20 AC.RICLLTLRK OK MAINE. 



difference of ten per cent. So you can see what necessity 

 there is for the sealer of weights an<l measures to go around 

 and look after these things, and to see tliat the people in the 

 city of Portland and in the State of Maine get what helongs to 

 them. The sealer of weights and measures is an official who is 

 to see that everybody gets i6 ounces for a pound and 32 quarts 

 for a bushel, and if the people of the State of Maine do not get 

 this, they should let the sealer know, or let Mr. Buckley know. 

 I know that Mr. Nugent here in Portland, and Mr. Buckley, 

 if they receive any complaints of short weight or short meas- 

 ure, will see that the offender is prosecuted and that you get 

 your rights. They are paid a salary to do this. The State of 

 New Jersey has just passed a law which provides that any 

 person selling an instrument for weighing or measuring which 

 is of a type calculated to perpetrate fraud shall be fined'. 

 That is, if a person goes down there to sell a scale or weight or 

 measure which is not of proper construction or inaccurate, he 

 will suffer a penalty of $50. It is easy enough to eliminate 

 these, but where the most work comes in is. after the instru- 

 ments are all right, to prevent perpetration of fraud through 

 the man trying to cheat the consumer. This fraud is not alone 

 practiced on the man who goes in to buy a pound or a quart. 

 The big companies practice it on the retailer and on the whole- 

 saler. For instance, take the lard packages, — lard done up in 

 tin pails. It was tlic custom at one time to put three pounds 

 and five pounds and ten pounds in pails ; but within the last 

 ten years they have got into the habit of weighing the pail in. 

 If you should go into a store to buy five pounds you would get 

 four pounds and three ounces of lard and the rest pail. When 

 you buy a box of pork loins, you will get three ounces of paper 

 wrapped around each loin; and the same way with hams. The 

 ham is done up finely, it is sanitary and everything of that sort. 

 It has fancy paper and burlap around it and then it is tied up 

 with red ribbon. It is not weighed until all this is on it, and 

 you pay for the wrappers at ham prices. When the butcher 

 goes in to buy a lamb he pays for the backing sticks and the 

 caul fat that are placed over the lamb, at lamb prices. So he 

 passes it along to the consumer and the consumer gets the worst 

 end of it. as he always does. The large companies always pro- 

 tect themselves. When the dealers buy lard, the packers will 



