In receiving either milk or cream from the patron, it is essential
not only that justice be done in the weight or measure, but that the
patron should be satisfied of this fact. The agent sent out to gather
cream should be an honest man, in whom the patrons as well as the
employer have confidence, and should understand his business and do
it in a workman-like manner, so as to inspire confidence. He should
also be versed in the various tricks that may be resorted to by
patrons to deceive and cheat, and be on his guard, quick to discern any
suspicious surroundings or indications. As much depends on his judgment
and observation as on his honesty--especially if any of the patrons
are disposed to be dishonest, as is sometimes the case where it would
generally be least suspected. The later device of not only measuring
cream by the gauge, but of testing its yield of butter by churning a
sample, is not only a guard, to considerable extent, against fraud, but
more closely approximates justice by getting at the actual quality of
the cream, on which depends its value. There is no associated system
yet devised--save that of churning every patron's cream separately and
weighing the product--that secures exact justice to all. Nature does
not appear to have furnished standards of commercial measure or value
for the purpose of indicating mine and thine in mixed transactions, or
in speculative exchange. We have only relative and approximate guides,
by which justice, in a business sense, is by no means secured.