The housewife's safeguards — accurate measures. These 



are glass graduates, pints and half pints, and accurate 



spoons, from table to quarter teaspoons 



Exposing the Tricks of the Short- 

 Weight Tradesman 



THE efficient management of the The basis of the kitchen system of 



modern household is greatly pro- weights and measures is the standard 

 moted by the careful use of well- cup. Ordinary china cups cannot be 

 selected 

 measu ring 

 appliances. 

 I m p r o \- e d 

 systems 

 have been 

 slowly 

 evolved 

 from the 

 guesswork 

 o f earlier 

 times. For 

 example, 

 terms like 

 the "pinch 

 of salt," 

 "speck of 

 pepper," 

 "handful of 



rice,'' "sweeten to taste" 

 (units of vague magnitude) 

 have gradually been replaced 

 by definite amounts, speci- 

 fied and measured. The 

 Bureau of Standards has de- 

 voted much attention to this 

 subject, so neglected in the 

 average kitchen. Household 

 appliances ought to include: 



1. A test set of weights 

 and measures for checking 

 purchases and other pur- 

 poses. 



2. Meters for measuring 

 the delivery, for household 

 use, of gas, water and elec- 

 tricity. 



3. Special measuring in- 

 struments, such as thermom- 

 eters, hygrometers, barom- 

 eters, hydrometers and time 

 pieces, for measuring tem- 

 perature, moisture, pressure, 

 density and time. 



4. Special measures used 

 in cooking. 



A "crab" or "hand- 

 cuff" scale. By 

 combining its parts 

 incorrectly, results 

 greatly in error are 

 obtained, the com- 

 monest method re- 

 sulting in shortages 

 of 25 per cent 



388 



used, smce 

 they vary in 

 size. A spe- 

 cial set of 

 spoons will 

 also be 

 found con- 

 venient. 



Accuracy 

 in measure- 

 ment should 

 not be con- 

 fined to bak- 

 i n g and 

 cooking, but 

 should also 

 extend to 

 buying. I n 

 this regard, 

 it is a fact that many house- 

 wives scrutinize the cost and 

 quality of goods, but fail to 

 realize that unless the quan- 

 tity is determined, the actual 

 cost price is not ascertained. 

 Dishonest merchants, whose 

 prices are low, may be mak- 

 ing big profits by giving 

 short measure. 



The Bureau of Standards 

 discovered that only a few 

 states and a few of the 

 larger cities maintained any 

 efficient inspection service, 

 and that negligence in this 

 regard was costing the con- 

 suming public large sums of 

 money, and putting a premi- 

 um on dishonesty in compe- 

 tition. Shortage in weights 

 and measures was found to 

 be common. The honest 

 dealer, as well as the pur- 

 chaser, suffers from the ex- 

 istence of such fraud, since 

 the possessor of a lying scale 

 can apparently undersell him 



