Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-06-16
Inspectors Protect Customers
From **Short-W eight" Dealers

by the handle in a natural position the
can had every appearance OF perfection IN
measurement, but after the liquid was
poured out and the can tilted to the light
the interior was certainly original. me
dealer had inserted two boards. two
inches thick and two inches wide by eight
inches long. These were held against
the sides OF the can by portion or
broom handle and the guaranteed nve-
gallon can held only four gallons.
The inspectors suspicious are gener-
ally aroused by glazing circulars an
nouncing that particular store IS 70
have a bargain sale in produce. The
figures quoted are often below whole
sale price and the advertisement OF the
store would scarcely compensate the
dealer for the loss OF several cents on
each mound of meat. The headlines are
most thrilling to the housekeeper;
Then foilows a list Of food products
at marvelously low prices. In many
instances at a sale advertised In this
fashion short weight is detected. One
instance Of this sort was related by IN
spector Schoenthal of the office.
I'VE obtained a circular announcing
a remarkable sale of meats. sugar and
other produce" said Mr.. Schoenthal,
land that evening we started out to IN
spect the place. We are we'll known by
many dealers and the dishonest ones
are always on guard when they see us.
So this particular evening we picked
up a little street urchin and gave him
He purchased q California shoulder
that was selling wholesale at that time
for IA cents. The circular had an
nounced that only 1917 cents a pound
would be the price on this particular
day. The boy paid 81 cents for a
shoulder that was guaranteed to weigh
four pounds and ten ounces. stating
that he wanted the bill to show to his
mother The meat was weighed and
found to be q full pound short, thus
making the actual cost II cents per
pound When the boy first went into
the store he refused to let the wife OF
the proprietor Of the store walt on
himself. We asked the youngster why
he did 1t and the little alley boy dis
played an astonishing gallantry.
"Gee- he said, 7 though them scales
The schemes by which scales are
doctored to give short weight are numer-
GUS dishonest butcher viii often.
while using his regulation spring balance
between the pan and the bar that sup
ports it. He perhaps throws an odd
weight or q piece OF meat on the scale
when It Is not In use to hide the fact that
il
which is no doubt done innocently enough
in some cases is the placing Of orders on
the hook of the scale. A few OF these
small pieces of paper would perhaps
make very little difference. put a larse
collection Of orders means several ounces
off Of each customers purchase.
~.
Among the most common methods OF
fraud is the use Of the liquid quart meas
ure in selling beans. hominy and other
articles that under law should be sold by
the dry measure. The latter is larger, al
lowing for air space between the dry
products. Liquid quart measures have
even been made to resemble the dry
measure exactly. The customer thus
loses quite a large per cent Of her pur-
chase by the measurement Of dry prod
ucts in a liquid measure. Hucksters quite
use a peck half basket
for q two-peck measure and cheat
buyer OF a peck of produce by serving
two of these under measure baskets for
q bushel. Vinegar and olive oil that are
bottled and canned are often found to be
short measure.
In one instance the office was notified
by a ragpicker Of the fact that a certain
junk dealer was giving the wrong weight
in the purchase Of rags and old SCRAPS.
fiat weight covered with grease. and
marked 300 pounds. The dealer denied
the existence of such a weight, but when
a search was made 1t was discovered
among some old iron and scraps. On the
Dealers scale this weight. that belonged |
to a wagon scale. weighed 400 pounds. |
and he gained 200 pounds on each pur- |
chase Of Junk |
Quite frequently In the case OF . side |
beam scale the dealer will move the pofse |
around ON to the stem supporting the |
beam and thus make the scale heavier en-