I

HAVE never yet heard a man boast of the small amount of money that he gave his wife to run the house. It is understood that if there is little money for the home, the furniture will be cheap, the pictures prints or lacking altogether, the meals simple at least, and perhaps deficient. It is just as difficult for a city to buy $1,000,000 worth of improvements for $500,000 as it is for a housewife to buy $1,000 worth of household comfort for $500. I cannot see why any city should boast of a low tax rate or a low assessment.

The revenues of many of the cities, espccially in the South and Southwest, are not sufficient to run a city according to the standards of the twentieth century. Boards of trade are pushing for a low tax rate as an incentive for business to settle in the town, and there seems to be a feeling that a low tax rate will mean that the city will be a cheap city to live in. In actual fact, the city with low taxes will always be a second rate city municipally, but it will not necessarily be an economical city to live in. If the government is efficient and honest, it should be able to furnish the common requirements cheaper by a collective bargain than the individual can by an individual bargain. This has certainly proved to be true in the case of the schools, of the police and fire departments, of the parks, and so forth. All of these improvements have added to the value of all the property in the city, and they have made the city more attractive as a place of residence.

The whole tendency in government everywhere is toward the addition of municipal functions. It seems reasonable to think that, in general, these new functions will add to the attractiveness of the city as a place of residence, and will hence increase the value of property; that they will furnish the common comforts and pleasures of life to very many who have heretofore gone without, and will hence raise the level of the citizenship; and where these new facilities are furnished to those who have secured them privately before, it will be at much less cost.

A city cannot afford to put off to the

future the improvements that are needed now. This imposes an unfair burden on the years to come, as they will have to bear both their own legitimate expenses and the expenses which have been shirked by the present. All of the property in the city will be less valuable because the improvements have not been made. Prospective buyers will find the city unattractive, and they will also realize that the property they purchase will have to bear the burden of delayed improvements.

The great trouble lies with the assessment of the property. There are many wealthy men who always fight for a reduction of their assessment if it is brought up to a reasonable rate. In many of the Colorado towns the assessed valuation is not more than 10 per cent of the actual value. In many other places it is not more than 20 or 25 per cent. This would make little difference if the property were uniformly under-assessed and the tax rates were adjusted to this under-assessment; but often this is not the case. There are places in Colorado where the tax rate is nine cents on the dollar, and there still is not money enough to run the government. The city keeps down its portion of state taxes by a low assessment. It endeavors to raise the money for local purposes by having a high rate. Our American cities average about $1,000 assessed valuation to each member of the population, and where a city is found to be assessed for $400 or $500 per person it must be suspected at once that something is wrong. In such cities the tax dodgers and the boards of trade, with their narrow ideas about prosperity, are often preventing the improvements that would mean a larger prosperity to the town.

The state of Ohio has recently passed a law placing the assessment of property in the hands of state assessors. This seems both the wise and natural method. The state is levying a very considerable proportion of the tax in any case, but it often does not get its due from certain sections on account of the under-assessment of the property. Local assessors cannot resist the pressure of friends and neighbors to keep

their assessments down.

The very chance of the reëlection of the assessor depends mainly on his under-assessing the property. If any particular city would put its assessment up where it belongs, while the remaining cities of the state keep theirs where they are at present, this would mean in many cases that this particular city would bear from two to ten times its just share of the state taxes. As the government of our cities becomes more efficient and honest, it is reasonable to suppose that the citizens will entrust larger and larger communal enterprises to the city, and that the taxes will constantly increase. It would not matter much, surely, if water, light, and even street car service were put into the tax

rate and furnished without individual charge. If the city government were efficient and honest, we should probably get better service at no greater cost than at present. At the present time, however, a change of attitude toward taxation on the part of the public and a different method of assessment seem to be conditions that are essential to the larger success of the new social movements in many cities.

[The Ohio law referred to was passed in 1913. It created a State Tax Commission to which was given authority to appoint in each county one or two tax assessors. In the populous counties there are two; in the less populous counties, one. Their jurisdiction includes the entire county, regardless of whether the county contains a home rule city or not. Each assessor in the county appoints from the civil service list the number of deputy assessors necessary to value property. The plan is reported to be working satisfactorily.-Editor.]

THE

HE laws of different cities and states vary in their definitions of the duties of a sealer of weights and measures, but the name of his office indicates in a general way the duties to be performed.

The sealer should have the proper authority to enter any establishment or to stop any person or wagon and inspect any weights and measures which are used in the sale or barter of merchandise of any form. A badge of office should be worn, which should be shown when necessary.

Every sealer should be prepared to properly inspect, test and seal any measure, bottle, weight, weighing machine, box, etc., that may be used in the transaction of business; and consequently, the accuracy and convenience of his standards and apparatus are of the utmost importance.

A tour of inspection should be made at regular and irregular intervals, and measures not readily tested on the premises should be sent to the office of the sealer for such testing.

The sealer should be ready to inspect and test measures of any kind upon request of a merchant or upon the complaint of a customer, and also for evidence in court.

In addition to the testing and sealing of

From a paper read at the convention of the League of Michigan Municipalities at Bay City, June 25, 1914.

weighing and measuring devices, the sealer should use his best efforts to see that these devices are used properly and that packages, pails, etc., contain the required quantity. This is of prime importance, for if full weight or measure is not given, the results of the inspection are entirely lost. The weight of containers, such as butter dishes, bags, wrappers, etc., should be noted, also whether or not they are included in the weight of the commodity bought or sold. All improper methods of weighing or measuring should be prohibited.

In order that the sealer may be sure of his tests, he should be provided with a set of office standards, and also a working set, and should compare at intervals, possibly monthly, his working standards with his office standards. Periodically these standards should be inspected by the state sealer, for verification as to their accurate condition.

In the matter of results gained, I am going to quote some results found by different sealers about the country. On a recent tour by the inspectors from the U. S. Bureau of Standards, covering the different cities about the country, ranging in size from New York City, with nearly five millions of inhabitants, to Carson City, Nev., with about 2,200, a total number of 10,034 scales

were tested, out of which 4,499 were found incorrect, an average of 44.8 per cent. A total number of 5,656 dry measures were tested, out of which 2,721 were incorrect, an average of 48.11 per cent. A total number of 2,407 liquid measures were tested, out of which 646 were incorrect, an average of 26.84 per cent.

This test also showed that nearly 45 per cent of all scales tested were more than 3 per cent in error. When the rapidity with which a tradesman sells his wares is considered, even 3 per cent is an important consideration; and when it reaches 12 per cent, as it did in quite a number of these cases, the loss to the purchaser is a serious

one.

Secretary Fisher, of the Bureau of Standards, also stated in his report that the bureau had found that on the 770,000,000 pounds of butter sold yearly in print form the average shortage was 34 per cent, or 25,000,000 pounds. Assuming that the average price of butter throughout the country is 33 cents per pound, the annual loss to the consumer is more than $8,250,

000.

The City Sealer of Indianapolis reported that in the last five years he had confiscated and destroyed 4,964 scales and about 15,000 liquid and dry measures, and made 63,131 visits. This does not include the arrests and prosecutions.

Lieut. Austin, City Sealer of Detroit, in one of his reports showed that out of 4,464 scales tested, 987 were condemned. Out of 5,449 dry measures tested, 239 were condemned, and out of 8,597 liquid measures tested, 3,715 were condemned. Out of 628,060 milk bottles tested, 23,105 were condemned.

Results in Battle Creek

When the Department of Weights and Measures was created in Battle Creek a year ago, we were confronted with the fact that the liquid measures were being used for the dry measures in nearly every store. There is one-sixth difference between the two measures, the dry measure being the larger. We found that all vegetables were being sold by measure with the bottomless measure, which is one of the biggest frauds used. It is impossible to get over twelve pounds of potatoes in a bottomless peck measure, when there should be fifteen pounds.

scales had been used for years and never tested, and were considerably out of adjustment. On top of all this we had the prejudice of practically every dealer in the city, as they were not familiar with the workings of a weights and measure department, and thought that the only object it had was to cause trouble for them.

After one year's work this department has done away with the using of liquid measures for dry, and has also done away with the bottomless measure. The scales have been overhauled, tested and sealed, and this city has to-day a very high standing at the state department for having accurate weighing scales.

The dealers have also discovered that, if they are doing business on the square, the Weights and Measures Department is one of the best things that ever happened for them, for it drives the short weight dealer out of business, and does away with the "mean competition" which is so hard to combat.

The experience of Battle Creek with strawberries might be cited as one of the many savings derived by eliminating the use of the liquid measure for the dry. In the past the liquid quart strawberry box was used for the dry quart. This last season there were 130,000 full quarts of strawberries shipped into this city and sold for the average price of 12 cents per quart, which amounts to $15,600. A year ago approximately the same amount of berries was shipped in at practically the same price, only the measure was one-sixth smaller than the dry quart. One-sixth of $15,600 equals $2,600, which represents the amount saved on strawberries alone by demanding the full quart.

Another saving which might be mentioned was caused by our campaign against short weight flour. Investigation showed that on 242-pound sacks the average shortage was 8 ounces. To the family of five using ten barrels yearly, this would mean a loss of 40 pounds, or $1.07, at the average price of $5.25 per barrel, wholesale.

When we consider that the number of crooked scales and measures thus far confiscated throughout the United States is but a fractional part of the number still in use, we must realize the enormous work that faces us in our country to-day in order to protect the two classes of the American people upon whom this burden falls-to wit,