no AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



What honest dealer had a possible chance against such com- 

 petition? How many housekeepers were easily deceived? 



This furthermore illustrates that if an efficient inspection of 

 weights and measures had existed the peddler could not have 

 used a short, double-bottom measure, and the consumer would 

 have been protected. The above easily shows that the peddler 

 got more than the market price, — in short, the consumer's cost 

 of living was increased. 



The short weight and measure evil exists in three forms, — 

 first, faulty apparatus to determine the quantity; second, faulty 

 use of correct apparatus; third, the goods put up in packages 

 with no indication of the quantity of contents. Let us look 

 at these three evils. 



Included among false scales are the peddler's and ragman's 

 spring scales with sliding fronts, adjustable springs, bent points, 

 that will show whatever the thumb and index finger of the 

 manipulator* desires ; computing scales with false computations ; 

 weights made lighter by every possible means ; dry measures 

 with adjustable bottoms, false bottoms, raised bottoms, with 

 sides cut down or relapped, false bottoms and sides, ice cream 

 pails from five to fifteen per cent short, short milk bottles; 

 *'fake" milk dippers; "short," "snide" and "shallow" berry 

 boxes; liquid measures with holes in the side, etc. 



These are but samples and many are still in use, daily de- 

 frauding the poor — daily committing moral crimes worse than 

 picking pockets. 



The second form of evil is the one where the dealer uses 

 heavy wrapping paper on the polished glass scale pan for "sani- 

 tary reasons" and incidentally to have the customer pay for 

 two ounces of paper, a brine-soaked or heavy butter tray at 

 the price per pound of the meat or butter. Here also we find 

 the butcher who weighs his thumb or knife by quickly but 

 steadily and stealthily prying under the weight side of the scale, 

 thereby assisting the hard-earned cents and dollars out of the 

 hands of the widow washerwoman. Everyone who has ob- 

 served rush hour trading has noticed the trick of throwing 

 the meat on the spring scale and reading the pointer to the 

 graduation to which it bounds instead of waiting for a steady 

 reading. 



