1 8 AL.RICLLTLRE 01" MAINK. 



For instance, in Florida, they have to mark on the weight ami 

 measure, in Xo. Dakota, the weight, measure and numerical 

 count. So. for relief they are going to Congress to ask that 

 uniform laws be passed. The same thing applies to the manu- 

 facturers of weighing and measuring instruments. Different 

 states have passed specifications in regard to how they must 

 be made. A man can make a scale that might pass in Maine 

 and when he sends it over to New York it would be thrown out. 



Another state of confusion in the country arises from the 

 different weights per bushel of commodities. We iind that in 

 New York State we have to put 57 poutids of onions into a 

 bushel, and right across in Massachusetts, 52 pounds to a 

 bushel. In Maine the law requires 44 pounds of apples to a 

 bushel and when you send them down to Massachusetts you 

 are compelled to put in 48 pounds. That state of confusion 

 maintains all through the country, and so there will be a meas- 

 ure introduced in Congress to make a uniform weight for a 

 bushel of the various commodities. 



When we get three or four of those regulations throughout 

 the country there is no question but that the weights and meas- 

 ures will be very well regulated ; and even now in some states, 

 we regulate the weights and measures and see that nothing but 

 good scales and measures are put out. But we still have the 

 personal dishonesty. We find that a great many people to get 

 a little more will try various methods. For instance, we have 

 a scale which is apparently all right: it looks goo<l to almost 

 anybody, but if a man touches it with his finger, it becomes in- 

 correct. That is what we call personal dishonesty. And this 

 is what the sealer of weights and measures has to look after. 

 It is his fluty to oversee the weighing and measuring and stop 

 the dishonest methods. Then the sealer of weights and meas- 

 ures should be around all the time to see that the weights and 

 measures are properly used. For instance, when you buy a 

 pound of butter and the man puts it in a dish weighing nearly 

 an ounce and puts it on the scale, you pay 38 cents a pound for 

 the dish. Sometimes the dish is soaked in water and you also 

 pay 38 cents a pound for the added water. A light pulp dish 

 has been manufactured, and the dealers admit that it is a good 

 dish, sanitary ai^d convenient, but they say it i- n'->t heavy 



