The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-08-20

tiles and Inconsistencies OF the existing
.1eixhts and measures,.andrth then the mann
0rv must often fail in reproducing them,
the mystery. al, compound arithmetlc ds
essential ia the calculations which they
~eo,,;re. AM this is done away by the
decimal progression, 50 that the first
rules of arithmetic arc. ample for the pu-
The following circular I'll Il. containing an
agreement binding the signers to use the
metric system after July 4, 1875. has
oeen sent to All the.cities and towns in
the United States containing upwards. Of
5000 inhabitants. Every city Of town
SO far canvassed has returned overwhelm.
ingamajorities.. ), Majorities had previous.
" been secured from New York, Chicago,
Brooklyn, Boston, st. Louis, Baltimore,
Portland, New Brunswick, Newport, ETC.,
and from over thirty other cities and
towns cooperation has been promised.
The metric system Of weights and
measures: has now. received the sanction
of law among more than half Of tho in.
habitants Of the civilized and Christian
world. 1t has, up to this date, been
adopted by the French, Germans, Span.
iards. Italians, Portuguese, Dutch, Bel.
gians, Mexicans, Swiss, Austrians, Danes,
Grecians, British in India,' Brazillans, and
a majority of the civilized inhabitants of
South America-in all about four hun
drcd and twenty millions Of souls.
In 1864 the system was legalized in
Great Britain; in Germany in 1868. AT:
ter four years Of preparation, on the LIST
of January, 1872, it was made compulsory
in that empire, and no other system. was
any longer legal. s%slT~&
In 1855 it was legalized in tho United
States.;o 1T is now 1875, and we have had
nine years for preparation, twice as long
as was allowed to the people Of Germany.
Its general adoption among US should no
longer be delayed.
"No cause" says an eminent writer on
the subject, !''since the earliest organiza.
ton Of civilized society, has contributed
more largely to embarass business trans.
actions among men, especially by inter-
! fering with the business facilities Of COM
merclal exchanges between different coun.
tries; or between different provinces,
cities, Of even individual citizens of the
same country, than the endless diversity
Of instrumentalities employed for the
purpose Of determining the quantities of
Iexchangeable commodities. For the in
! convenience and confusion resulting from
this cause but one etfectual remedy can
possibly be suggested, and that is the
general adoption throughout the world of
a common system of weights and meas.
| ures.' ;r.
Such common system is offered us in
the metric--a system, according to which
the weight and dimensions of every ma.
terial thing, whether solid, liquid, or gas
eous, whether on land or water, whether
in the earth or in the heavens, and
whether determined by the scale, plum
met, balance, barometer, or thermometer,
| are ascertained by method absolutely
uniform, entirely simple ane equally suit
able to the use of all mankind, resting
upon single invariable standard of lin.
ear measure, with multiples and sub.
multiples, like those of our monetary sys-
TEN, exclusively decimal, with arpropri.
ate names, similar in all languages and
secure against the possibility If change or
loss through carelessness, or accident, or
design, by being constructed on scientific
principles and copied for distribution
among the different nations of the world.
It is clear that England, owing to her
position in Europe, must very soon com.
p!ete the process she has already begun
of adopting this system.
The United States should not wait for
England. The German. French, and
other foreign element here already exerts
a great pressure in the direction of it's gen
eral adoption. Moreover, having already,
in our. dollars, dimes, cents, and mills, the
principle of the metric system in actual
use before us, it will be only an extension
ola method already familiar, to carry on,
the same system in all other measures OIL
Quantity. There being, therefore. with
US nothing new to learn no serious diff
Guilty will be encountered even with thu
most ,uneducated classes, for they make
use of the principle already. How many
of the best educated understand and are
masters OF our present senseless and com
plicated system of weights and measures
4 The metric system, moreover, is already
in use i'm the most important of our great
public works-the United Slater coast
survey.
Under our. republican form of govern
ment,z it is? not tosbe expected that on,
national legislature will, in matter Sc
nearly touching the daily business anc
habits Of every citizen, be in advance Of
the people themselves. Congress has
made the metric system legal, and has
power to make it compulsory but this is
power which that body is not likely tc
excerniee until callsfor such action shall
cOndesup to it's members from their con.
stitnents at home.
koTMfuther progress in this direction,
theksfore we must now look to the people
themselves. The work must be done
practically. not by the literary and scien.
titic, who,. however deeply they feel the
importance of the subject, and however
earnestly they may desire an immediate
change4or the better, are not in position
to secure its general adoption. Nor can it
be dDne;by the laboring and less educated
ca 1es'awho no more feel the want Of
than the world in general felt the want
OF steamt oats and railroads before the in.
vention of steam power. It must he done
by those whose professors require them
to make constant use of weights and mea.
sure, md for whom the imperfections Of
thespresent system are q continual source
OF epcyance and loss in time and power,
and whose position is such in relation to
the other classes that their example must
be followed both by those on the one hand
whom they employ, and by those on the
other who employ them. s.,
i 10 work. tOf introducing the metric
ksystem Of measures ofleneth or distance
TOR Slnstance, should be undertaken nv