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Show -ij Inspector. Who Put Twelve More Pounds m a Bushel I tT' JlTHIS 13 tho story of hc?w a ereat it ' -'I I city was for years at the f " J mercy of short-weight huck- fe3 ! ptcrs and merchants, and how "Hank" w'eekc, a practical politician with jrm tvrenty-flvo 5Tars' experience as a gro-SSil gro-SSil cer and meat market proprietor took m oath f offlce nS Inspector of SaffiteJ eights and Measures, and in six months completely reformed the food- PN-l chcats who liad floui'lshed for twent; lf Inspector Weeke was out scouting j Jli a fevr days ago, observing the actions a certain vegetable shopkeeper )out whom ho had received com- An old woman entered the shop with a ffi&wlj tasket and made a fow purchases, $ijf among them a peck of potatoes. Weeko patched the shopkeeper as he filled a mSB& -ievcl measure" and dumped the vege-fgraS vege-fgraS tables into the market basket for a (KM peck. As the old woman stepped from ftRffK the shop. Inspector Keeke stopped her PfttH and said: "Madam, you just paid for iSiafi a peck of potatoes and the dealer did j$B&a not givo you a full peck. Do you com vont me to make him give you a 9jn9 , The old woman Ticsitated and said hBI fehe had seen the dealer fill the peck gfH measure and believed she had a peck HH In her basket. Inspector Weeke intro-duced intro-duced himself and explained to her MM that the law renuircd a heanine mpjis. WBm urc for a peck. They entered the shop fieo together and "Weeke called the dealer. He ordered the merchant to replace the potatoes in a peck measure to seo :'.-. he had delivered the right weight. JjjK dealer at first demurred, but when 'Vf.e identified himself he consented ,3luctantly. The measure was filled ' only to the level, and Weeke had the t potatoes weighed. They tipped tho I, scale at a fraction more than 12 ! pounds. "Now heap that measure up until you can't add another potato," commanded com-manded Weeke. The dealer complied, and when the heaping measure was weighed it registered 15 pounds. "Now, madam,'" said Week'e as he scraped off .the surplus potatoes, "that is the amount that you are entitled to ! which you did not get at first. Do you think it is worth asking for?" ' The old woman was amazed, and re-' re-' plied: "Yes, sir that is enough to feed six or eight mouths at my home, and with potatoes so high it means a vhole lot to me, I can tell you.'" Gives Only One Warning. SJSl '"Well, the law in St. Louis now gAgp3l?ccifies that dealers must give GO Sftftpounds of potatoes to the bushel, W&H vhich means 15 pounds, to the peck," MSI said Weeke, "and when you buy by dry amffl measure instead of by weight, you are entitled to a, heaping measure as I H showed you, in order that you may get Hj 15 pounds." B The dealer was chagrined and made a bluff at protesting, but before In-spector In-spector Weeke left he promised to Hj avoid arrest by voluntarily giving all H his customers a heaping measure of I potatoes in the future. If he fails to keep his promise, Inspector Weeke is likely to hear of it and prosecution will follow swiftly, because "Hank" does not give a dealer more than one warn-Inspector warn-Inspector Weeke's middle name is Practical, and he realizes that with all the reform he has brought about, and despite the air-tight law that strangles ehortweight artists, the public will "t be safe from fraud unless ?5th purchaser understands that upon him rests the responsibility for reporting report-ing short woishts. Laws do not stop fraud and crime they merely emppwer Individuals to Inflict certain penalties upon offenders. offend-ers. It is tho duty of every housewife house-wife to inform herself as to what the law requires and then she must seo to it that her huckster and her grocer and her butcher live up to tho law. The proper first step to enforce the law, according to Weeke, is for each housewife to provide herself with accurate ac-curate Bcales, which can be purchased ior about 75 cents. Wrong Sometimes Unintentional.. Every article of food that is pur 5hased should be weighed by a sensible housewife, Weeke says. Not on the theory that her grocer or butcher will deliberately cheat her in the weight although this happens only too orten hut because even the most scrupulous vjchant will at times make mistakes 'Sffl umsa tne wrong weight when he $1 'Nl make his charge in accordance ''$M Vrith the written memorandum he has. " a housewife has a good set or giM Ecalcs 3he is thoroughly propared to MM obtain her rights in St. Louis. If her p Merchants short-weight her, sho can determine it ufter the goods are deliv-9 deliv-9 and by reporting the facts to jjffljm ceke she can have the merchant fflSm checked up or prosecuted, as tho cir-HhB cir-HhB cuoistances warrant. fjjfS Yecke has eiSht deputies and the m entire police department at his call to Wffl cnfrco the laws or investigate com- JUST A SMALL PART OF THE "PHONEY" MEASURE AND SCALES CONFISCATED. INSPECTOR WEEKE AT SIDE j U. S. Standard Weights and Measures i I In order that every housewife may know exactly the weight to ;j 1 which she Is entitled by dry measure, a table of weights in pounds, !; established by the Government Bureau of Standards, is given. Every housewife should clip this table and paste it at a convenient ;j t spot in the kitchen: j; i Apples 48 Malt i 3S j; Apples, dried 24 Oats 32 Beans 60 Onions 57 !; Barley 48 Orchard grass seed 14 j; ( Bran 20 Osage orange seed 36 ;! Buckwheat 52 Peas and split peas 60 !; Blue grass seed 14 Potatoes, Irish 6D ;! Beans, green, uushelled 56 Potatoes, sweet 56 lj I Cucumbers 4S Peaches 48 !; Clover seed 60 Peaches, dried a 33 Corn, shelled 56 Pears 48 !; Corn, unshelled 70 Parsnips 44 i Castor beans 46 Red top seed 14 s Cotton seed 33 Rutabagas 50 $ I; Carrots . . .' : 50 Sorghum seed ' 42 ; Corn meal ..' 50 Salt 50 J ;' Flax-seed ...56 Turnips, common .....42 !; Hemp seed . 44 Top onion sets ;.28 J ;! Hungarian grass seed 4S Tomatoes 45 I; Millet 50 Wheat 60 ! Coal 80 pounds to bushel !; Coal, anthracite...., 34.4 cubic feet to ton 5 ;! Coal, anthracite : 58.1 pounds to cubic foot 1 ; Coal, bituminous 33.1 cubic feet to ton J !; Coal,- bituminous 52.5 pounds to cubic foot i Coke 70 cubic feet to ton Coke ..36 pounds to bushel j; Standard United States bushel, 2,150.42 cubic Inches ; Standard United States. . . .' dry gallon, 26S.8 cubic inches Standard United States liquid gallon, 231 cubic inches $ plaints. The city courts have convicted convict-ed in every case presented to them so far by Weeke. Weeke agrees with those who advocate advo-cate the sale of all foodstuffs by weight, but being a practical man, he realizes that ancient custom has familiarized famil-iarized the public with pecks and quarts and bushels, and it would be too radical a change to switch at once to pounds and ounces. The United States Bureau of Standards Stand-ards has fixed the weight of every food conjmodity in a bushel, and when a housewife purchases a peck of Irish potatoes sho should know that she is entitled to 15 pounds. If she purchases pur-chases a peck of sweet potatoes sho is entitled to only 14 pounds, because the specific gravity of sweet potatoes is not so great as that of Irish potatoes. Apples, Ap-ples, according to the official standard, stand-ard, should run 48 pounds to the bushel bush-el or 12 pounds to tho peck. No doubt a great many people who have read political criticisms of Inspector In-spector Weeke in campaign times, will have a lingering suspicion that political polit-ical influence might creep into his offlce of-flce and interrupt the smooth course of justice that ho has promised to provide. pro-vide. It would not bo strange if such a suspicion entered the minds of people who know of politics and the ways of politicians only by reading more or less accurate stories about them in the daily press or magazines. Even a smart politician may entertain such a fancy In the caso of Weeke, and tho writer has personal knowledge that one politician who was "close to" Hank, us the saying is, did think ho might influence Hank to protect a huckster who ran afoul of tho new law. This politician-friend came to Hank after the huckster had been arrested for having in his possession a short quart measure. "Hank I have known this man since he was a little boy, and there ain't n crooked bone in his body," said the friend. "Your men have made a mistake mis-take in arresting him, and you ought to dismiss the charges as a matter of fairness. He is a good man, and worked for me in several campaigns. I'll vouch for him." "He may bo an honest man," replied Weeke, "but he's been keeping company com-pany with an awful crooked measure. Come here and look at it.'" Weeke led the politician who had come to "front" for the huckster into the testing rponi and produced the-alleged quart measure which his deputies depu-ties had confiscated the day before. "Do you call that a quart measure7" ho asked the politician as he handed over the measure. "Why, certainly," said the politician, puj.tlng on a bold front. "It might be a trifle short, but -how can a man tell that? Ho is no expert." Weeke did not argue further. He placed tho short measure under a large funnel containing exactly one quart of flaxseed and opened the spigot at the bottom to let it drain Into tho confiscated confis-cated measure. "Just watch now," said Weeke, "and we will see exactly how close to a quart this measure is." The measure rapidly filled and then began to overflow. over-flow. The overflow continued for quite a while, and tho politician who came to "front" began to cotsr up when he saw tho size of the "sprtl." What "Overflow'" Showed. Weeke measured the overflow ana found it was one pint "Now, a man don't have to be an expert to know that ho is short a pint in a quart, does ho?" asked Weeke. "That man is going go-ing to be convicted if tho court pays any attention to me." And ho was. The law requires that hucksters and dealers shall use only measures and scales that are stamped by Weeke's department, to indicate their accuracy. The measure must be stamped every six months, and unless it bears the last official stamp it should bo looked IV ': ' ' ' W--V ' M&W ORIGINALLY STAMPED "'..rfm.y V: , Mm as standard - ' ' ' MM BUT FITTED WITH U liv;V?: ' '. ' 3 jlmm FALSE WOOD BOTTOM 1 V-JP ' ' f Jig BY HUCKSTER, , 1 upon by a consumer with suspicion. Stamping a measure is a good precaution pre-caution against false measures, but it is not perfect, by any means. There are many tricks of tho trade that unscrupulous un-scrupulous dealers resort to by which they can turn a stamped measure into a false measure. One favorite device is the false bottom. bot-tom. A melal measure of regulation size Is produced at Weeke's office, tested test-ed and stamped O. K. The dealer takes it away and puts a wooden disc in the bottom that shortens tho measure to tho extent of the cubic contents of the disc. Sometimes a metal false base is soldered into the measure, and this is harder to detect. An honest measure, with a false bottom can be heaped up high with potatoes, to make the purchaser pur-chaser think it is full weight, and in reality it will be only three-quarters of a peck or bushel. Another simple device that many housewives fall to guard againBt is to put dents In a measure that way regulation reg-ulation size when it .was stamped. The dents occupy space Inside the measuro and reduce its capacity to that extent. Never let a huckster measure your vegetables in a dented measuro; it is sure to be short. Sometimes n huckster will get his perfect measures stamped and then take them apart and remodel them into smaller measures without destroying tho official stamp that has been driven into the metal. For that reason it is the custom to place the official stamp as nearly on the seam of a measure as possible, bo that in taking it apart tho stamp will be partly obliterated. There aro so many tricks of the trade that Weeke says it is absolutely ' 1 necessary that a housewife have her own scales and weigh her purchases in order to bo Bure that she is not being be-ing cheated out of what sho pays for. A good scale in the house is a perfect protection against any device that may be employed by unscrupulous dealers. Scale Check the Best. Weeke says the meanest man in the world today, in his opinion, is a dealer who will cheat poor people out of the food for which they are now compelled to pay such high prices. "A highwayman or an embezzler is . entitled to tho respect of the community communi-ty alongside a false-weight dealer," said Weeke. "The false-weight man is preying mainly upon tho poorest people peo-ple in the city. He is taking the food out of the mouths of women and little children in order to make a rew extra dollars. There are some merchants who 'do not regard this practice as a crime at all. They think that it is smart work, and pat themselves on the back for being shrewd enough to put it over on tho poor women who buy from them. Such dealers should Be put clear out of business by law when it is proved that they deliberately plan to steal." Another flold covered ror the first time through tho operation of Weeke's new lav is the Ice business. Until now it has not been unlawful for an iceman to cut a square of ice guessing at its weight, and deliver it at a homo . In the window of which is displayed a sign calling for a certain amount of ice Frequently the pieces aro cut In Irregular Ir-regular shapes in this guessing con-tost. con-tost. One piece may weigh a littlo more than 50 pounds and another must therefore weigh a little less. A woman puts a sign in her window calling for 50 pounds of ice. Tho iceman ice-man reads it from the street and der livers a block that may weigh only 40 or 45 pounds. He carries no scales, as a rule, and had no means of knowing exactly how much the piece weighs. If this happens every day throughout the summer, the customer will lose several hundred pounds of ice In the season. Weeke's law provides that every ice wagon must be equipped with a stamped stamp-ed scale, and every piece of ico that is delivered must be weighed and the customer cus-tomer notified of the weight delivered. Since the law became effective In September Sep-tember eighty-five concerns have purchased pur-chased ice scales and paid the fee to Weeke for stamping them. THIS "PECK1 MEASURE 15 JUST MM TVO QUARTS SHORT. A PART MM OF THIS PECK OF FLAXSEED MM WHICH WOULD NOT GO IN THE MM MEASURE IS SHOWM AT SIDE I |