340 
DEFRAUDING THE PUBLIC. 
In a former issue of one of our pop¬ 
ular magazines appeared an article 
which described by letter and illus¬ 
trations the way an unsuspecting pub¬ 
lic is made the victim of unscrupulous 
dealers. It explained the various meth¬ 
ods of arranging scales of different 
kinds so that they would operate in 
the interest of the seller and, at the 
same time, be unobserved by the pur¬ 
chaser. Having been made the victim 
of one of these sleight-of-hand perform¬ 
ances not long ago, but detecting the in¬ 
tended fraud while being enacted, I 
take this opportunity to warn and cau¬ 
tion all pm chasers to be on their guard 
and protect themselves as much as pos¬ 
sible against 'all designs upon their 
pocketbooks. The device practiced by 
the sharper, which I will try to make 
plain, and which was not pointed out 
by the above-mentioned article, is one 
of the most dangerous among all the 
ingenious tricks on the list. It is so 
easily adjusted, and, in case of threaten¬ 
ing danger, readjusted, that the mere 
passing motion of the finger changes the 
effect in one direction or the other. 
The illustration shows the balancing 
THE RURAb 
being than condemn him on doubtful 
evidence. In my mind, I tried very 
hard to make myself believe the mis¬ 
take was accidental. But when I spoke 
of the tare weight not being in its 
proper place, after the weighing had 
been done, our friend’s surprise was so 
complete that he betrayed himself; .he 
showed such unmistakable signs of 
guilt by act and feature that all my 
confidence in human nature vanished 
like the dew before the rising sun. 
La Salle, N. Y. g. c. g. 
R. N.-Y.—We receive dozens of re¬ 
ports from people who have been de¬ 
liberately cheated in this way. In one 
case an Illinois woman sent her boy 
with a crate of live turkeys to th coun¬ 
try town. In order to be sure she had 
the birds weighed on accurate scales 
and gave the boy a copy of the weight. 
The dealer weighed the turkeys on his 
scales and made the weight short- 
“Now, then,” he said, “here’s your 
money.” The boy saw he would lose 
the weight of one good bird and he 
refused to sell. “Mother weighed them 
before I started and she told me not to 
sell for less!” The man suddenly got 
busy with his scales and to his great 
“surprise” found a piece of corncob 
tucked behind the beam. He called up 
his clerk and cursed him out before the 
boy—but he paid full price. 
NEW-YORKER 
March 27, 
HOW THE FRAUD IS WORKED. Fig. 139. 
frame of the double-bar scale that is 
used by many retail dealers of domestic 
commodities. The front bar indicates 
the net weight, while the back one is 
used to balance the tare. The latter 
is riveted to a projection of the main 
frame and the indicating notches on 
the brass bar begin about three-eighths 
of an inch from the shoulder of this 
projection, allowing the eye or hook of 
the suspended tare weight to slip back 
just that distance from its proper place, 
the place where it must be to balance 
the scales. (See hand of illustration.) 
The distance between the first notch 
and the, shoulder of the projection, the 
weight being placed one way or the 
other, affects the article being weighed 
about three ounces; in other words, the 
article weighing a pound as indicated 
by the notch of the net weight, weighs 
in reality only 13 ounces. This means, 
if scales are prepared and used for 
this nefarious business, it will give the 
perpetrator a net profit of about 20 
per cent on the weight alone, which, 
added to the regular customary retail¬ 
er’s profit,'would turn his business into 
a veritable gold mine. No wonder some 
of our business men, after a compar¬ 
atively short period of active life, can 
build houses, retire from business with 
a substantial bank account, enjoy the 
luxuries of life the remainder of their 
days, and laugh at the life-long drudg¬ 
ery of their honest neighbor. 
While these facts are staring us in 
the face, it behooves us all to be a 
little more suspicious, if we use this 
term; but, in fact, it is only protecting 
our own interests in a more business¬ 
like way. Everjdiody, buyer or seller, 
is liable to make mistakes, and we 
would be fully justified in testing the 
dealer’s weighing facilities by using 
our own house scales occasion¬ 
ally. If we have the disposition and a 
pair of scales handy, and every house¬ 
keeper should have both, it would only 
take a few minutes to compare the 
actual weight of our delivered goods 
with the weight billed by the scales. 
Even if we don’t weigh every little 
package that is bought, an occasional 
test should be made by all means; it 
might open our eyes and reveal facts 
to us that would astonish the nation. 
Referring once more to the above in¬ 
stance, I wish to say that I would 
rather have a good opinion of a fellow 
HOGGING CORN IN MISSOURI. 
J. E. M., La Plata, Mo. —Can I sow 
sweet corn and cow peas for hogging off; 
What varieties and when shall I plant? 
Ans. —In Missouri I should not, in 
the first place, use sweet corn for hog¬ 
ging-off purposes. I prefer the field 
corns such as Boone County White, 
Reid’s Yellow Dent, or Learning. In 
case of J. E. M., I would advise a 
late corn, such as Boone County White, 
and a very early pea, the earliest he 
could get. The New Era cow pea is 
the earliest pea we have in Missouri, 
and is very well adapted to hogging- 
off. Cow peas are by far the better of 
the two, field peas or cow peas, as they 
give more forage, and will catch as 
well, or better, as late as the third work¬ 
ing when the ground is warm and 
fairly dry. J. E. M, is right in say¬ 
ing that the ground is sometimes too 
cold and damp for the cow peas. By 
the time of the third working in the 
month of June, however, the ground 
should be all right for the cow peas. 
The peas do best when drilled in. Much 
success has attended the sowing of cow 
peas at the third working by the use 
of a one-horse drill, going up and down 
each row, and letting this drilling suf¬ 
fice for the third cultivation. These 
drills can be got for about $18. Mis¬ 
sourians who have used these drills 
would not be without them. Field corn 
is thriftier, furnishes more forage, and 
is more economical as well as more re¬ 
liable than sweet corn. These are the 
reasons why I favor it over the sweet corn 
The combination I have mentioned will 
come as near ripening together as any 
I know of, and I am sure will suit the 
inquirer’s conditions. He /should be 
sure to get his corn in in fair season, 
and his peas as early as possible. The 
hogs will certainly thrive on this mix¬ 
ture. It is a most economical way of 
handling hogs. j. m. e. 
La Plata, Mo. 
Corporations as Farmers. 
J. M. H., New York .—Can any of your 
readers report on corporation farming, that 
is tilling of soil on extensive lines by a 
company? A prospector has planned to or¬ 
ganize a corporation, drain a certain 
swamp and conduct general farming. Can 
a soulless impersonal syndicate succeed in 
farming? 
Ans.—C an anyone tell of such a cor¬ 
poration that has really made a success 
at farming? Great blocks of stock in 
such enterprises have been offered for 
sale, and farmers seem to have put 
money into them. Do thev ever do 
anything except sell stock? Can profit¬ 
able farming be done in this way? 
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