148 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



that a bushel of potatoes in Maine will mean the same as a 

 bushel of potatoes in Ohio. They want those laws made uni- 

 form. There is some legislation pending down there now, and 

 it seems to me the sealers here ought to help on it. A law is 

 pending there which will make the size of apple barrels uniform 

 throughout the country. A barrel of apples now is likely to 

 be almost any size, — nobody knows what it will be ; one man 

 has one size and another, another size. Another thing we are 

 trying to get through is the standardizing or sealing of all 

 weights and measures by the national government. The propo- 

 sition now is that we take a scale and say we will seal it or we 

 will not seal it, according to our individual judgment. In one 

 city the scales are submitted to a board, which passes on them. 

 In some states each sealer is told what to seal and what not to 

 seal, and just how much to allow. The custom has been in the 

 past for each state to make its own definite regulations, so the 

 whole matter is confused. Now what we want is a national 

 law passed which will place that under a board at Washington, 

 so that when a scale is, passed on and found to be of a correct 

 type it shall be accepted in all parts of the country by the 

 sealers, assuming that it is accurate. That is one of the things 

 that some of you who are in touch with the congressmen can 

 explain to them. If you can get these things it will help the 

 weights and measures all through the country. 



The Bureau of Standards at Washington is planning an 

 aggressive campaign on weights and measures, providing they 

 get an appropriation. They are asking for an appropriation of 

 $100,000 simply for the weights and measures. Under the 

 appropriation they have been working with some good has been 

 done, in this way : They have built a tester car for testing rail- 

 road track scales and that is going to operate in all parts of the 

 country, so that when Mr. Pennell wants a track scale or two 

 or three or a dozen track scales sealed, he can call on the Bureau 

 of Standards at Washington. There is not a sealer in the coun- 

 try who is properly equipped to test a track scale. That could 

 be safely left to the Bureau of Standards if they could get the 

 money for more cars. They also want to put out instructions 

 to sealers throughout the country. They want to tell them how 

 to test a scale with a small amount of weights and make the 

 weights they have count in the best manner. They want to have 



