Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1861-1862, 1862-01-23
RICHMOND WHIG.
ANEW ACCURATE AND UN0HANGEABLE SYSrEM
OF WEIGHTS. MEASURES AND COINS, WITH A
NEW ACCURATE AND UNCHANGEABLE NoAEN.
(TITTfRP

NEW ACCURATE AND UNCHANGEABLE NOAEN-
CLATURE.
To the Editor of The Wig:
One of the highest acts OF sovereignty which any
Government. performs is the assigning OF instruments
to commerce. and designating the by which they
are TO be known i' every trdsGetoby which property
passed from citizen to citizen in all their buying and
selling exchanging or barterng. These hings caledby
names originating in the Gus oms Of the people,
ascertaned ard announced by the Governments OF the
world up to the period Of the French Revolution, in
1890, when higher and more comprehersiy sugges.
tion inSugurAted that intelligent and scientific
people took cognElnce Of the fact that of all the words
used amongst mankind, the names of their coins,
weights and we're used often, indeed, Of
tener than any other words in their anguagetha the
language Of any people, II found to be adopted from
their conquero conclusive evidence of their entire
subugs iou They recognized the fact that words used
so often as the names Of the weights, measures and
coins of the people should convey d,ns of an exact
and positive character; that anything calei BY
to to explained and cOmprehended the thing itself
be shown, and the by which 4. ia called must be
told TO the listener before ths mind can form any idea
Of the thing ITSELF None OF could possibly conceive
of Shat man speaks ia an unknown tongue although
he nigh. announce the very clearly or IL the COM
mouest object about us be called by new namo we
must learn the change of name and the thing aud
cd to before the mind understand the sound Our
Government oRls the measure by which cloths Of all
kinds sod "a yard" We have seen the thing which
msrks the length ths eloth and We understand the
quantity shall buy or SELL When We hear the word
mentioned but why call It yard Why not call il tho
measure" What We mean by the word yard, we know
to be the distance which three feet composed of twelve
inches each the inch being long three harley
cOrns when laid end TO end. In plain language "yaId
is just the space that hundred and eight barley
corns would laid in straight line on level sur
face each end OF each grain touching the grains To
it, and this is the idea the thought which Is conveys
to the miRd SheR the Government says "a yard"--by
its lAS. ia prOelamaous since Il is term in law az
veil as custom Every who can calculate in figures
the simplest will readily understand the great case
and eIlctneSs OF all calculations by tens hundreds
decimal or iis compound. Why, then should se In
poe upon ourstlvcs ard upon all who nay como after
the ary labor which tina; earned stint eton
John ncey Adams, refused ts take frem our shoul.
ders when, in lsl9, tia very question OF decimal
weights and Measures was referred to a committee OF
which he Nas chairman and chiefly by hs department
the United Safes Government refused to Adopt n dsel
cimal system in lieu Of the burtsensome and Sonple1
which had inherited from Iglsud, Snd which in
turu the Confederate States have adopted from the Yam
kees II NC mean to eIrasa distance from one point
to another the trous below the uni, can be oppressed
better In sa;t OF hundred than in parts of foot
Al il 2hor by quarters halves eighhs or sxteenths
This is too clear to sdIat OF discussion. l. not the
itsef bjac,ionabc, when We come to ararze
rs Suppose should take certain part of the dis
tsace OF the earths surface from point to another
tie French have done for unit and divide into
decimals, as they have do1e-we should then fnd our
Government and people, when speaking Of i.s mea.
sure, would mean exIctly the ten.IalRionth part
Of the dis,AIos from the oqlatoT to lhe pcls or one
forymiOnth Of the ds,snO around the earth Though
the pOes TIE aa-e by which this thing shall be called
may lead 10 discussion, the whole reforma.
tion in commercial nomenclature turns on this
ting point for If can delhrone the yard the
origin Of which has been traced to barIey sorSs we
have dspsled the charm of the whole sysleu and the
pathway becomes csAr to reformation ab ,oute aud
lcalculable inaaspah every Yankee book is expelled
from ogs ssho5S aud every word Yankee in buy
ag selling becomes obsolete certainly the course
Of nature continues; for the measure boomed the
sEe Of the globe which live, becomes the iounda
tOn tf all the weights and coins well az II every thing
to be measured We shall sneAk commercial da.
lse truthful bcciuso exact becoming because it will
be iist aud right The word yard Il bad one-it sig.
nih,s other things than measure an enclosure
when used in regard shps it long piece Of
timber suspended upon the lst by which .a Ia ex.
tended. We have the word meter" or "ctss" signi-
flying measure, AM already applied to this very sub
jsct by very large proportion of the civilized world.
10 Trar Se, Greece Belgium, Sardinia S~iz ,rland and
iodced all Continental Europe, the meaning Of metre is
by far better understood than the word yard. The met.
rcal system has been adopted by some Of the South
American Stales, as well a. Mexico; and thu ~ord me
tre, the term employed is in use 10 all these countries
signifies the sane everywhere, and ia slereotypsd
in Il. application distances aud measures of all kinds
throughout the world for all time to come. Iu the
French system, they have borrowed all their nomenola
ture from the dead kngusges-the dividing terms
being taken from the I.,tia, and the multiplying
ones from the Greek. IL has been said with some
pious emotions aud with muci apparent force,
that when the oracles of the Jc~ish Scriptures be.
came complete, the Hebrew language ceased to bc
spoken living langusge-taAt upon the completion
Of the New Testsalent Christian Scriptures, the Crock
language became = dead language; the Book Of God
.hus is stereotyped forever byond the possibility Of
change or Interpolation by any agency. The French
Academy OF Science, with her philosophers and ssteS
men, in searching for names JorroOcd their words from
the dead language, II the things they ,ign;fsd from
the uHGitsrabis proportions Of the earh itssf; thus,
BY tao i1aDIaJls things adjusting upon sxaei principles
tie instruments Of hsir commercial transactions 10 The
latest posterity. We wishing to lberatc ourselves
from Yankee Ideas in business mAtters let change
our words in business aflirs. We wish an indspen.
depoe Of them commercially; let make language
Of commerce different one, and the thing follows
necessary consequence; for although commerce may be
King, yet the King must and does obey laws and one
of those las as unehangeable as Crayitation n that