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Show BUTTER ffl UTAH IS I ALWAYS SHORT WEIGHT H ' It Is expected that an active cam- Hl paign will be started soon by Willard Hl Hansen, state dairy and food commis- sioner, to have the law of Utah H amended so that it will be possible to H force butter manufacturers of Utah H to pack a full sixteen ounces in every package of butter instead of tho pres-Hl pres-Hl ent mothod of packing, in which pack- J ages are "from one-hnlf to thrcc-quar- HH ters of an ounce short of that weight. According to E, W EHs, secretary-treasurer secretary-treasurer of the Jensen Creamery company, packages of butter on sale arc not 'more than 3 per cent short of weighing a pound, although' the Hl packages are marked "fiftcen-sixteen Hj ounces." Mr. Ellis said that the but- tor sent to Idaho was exactly the B same weight as that sold in Salt Lake, although the packages were marked H "sixteen ounces," the laws of Idaho not permitting tho short-weight pack-ages. pack-ages. Mr. Ellis also said yesterday H that If the weight of the cuts of but- ter for the butter market were In-H In-H creased to Blxteen ounces, It would be H! necessary to increase the price. In regard to the recent action of H the California authorities, who 'com- polled the manufacturers to place a H full sixteen ounces of butter in pack- f ages, he said that In California the H price of butter averages 45 cents a pound, while in Utah the average price Is 35 cents a pound. He took exception to the recent re-H re-H port of tho United States inspector H of weights and measures, who stated that the loss to the people of Salt Lake annually was $32,000 ou "fit-H "fit-H teen-slxteen ounce" butter alone, and H that the loss to the state at large H probably would amount to $100,000 Hj annually. This report was made after H a thorough investigation by a govern- H ment inspector of the methods of tho creameries in Utah, but Mr. Ellis dc-H dc-H clarcd that the report was based only fl on "gueBuwork." 1 Willard Hansen declared that it H was untrue that tho packages of but- H tor on the Salt Lake market would H average within 3 per cent of sixteen H ounces, saying the average would be H closer to 15 1-4 ounces. H "I have more than 100 cases on H record showing that the average H package of butter sold in Salt Lake is only 15 1-4 ounoea," said Mr. Han-sen, Han-sen, "and any denial of this by the butter manufacturers Is merely an effort ef-fort on their part to discredit this department. de-partment. The people of Utah arc being beaten on shortwelght butter persistently and continually and this department can provo It. It is the practice of the manufacturers to chango thoir scales and change the adjustment of the cutter for butter destined tor Idaho, whore the law is strong enough to force them to put sixteen ounces of butter in every pound package. I have made several visits to the packing plant of one of tho biggest distributors of butter in this state and I know that the scales arc set at 15 1-4 ounces for packages sold in Salt Lake and Utah. On ono occasion I had two witnesses with me and on another three witnesses wit-nesses were present. "When butter was being cut for sale in Utah the scales were set at 15 1-4 ounces, but when packing was being done for tho Idaho market tho scales nnd cutter were changed to give honest weight- Wo know this to be a fact and can provo it. |