MICHIGAN

By GLENN W. DAVIS, Director, State Bureau of Foods and Standards

Mr. Davis said that there had been no new weights and measures legislation in his State during the past year. He mentioned that the 42 inspectors of the bureau covered the State on foods and on weights and measures, working in close cooperation with the county and municipal sealers. Continued operation of two State-owned equipments for the testing of large-capacity scales was reported.

MISSOURI

By LOUIS G. WALDMAN, Commissioner of Weights and Measures, City of St. Louis

Mr. Waldman reported that in spite of repeated efforts to interest the Governor and members of the legislature in the establishment of a State department of weights and measures, no action had yet been taken; however, it was hoped that something would be done in the 1941 legislative session. Speaking for the city of St. Louis, Mr. Waldman said that his recently established vehicle tank testing station was operating very successfully and to the satisfaction of distributors and the consuming public.

NEW JERSEY

By JOSEPH G. ROGERS, Assistant Superintendent and Secretary, State Department of Weights and Measures

Mr. Rogers, reporting on the legislative program of the department, mentioned two poultry bills, one designed to license poultry buyers; a bill along the lines of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, but embracing all package goods; a bill to license dealers in liquid fuels and to make it compulsory to equip vehicle-tank meters with ticket printers; and a bill providing for pensions for municipal weights and measures officials. Mr. Rogers also spoke of a district court decision adverse to his department's control of the "bootleg" coal situation, which was being appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

NEW YORK

By BARNETT KANZER, Director, State Bureau of Weights and Measures

Mr. Kanzer discussed the results of an investigation on weights of packaged flour, involving almost eleven thousand packages. In all, more than 7 percent of the packages were found to be short in weight by more than 3 percent of their nominal weights; in the case of one packer's product, more than 30 percent of the packages weighed were found short weight by 3 percent or more. Overweight and underweight packages were found in the ratio of less than 1 to 3. A conference with the representatives of the industry was expected to result in immediate improvement of conditions.

NORTH CAROLINA

By C. D. BAUCOM, State Superintendent of Weights and Measures, and H. L. SHANKLE, Chief, State Division of Gasoline and Oil Inspection

Mr. Baucom commented on an investigation which had been made in his State on the weight of flour packages, and stated that the results were similar to those developed in the New York State investigation.

Mr.

It was said that the only recent Regulation issued was the one relating to sight glasses, discussed in the paper presented earlier. 13 Shankle reported an increase from 17 to 19 in the staff of inspectors

in his Division.

NORTH DAKOTA 14

By A. J. JENSEN, Chief State Inspector of Weights and Measures

Mr. Jensen stated that the five men comprising the weights and measures inspectional force of North Dakota were barely sufficient to care for the testing in the many widely separated business establishments of the State, among which he mentioned 1,700 grain elevators and 1,700 cream stations. It was said that in an intensified campaign against violators of the law, there had been during the year 1939 a large increase in the number of prosecutions.

OHIO

By V. D. CAMPBELL, Deputy State Sealer

Mr. Campbell reported that studies were being carried on in connection with the development of a program for expansion of the weights and measures activities of the State, which would be presented to the next legislature and for which approval in the form of increased appropriations was anticipated. Close cooperation was noted between the State office and the city and county officials.

PENNSYLVANIA

By JOSEPH F. BLICKLEY, Chief, State Bureau of Standard Weights and Measures

Mr. Blickley, noting his recent appointment to office, commented upon the excellent cooperation being rendered his bureau by the local departments throughout the State. He stated that gratifying progress had been made in controlling the coal situation which had been a major problem for some time.

TEXAS

By C. W. CONDIT, Inspector, State Division of Weights and Measures

Mr. Condit reported the acquisition by his division during the past year of a master scale house and testing laboratory; equipment for the calibration of weights of large denomination was already installed, and this would be supplemented by testing apparatus for gasoline pumps and other devices. Mention was made of a very successful prosecution record, particularly in a group of cases against cotton weighers.

VERMONT

By H. N. DAVIS, Supervisor, State Division of Weights and Measures

Mr. Davis reported the successful operation of the law under which men selling or repairing weighing and measuring apparatus are licensed; one of the requirements of this law is that reports be made to the State on all apparatus sold or repaired, including details of repairs and

13 See p. 15.

14 In the absence of Mr. Jensen, and at his request, this report was read to the Conference by C. P. Smith.

adjustments made. Effective work by the new testing unit for largecapacity scales was reported; of 156 scales tested, 51 percent were found in satisfactory condition, and on 26 retests suitable repairs were found to have been made in 65 percent of the cases and 14 scales were rejected for the second time.

VIRGINIA

By M. A. HUBBARD, State Supervisor of Weights and Measures

Mr. Hubbard reported a substantial increase in the funds available for the inspection of gasoline- and grease-measuring devices. Several weights and measures bills were included in the legislative program of the division, but only one was enacted and this was not in a form satisfactory to the division. The testing of large-capacity scales with the ten 500-pound weights recently acquired had begun but had not progressed as rapidly as desired because of inefficient means for handling the weights; results obtained, however, had demonstrated the urgent need for this character of testing.

WEST VIRGINIA

By EDWARD A. BROOKS, State Inspector of Weights and Measures

Mr. Brooks reported that his State was seriously handicapped in its supervision of weights and measures by insufficiency of funds and personnel; in addition to their other duties, the three State inspectors are charged with testing the scales of more than 1,000 coal mines. There were recently procured a truck and a complement of test weights for the testing of livestock scales in the State, and a survey of such scales was immediately undertaken.

(At this point Lyman J. Briggs, President of the Conference, assumed the chair.)

REPORTS OF REPRESENTATIVES OF STATE ASSOCIATIONS OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OFFICIALS

At this point, brief reports of State associations were made, as follows:

California Association of Weights and Measures Officials, by Charles M. Fuller.

Illinois Weights and Measures Association, by John J. Levitt.

Indiana Association of Inspectors of Weights and Measures, by Rollin E. Meek.

Massachusetts Association of Sealers of Weights and Measures, by Peter F. Conley.

Michigan Association of Weights and Measures Officials, by Arthur J. Wilhelm.

New Jersey Weights and Measures Association, by Charles C. Read. New York Association of Sealers of Weights and Measures, by Charles H. Bulson.

Ohio Sealers Association, by William C. Witfoth.

Texas Weights and Measures Association, by R. L. Fullen.
Virginia Weights and Measures Association, by H. G. Twyford.

280936-41- -13

REPRESENTATION AT MEETINGS OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

Mr. W. P. REED. Last year I recommended that this Conference pay the expenses of speakers at meetings of mayors and city managers, hoping that in that way we might arouse their interest in creating better weights and measures conditions. I want to tell you of an instance which supports that idea.

I was sent to Nashville to speak before the Southern Governors' Conference. Although I am not a good speaker, when I had finished, Governor Bailey of Arkansas said to me, "Where in the world have you weights and measures officials been that you have not told the value of weights and measures regulation before?" The Governor of Oklahoma expressed a similar opinion. The president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, who was in attendance, asked me what he could do to improve the situation in his State; I loaned him Handbook H11, which contains the Model Law and advised him to get in touch with Ralph Smith at the Bureau.

I had been trying to get a hearing before my own Governor, but he did not think that weights and measures meant anything and would not give me a hearing; at this meeting he had to listen to me. Afterward he apologized and said that at the next legislative session he would help us.

Now that is evidence of the good which can come from these contacts. If the same thing is done before associations of mayors and city managers, I believe that much good will come of it.

Mr. R. W. SMITH. I should like to report on a matter relevant to what Mr. Reed has just said; this concerns the appearance before a meeting of an association of city managers of a speaker representing the National Conference on Weights and Measures, as requested by the Twenty-ninth Conference. The executive director of the association in question was written as follows:

At the annual meeting of the National Conference on Weights and Measures held last June a motion was adopted to the effect that if it could be arranged, the organization be represented by a speaker to appear before the meeting of the International City Managers' Association in Detroit on October 9-12, 1939. The purpose of participation in your program would be to interest your members in the problem of proper laws and ordinances in relation to weights and measures, and of the administration of such laws and ordinances.

Before steps were inaugurated toward the end in view, it was realized that the time was too short to approach you on the subject in reference to the meeting in October. Consequently the idea of carrying out the project at that time was abandoned.

The purpose of this letter is to get information for use in the future. Accordingly, I request that you advise me whether, in your opinion, your organization would be interested in the question of proper weights and measures laws and the enforcement thereof. If so, do you think that it would be agreeable to have the subject on the agenda of a future meeting and to extend to our organization an invitation to be represented by a speaker?

I would like very much to have your general reaction in this relation. If this is favorable, I will be glad to go into the matter further. Otherwise, I will be prepared to report back to the National Conference on Weights and Measures that the purpose of its resolution can not be carried out.

The following reply was received from the assistant director of the association.

I am very much interested in the subject of your letter of January 11, but we can not very well promise that we can give the subject of weights and measures a place on our next conference program. It might possibly be that an article in our journal, Public Management, would reach many more municipal officials than would a speaker at our conference. In any case, I should be glad if you would

write us about the more pressing problems in weight and measure administration as well as recent developments in this field which you think should be brought to the attention of city managers and other municipal officials. If you will write us along this line, we will then have some basis for deciding whether we might suggest to the program committee for our conference that consideration be given to placing the subject on the conference program or whether the material would be suitable for an article in our journal.

The reaction of the association office seemed to be rather definitely unsympathetic toward the suggestion of this Conference, and accordingly nothing further has been done in the matter. If the Conference desires further action, additional efforts can be made to interest the program committee. It is suggested, however, that we should avoid the appearance of trying to force our way on the program of any organization, and that it might be better to take no further steps at this time with respect to this particular association.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS, PRESENTED BY
JOSEPH G. ROGERS, CHAIRMAN, AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Your Committee submits the following nominations:
For President, Lyman J. Briggs.

For Vice Presidents, H. N. Davis, A. J. Jensen, C. L. Klocker,
Joseph G. Rogers, Louis G. Waldman, and Tom Webb.
For Secretary, Ralph W. Smith.

For Treasurer, George F. Austin, Jr.

For members of the Executive Committee, all officers, ex officio, and in addition, the following: Joseph F. Blickley, James A. Boyle, V. D. Campbell, Howard E. Crawford, Manon L. Fowler, Charles M. Fuller, R. L. Fullen, S. T. Griffith, Carl E. Hawkins, M. A. Hubbard, John J. Levitt, John P. McBride, Cleo C. Morgan, Alex Pisciotta. W. P. Reed, Robert Williams.

Mr. ROGERS. I am in a very embarrassing position, gentlemen, being Chairman of the Committee and reporting my name in nomination for the post of Vice President. Here on the floor I wish to decline that honor, although I appreciate it very much; otherwise I would not have made this report myself. I may say that that part of the Committee meeting was taken out of my hands, and I respectfully submit the report in the name of the Committee.

Mr. BOYLE. The Committee on Nominations nominated Mr. Rogers for Vice President over his objections. I move that the nominations as read be accepted.

(The motion was seconded.)

Mr. S. T. GRIFFITH. I ask that Mr. Rogers accept the nomination. The CHAIRMAN. May I ask you to accept the nomination?

Mr. ROGERS. I want to make my position clear. I am glad to serve this Conference in every capacity where I can be of help, but I have no personal ambitions. I am perfectly willing not to be mentioned for any office. But if it is the will of the Conference to have