Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-01-27
SWEENEY URGES
STANDARD LOAF
Chief of Standards Also Dis
cusses the Coverings About
Food Packages

"Those who most need the protec-
ton of the weight and measure law of
Pennsylvania are those who are COM
PEELED to buy in small quantities.
Such persons are obliged TO pay
heavier toll than those who buy in
large quantities and they should not
be made to suffer an additional loss
by being short weighted" says James
Sweeney, Chief of the Bureau of
Standards, a branch of the Depart
ment of Internal Affairs, who discusses
the necessity of laws for standard
loaf of bread and to prevent the wrap
pings on meats and other articles be-
ing sold without deduction. The re-
port of the Chief savage1y attacks the
practice which has grown up of not
including packages of meat in the
met weight" law and says something
should be done to relieve those who
are forced to pay almost prohibitive
prices for food. Charging for cover
ings he says is "a crime for Whlcn
there are no palliating circumstances.
The report of the Chief calls atten-
ton to the fact that of 1,114,162 In
spections made of milk jars, cans,
bottles, baskets, barrels, boxes and
similar articles used to hold food, 2l,-
294 were condemned in the State last
year and that of 4S1,500 measuring
and Weighing devices 5000 were or
dered destroyed or confiscated.
In his report the Chief says of the
need for new laws: i
"The advanced cost of bread has
brought about an agitation suggesting
specific legislation that would bring
hn In nf urif iiIriS6iG-
tion of the Weight and Measure De-
partment. The people are accustomed
to buying bread by the loaf. The
present law governing the sale of COM
modities does not provide any stand
ard weight for a loaf of bread. There
fore, the weight of loaVes not being
INFORM. the consumers do not have
the protection that is guaranteed to
them in the purchase of other COM
modities under the present law. The
incoming Legislature should enact
legislation fixing sixteen ounces as a
standard. The establishing of this
standard would not prevent the sale
of bread in the multiples of the pound,
or in any weight in excess of the
pound. The purpose is to have q
standard established. The multiples
could radiate from the standard
THE law should require label or
tag to be attached to bread that is
sold unwrapped, and this label or tag
should be marked with a true state
ment of the weight. On wrapped
bread the net weight should be indi-
Gated on the outside of the wrapper.
The necessity for law compelling
the sale of bread by the pound avoir-
dupois was apparent very early in the
history of our State. Evidence of this
will be found in the enactment of an
old law which appears on the statute
of 1897. The weakness of the provi-
sions of that act was the omission of
establishing standard. Bread being
one of the principal commodities
among the necessaries of life, any
tendency to reduce the quantity which
the public is in the habit of receiving
for a certain price in many instances
works a hardship, especially ON those
who are the least able to bear it.
THE fixing of standard weight
for bread does not fix the price. This
can only be done through economic
causes and competition. The mark
ing of every loaf sold, wrapped or un-
wrapped, would prevent the decep-
tion that can, under the present con-
ditions, be practiced upon the public,
as the dealer is not required to mark
his bread in any way which would
guarantee to the purchaser that he is
receiving any specific quantity.
1.-The net weight law of Pennsyl-
Vania required that all commodities
sold IN package form must have the
net quantity contained in the pack
age clearly marked on the outside of
the package. But owing to some tech
nical Interpretation of the net weight
law wrapped meats are exempt from
these requirements. The wrappings
on these meats weigh from two to
four ounces, which means at the pres
ent cost of this class of meats that the
consumer is paying from three to six
cents per pound for wrappings, which
in every respect are valueless to him.
This great injustice to the pur-
chasing public should be remedied by
legislation. To correct this great
wrong the legislation must be of a
specific character. The juggling of
legal terms makes it necessary that
the present net weight law requiring
the net contents to be marked OH the
outside of all packages in which COM
modities are sold be amended so as to
include all meat sold in wrappings. or
packages of any kind, as package
goods. This is the only way that the
consumer would be guaranteed that
ne was receiving the amount of meat
that he is paying for. There can be
no reason advanced in. opposition to
legislation of this character. Its en-
actment would receive the commenda-
uon OF the general public, and at the
present high cost of living the neonle
are entitled TO this protection.
1T is hard TO conceive of any rea-
son for opposition to the enactment
of legislation that would prevent the
practice of selling to the public some
thing which they cannot utilize"
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