346 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



inspection department, but the individual of the middle or poorer 

 classes had to take what was offered to him or else go to court with 

 every prospect that he would lose his case on some technicality. 



In 1902 the writer visited several of the larger cities in the State of 

 New York for the purpose of ascertaining how efficient the inspection 

 service was. The Tesults were discouraging: in most places the in- 

 spectors were paid by fees for sealing the apparatus and, consequently, 

 they were only interested in sealing the apparatus for which they could 

 collect fees. They cared very little whether the apparatus was correct 

 when examined, and still less whether it was properly used afterwards. 

 New York City had ten sealers, at $1,200 each, and ten inspectors, at 

 $1,500, under the city clerk, but most of them did little else except 

 draw their salaries. The writer called upon one of them about ten 

 o'clock in the morning and found him still in bed. His young child 

 was playing with his standard weights, which he quickly took away 

 from him when the object of the visit was explained. He frankly 

 admitted that he owed his appointment to his political activity and that 

 little or no services were expected of him. 



The situation in New York was no worse than in other sections of 

 the country, as we afterwards found out; it was merely typical of the 

 conditions that existed throughout the country at that time. A couple 

 of years later, or in 1904, the bureau conceived the plan of inviting 

 those officers in the states who were by law charged with the custody of 

 the state standards, to meet in "Washington to study the weights and 

 measures situation, and to ascertain what steps should be taken to insure 

 some measure of protection to the public. The first meeting took place 

 in January, 1905, and was, it is believed, the first meeting ever held in 

 this country for the purpose of considering this subject. Pennsylvania, 

 Michigan, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Vir- 

 ginia, Iowa — in all eight states — and the District of Columbia sent dele- 

 gates. The governors of many of the other states showed interest in the 

 matter, but stated that on account of the lack of available funds from 

 which the expenses of the delegates could be defrayed it would be im- 

 possible to have their states represented. Nevertheless, the delegates 

 who did attend were greatly interested in the subject and requested the 

 bureau to arrange for similar meetings annually. Many of them did 

 not know that they had any laws to enforce or any standards to take 

 care of until their attention was directed to the state laws on the sub- 

 ject by the bureau. 



Meetings have been held every year since, but the number of states 

 represented never exceeded seventeen until 1912, when 25 states 

 and 34 of the most important cities, including the District of Co- 

 lumbia, were represented. What the earlier conferences lacked in num- 

 bers, however, they made up in enthusiasm. By conferring with one 

 another, and by discussion, the delegates learned what was needed, and 



