measures in interstate commerce, which it has ample power to do under the express authority conferred upon it hy the constitution. The assumption of federal authority in this instance points out the proper method for the solution of other weights and measures problems; and the enforcement of this amendment, it is believed, will present convincing evidence of the judiciousness and necessity of federal regulation over matters of an interstate nature, or where the exercise of authority by the individual states would be conflicting, or unnecessarily cumbersome on account of its multiplicity.
The proper regulation of types of weighing and measuring apparatus is one of the problems referred to which could be regulated by the federal government more scientifically and better than by the individual states and with more economy to the manufacturers of apparatus. Much apparatus now sold is faulty in design, false in its indications, and would not be permitted in any other important country in the world. A number of the states have already adopted specifications which the manufacturers are required to follow in making the apparatus sold in those states. They are in many cases imperfectly drawn, and on account of their lack of agreement with one another, the manufacturers are required to change their construction for some states, thus increasing the cost without accomplishing any useful purpose. The need of proper supervision over types of weighing and measuring apparatus has been felt for some time by weights and measures officials and is now beginning to be appreciated by manufacturers. The effect of such supervision would be to eliminate from use types of apparatus which facilitate the perpetration of fraud, and poor apparatus of cheap construction; and would in general standardize apparatus and practises. Bills have been introduced in Congress from time to time to confer upon the Bureau of Standards the authority to pass upon types of weighing and measuring apparatus, but no law has yet been passed.
Another problem of far-reaching effect upon the interstate commerce of the country is the proper supervision of railroad track scales. This matter was recently brought to the attention of Congress by the Bureau of Standards, and its request for an appropriation of $25,000, which became available July 1, 1913, was granted. Out of this appropriation a special test weight car has been provided with which a number of railroad track scales have already been tested, disclosing large discrepancies and plainly showing the need of supervision. The purposes of this car are to provide, as far as practicable, official standards heretofore lacking for the testing and standardizing of railroad track, elevator and other scales, and to obtain data for determining what tests are adequate to insure reliable adjustment of such scales, and upon which may be based specifications for their construction and operation.
