beans or cranberries, by the liquid
quart measure. The fraud is obvious,
and very profitable to the merchant;
yet. strange though ii may seem. there
/ IS not one person in a thousand who
| IS aware that there are two kinds of
quarts. To the average customer a
quart is a quart, wet or dry, and so
he is satisfied.
There is an almost universal ten
dency on the part of the public to
take for granted the accuracy of
weights and measures. With consum-
ers in general it is almost an article
/ OF faith. Even do they have conf
dence in the peanut Vender, who. from
a tin cup whose bottom is half way
up 10 the top of the receptacle, gives
them what they choose TO accept as
five cents worth" The variation of
method of this kind, as viii presently
be shown. is almost without end.
Some stores even go so far as TO keep
| special extra short" scales, for use
I only on Saturday nights, when the
rush of trade fOrbids notice of inaccu-
racy: and within the last few weeks,
incidentally to the Investigation in
/ New York CITY. il has come out that
certain bakeries customarily furnish
two sizes of loaves-One for sale at
the grocery counter and another of
less weight by a couple Of ounces for
ordinary delivery. The idea in this
latter case is that consumers are less
/ critical Of the size of their loayes
when they get them direct from the
manufacturer.
a Short Pound.
Bread, Of course. is in itself only
a trifie. but the same system is car
ried into everything that one buys.
For example, Mrs. John Smith, when
she goes 10 market, purchases a pound
Of butter, attractively done up in a
piece of oiled paper. Not for a mo-
ment does it occur TO her to weigh il
after she gets home; but If she did so,
she would discover, 90 her chagrin,
that the pound tipped the scales at
fourteen ounces or Whereabouts.
Lard is almost absurdly dear at
present. but the circumstance does
not restrain the INSCRIPTIONS mer-
chant from adding 10 its cost by tricks
of his own. Quite as matter OF
course he charges the lard price for
the wooden dish used 10 hold the com
mOdity-which dish has been soaking
in water all night before, ostensibly
in order that the hog product may rot
stick 10 it. If however, Mrs. Smith is
so foolish as TO take a tin for lard
she will, in many cases, be short on
lard. Not only does she pay the lard
price for the tin can. but the gross
weight Of receptacle and contents is
usually much less than what it is sold
for. This is true of many other
things of the kind. Weighing is got
ten over by using weights which on
the surface appear all right, but are,
in fact, from One-fOurth to One-third
light. This is accomplished by boring
holes IN them and filling this with a
combination Of beeswax and lamp
black.
How is it about milk? Well. as
might be supposed. it varies a good
deal. But in the District of Column
bia (where special attention has been
given to this question:, five years ago
80 per cent of all the bottles deliv-
cred TO consumers We're from three TO !
four ounces short of the alleged quart !
A full quart being thirty-twO ounces, !
the difference represented a consider
able margin Of Illicit profit TO the
dealer. LOcally-that is to say, in the /
city OF WashingtOn-this particular |
fraud has been done away with. but
in most parts Of the country 1t is still t
practiced. with no redress possible for /
individual consumers.
High Cost of Living.
In the half-barrel of flour is a |
chance for the buyer TO lose. The /
half barrel should contain ninety-six !
pounds of -four; the quantity it usual /
~ holds IS ninety-two pounds. This 1
affords a good illustration of the I'M I
deniable fact that food products ought /
10 be sold by net weight, and not by /
the package. Most people, however /
buy flour by the sack, and, following I
this method, they lose weight prac- +
tically every time. Sacks of -four are
nearly always short. Sixteen twelve
pound sacks should make a barrel;
but ordinarily, these are two pounds
short, making a saving of thirty-two
pounds out of every barrel to the
miller at the expense of the consumer
And yet people express surprise that
living is so high!
1t would be fatiguing to discuss all
the variations of these petty cheat
cries of trade-tO DO more than speak
in a casual way of the certain eX-
tracts, for household use. put up il
bottles with panels so thick that the
supposed two-Ounce containers hold
less than one ounce; Of the two-pound
and five-pOund packages of sugar sole
by the grocer which are some
ounces "shy;" OF the paper ice