WEIGHT MARK ON BREAD.
ALDERMAN ZINN WOULD RE-
QUIRE STAMP ON EVERY LOAF.
Favors Sale of Staff of Life on Basis
of Sixteen Ounces Rather
Than on 5-cent
Value.
Alderman Zinn is preparing an ordinance to require the weight of loaves of bread to be marked conspicuously on them. There is an ordinance now in effect which says that where a weight is announced it must be accurate, but it does not compel any weight whatever to be stamped on the loaf.
"They tell me," said the alderman yesterday, "that bread is the only common necessity that is not properly protected. A 100-pound sack of flour will make 150 pounds of bread. This figures out that the average loaf of bread does not cost to exceed 2 1/2 cents. Bread is spot cash at the grocer's box, according to the flour dealers. According to this the baker makes a good profit and gets his money promptly, and he ought to give a good sized loaf. He ought to say on it what it weighs.
"The comparative size of a loaf does not indicate its comparative food value. By pumping in more yeast they can make a bigger loaf. It is the weight we want, and I am preparing to introduce an ordinance to make bakers put tags on their loaves stating the weight. We make the trades using yard sticks, liquid measures and scales all publish what they are delivering, and we ought to give the public the same benefit of a law applying to bakers. The man who orders a pound of meat knows that he gets it, and when he buys a pound of bread, or thinks he is buying a pound of bread, he ought to know that he gets it."
It was pointed out to the alderman that no one asks for a pound of bread.
"Then they ought to," he replied. "I am willing to admit that they do not ask for it, but I mean to insist that they think they are getting a pound loaf. As flour prices rise and fall, the value of the pound loaf will rise and fall. It will not make any trouble for the public to pay 4, 5, 6 or any other number of cents for a loaf. I know a big dry goods store that sells its loaves for 3 cents. We pay 8 cents for a quart of milk. Eight cents is not a unit coin.
"What I am driving at is something that will let the people know what they are getting. A quart of milk is a quart of milk and a pound of steak is a pound of steak; a loaf of bread may be anything from ten ounces to sixteen, as I understand they run. Maybe this will give the poor people more bread than they have been getting."
