Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-02-02
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

At the present session of congress
there will be passed, it is now prac-
tically assured, measure that has
been quietly yet surely winning Its
way through long years. With hardly
doubt the metric system, debated in
these halls for a quarter of a century
and taken up Low by nearly every 9TH
err country, win be formally adopted by
the United States. In the touch and 80
of more spectacular matters little has
been heard of this proposition. The
fight for it, however, has been none the
less active. How far the battle has
progressed may be judged from the fact
that in the last session a bill for lis
establishing was defeated by but three
votes.
Not the last vestiges of opposition,
perhaps, but enough to make the pass
ing of such a measure possible have
been overcome by now. Unless the UNI
foreseen happens the metric system
will be the established system for
weights and measures in America with
in few months. Thus will be ended
a campaign that started just after the
close of the civil war. When the hour
Of adoption arrives Great Britain and
Russia will be the only great nations
in the world that still hold on to their
historic measuring and weighing. And
Great Britain only stands aloof in part,
for the metric system has been adopt
ed in British India, and it is legalized
in England itself, the curious incon-
sistency being that British tradesmcn
are not permitted to keep metre
weights and measures in their shops,
nor merchants to use them in actual
commerce.
In the United States, since in 1866,
practically the same state Of affairs
prevails. The metric system was III
that year legalized and could even now
lawfully be used. Save in certain of
the sciences, however, it is an unknown
system. What the new bill proposes IS
the adjustment, at a single sweep, suf-
ficient time being allowed for adjust
ment of course, of all the historic old
measures and weights, many of which
are curious survivals, many of which
differ in different sections and states,
just as they do in the counties of Eng
land. In fact net few, the bulk, were
imported directly from England, AID
continue in force there.
1t is fer the sake of Uniformity AID
the simplifying of transactions between
American and abroad and between the
various sections of the country rs well
that the adoption of this decimal sys-
tenn has been urged Weight is lent
to the argument when il is stated that
the metric system has already been
adopted by more than half the civilized
and Christian world Very nearly 5c0,-
o00,000 people are using 1t. even semi
b.rbaric Turkey having fallen into line.
On the continent of Europe the thou
sand and one quaint and complicated
systems. distinct for very nearly every
section and city. handed down fror'
feudal times, have all been suppressed d
To the great beitermt Mt Of commerce.
Not to bark back too greatly into an
cient history, the metric sy en- was
devised. strangely enough. in c first
white heat of the turmoil of the French
revolution How amid these scenes
scientists found time and opportunity
TO work out SUCH a plan is not record
ed, but at all events. on August !, 1898,
the metric system was established in
France and the French possessions.
Nor did the bloodshed of the years that
followed, the changing OF the map of
Europe by Napoleon L., the making and
the unmaking of great empire shake
1t. By 1880 the system was in use in
holland and Belgium as well; in 1893
the early confederation of German
states adopted it and in 1896 Greece.
When the question of new and uni
form system of weights and measures
was being talked OF in France, Prince
Talleyrand suggested the length of the
pendulum beating seconds in latitude
As degrees as the unit of length. II was
seen that there must be some scientific
measure that could not be lost. The
old measures Of length, raised and curl
Gus, had been taken from the length
Of the forearm the breadth of the
thumb. an average step or pace. three
barley corEs round and dry, laid end
to end These. absurd as they appear
as accurate measures. are yet IN use
as the basis of the foot and inch and
mile as used in England and America
to-day, and formerly in vogue all over
the continent.
Prince Tallyrand's proposition was
never adopted. The scientists Of that
era found what they thought better
plan. They chose as the lenear unit one
ten-millionth of the quadrant of a ter
restrial meridian. Seven years were
employed in getting the precise length
of this. the meter. and this was found
to be the present 39.37O12 inches
Text books and works of reference
abound that give the metric system in
full detail, and it need not, therefore,
be further touched upon here. Far
more interesting is some account of
what is not the metric system, the
weights and measures still in use in
England and America, especially in
England, their strange absurdities and
odd Inconsistencies