Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-21
CHARGES BAKERS ROBBINC
PEOPLE OF $lOO,OOO,OOO
Representative Brand Declares Short
Weight Costs Huge Sum Annually and
Seeks Federal Law to Prevent Practice.

ering the cost of bread will be long
and bitter fight and reckless measures
may be championed. All that | want
to do is to divert some sl00OOO,O0o
that is each year being taken from
the poor in America and hand 1t back
to them in the form of more bread
for what they pay. My plan will not
lower or raise the cost of bread. but
will mean more bread to the consum-
ing public. and that is as good as
lower priced bread
@. What will your bill provide?
A. 1t will require that all bread
must weigh one pound or one pound
and a half or multiples of one pound.
The public will henceforth buy bread
by it's weight and that weight will
he uniform An end will be put TO the
practice of certain baking houses of
cultivating grain that yields flour
that makes bread appear very bulky.
but which is in reality composed
chiefly of wind. Such loaves appear
to be the equal of other loaves, but
on the scales their imitation is ex
posed.
Weight Stamped on Wrapper.
@. But in many States they have
n law that requires that the weight
of the bread sold must be stamped
on the wrapper. In many States of
the Union bread is sold today by its
weight.
A. But those laws requiring the
weight to be stamped on the wrapper
do not provide for uniform weights in
loaves of bread. Such laws are clever
contrivances for evading the real in
tent of bread standardization laws
For instance. in Ohio a man pays
cents for loaf of bread that weighs
by law 16 ounces. In New York State
man may pay exactly the same
price for a loaf of bread, and does so
in fact. as bread over the Cnsted
States has d uniform market price
but the bread he buys has stamped
on its wrapper something below IL
ounces of weight, and in such States
as New York the baking companies
simply pocket the amount of ounces
below 16 that they have "pinched
off,
Sees No Conspiracy.
@. Is this short changing process in
weights of bread an agreed upon con
spiracy on the part of bakers?
A. No, ii is a habit that has grown
up. Like persons who used TO swea,
coins, the bakers who turn out under
weight bread are simply INDUCING in
a practice that in the case of coins
mas DeeH TeneQleQ.
Q. How about the cost of enforcing
such law IS YOU suggest? Wouldn
II require an army Of bread Inspect
ors and mean an annual cost In gov
eminent that would be staggering"
A. No. The President asl.ei the
Department of Agriculture To .s~rrt
TO him the cost of administering this
measure. Their answer was that their
present force would be able to enforce
the law without any additional ex-
pense. These inspectors of the De
partment of Agriculture are daily col
lecting samples of food all over the
country and il would be comparative
ly simple for them to collect at inter
walls samples of bread and weigh them
TO see II the bread Standardization law
was being violated. State experience
with such laws has disproven any
fears about the expense of enforcing
it. The Ohio bread standardization
law went into effect in 1921. In 1924
the secretary of agriculture of Ohio
announced that the cost of enforcing
it had been $500 per annum
Believes Practice General.
Q. You consider that the selling OF
under-weight bread is a rampant evil
in the United States?
a. Yes, | would say that it was
quite general. Only IL States have
protection by law from this practice.
In all the other States selling of un-
der-weight bread has been amply
proven. A survey by the Bureau OF
Standards of the country proved con-
clusively the extent of it.
Q. Are any important orga nizations
interested in backing your bill?
\. Well. when my bill was intro
duced in the last session the farmers
and labor organizations were solidly
for it. All of the superintendent OF
weights and measures of the States
Endorsed it unanimously and the
small bakers came down TO Washing
ton TO agitate for il.
Mr.. Brand concluded by comment
ing upon the importance of cheap
bread to a nation.
In Europe today bread is the all
important food of the poor. When
/ was in Greece l used 10 see work
men carrying in a handkerchief a
small hunk of bread for lunch. This
was the typical fare of the poor. With
enough water to wash a piece of
bread down many a workman in
Europe today just barely exists. That
is why all the countries of Europe to-
day so strictly regulate the production
of bread. A Roman was called great
solely because he gave cheap bread
to the populace. 1t was the starV-
ing peasant of France that subsisted
on black bread. America is wealthy,
but we should be ever watchful that
the production of bread does not fall
under the control of monopoly. But
the monopoly hasn't happened yet.
1t is only attempted. What has hap
pened is that the people are being
cheated by short-weight bread. What
I want is a square deal on bread for
the people of the United States and
you can't have a square deal and per
NIT short weights.
Copyright. 1890