REPORT DEPUTY STATE SEALER OF WEIGHTS & MEASURES. 137 



to the pound? Do you know of anything? The whole Ameri- 

 can people today are interested in a square deal ; and if a square 

 deal should not begin with a pair of scales, in the daily Hfe, 

 when we go to the grocery store, or any other store, I do not 

 know where it should begin. You know it becomes very easy 

 to get slack in all business matters. It becomes, very easy to 

 knock off an ounce here or an ounce there. You have seen 

 the statements by which you have learned how much is taken 

 off in ounces in the prepared foods. You will find the bulletins 

 showing the short weights we have had in the past. Those 

 things are not a square deal. In America a man should buy 

 i6 ounces to the pound in package goods just as in other goods. 

 Of course that matter is not especially within your regulation, 

 but what is more important, is to see that the scales used in 

 the stores and in other places in this state are right and weigh 

 right. Of course not much has been said about this and not 

 much is thought about it until attention is called to it. I hope 

 but very little dishonesty in this line is, being practiced in the 

 different parts of the state. I trust our people are substantially 

 honest, I believe they are, and yet I should be surprised if you 

 did not tell me that you found in your experience many occa- 

 sions which justified the wisdom of this statute. The highest 

 function of government is to protect the people. We are all 

 agents of these 742,371 people. They expect us to do our work 

 in accordance with the statutes laid down. They make these 

 statutes. They send their representatives into this hall and 

 yonder hall to make the statutes. We are public serv^ants, we 

 never should forget it, and there is only one way for a public 

 servant to do, the same as a private servant, — to do his work 

 as he is employed to do it and do it right, in accordance with 

 the tenor of the laws under which we live. 



I congratulate you on the importance of your work. I know 

 vou w^ill attend to it faithfully and impartially, and will see 

 that everybody in the business of selling and dealing in goods 

 does right by the public, gives them 16 ounces for a pound and 

 full measure for a peck, a quart, a pint, a gallon or a bushel. 

 I thank you for your attention to these scattered remarks. 



