Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-11-15
GEORGE F. HOLMES
On Work Of County Commissions

On WORK OF county NOWW'SsiO"eEe
CRITICISM Of the existence Of the once
~ Of County Commissioner. because OF the
o.territoriality Of the City and the Coshty
impression that the office is unnecessary.
An idea Of what the work Of the Commits
sloners really Is, says George +. Holiness
president of the Board OF County Commis'
sioners. will remove any such impression.
"The title. like the work, Of the City ana
the County Commissioners, II the same,
said Mr.. Holmes. "nnd 1t cannot M cnahgsa.
cxcept by a constitutional amendment. lut
II the Office were terminated. the work which
IL performed would have to be done ny some
ohe. because 7 is 10
Handle Election Matters
"In the first place. we handle all election
matters. We have exclusive jurisd,ct'oh
over the primary elections; we supervise
tho work Of the assessors who are elected
BY the voters Of each division; We print the
assessors' lists and prepare and print the
primary ballot we issue watchers certn'
Gates for each candidate. and we count the
primary vote and certify inc result. uMe r%
hmt tho State elections we certify to llar.
I've also print the ballot and provide all
other parnphernalia for the general elections
but we do not count that vote. th's WORK
being done by the Court q common nr,orv rIs"s S",.
where two Of the sitting Gommissioners IA
mn niority Of the board) ore candidates for
recollection, Then the count goes to the
Court OF Common Pleas. just a. In the
case Of the general election. , -,
polling places and we will relocate a
polling place, II the facts warrant on petit
tion OF ten or more voters of n division.
In the residence districts 1t is often ditti.
cult to get satisfactory polling places
people object to having them In their houses
and we have to take stores or such build.
ings as wc can get. But II majority OF
the voters Of a division protest against the
changing Of polling place. our jurisdiction
| ceases; the protest stops any change.
Besides this, we pay al the s,a assessors, s .r
polling places. We have nothing I" do with
| tho matter Of registration. as everything
| connected with this IL In the hands OF the
Registration Conmission, >,
"The Bureau OF Weights ana Measures
also under our jurisdiction. This bureau
| Ia IN charge Of u supervisor, who has under
| him n deruty, three district supervisors and
sixty five inspectors, together with small
force OF clerks for the clerical conduct OF
the Office. AL.
prey~nt either the intentional or Mninten
operote under State laws and the first step
in thnt direction Ia the inspection at definite
intervals Of the scales. weights and
measures Of the dealers of the city. Ord.
narily the city Ia divided into districts for
daily inspection, but at intervals we as.
eemble a large force of inspectors and make
what we call drive
| Faulty Scales Tied Up
"Where scales are found which are tenn.
pornrily defective, they nre tied up unit
their condition II corrected and when thi'
Is done we attach our seal. This inspection
applies to all kinds Of commodity a'ales
gasoline pumps. coal scales. etc. Where w
And short weights or scales which cannot b,
adjusted properly, they are cOnnscated an,
ultimately sold for old metal. 4 month ol
two ap0 We sold about three tons of thcs,
confscnted weights and scales. the result
OF a little more than Il years work.
at Is always difficult to show that {
denler IL using short weights with intent I,
defraud. but where there IL sufficient evi
dence to warrant II. We prosecute. Tb,
method of getting after dishonest dealer
IL what we call the try .out' system. !
woman, whose appearance conforms to tim
OF the neighborhOod, goes into the stor
about which there have been complaints n
which we have reason to suspect, and make
q purchase, being careful to inquire IN
psice per pound. watch the wsigl& cesistsrS,
y!.fSis q sssssssS 10 an Inn. ~, s,..,a