Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-07-11
STANDARD SIZE
MILK BOTTLES
State Law Regarding Matter
to BE- StrickIy Enforced.
From the NEWS Correspondent

fPFOWt ~ rG w.
Trenton, July 11:-New Jersey
milk dealers will no longer be per-
mitted to sell milk and cream by
the bottle" William l.. Waldron,
State Superintendent of Weights
and Measures, announced today that
he proposed strictly to enforce the
state law with reference to milk and
cream and all dealers would here
after be required to sell these COM
modities in bottles of standard ca
pacity. The steps to bring about
this reform were taken by SupeTin-
tendent Waldron under a new state
law which has just become effective
and which provides that milk and
cream must be sold in bottles guar
anteed to contain gills, pints,
quarts, etc.
The new law, which was designed
by Superintendent of Weights and
Measures Waldron, requires the
glass manufacturers to blow in each
bottle it's guaranteed capacity and al
SO the initials and numbers given to
them by Superintendent Waldron as
a means of Identification. If a bot
tie is found to be short of the capa-
city claimed for it, the State De-
partment will thereby be able to
trace the source of it's manufacture
by the initial and number which 1t
carries. A fine of $500 will be i'm
posed for every violation Of this
statute.
"The necessity Of such a law was
made apparent after an inyestiga-
ton by our department some
months ago." said Superintendent
Waldron today. I'VE found that
there were probably thousands of
bottles in use which were from one
to seven and eight ounces short on
the quart. OF course, in many in
stances, the milk and cream was
sold by the bottle but the average
purchaser paid the price Of a quart
and bought the bottle with the I'M
Outstanding that 1t contained that
quantity.
Some of the glass manufacture
ers have submitted a protest to this
department on the ground that the
law becomes operative at a time
when they have thousands Of I'M
marked bottles on hand We want
to treat these firms with the same
fairness as the buying public, and
for that reason we have given them
a reasonable time to dispose of these
bottles. But we have made this fact
plain to them. If any of those bot
ties not designated by capacity, in
itial and number are found to be
short Of standard size, prosecutions
will be started at once. 1t will
probably not require more than a
few weeks before the capacity, num-
Der and initial appears in every bot
tie sold in this state"
Mr.. Waldron was asked concern
ing his reputed ~leniency in the pros
ecution of merchants found with
defective scales, weights and meas
ures. He explained that the law
compelled his department to refrain
from prosecuting first offenders.
Many merchants, he explained, had
inaccurate weights, measures and
scales in their possession without
any desire to defraud. Most of
them, because of the laxity of city
superintendent in examining the
appliances, do not even know the
latter are defective until the State
departments representative call on
them.
"The law specifies that we must
first warn the merchant who has in
his store a defective Weighing or
measuring appliance" added Mr..
Waldron. "If we find the scale or
too imperfect for adjust
ment, we confiscate it. If, however,
it can be place in good working or
der, we fix it and leave 1t with the
merchant. In either case, however,
we do not prosecute. We explain
the provisions of the law and warn
against a repetition of the offense.
There is never a second warning.
We always prosecute"