St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-05-18
Short weights and Measures.

There is one phase of the high cost of
living agitation that is being given
considerable publicity at present-that
of short weights and measures. The
health officer of the District of Columbia
goes so far as to charge secret agree
ments between wholesalers and retailers
in this respect, and letters produced be-
fore the House investigating committee
seem to bear out the accuse lions. When
consumers awaken to the fact that they
are paving for more than they receive
when buying certain kinds of food, they
will see the need of having a uniform
standard of weights and measures in
order to protect themselves.
AS the secretary of commerce and labor
said in his address at recent conference
on weights and measures, conservation
should be extended beyond coal and
timber and like things, in order to en-
brace above all the human force upon
which we will ultimately have to rely.
He said short measure had much to do
with the high cost of living today.
In Vermont the law provides that the
state treasurer shall keep in his office all
standard weights and measures furnish
ed by the general government, with a
record of them. In the office of each
county treasurer there is to be kept
weights and measures, proved and sealed
half bushel, one peck and one halEpeck;
one gallon, one two quart, one quart,
one pint, and one half pint, wine measure;
one set of brass weights, from one ounce
to four pounds; one 10 pound weight
and one 20 pound weight, and one yard
measure.
The county treasurer who does not
provide and keepin repair these stand
ard weights and measures is liable to a
fine of 81 for each months neglect. The
county court has exclusive jurisdiction of
such offenses.
But it is discovered on investigation
that these weights and measures are not
up-to-date in any particular, and that
the law is not being enforced. County
treasurers who have tried to do their
duty in this respect have found that
there is no use in trying, while they are
not guilty any wrongdoing.
Canned goods, paper packages and
other wrappers around food commodities
shipped into Vermont from other states
are put up in a manner which deceives
the buyer. The quantity they are
supposed to contain is not stamped upon
them. What the purchaser believes is a
pound package often contains several
ounces less than that amount. This is
something of course, that should be
regulated by the federal government,
but it shows that people are not getting
their moneys worth. There should be a
federal law making it obligatory to
specify on each package of whatever kind
| the amount it contains.
In this connection the national con-
ference on weights and measures adopt
ed a number of suggestions for national
and state laws that are well worth con-
sidering. 1t provides that the secretary
| of commerce and abOr shall he a11fhOriZ
ed to furnish a complete set of standard
weights and measures adopted by the
national bureau of standards, to any
state, territory and the District o.
Columbia, on condition that the office O
state commissioner be established, anC
facilities for his work be provided. The
state commissioner would make ar
annual report to the governor. a copy o
it being filed with the national bureau o
standards. giving the number of weights
measures and balances tested, sealed o.
condemned by him, together with an in
ventory of the standards and apparatu
in his possession.