We are now at the threshold of the formal proceedings for this 48th National Conference. The plans are carefully laid. The officers have performed their duties and met their responsibilities without exception.

I am most grateful for the assistance and support that they and all others have given me. The success or failure of the Conference is now in your hands. With your full participation it will be a success. Without your participation, our efforts will have been in vain.

Now I would like to steal last year's closing statement of our Past Chairman, Bob Williams of Nassau County, New York. Bob said and I concur: "Please be on time for each session. I implore you do not wait in the lobby to be urged into the meeting room. The time scheduled for all sessions is shown in the program. I especially urge everybody to remain and attend the Friday morning session."

To all of you, please participate fully throughout the Conference. This is a democratic "congress"-this is your meeting. Again remember:

All that we contribute into the lives of others,
Comes back into our own.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL

CONFERENCE

By W. S. BUSSEY, Assistant to the Director, National Bureau of Standards

Activities of the States, Counties, and Cities

General.-I am pleased to report that the weights and measures services, throughout the United States, have continued to improve and expand during the past year.

Laws. The principal legislative achievement has been the enact-. ment of the Model Law by the State of Arkansas. We are delighted to welcome the official delegate from that State, Mr. Andrew L. Little, to this Conference. I know all of us look forward to the opportunity of working with him in the months to come. The new Arkansas law will go into effect on July 1, 1963. Other significant legislative action has taken place in the States of California, Connecticut, Kansas, Maine, and New York. Others may have taken similar legislative action that has not come to our attention.

Only one State now remains without a reasonably comprehensive weights and measures law and one additional State has a law but is without administrative effort at the State level. I would hope that these two situations could be corrected in the very near future.

Regulations. Important improvements in weights and measures regulations have been made in the following States:

The promulgation of adequate and modern regulations is an area in weights and measures administration that needs immediate further study and improvement. I would urge all States to take a close look

at their weights and measures regulations and consider the early promulgations of all needed amendments.

Specifications and Tolerances.-The situation regarding the official adoption of the Handbook 44 codes has continued to improve. At this time, some 42 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have officially adopted the Handbook 44 Codes, either in whole or in part. I would hope that the few remaining States will follow suit soon. I should like to emphasize the importance of keeping these codes current, in all States. Please do not neglect or delay the adoption of the amendments each year, if this is the required procedure in your State.

Standards and Equipment. Recent reports indicate that weights and measures standards and equipment have been purchased in some abundance by weights and measures departments during the past year. A particularly important factor in weights and measures administration is the improvement and expansion in laboratory facilities that is being achieved at State and local levels. Several jurisdictions deserve commendation for their recent achievements in this area. Numerous other jurisdictions deserve credit for their progress in obtaining expensive equipment, such as vehicle and livestock scale testing units and LP gas and other petroleum meter provers. All jurisdictions should constantly review their physical facilities and make every reasonable effort to keep them up to date, as is dictated by the needs and demands for weights and measures service.

Unusual Experiences.-Several jurisdictions have had especially interesting and somewhat unusual experiences during the past year. I think of three particular cases in this category. This is the activity in California pertaining to deceptive packages of cosmetics; the action in North Dakota against fraudulent weighing at a few grain elevators; and the new program in Wisconsin whereby commercial weighing and measuring devices are tested on a "sample" basis. You will hear more about this program from Mr. Claire L. Jackson on Friday morning. I am certain that Mr. William A. Kerlin and the other members of the California delegation will be glad to talk with you about their experiences in the cosmetic field.

Package Labels. Another important activity has been the rather tremendous efforts in New Jersey and Virginia to bring about proper labeling of packaged commodities. It would seem that all jurisdictions should become equally active in this area.

Truth-in-Packaging.-Public interest in packaging and labeling has continued at a very high level. Hearings on Senator Hart's "Truth-in-Packaging" Bill were complete in April. Committee action should be forthcoming in the near future.

Office of Consumer Protection.-Senator Estes Kefauver introduced a bill on June 6, 1963, designed to create an Office of Consumer Protection, at subcabinet level. This bill could prove of great value to the consumers of the United States of America.

Technical Training.-Technical training has continued to be a major factor in weights and measures administration throughout the Nation. Many States have been active in the training area. Also, the Bureau's Office of Weights and Measures has continued and increased its activity in this field. Office of Weights and Measures staff members have helped conduct State training schools in 14 States since the 47th Conference. No national training school for senior and super

visory personnel was held this year. Such a course was offered by the Office of Weights and Measures in both Washington, D.C., and Boulder, Colorado. Unfortunately, not enough students applied, in either place, to make the school feasible. OWM plans to reoffer the course at a later date. I do hope that the response will be much better.

A new type of training effort in the weights and measures field was undertaken in the State of Pennsylvania. The course was sponsored by the Department of Public Instruction and was offered in Pittsburgh, to the State and local inspectors in that area. The classes were held in the Allegheny County Court House, on Wednesday afternoon of each week, from April 17 until June 19, 1963. I am confident that the venture proved to be worthwhile.

Cooperation of the National Bureau of Standards.-I can assure you the National Bureau of Standards will continue to render every practicable assistance to the Conference, to weights and measures officials in general, and to business and industry on matters concerning weights and measures. Also, I pledge you my best efforts in the months to come.

SECOND SESSION-MORNING OF WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 1963

(J. F. MCCARTHY, VICE CHAIRMAN, PRESIDING)

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Presented by J. E. BowEN, Chairman, City Sealer of Weights and Measures, Newton, Massachusetts, and S. H. CHRISTIE, JR., Deputy State Superintendent, Division of Weights and Measures, State of New Jersey

MR. BOWEN: The official statement of the Organization and Procedure of The National Conference on Weights and Measures, including its constituent committees, delegates to the Committee on Education consideration of matters embracing the technical training of weights and measures officials, the education of the general public with relation to weights and measures matters, and the education of users of weighing and measuring devices.

Your Committee on Education has been active, during the past year, with reference to a number of projects in the three fields of assigned Committee authority, and of interest and concern to every weights and measures official.

The Committee met in Washington during the final days of the National Conference a year ago. Through the year there has been much Committee business transacted by correspondence, and some by long distance telephone communication between its members. The Committee Chairman and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Weights and Measures Week were able to confer in person during attendance of both at the New York State Weights and Measures Association Conference in Massena, New York, in July, and the Committee Chairman and the Secretary met for a conference in Boston, Massachusetts, in August. All Committee members, except one, were present at a meeting called by the Committee Chairman in Nashville, Tennessee, in October, when these members were in attendance at the Conference of the Southern Weights and Measures Association.

Two nationwide surveys were conducted by means of questionnaires to a representative number of weights and measures officials at State, county and municipal levels of government, including large, medium, and small weights and measures offices. The surveys contemplated the formulation of revised salary recommendations and the collection of certain other information related to personnel performance, equipment, etc. The second survey served to a certain degree the demand for an outline for a home study course for weights and measures officials.

Your Committee acknowledges appreciation, and offers its thanks for the valued assistance of our Secretary, Mr. William S. Bussey, in conducting these surveys, and for providing authoritative assistance in the analysis of the data obtained.

Salary Schedules for Weights and Measures Positions

With reference to the Salary Questionnaire, 136 were mailed, and replies were received from 93, or better than 68 percent.

Similar salary information had been collected, on a nationwide basis,

in 1952, and the salary schedule recommendations were presented to the 37th National Conference. Two years later, revisions were recommended to the 39th National Conference. The most recent study and salary schedule recommendations were presented to the 43rd National Conference in 1958.

Inasmuch as there has been an elapse of five years, during which periodic economic conditions have changed considerably, involving increased living costs and increased salaries and wages in general, it has been deemed timely to reevaluate the recommended salary schedules for weights and measures officials.

Salaries at the present time, in far too many places, are less than the "prevailing wage" for other positions whose responsibilities and duties can be considered in the same rank. To secure, and retain, competent career personnel, to preclude and combat instances of "conflict of interest," and to encourage strict integrity in office, it is imperative that underpaid situations be remedied.

The step-advancement plan, which provides for annual increases in salary over a period of years, has demonstrated its worth as an incentive for continuous service. Provision for several grades of employees in the larger departments, the higher grades being filled normally from the lower ranks by promotional examinations, acts to encourage the ambitious man who is striving at all times to do a better than average job.

Recommendations for salaries have been upgraded in amounts that are commensurate with increases disclosed by the questionnaires, and are compatible with current Federal salaries, and with industrial salary increases in fields of comparable requirements. Having considered the above factors it is the Committee's judgment that the following tables are realistic and equitable and will assist in the justification of such recommended salaries before such governmental officials as budget analysts, executive administrators, and appropriating authorities. The following salary schedules are recommended as minimum amounts to be paid when first entering that grade of service, with automatic increases to take place at the completion of each year of satisfactory service until the maximum is attained. By "minimum amounts" it is meant that no salaries for full time positions should be less than those stated. There will undoubtedly be some instances where, owing to living conditions or other considerations, entrance salaries will be higher. The Committee recommends, as equitable in today's labor market, the following schedules:

If a "Three-step plan" is used, take the amounts shown under 1, 3, and 5.

Some larger departments may also have other classifications such as "Junior Deputies", "Investigators", Salaries for these classifications can be established in accord with the above.

etc.

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