368 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



large number of states introduced legislation of some sort but were un- 

 successful in enacting tbem into laws. In a number of these states the 

 idea was new and the bills did not receive sufficient consideration on that 

 account. In others they failed through lack of time at the end of the 

 legislative session, or for other reasons. 



There is another phase of the subject that has not been touched upon 

 that is perhaps more important than the supervision of the weighing 

 and measuring apparatus of the tradesman, because of the fact that the 

 amount involved in any transaction is not stated, and that is the sale of 

 goods in sealed packages without any statement as to the quantity in the 

 package. 



Prior to the passage of the Food and Drugs Act, it was customary to 

 mark such packages with some whole number of pounds or ounces. Most 

 readers remember the two-pound packages of cereals, and the three and 

 five-pound cans of lard extensively advertised and sold some years ago. 

 It is possible that the weights marked upon them were originally correct, 

 but it is certain that they were not so in 1906, when the Food and Drugs 

 Act went into operation, because the packers immediately stopped mark- 

 ing such packages, on account of the provision in that act which requires 

 that if any weight or measure be stamped upon any package it must be 

 the correct weight or measure. The influences behind the Food and 

 Drugs Bill attempted to have this section read so that the correct weight 

 or measure of the contents should be stamped upon the outside of the 

 packages, but the packers had enough influence to have it modified. The 

 result was that the packer was at liberty to reduce the size of his package 

 as often as he deemed it advisable, and without the knowledge of the pur- 

 chaser; and this has been done in numerous instances. 



The passage of laws by a number of the states, requiring the mark- 

 ing of the net weight, measure or numerical count upon the outside of 

 articles put up in sealed packages, and the delegation of authority by 

 such laws to state officials to promulgate rules and regulations concern- 

 ing the enforcement of the laws soon convinced the manufacturers and 

 packers that it would be much better to comply with the terms of a 

 national law than to attempt to meet the demands of a number of state 

 laws, which would not only present a multiplicity of regulations but 

 would undoubtedly be conflicting in some instances. Accordingly when 

 the Gould bill was introduced in Congress to amend the Food and Drugs 

 Act so as to require the net weight, measure or numerical count to be 

 plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of food packages there 

 was not sufficient opposition to prevent its passage, and after some 

 changes it became a law March 3, 1913, and was one of the last acts 

 signed by President Taft. 



Aside from the weights and measures provision contained in the 

 Food and Drugs Act, the amendment of March 3 is the second and most 

 important step taken by Congress to exercise authority over weights and 



