Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-07

introduction. is to be sent to the Presi
dent of the United States. the Presi-
dent of the Senate, the Speaker OF the
House of Representatives, members OF
Congress and the governors OF each state.
While the conference has no on1cial
power. !. is composed Of the men most
closely in touch with all phases OF the
conditions governing weights and meas
ures. Most of these men viii use their
strongest personal influence in their re-
spective states TO secure the legislative
action recommended by the resolution.
2 =
The bill introduced b. Representativ
futile of New Jersey regarding the
standard size OF a
Bill to Define barrel will fan short
Size of Barrel OF Of u" this ''s resolution
Notwithstanding that il has been Endorsed
by the conference. because IL onl; gives
the capacity required in cubic inches
with no reference to weight. The New
England dealers claim that Maryland
and Virginia farmers ship short weight
barrels into the Boston market although
Massa chusetts has law requiring po-
tato barrels to contain a certain number
of pounds The question of the weight
will he covered in most cases. however,
by the new national net weight law
The possibility of being cheated in buy
inc bv weight IN the opinion o. many
people-eyen including officials dealing
with the matters quite as great IL MOI
greater than in buying by bulk. an ON
Ger from New England recently mace
an investigation of the scales OIL nuch
sters and junk dealers who We're selling
BIZ weight and in every instance Tounu
them incorrect. the junk dealers VINO
are buying rags. bones and scrap iron
almost Invariably have scales which are
overweight 50 that bag OF rags WMcn
really weighs twenty-five pounds may be
paid for as ten pounds because OF the
defective scales In number OF com
munites hucksters will go through
farming region collecting butter. poui.Is
and other produce which they weigh
upon their own scales. thereby securing
from ~ to - per cent more than tney
are paving for. Sometimes these muck
sters are skillful enough at scale manipu-
lation to change their weights SO that
they can sell the produce in town from
the same scales so weighted as 10 give
their customers as great a percentage
short weight as they took in overweight
from the people from whom they puf-
chased the products. OniE the mos,
rigid system of inspection and fixed
penalty for every kind Of fraud perpe-
rated in weights and measures will give
protection to the entire public.
4
The question Of numerical count is one
regarding which a stricter enforcement
of the law is re-
Regulating the auired. 1t has
Numerical Count. ~ hoxes s,nposed
ia contain 200 matches there is an av-
era.e shortage Of at least thirty. The
sealer of weights and measures for the
city of INDIANAPOLIS has been making an
investigation OF this matter during the
last wear. He estimates that the people
of the -niled States are being defrauded
of more than S2.Ooo.000 each year in
matches alone.
People who can least afford 10 pay for
extortion buy coal by the bushel instead
of by the ton. There is no way to reg
ulate the amount in bushel. In some
cities an ordinance provides that a bushel
of coal must be ''heaped up. But es-
neeially i'm the case of soft coal, it is
easy to pack two three large Jumps
in the bushel basket and heap up coal on
ion SO that the basket looks heapns full.
but there are holes underneath that re-
duce the quantity of coal paid for bS al
least one-fourth. Chicago now has an
ordinance requiring all coal to be sold by
weight and a rigid system of inspe 1 on
of the scales of coal dealers is Il pro-
lection TO the consumers from the loss
by short weight.
In number Of states. and in most
cities there are legal enactmtnts Lro-
y!ding that all coal over q hundred
mounds must be sold by weight. Quanti-
ties less than "A hundred pounds are sold
by the basket. which vary in size. Last
winter a city sealsr in Providence
stopped driver who was delivering two
baskets of coal to a poor woman. The
coal was weighed by the officers. by
standard weight, and it was found that
this woman was paying al the rate OF
SI9.oJ j ton for coal which ordinarily was
selling at 81. The law provided that over
a hundred pounds be sold by the ton. and
that law was enforced for tn benefit OF
the people who were a,.e l. buy coal
in large quantities, but NJ account vas
taken for those VINO were ohiSei TO bu,
bN the basket Sincc then an ordinance
has been enacted in that city providing
that coal in lesser quantities must be sold
in standard baskets containing eighty
ponds Of ccai To the basket.
Ice is a commodity usually supposed
to be sold by weight, but in many in
stances il is
ManV Sales OF Ice known that 1t
by Guesses of Men. guess of the
men on the ice wagon, who give as little
as they can fer the money or ice tchst
presented and perhaps make a profit TO
themselves. recognized by the lee com
n.nies ~ ..bee; money. In some etc
the ;c. companies viii weight out TO the
drivers a load OF five o.. SIX thousand
n.unas The driver serves u the GUS
,omers along the route and is paid by