New-York tribune., 1910-08-17
WEIGH EGGS? PROBABLY
DrisCoII Declares Scales Must Be
Used, and Dealers Protest.
TO DISCUSS MATTER ANEW
Will Meet Committee and Talk
Over Reasons Advanced in
Opposition to the Order.

Despite the protests of the egg mer-
chants. Clement j. Driscoll. chief of the
Bureau of Weights and Measures, stated
emphatical yesterday that eggs must be
sold by weight Alderman James Weston.
of Brooklyn, said 1t was foolish to propose
such thing and that the Mayor would
certainly veto such an ordinance.
Il want to tell YOU right here that Mayor
Gaynor thinks absolutely as I do this
subject and that I acting with his
entire approval" retorted Mr.. Driscoll.
Alderman Weston. who is egg dealer
himself came forward with the ordinance
under which Commissioner Driscoll is act
ing and asked where eggs were mentioned
in it Il have been called down on the
Mercantile Exchange for voting for ordi-
nance to sell bread and eggs by weight he
! said, "and I said then and say now that
never understood it So"
Did you ever read the ordinance Alder
man." asked Mr., Driscoll.
II read it since this thing came up
We'll, If you read it again. you will see
that ii says all commodities must be sold
| by weight or measure"
And YOU call eggs commodities?''
Il most certainly do, What else can you
call them?"
| such thing was never heard Of In
these United States before as selling bread
and eggs by weight
Il beg yo;Ir pardon. There was a specific
| ordinance passed just after consolidation
providing that bread must be sold by
weight
Then. what is Alderman Walsh's new
ordinance for?"
Alderman Walsh's ordinance is to
standardize the loaf. but the other ordf-
nance existed for years
But nobody ever heard Of selling eggs
by weight
IF YOU will come to the Office 1 will show
YOU an ordinance of the city of Denver to
| that effect. In Cleveland the merchants
themselves provide for 1t. And. anyhow
1t is the law and I cannot change 1t If L
would And I would not change it, for be-
lieve II will mean a better quality of eggs.
The cold storage egg weighs less than the
fresh egg and there will be no profit IN
raining off the cold storage eggs for fresh
ones"
Mr.. Drtscoll produced two dozen eggs
done up in parcels of a dozen each lhey
were bought in the same store at the same
time an hour before the hearing. One
weighed IS ounces and the other % ounces
DO you mean to tell me- he asked.
that a man should pay the same price for
| each dozen"'
! Yes If the eggs are equally fresh, re-
| piled the spokesman for the Mercantile
Exchange.
Mr Driscoll pointed out that size was
not the only consideration, neither was
age. One farmer might feed his hens we'll
care for them properly and house them
;uht lot
wild. picking up their sustenance wherever
they could The eggs from the farm OF the
| last described farmer would not weigh as
| much or be good as those from the
other. Yet the consumer would have to
| pay the same under present conditions.
| Weighing the eggs would make a differ
! ence and encourage the production or pet
| ter eggs, he declared.
Although Mr. Driscoli announced at first
| that he wished to hear only reasons for
fixing a date and methods of weighing. the
| dealers were insistent, and finally he al
| lowed them TO advance reasons why eggs
should not be sold by weight. a memorial
| from the Mercantile Exchange was read
setting forth that Southern eggs which
| were fresh at certain seasons We're smaller
than Northern eggs.
| But will not the fresh Southern egg
weigh as much the larger Northern
! egg?" asked Mr. DriscoIl The spokesman
| of the exchange was not prepared to an
| sWer
| Finally. after five or six of the dealers
| had pointed out that the cost of weighing
wholesale lots would be great, Mr.. Driscol
| arranged that a committee representing z
| the fifty dealers present should meet him
| later TO discuss the matter anew