The Washington times., 1913-05-14
STANDARD BUREAU
HOLDS CONFERENCE
Weights and Measures Branch
Members in Session Here to
Last Three Days.

State officers in charge Of the weights
and measures departments Of twenty
ave different. commonwealth. city
oealers from most Of the large munich
palities In the country and Government
officials connected with the Bureau of
Standards here met this morning In the
bureau offices, Connecticut avenue and
pisrcs Mil road. for the eighth annual
conference on weights and measures.
The session. which win continue three
days, was called to order at 10 O'Clock
and the delegates were officially well
coined by Secretary Of Commerce Red
field, In whose department the Bureau
e Standards il conducted He wa, was
director Of the bureau and also presi-
deqt Of the conference. who made
The uBreau Of Weights and Meas.
lttie service to the public except
through you gentlemen" said Secretary
Heoneld. in his address to the delegates.
we have enlarged our facilities Tor
e-dixation Of cumulative measurements.
but We cannot reach the people nor be
. direct aid to commerce except through
smaller administrative Offices"
The morning session was taken up en-
tirely with these addresses and with
teoe, but the afternoon program IN
eluded two addresses of deep interest
to the conferees. These included talk
by John L. Wash. commissioner OF
city. on that city's new serialization or
Has New Law.
New YoIH State has recently. passed
Q law which compels the net obntents
of package to be plainly printed
theepon before it can be sold In the
etetsS Congress on March 3 last passed
q law making such conditions compul-
eory on all articles covered by the pure
NOD act. but the New York State law
goss . step further.
The serialixation ordinance Of New
York city requires that all approved
weigA{ng and measuring apparatus be
clangined and each class given q serial
number. This simpiifies the work Of
the offlctal testers and makes the sub
stitutton Of q fraudulent machine for
one that has been approved difficult
One Of the most interesting Of the
reports thi: morning was that Of 1. A.
and measures Of the Bureau Of STAN
dards, and secretary Of the conference.
He rov1ewed the work the conference
has accomplished since its last meet
ing here and touched particularly on
brook. . Government inspector, made
. report covering the progress Of leg
iBIotton IN the various States and the
rest Of the morning session was taken
up with reports of the various State
dsssgetsA
From Many Points.
Dslegates from the various cities oc-
cup6od the FIRST place on the afternoon
proG1am These come frem points AZ
0ae distant - Phoenix. Arix.: Seattle,
WoGAs Denver, Chicago, st. I.outs. and
.Nsw. Orieans. Altogether there are
shout - IN attendahce,F with more cx.
pected to arrive late today and early
Onicials Of thirty States. several in
the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast
regions. have signifed their intention
to be present and almost that many
vas csSed to order % M this mornins.
When the first conference was called
eight years ago but two States had ac-
tive weights and measures depart
meuts
The delegates were the guests of the
ing following the close Of the morning
eeaGion. The afternoon session opened
With report Of city delegates which In
ciuded reports by Peter thinner. city
eealer OF chicago, Fred j. Ttghe, city
sealer's office, New York city: and w.
o. Radcliffe, Cleveland.
The sessions tomorrow and next day
wal be taken up largely by discussion
- TO how to secure Standardization
OF weights and measures. The pounds
per-buohel laws. even on sucn common
articles ~ potatoes. turnips, and cram
berries. differ widely in various States.
and consequently lead to much confu-
sion in interstate shipments. This con-
dition also makes It much easier for
fraudulent dealers to escape detection.