The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-02-27
Decimal Currency, Weights, and Measures.
From the World.

From the World.
BY the adoption of a decimal currency,
America has brought her financial computa-
tions within the four fundame entail processes Of
arithmetic tightening the labors OF the account
ant 10 degree which, though imperceptible on
a small scale, on the large one, throughout the
country and the year, doubtless amounts to
saving in time and money which would astound
us it 1t could be tabulated in figures 1t remains
for us to Danish Reduction" from the arithme-
tics altogether, and the only wonder Is that we
did not complete the work when We invented
dollars and cents
The labor. and time e-economizing Yankee feels
q SOFT OF contempt for his landlord in Liverpool
when he sees him footing up the items OF his
bill under the three heads OF g. d., dividing the
amount of the first column by twelve, and the
second by twenty What consistency, then, is
there 10 the patience with which, after chaining
off the number OF rods between hundred sepa-
rate pairs OF tieldstakes, he divides the sum OF
al the measurements by three hundred and
twenty to get the total perimeter OF his tract In
miles How can he rest conented with sys-
TEN under which the odd ounces on the tail end
of fifty different invoices Of butter must be footed
up and divided by sixteen before he knows how
many pounds he has-even the poor attempt
at something like decimal ease and COM
pactness breaking down entirely under the
pressure OF that arithmetical bull by which
a hundred weight becomes a hundred and
twelve weight and twenty hundred Is made
10 mean twenty-five 0uluTeu huu lOTIY9 why
should he laugh at the Cockney's hobs" and
''iOesn and "LanneFs," or the "piculsp and
"taelsn of the japanese, when he continues to
buy his sherry in barrels, whose capacity for
gallons he must arrive at by multiplying them
into thirty one and halt, or his double X in
receptacles similarly named, but requiring an
other multiplier OF thlrty-six for the same re-
ducion; when his wifes dresses are measured
by yards, eighths. and quarters at the shop-on
her fingers at home; when the pipe that brings
his Croton runs sixteen ounces, and the silver
mug from which his child drinks that Croton,
twelve ounces to the pound; when, in
fine, everything ABOUT him, save the
money in his pocket, must be put
through a course of arithmetcal gymnastics,
involving all the four fundamental processes,
If IL ever becomes desirable to get an ultimate
expression OF its quantity Can he be aware
that there is no need OF ali this bother; that his
unwieldy fractional divlsors, Ponderous multi
pliers, and several successive reckonlngs are
demanded by no rational law; that the whole
chapter OF denominaIe tables is based upon
rat os purely arbitrary, or such as, possessing
convenience In q rude and unphilosophic an
tiquity, have lost all claim 10 Ii in an age wheI
mathematical precision not only lies in reach o
the humblest schoolboy, but is a sine qua non II
every hourly process of practical ltey
When blacksmith forged the small change o
the English realm with less uniformity than hi
successors now give to their horse-shOes, thirty
two average kernels of kln-dried wheat closely
enough approached the average weight OF
penny TO represent as many equal subdivision
OF 1t. Later, when the penny had more skill
exT ended on its manufacture there became D )s
sble q more uniform division OF its weight. Fo