The Wilmington morning star., 1940-07-21
BY DAVID
Staff Writer

Have you ever bought a loaf Of
bread in Wilmington that did not
weigh exactly 16 ounces?
If you have, the dealer who sold
it to you is, according to an old
city ordinance, subject to arreat
and a fine.
In an old law passed many years
ago, but still remaining on the
city's books, it is provided t h a t
every loaf of bread offered for sale
in the city shall weigh exactly 16
ounces-no more, no less.
It also provides that the weight
shall be printed on the wrapper in
plain type in black or dark ink
on white paper from type not small
Ter than type commonly known IS
12-point, full face, square Gothic
capitals" Chose are printers
terms for identifying this %particu-
lar style of type letter.
Then, according to this ordinance
a grocer who sells a 17-ounce loaf
of bread is breaking the law. And
if the weight is printed in yellow
letters on blue paper Gas it often
isl he is again breaking the law.
Never Enforced
Needless to say, grocers n e e d
not become alarmed, because the
ordinance has not be enforced in
20 years, if ever.
And those Wilmingtonians w h o
allow their horses and COWS TO
Craze on the public streets had
better watch their step, another Or
dinance says. In order to abide by
the law, they must feed their ami
mails from feed bags"
And another thing. If you have
been planning to go swimming in
the Cape Fear river, in order to
avoid the tolls of the law, you had
better wear an %overcoat. The law
says that swimmers in the river
must be fully clad. This, of course,
would exclude modern bathing
suits.
If, when the ice man delivers
your daily order, he does not weigh
it in your presence before selling
it to you, he has broken another
law. The law says it must be
weighed Immediately upon deliv-
cry"
Another unenforced and outdated
law is a city ordinance strictly for
bidding the exhibition of moving
pictures of prize fights. Although
the ordinance is not enforced and
is completely antiquated, it still re-
mains on the books.
A poll of officials at the city hall
failed to reveal any reason why a
law such as this was ever passed:
"It shall be unlawful to trans
port dead bodies upon any public
conveyance, street car or taxi
cab" Nevertheless, it, too, is still
on the books.
A WPA Project
These ordinances were brought
to light when the North Carolina
League of Municipalities, under a
WPA project, re-codiied the city
charter and ordinances and placed
them in a new book. All the old
ordinances, whether enforced or
not. were included. Most of them
will probably be removed when the
city commissioners examine e
book before its official adoption.
Here is an ordinance that is sell
dom, if ever, enforced, but it came
in handy for the police department
several years ago. The fact that an
officer was throughly familiar with
the statutes prevented a bootlegger
in the central section of the city
from escaping punishment.
Officers were raiding a bootleg
Joint known to contain many bottles
of illicit liquor, but before they
could enter, the proprietor threw
all the bottles from a window into
an alley, breaking them and spill
ing the contents.
1t was impossible to charge him
with possessing illicit whiskey, but