Middletown transcript., 1910-07-30
N1DDLErOwH. DEL, JULY 30, 1910
COMMERCIAL DISHONESTY

have seized the modern business
man with On obsession that
knows neither limit nor tire.
None too soon was Roosevelt
raised up a. q preacher Of eco,
nomic righteousness, Of trade
honesty, and that rule of right
between man and man expressed
in his famous phrase of the
tssquare deal"
AS If it were not enough that
the rich Trusts, already tarif-fed
to dropsical fatness were plunder-
ing the hapless people by regrat-
ing and forestalling every staple
Of life-s'cornering the market"
is the modern phraseology; not
enough that the rapacious manu-
facturers Of food stuffs'and drugs
should rob the consumer at once
Of money and health by scandal
Gus adulterations of pretty nearly
every article they make, till the
shameful climax was reached in
the State Of Pennsylvania that 65
per cent. of all foods we're found
to be adulterated sometimes in q
poisonous way--as ifall this COM
pound pilfering of the people
were not enough, now to cap the
infamy Of it all. official investiga-
tions show that the dealers in the
various food stuffs, especially the
retailers, must needs also swindle
their customers-the masses-by
short weights anil measures, wet
and dry. AS shown by these Of
fetal investigations the amount
and character of this form of
business piracy, is appalling.
Mr.. Fritz Reichman, Superinten-
dent Of Weights and Measures Of
the State of New York in an ar.
ticle In the American Magazine for
August, gives number of in
stances Of these contemplate
practices that for audacity and
heartlessness seem unbelievable.
To quote his own words:
Investigations in New York City
In the provision stores along the
main thorouehfares show that in 304
places visited in Manhattan and the
Bronx, 80 per cent. of the scales, u
per cent. Of the weights and 50 per
cent. OF The capacity measures, we're
incorrect - short everywhere from
three I'D to rs per cent. Other Dor.
ouRhs we're shout SO bad.
I'm Poughkeepsie with 10000
people, it was found that out of 81
stores visited, only four had their
weighing and measuring apparatus
correct and only once in 440 pieces
tested, was q scale found giving over
weight.
'In other states and cities, large
and small, conditions are just as
chaotic or even worse. The Federal
and State governments have been
derelict in their duty Of attempting
to secure fair and uniform weights
and measures and even the few at
tempts made or being made, are
puerile, ,,perfunctory and inefficient.
In the meantime, the short, weight
artist is Eeaping bis harvest from San
Francisco TO Philadelphia, ininring
the honest dealer, and causing loss
OF tens OF millions Of dollars annually
20 the consumer"
Mr.. Reichman describes the
various fraudulent practices call
ed stacking measures" By wedg.
ing big apples or potatoes in the
measures, putting false bottoms
In them wet and dry, etc.
''In three blocks 40 dry quart meas
ures we're counted 10 New York City
all short over 30 per cent. The
prevalence Of false weights and meas.
ures and the false use OF weights and
measures il alarming and il is not to
the credit Of this country or OF the in
dividual states, that the subject has
not received proper recognition. The
shameful conditions here are not tol-
Grated BY any other civilized nation
in She world"
This State and National indif-
ference, that permits unrebuked
these wholesale frauds upon the
people-falling the heaviest upon
those the least able to bear them
the poor-unquestionably re-
fleets q low moral sentiment
largely pervading our whole com.
mercial life, Of which the wide
spread graft in official circles is
but the counterpart. Indeed, all
sorts or crooked practices are in.
dulged in business to-day with
scarcely a protest from Pulpit or
Bench; ill.smelling tricks Of the
trade" are now in perfect good
odor; while in every department
OF business, maxims Of sheer
wolhhness are heard on the lip
and seen in the practice that
would have shocked the con-
sciences Of our ruder forefathers.
Let ID thank God, therefore,
that ia this money-getting wilder.
ness Of ours another prophet Of
His il lifting his voice against
these iniquities, and take heart.
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