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4 THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1913 THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL Good Roads and Automobiles in Georgia.' ATLANTA, GA., 5 JTORTJI POBSTTH ST. Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of the Second Class. JAMES B. GRAY, President and Editor. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE Twelve months Six months Three months 1 * * • • • The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, brought by special leased wires into our office. It has a staf» of distinguished contributors, with strong department* of special value to the home and the farm. -Vsrentfi war ted at every poe toff ice. Liberal com mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R- BRAD LEY, Circulation Manager. The only traveling representatives we have are J. A. Bryan. R. F. Bolton. C. C. Coyle, L. H. Kim brough and C. T. Yates. We will be responsible only for money paid to the above named traveling repre sentatives. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. The label used for addressing your paper shows the time your subscription expires. By renewing at least two weeks before the date on this label, you insure regular service. In ordering paper changed, be sure to mention your old, as well as your new address. If on a route please give the route number. We cannot enter subscriptions to begin with back numbers. Remittances should be sent by postal order or registered mail. Address all orders and notices for this de partment to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta, Ga. The Farmer’s Opportunity In Raising Beef Cattle. If every farmer would raise at least two beef steers a year, thinks the American Packers’ Associa tion. the scarcity and high prices of beef would soon be relieved.' Certain it is that a wider and keener appreciation of the importance of live-stock produc tion as a part of agricultural interests would go far toward solving this serious problem. It is not necessary to abandon such crops as cotton or corn in order to raise cattle on a success ful and profitable basis. On the contrary, due atten tion to live stock will round out and upbuild the interests of every farm. It will at least make the farmer more Independent and it will add to the na tional store of food. The day of cattle raising on immense ranches such as once throve in the west seems fast vanishing. Needs that once jwere supplied from a few great centers must hereafter be supplied from a large number of individual sources. The average farmer will thus have a keener Incentive and a richer opportunity in this particular field. Unlike the ranchmen who were compelled to deal with powerful syndicates, he will deal directly with the buyers of his own territory. He will not be forced to accept trust-made prices. His profits will be subject to normal laws of trade and will ac cordingly be fair. Packers say that despite higher prices for live stock of all kinds, the farmers have not only not in creased their production of meat-food animals, but that "such production has decreased at an appall ing rate.” This condition of affairs vitally concerns the entire public but it particularly concerns the farmer. It shows that the full opportunities of agri culture are not being utilized. Every farm can and should produce its due quota of cattle; and when this done, we shall have better farms and a lower cost of living. Georgia’s Chamber of Commerce Arouses Widespread Ihterest. The recent organization of a State chamber of commerce in Georgia has favorably impressed the en tire South and, in other sections o' the country, has enlisted considerable interest. The fact that the representative towns and cities of Georgia have united in a systematic effort for their common prog ress and for the upbuilding of the commonwealth as a whole is regarded everywhere as the evidence of a new and productive spirit of real patriotism and as the omen of greater practical achievements for the State. Similar movements have been undertaken in Texas, in North Carolina, West Virginia and else where. Their results have been richly gratifying. They have not only brough- their respective States into wider note throughout the nation but have also developed a keen sense of interdependence and co operation at home. They have supplanted old pre judices and petty jealousies with a generous, whole some spirit of common aims and common helpfulness. The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has begun ; .ost auspiciously. It has the hearty support of pub lic-minded citizens in every part of the State. It will undoubtedly do much for the upbuilding of Geor gia’s best interests. Congressman Roddenbery. In the death of Congressman Seaborn A. Rodden bery Georgia loses an earnest and able represents tive. During his comparatively brief term of service in the national House of Representatives, Congress man Roddenbery established a reputation that was an honor to his State and a credit to himself. A tireless worker, a resourceful debater and an un swerving champion of what he considered right, he earned the profound respect of his colleagues and the confidence of his constituents. Congressman Roddenbery’s skilful and fearless attack on pension inquitles in the latter stages of the preceding Congress showed his intense sincerity as a fighter and also his ability. His denunciation of pension frauds and extrav agance was supported with definite knowledge, gath ered through the most arduous labor; and the whole some effect of his exposures was noted the nation over. Among his fellow Georgians, Congressman Rod denbery was trusted for his integrity and admired for the fine vigor of his character. Born and bred on the farm, he forged his own way to success. He was self-educated, self-advanced and in the truest sense of a phrase, aften too lightly used, he was self-made. He served his county and State in many differ ent capacities-—as a teacher, a judge, a Congressman —and served always in a spirit of earnest devotion to the people’s interests and his own conscience. These are the days when you return home at night, dine, read The Journal, shave, wind the clock and turn out the cat, and discovii to your surprise that it is only 8 o’clock. “Passing through one county in Georgia some time ago, a county in which, there are no large cities, but in which there is great agricultural prosperity, the writer was told by responsible people that more than one-half of the farm owners in the county owned automobiles. In that county the farmers use their automobiles for carrying fruits, vegetables and eggs and other things to market, because this can be done over good roads.” The foregoing excerpt from an editorial in the Manufacturers’ Record, one of the leading industrial publications in America, reflects a phase of Georgia progress that is very interesting and very significant. What the writer found in one county may be found in scores of others in this State. Recent statistics show, indeed, that more automobiles are used in Georgia than in any other part of the Southeast, and a large number of them are owned in rural dis tricts. This fact is not only a result but also a cause of good roads. The appearance of the automobile as a popular vehicle, one that could serve business as well as pleasure, marked the beginning of Georgia’s great era of road building. The need of improved highways had long been recognized by the public and partic ularly by farmers. But it was not until the advent of the automobile to which :,mooth, durable roads were indispensable that the definite, organized move ment for highway betterment began. Those counties that have entered vigorously into this work have progressed so rapidly that their one time backward neighbors have been driven to emula tion. In districts where roads are good and where, accordingly, communication with schools, markets and other centers of social or business life are easy, and values have steadily increased, crops have brought larger profits and the interests of the individual farmer as well as those of the community have ad vanced. In counties where roads are poor, on the other hand, property values have remained at a standstill or have declined. Schools have dwindled in attend ance. Much money has been lost in the marketing of products and the towns as well as the adjacent country have suffered. This contrast has become im pressive that no district whose people who have any impulse to progress is any longer ignoring the good roads issue. The fact is there is an abundance of public en thusiasm for road building in Georgia. But it must he conceded that there is not yet enough science and system in this important work. Most of the counties are giving liberally of their funds and their energy to highway improvement, yet results are not what they should be because of the fact that there is no ex pert, centralized direction in all these various ac tivities. , In road building, as in every other field of enter prise or investment, money must be systematically spjent and labor must he systematically applied, if adequate returns arc to be expected, For this reason, it has been urged repeatedly within the past few years that the Legislature establish a State highway com mission which would serve as a guide and help to the separate counties and which would co-ordinate as an efficient State-wide system the hundreds of differ ent roads that are being built or maintained. 1 It is not necessary, however, to wait for the estab lishment of a special -commission of this kind. As Judge Patterson, of the State Prison Commission, has suggested, that body is already authorized to employ road experts and engineers to assist the county au thorities in solving their roadway problems and in doing all such work efficiently and economically. It is to be hoped that this wise suggestion will soon be put into effect. It will save a vast deal of money, a vast deal of time and labor and will lead to the devel opment of a true system of public highways in Georgia. f A young man is usually afraid of a girl who is really worth while. It’s astonishing how possession will decrease the value of most things. The Balkan Blunder. Events of the past few weeks would seem to in dicate that the Balkan problem, far from being solved or even simplified, is continually growing more complex and more ill-omened. The fruits of the desperate war which the Allies waged so valiant ly against Turkish misrule, have been blighted and hopelessly scattered by the winds of internal dissen sion. Rations that would have been a mighty influ ence for progress and civilization, had they remained united, are in their present division a menace to the peace of all Europe. The treaty of Bucharest, which pretended to ad just the differences between Bulgaria on the one hand and Servia, Greece and Rumania on the other, is regarded by European students of the Balkan situation as worse than a makeshift; they consider it a prologue to wars more troublesome and danger ous than any which have yet occurred in the penin sula. A Russian writer finds the fatal weakness of this treaty in the fact that it Is based upon the ter- riorial rather than the ethnographical principle and that, therefore, it contains the elements of rapid dis solution. “Judge for yourself,” says he, "Servia, ac cording to the treat} gets a million, two hundred thousand ne w subjects, of which but a small number are Serbs, half being Bulgars and half Albanians; Greece gets about two hundred thousand Bulgars, and Rumania almost as many Bulgars. Bulgaria herself will gather into her bosom several thousand such tarantulas and scorpions as Turks, Armenians and Greeks. Little Montenegro, whose strength un til now has been her racial unity, will get about two hundred thousand Bulgarians.” This attempt to throw together races and religions that have been immemorially 1n conflict is doomed to disaster. The Balkans, it is predicted, will con tinue to he torn with discord, unless a more just and logical plan of allotting territory and population is adopted. The treaty is evidently unsatisfactory to the larger Powers of Europe and is not acceptable to the Balkan States themselves. Already we hear reports of an agreement between Bulgaria and Tur key, old enemies, to force Greece i.4o compliance with other terms; and other strange alliances are browing. The Turk, contrary to the command of the Powers, continues to occupy Adrianople. The question of Albania’s boundaries and of the Aegean islands remains unsettled. Indeed, the Balkan situa tion is probably more chaotic today than it has ever been. Whether the Powers will agree upon some fair and practical plan of solution remains to be seen. A woman is as sensitive about a freckle as a man is about his bald spot. Ulster's Threat of Civil War. The devoutest wish of long generations of the Irish people has been the right to home rule, the right to administer their local government as they themselves see fit, to be free in their internal affairs, though still loyally bound to Great Britain in the common interests of the Empire. Ireland’s struggle for this cause is one of the most compelling and, in some aspects, pathetic chapters of history. It is filled with sacrifice and suffering and disappointment, with political intr.gue and war but above all with steadfast, unconquerable patriotism. Nowhere, save in the Emerald Isle itself, has there been so generous interest in the cause of Home Rule as in the United States. The sympathy of Americans has been aroused partly by the fact that many of them were themselves Irish either by 'ativity or descent and partly, too, by their inbred devetion to the principle of local self- government. From this country has gone a large portion of the funds that have financed the Home Rule cause and kept it effectively militant. Naturall-v then, Americans are watching with peculiar concern the btartling developments to which this issue has recently given rise. Jo far as the British parliament goes, Irish Home Rule is now virtually assured. The Liberal Govern ment, true to its promise, has steered a Home Rule bill through successive sessions of parliament, de spite the opposition of the House of Lords, and when the measure passer the Commons a third time, as it soon will, it will automatically become a law. Prior to the recent abolition of the lords’ veto power, this was impossible, but under the new order they cannot arbitrarily and indefinitely block progressive legisla tion, though they maj suspend it for a season. The pending Home Rule bill is thus expected to become effective in 1914. At this juncture, however, there has arisen a new and very serious problem. In Ulster, the northermost province of Ireland, there is a faction, partly political and partly secta rian, which violently opposes the independence of the country’s local government. Its followers are Pro testants (though not all Protestants In Ulster are its followers) who see: to fear that an Irish parliament would he under Catholic domination to the extent of jeopardizing their religious liberty. So obsessed are they with this one idea, that they ignore the manifest benefits which, Home Rule would biing to the Irish people as a whole and openly declare that If the pend ing bill is put into effect they .will revolt and set up a provincial government of their own, resisting the law of parliament by force of arms, if need be. Ulster’s defiance was at first supposed to be largely a bluff Intended to defeat the Home Rule measure, hut within recent months It has reached such pro portions as to form , ne of the most ominous prob lems the government of Great Britain ever faced. Sir Edward Carson, formerly attorney general, and other Unionist peers have issued a manifesto declaring that the enactment of the bill will be the signal for a rebellion. “An Ulster volunteer force has been pro vide-. for,” writes one observer of the situation, “and a subscription list opened for an indemnity fund of five million dollars for the benefit of volunteers. The general of the Ulster forces has been selected, and rlflle clubs have been drilling for the past ye *,r throughout Ulster.” The threat of civil war is no longer to he ignored. The Asquith ministry, while still adhering to its pur pose to press the Home Rule bill to final adoption, must realize the grave need of prudent action; and so do the more thoughtful leaders of the Unionist, or Ponservative, party. The la-ter have proposed, as a solution, that the Home Rule measure be referred to a direct vote of the English people, but the Liberals reply that at the last general election this question was submitted and that the Liberal party was sus tained by the people, a contention which in the main is true. It seems certain that the majority of Eng- lishment are willing that Ireland should manage her domestic affairs. The question is simply whether a small minority of the Irisn in one province shall be permitted to res.st and defeat a reform which the great mass of their fellow countrymen ardently de sire, whether the prejudice of a particular group shall Intimidate the government of the Empire. Such an issue scarcely seems to call for an elec tion but rather for firm qnd well-considered executive action. The Home Rule bill should stand or fall upon its own merits, not upon the fanaticism of the Ulster faction. If legislation is to be bent or broken by threats of rebellion, government will become un worthy its name. What the Liberal party will do to meet this crisis is as yet unknown. There have been several conferences within the past few weeks and much talk of compromise but no definite plan has been announced. Meanwhile Ulster’s preparations for strife go audaciously forwaru. The situation is perplexing and dangerous in deed. Yet it is unthinkable that British statesmen will not find some peaceful way out of this difficulty. The inherent stability and composure of the English character has o often been proof against violence that we can hardly imagine the kingdom torn with internal war in ithe twentieth century. ; Good News for Cotton Interests. THINGS BY DR- FRANK CRANF, (Copyrig-ht. 1913, by Frank Cran*~> Miss Mathilda Tommet, of Milwaukee, left a will, the other day eight and one-half *eet long, written in her own hand on sheets of paper pasted together. In it she bequeathed to one relative “my best bedspread and one-half of my best towels;” to another a high- backed chair, admonishing her executors to “be sure to take the one standing on the north aide of the side board;” u> anotner her chicken* and feed, while veg etables, fruit, pickles, a pail of. iaru, and “father’s old clock” go to another, and to k«r dearest enemy a pair of old shoestrings. Then there was Thoreau. who, in his house at Wal dron P,ond, would have no furniture; he found a atone once which he fancied, and kept awhile, but soon thew it away, as he found it had to be dusted- One of the greatest tyrannies of life is THINGS. The most common form of insanity is the mania to OWN. One of the first acts of a person who comes into money is to load himseif down with a pile of rubbish that makes his life a fret and his deathbed terrible. The very rich collect. They get together spoons, canes, pictures, vases, pitchers, books or marbles. When there is no more room for them in the house they build a wing and pack it full. 1 knew a man who had $20,000 worth of old postage stamps locked up in a safety deposit vault. I knew’ an oau woman who never traveled, although she longed to travel and had plenty of means, be cause she was afraid her parlor carpet and her blue china dishes would not proper 1 y be taken care of. The stores are heaped up with THINGS. The most skillful then are employed to persuade people to buy THINGS for which they have no earthly use. Every home contains sets of books that were bought at a high rate, and that have stood for years without a soul looking into them. -American living rooms are a-> cluttered as^ West minster Abbey. Every mantel is loaded with junk. The walls are crowded with pictures, most of them bad. The floors are so thick wit*, chairs and superflu ous stands and tables that few can wind their way through them by day and none by night. Things, things, things! Bedrooms are full of them, closets heaped with them, the attic is choked with them, the woodshed and uar are running over. When we go away on vacations we take trunks full of things. When we go to Europe also we find that baggage is the plague of our life. It is a relief to turn to the books of the Hindus and read: “Even if they have longer remained with us. the objects of sense are sure to vanish. Why, then, not forsake them ourselves? If they pass away by them selves they cause the greatest pain to the mind, but if we forsake them ourselves they cause endless hap piness and peace.” And in another Oriental book we find this search ing word: “For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of THINGS which he possesseth.” Editorials in Brief j Now that the German congress has decided that the divining rod may be relied upon to discover wate. let every small investor arm himself with one when going to market.—Louisville Courier Journal. The Charlotte News wants to know: "What has become of the old-fashioned lady who wore * speckled ‘caliker’ frock and sang ‘How Firm a Foundation?’ ” We ’Saw her, tue other night down at a beach pavilion in purple and fine linen clad, fighting for a seat nearest the window opening into the hall where younger daughters of joy were deliciously turkey- trotting to the rollicking music of "Everybody’s Doing It.”—Norfolk Virginian Pilot, j The report of the Interstate Commerce Commis sion that the disasters on the I Tew Haven have been due to “man failure” furnishes an argument that the suffragettes will not be slow to seize.—Boston Transcript. One fact remains to cheer English lovers of sport -—namely,, that the National Cyclists’ Union, in the language of the Dukn of Westminster, still upholds “our waning supremacy in the world’s athletic cham pionships.” The eye! - long ago waned in popularity in America, but English sportsmen are still true to it, the good English roads having much to do with its retaining its popularity.—New York Wor}d. Quips and Quiddities Apropos of vanity, Senator Root told at Yale about a, politician who, the day before he iras to make a certain speech, sent a Torty-one page report of It to all the papers. On page 20 appeared this paragraph: "But the hour grows late, and I must close, (No, nol Go on! Go on!)” • • . Elmer, though only a little boy, was the eldest child The outlook for the removal or the modification of the proposed tax on cotton future contracts grows more and more assuring. According to Washington advices, the Senate members of the tariff conference committee are now willing to discard the Clarke amendment entirely, although it originated in the Senate and was supported by the Democratic caucus. This changed and sobered point of view is undoubted ly the result of the earnest protests that have swept in from every part of the country and from every sphere of cotton Interests, particularly from the South and Southern agriculture. The pleas of Sen ator Hoke Smith, of Georgia, and of his colleagues* f-om neighboring States are now justified and re'u- forced by the testimony of experienced merchants and manufacturers and farmers. It seems, however, that the House members of the conference will not agree to the absolute elimination of the cotton tax issue without first referring it to the entire membership of the House which, they con tend, is entitled to vote directly on the Clarke amend ment or on any other plan that may be suggested for tlte regulation of trade in cotton futures. In this connection The Journal’s Washington correspondent states that it is regarded as almost certain that if the House is given opportunity to voice its convic tion “it will go strongly on record as against the prohibitive tax provided in the Clarke amendment. It is possible that the entire scheme may be defeated but what seems more probable is that the modified plan embodied in the Smith-Lever plan will prevail. It is highly significant that immediately follow ing the news from Washington on Friday cotton ad vanced thirty-eight points over the preceding day, being quoted at fourteen cents both in New Orleans and New York. This Indicates the relief and stim ulus to the market which the elimination of the fool ish and dangerous tax will afford, and likewise it suggests the depressing, if not disastrous, effect which the retention of that tax would entail. of an already numerous family. He was Invited to go in and see a little baby sister. Asked by his mother what he thought of the baby, he said: “W’y, mamma, it’s real nice. But do you think we needed It?” Captain Foretopp tells a story of a certain noted di vine who was on his steamer wheq a great gale overtook them off the Or egon coast. “It looks pretty bad, ■ said the bishop to the captain. “Couldn’t be much worse, bishop," replied Foretopp. Half an hour later the steamer was diving under the waves as If she were a submarine and leaking like an old door. “Looks worse, I think, captain,” said the bishop. “We must trust in Providence now. bishop," answered Foretopp. “Oh, I hope it has not come to that,” gasped the bishop. • • A theological student was sent one Sunday to sup ply a vacant pulpit In a Connecticut valley town. A few days after he received a copy of the weekly paper of that place with the following item, marked: "The Rev. , of the senior class at Yale Seminary, supplied the pul pit at the Congregational church last Sunday and the church will now be closed three weeks for repairs.” • • • A New England school teacher recited “The Landing of the Pilgrims” to her pupils, then asked each of them to draw from their imagination a picture of Ply mouth Rock. One little fellow hesi tated and then raised his hand. “Well, Willie, what is it?” asked the teacher. “Please, teacher, do you waqt us to draw a hen or a roos ter?” WEIGHTS AND MEASURES IT—TOOTBCTXOH FOB THE BUISU. BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. The practical movement for the protection of buy ers from loss as the result of false weights and meas ures has, passed the theoretical stage. Under the vlg- jrous administration of Dr. Relchmann, supervisor of weights and measures for the state of New York, the Empire 3tate has led the movement which is rapidly extending even ;o the remote small towns. This protection will include the ex action of sixteen full ounces in weight for every pound paid for and the assurance that every measure, either dry or liquid contains the - numbei: of cubro inches required by the stand ards. These standards can be obtained through the bureau 01 standards, so that there need be no variance if the proper pie cautions are taken to secure uniformity. The adoption ano ** enforcement of most of these measures, however, must rest largely with the general public who will be benefited by them. In one of the surveys made under the direction of the bureau of standards covering part of the western states, nearly 7,000 scales were tested, of which only about 60 per cent were found correct. Over 8,000 weights were tested of whieh 82 per cent were correct. Of 8,681 dry measures tested 65 per cent were correct, and 74 per cent of the liquid measures came up to the standaxd requirements. The greatest inaccuracy was found in spring scales of all kinds, excepting the com puting scales. The spring scales made a showing of only 43 per cent correct weight, while the percentage of correct weights recorded by all classes of comput ing scales was a trifle over 62 per cent. Nearly 2,600 places of business were visiteu to secure these figures. During the last ten years at least thirty states have passed some kind of legislation for the protection of the people from short weights and measures. In' four teen of these states the statutes are general in their native and eitner authorize or require statewide local inspection under the general supervision of a stafe de partment of weights and measures, a statewide inspec tion service under the officers of the state without any local supervision, or a local inspection without any supervision by the state. In twelve states, laws have been passed requiring the weight hr measure to be branded pon the outside of original package goods. * (* * borne of these laws have their defects which ar* likely to be remedied. For instance, in Kansas, a new law specifies that corn meal and flour, when sold in sacks in less amounts than a barrel shall be sold by gross weight in which case the weight of the sack necessarily is counted in. The protection from gross weight seems an unimportant thing to the casual ob server, but when it i ascertained that dealers are glad to purchase sack* of thick paper because “thev weigh well," and that wooden plates and dishes go in with the weight of a pound of lard, the matter will assume a new importance. Under gross weight It is legal to permit the sale of a pound package of butter which in reality contains fifteen ounces of butter and an ounce of paper and string. Where the net weight prevails such a package must be marked fifteen ounces instead of one pound. Dealers frequently evade the law by trying to have this mark faint and indis tinct so that the average customer Is under the im pression that she receives the pound of butter for which she pays. It is estimated by the city sealer of Seattle that the people of that city loss *180,000 annual ly from short weight upon butter alone. • • • Now that a national net weight law Js going into effect, protection against . -ch losses is to be secured 1 by its proper enforeement.-but this refers only to pack age goods and does not touch upon the articles sold by loose weight in the tores. The only protection from such loss is in the vigilance of the sealers or offi cers appointed for that purpose who are being in creased continually as the different states are becom ing aroused to the need of their services. In some states a county sealer or commissioner of weights and measures is now provider. His salary is sometimes at a fixed sum and is sometimes supplemented by the number of cales and measures he examines. In Wis consin the law provides for two state inspectors who shall do only the work of supervision. City sealers are authorized for ail towns having a population of over 36,000. Outside of these towns the territory is covered by r en working under th 6 direction of the state inspectors. * I « The inspectors frequently find remarkable condi tions. In scales that appear to weigh correctly it will frequently be found that small bits of lead have been introduced in a manner that almost defies detection. In a large and wen appointed shop in a good sized town the inspector found that tw sets of scales were in use. The scales upon the counter wVe accurate and bore his seals. But in a space behind the counter was another ret of scales whieh registered an average of three ounces short upon t-c- pound. In this cast the fraud was detected through the vigilance of a housekeepers’ club, the members of which had pledged themselves to weigh their food purchases and report to secure public interest in the matter of short weights. The first complaints brought no results, hut shortages to the sealer who was vigilantly endeavoring when twenty-five women testified to short weight in atlclcs purchased in that store within a week, a thor ough investigation was made, resulting in the discov ery of the hidden scales. • • • • The average buyer is cheated more frequently In the purchase of meat than in any other article sold by weight. The cruelty of this fraud to the housekeeper of limited means is appare.-t when the lncreasea price of this commodity ie considered. Even when the scales are correct it Is frequently the practice for the unscrupulous dealer to put his hand upon the scale or press it with his finger or in some wa” to alter the register. In some states penalties for sher* weights are provided. The need of such punishment is being demonstrated daily and, additional legislation Is required for the proper protection of the buyer. A city sealer reported that one butcher shop in New York, which lias since been forced out of business, al ways asked each applicant for a position as meat sales man: "Can : ou make your wages from the block?” Meaning that he must manage to secure the full amount of his weekly wages by manipulating the scales so that the customers paid It in addition to the price of their meat. In other stores Inspectors found by careful investigation that the meat sellers were not only requir’d to make the amount of their wages by giving sho-t weight to their customers but an addi tional profit to the shop as wel(. • • m Protection from sue! fraud can only l.e secured by a co-operation between the buying public and the offi cers enforcing the laws of weights and measures. When a dealer knows that he cannot give Bhort weight without running the risk of having Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Smith or Mro. Brown report the discrepancy to the sealer, thus bringing about an Investigation of his methods, he is bound to be more careful than before the interest of the women was aroused. All such re ports are strictly confidential so that the dealers have no mea..s of knowing who gave the information. The confidence which tl.e public generally j.as bestowed upon its dealers is amazing. The supposition has been that the majority of dealers were honest and would not be guilty of giving short weights or measures. The results of the investigations made,’no less than the number of scales and measures which have been confiscated and destroyed by officers employed to deal with this matter, prove this confidence has often been misplaced. More pay an., shorter hours come to a million men, says a government report; inferring probably that the other 99 million are, as it were, in statu quo.