Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/353

Rh butter was found slightly to exceed % oz. per pound, or 3.25 per cent According to the Bureau of Labor (now the Bureau of Labor Statistics), the normal male adult in all parts of the United States consumes about 30 pounds of butter per year. Tables issued by the same bureau show the percentage of this amount consumed by female adults, children of various ages, etc. By combining these data with the information issued by the Census Bureau as to the number of male and female adults, children, etc., we reach the conclusion that the amount consumed by the total population would be equal to the amount consumed by a number of adults represented by 80 per cent, of the population. The population of the country according to the census of 1910 is approximately 92,000,000, 80 per cent, of which is 73,600,000. Multiply this figure by 30, the number of pounds of butter consumed by one adult, and we find that the total consumption in the United States amounts to about 2,200,000,000 pounds per year. Much of this butter is sold in bulk, but there is no section of the country where print butter is not extensively sold. In the western states it is retailed in no other way. In the eastern states from 25 per cent, to 50 per cent, of it is handled in this form. It is a very conservative estimate to assume that 35 per cent, of the butter consumed is put up and delivered in this form. It may be said, then, that some 770,000,000 pounds of butter are sold yearly in print form, and since the average shortage, as mentioned above, is about 3.25 per cent., the yearly loss on butter in this form is, therefore, 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.

That some of the shortages found in butter are not accidental, but are the result of deliberate fraud, is proved by a comparison of the weight of the same brands of butter in Denver and Cripple Creek, Colorado. The city of Denver has an ordinance requiring that all prints of butter sold in the city must be labeled with the correct net weight of the contents, and this ordinance is being enforced by a sealer of weights and measures. The city of Cripple Creek has no ordinance and no inspector of weights and measures. Five brands of butter were found on sale in both cities, and all of them were labeled with the weight of the contents, "One Pound," in Denver, while two out of the five brands omitted the statement of weight in Cripple Creek, although the butter was still sold as pounds. The average weight of all the prints of the five brands in Denver was 15.72 oz., a shortage of 1.75 per cent., while the average weight of all the prints of these same five brands in Cripple Creek was only 15.02 ozs., a shortage of 6.12 per cent.

The same kind of losses could be shown to result from the use of false capacity measures, although it is not so easy to prove the figures, on account of the comparative roughness with which such measures are used. Such losses as these are likely to result from the use of