Evening star., 1926-05-24
PARLEY ON WEIGHT
MEETS THIS WEEK
Much That Affects Every
body Will Be Thrashed
Out at Conference.
BY HARDEN COLT.AN

There will be no end of weighty
problems Matched out and Il long line
OF arguments hung out to dry in the
Nations Capital this week, withaut
politician getting a look in or a re-
former peeping single peep.
Much will be said about weights
not heavyweights or lightweights. OF
even reducing contests-and there will
lie lots of heavy verbiaSe spilled on
the very ordinary sounding subject
Of the primary standards of length
and mass.
All of which is not exactly by way
of treating a heavy affair lightly. The
Weighty problems mentioned concern
and measures and they also concern
the rest of us plain people who are
constantly keeping our eyes on our
purses while trying to provide our
selves the best comforts.
The question of whether a yard
of cloth contains exactly 36 inches.
or a pound of butter weighs exactly
16 ounces. may affect only the purse
and. more remotely. comfort. but
going in close association with the
pound and the yard are other stand
ards which do not touch health and
safety.
Accuracy Makes Integrity.
On the purely financial side. the
integrity of the entire commercial fab
ric of the Nation. from producer to
ultimate consumer. depends upon the
accuracy of the measurements used
IN the transaction. If Is ounces were
declared legal pound of sugar, con.
sumers Of this country would have
f35. 100000 added to their annual bill
tf sugar were retailing as low as D
cents pound.
The national conference on weights
and measures will hold its annual con-
vention here May 1928. bringing to-
Sether officials from States, counties
and municipalities for conference
with Federal officials and scientists
and with manufacturers and invent
OrS.
Out at the Bureau of Standards
part of the Department of Commerce
which is little known to the average
citizen. but whose work affects his
life every single hour of the day,
these officials and associates will eX-
change ideas.
On Thursday the delegates will
view the primary standards of length
and mass, which are kept closely
guarded in a vault at the bureau.
1nSlTum6IltS OI measurement 81 OcH-
cate that no human hands ever ap-
proach them and no human breath
touches them, because the heat of
the body or the blast from the lungs
would derange them, and which are
adjusted by mechanical means and
observed through telescopes, consti-
tute these primary standards for the
United States. In turn, these are de-
pendent upon international standards
maintained in a vault far under
ground in Paris. From them radiate
the standards used by States, coun-
ties and cities. 1t is the constitu-
tional duty of Congress to preserve
uniformity of weights and measures
among the individual States, but with
a few exceptions Congress has left
enforcement to the States.
Decides Best Practice.
The conference decides the best
practice and the model regulations
on various perplexing problems. For
instance: How should ice cream be
sold-by the quart or the pound?
A dealer, buying a five-gallon con-
tainer of ice cream, may be able to
retail only 16 of the 20 quarts. Ice
cream is 40 to 90 per cent air
otherwise it would not be palatable.
1t would be merely frozen cream and
sugar-and it shrinks as the air es-
capes. But if it is to be retailed by
weight, rather than by volume, how
is the perplexed housewife to know
how much to buy, when a pound
freshly frozen may be ample for four
persons but a pound re-frozen may be
enough for only three?
An amazing amount Of work is
done at the Bureau of Standards.
When the doctor tells YOU to hold
this under your tongue, please" it is
rather important that the clinical
thermometer he uses be accurate.
The chances are it was tested at
the bureau-38,177 were tested there
last year.
All of the instruments used on air.
planes are tested at the bureau
many were invented there. Airplane