El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-07

practice to use six quart measures noI FOR tSe
house wife a tax of 20 percent on
everything she buys out OF receplaGies
OF the kind One. might suppose tHat
tke neopIs who sell coal to the poor az
RELATIVELY enormous prices. would at All
events treat their patrons honestly, out
too often the pals and bags tney use
The save aTerage quart" of olive oil con
tains little more than half OF that
quantity; the average pint is les S
than nine ounces MEATS IN - ms S,, ~
Weight. Recently the federal author-
ities have ..got after misrepresenta-
tions of this kind with mucn seFer! ~,
but manufacturers have overcone the
bells all mention of quanIlty- Inc ldlCI I
Of the ever sullible public is counted
upon for the rest For lhstunOe; PSi&,
ages of cereals have shrunk in size
siIrprisingly in the last half dozen
wears. but are still purchased IN the DC
lief that they hold as much as the!
formerly contained
Is Easy to Deceive
Fxperience has shown that nothing
IT, so easy as to deceive the consume
in regard to matters OF quantity. = nus,
the public at large WholIy laIls 20
realize the fact that cans OF VeSetaoIes
which formerly held three POUNDS now
contain only one and three-quarter
pounds The two pound cans OF NeSe
tables
the two pound cans OF meats 70 one
and three eighths POUNDS Inc. Pach-
age cereals that were two poun9s dl
now one and three-elShths pouhos. y
bound box of crackers today contains
from eight to u ounces. Six ounce Dol
ties of olives hold only four ounces
10 ounce bottles but eight ounces
Wonderful ingenuity Is displayed IN
avoiding anv Statement of weight,
measure. or count on package goooss;
Instead. we have the Jumbo size',.
picnic size" lunch size etc Num-
bers are sometimes made TO lnolcatS
sizes, as. for example, NO ), I OF ~
pail of lard. But this does not mean
; pounds or 10 pounds. respectively,
though the customer commonly buys
them on that assumption
Obviously. the way 10 put a stop 70
ali such frauds and quasi-frauds is to
make and enforce a law compsitlnS
manufacturers to put on their laoe4S
a statement of the quantity contained
in each package tbs was done
short time ago in North Dakota, with
Tie result that already The contents OF
all package goods sold in that state
has increased by Il TO 20 pere.enI ~ ~ ~
out any gmentation of price. W hen
legislation on the subject has oeen
made adequately comprehensive, as
will be the case before long, the mousse
wife will no longer buy matches IN I
boxes supposed TO contain zoe, Dul 9
which really hold less than 400 her /
supply OF kindllng viii not come N N
short bundles BuncheS OF ~ \
Der fewer than SOC sheets. BRAD rio-
bon and tape will not be from IlNe TO /
10 percent short and Is yaros OF Pc
ture cord Will not be sold for 20 yar9s-
An official experiment was recenuy
made with thread, 5SS spools pens !
measured OF these 400 were snort
the shortage running up to - perceIiHt-
The pillow slips sold TO the housewife
as 35-inch are usually but 81 lnches
LONG sheets are nearly always OF
short measure. There is no question
of the fact that dry gods dealers gem +
orally want to sell honest goods ana |
to give fair measure, but this is rem 1
dered very difficult by manufacturers 1
who as in the case of sheets and pill /
low cases have adopted trade regu- |
of their own governing mat
ters of the kind. Thus cloth "a YARD I
wide" is rarely over 81 or IS inches. !
Twenty seven inch goods are only "a /
inches in width and the same proper |
ton governs in the case OF goods sup
posed to be ~ inches wide Rolls OF |
wall paper are in most instances not
Of the length advertised
Peddlers' measures are always short
The measure of length used by push
cart men usually lack two inches 10
the ward. The housewife should al
wavs beware of the huckster who Of
fers vegetables or what not at prices
below the market She should take
nothing from him without weighing or
measuring it. His peck of potatoes Is
almost never a full peck, and the only
safe thing is to have him put them
into receptacle of accurately known
content belonging to the household
should Buy BY Weight Only.
The housewife ought never to BUY
anything from anybody by the pack
age" the pail" the glass, the jar,
the bag" the basket" the tub" etc
Such receptacles vary in content with
individual manufacturers, and are alb
solutely indefinite as representing
quantity. The only proper way to
purchase is by weight. measure. or nu-
merical count Order five pounds OF
lard, not a pail" a peck of potatoes,
not $50 cents worth" 10 pounds OF
sugar. not so cents worth" a pound
of oatmeal, not a package of oat-
NEAL Is pounds of ice, not 10 cents
worth" a 18th of a barrel flour. not
"a sack Then if she finds herself
cheated. the housewife can prosecute.
or at least, by threatening to do so.
can brighten the dealer so badly that
he will not cheat her again
The short weight and short measure
business has permeated our CONNER
cial life to such an extent that scarce
any branch of trade or industry is free
from it. For just one item, take the
matter of shirts. Any man. out of his
own experience. can testify that it is
almost impossible nowadays to buy
shirt that has tails long enough to
tuck in with comfort to the wearer.