. TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 511 



and wide scope of the Weight and Measure inspector's field. Iowa's 

 billion dollar crop must be weighed. Her thousands of cattle, hogs, and 

 sheep must all be driven over the scales before being sent in to the 

 market. The dairy and poultry products, garden truck, orchard crops, 

 wool and the numerous other such products of Iowa are sold by the 

 pound. Seven million tons or more of coal, and thousands of tons of gypsum 

 rock mined in Iowa are weighed over scales whose accuracy is deter- 

 mined by the State Weight and Measure Inspectors, and still we have 

 not mentioned the many millions of dollars worth of groceries and dry 

 goods purchased by Iowa citizens annually, nearly all of which are 

 sold by weight or measure. 



High prices have resulted in a noticeable tendency toward short 

 weighing on the part of a number of dishonest merchants. The fact that 

 selling 15 ounces to the pound has proved a profitable source of income 

 at present prices, was too big a temptation for some merchants to with- 

 stand. This department has attempted to impress upon the housewife 

 and the public in general the necessity of buying by weight. The neces- 

 sity of being especially careful in purchasing from street venders has 

 been impressed upon the consuming public, but despite all of our 

 efforts, frequent cases of short weights continue to appear. To carry on 

 this work effectively, more men should be added to our force. A com- 

 mon source of dishonest practice on the part of some merchants, generally 

 considered reputable, was found to be the advertising of a certain com- 

 modity at an unusually low price and then making up the difference by 

 short weighing on this particular commodity. In every instance where 

 short weighing was found to be in vogue, the department inspectors 

 were instructed to prosecute relentlessly, heavy fines usually resulting. 



One important phase of this work which is necessarily neglected 

 because of an insufiiciently large force of inspectors is the work of cream 

 scale inspection. With butter fat selling at its present high figures, it is 

 easy to see that a faulty scale can mean considerable financial loss to 

 either the buyer or the seller. This work, as stated, has been greatly 

 neglected inasmuch as we have been forced to depend upon our Dairy 

 and Food inspectors to make these inspections in addition to their 

 routine work — something which they really have not time to do. 



The department has done some work in checking gasoline pumps and 

 measuring devices and we have recently purchased a practical standard 

 for this purpose with the result that during the coming year we will 

 make a thorough survey of these pumps. Our investigations show that 

 a considerable number of these pumps are inaccurate and we feel that, 

 in the interest of the consumer, more attention should be given to this 

 part of the work. 



FEEDING STUFFS 



Medicated stock foods appeared in this state this year in larger numbers 

 and greater quantities than ever before. The department has been called 

 upon to analyze a large number of these preparations for feeders through- 

 out the state. In many instances, complaint was made that the stock 

 food either caused the animals (usually hogs) to become sick or, in some 



