The times., 1900-12-30
.lied to dc united states and were re-

piled to the United States and were re-
ceiyed by the President and his Cabinet
with considerable ceremony on January 2.
1890, and are now deposited in a freproof
room in the Coast Survey building.
In 1898 the Secretary of the Treasury
ordered that hereafter the standard metre
and kilogram, deposited in the Coast Sur
yey building, should be recognized as the
fundamental standards from which the
customary units of the yard and the pound
should be derived. II is therefore true
that at present the United States is using
system of weights and measures which
is based on the units of the metric sys-
tenn.
The metric system proper is now exclu-
siyely used by The United States Marine
Hospital Service, by the foreign depart
ment of the Postofice. by the United
States Coast and Geodetic Survey, to some
ext, Mt in the Mint, United States Signal
Service, and United States Census Depart
ment
The formal adoption of the metric sys-
tenn has been repeatedly recommended TO
Congress by several Secretaries of the
Treasury and Of State; il has beer asked
for by the Legislatures of several States,
and many petitions from both business
and scientific men have been presented to
Congress asking for the passage of such
a law.
In 1883 this country invited the repub-
lies of Central and South America and
of Mexico. Haiti, and San Domingo TO a
conference to be held at Washington to
consiser, among other things, "the adop-
tion of uniform system of weights and
measures" The conference was held, and
ii adopted, so far as lay in It's power. "a
uniform system of weights and meas
ures, the metric system. The delegates
from the foreign republics went home,
and almost without an exception procured
the adoption of the metric system by the
countries from which they came. Now
they find that the greatest nation OF all,
which originally invited them to the con-
ference, has so far failed TO adopt its
own suggestion.
The objection always made to the adop-
tion of the metric system, and which
has heretofore been strong enough to pre-
vent its adoption by Congress, is the fact
that change from yards to meters and
from pounds to grams would upset bust
ness and throw the world of commerce
into confusion. To this argument the
advocates OF the metric system file par
tial assent. They admit that it would
cause considerable inconvenience, but say
that the amount of disturbance which
would be caused has been greatly over
estimated. In proof they point to the
experience OF Ctnet nations Wnlcn nave
adopted the metric system without seri-
ously incommoding business men. Their
chief argument in favor of the adoption
of the system lies in the great benefit and
saving in study and time which would
result to the generations to come after
the metric system is once put into force.
By way of preparing for a possible
change in the future, school children are
instructed in the metric system In many
schools, so that they may be familiar with
Its terms. In some States. notably Utah,
thorough instruction in the metric sys-
TEN is made compulsory. In England
also the Importance of the subject has
been recognized in the same way. The
English Government furnishes to the
schools on demand accurate copies OF its
standards of metric measurement and
weight, and encourages In every way the
study OF the system. Its general adop-
tion all over the world seems to be only
a matter OF time.
The necessity of having some generally
recognized standard OF weight and meas
ure is more easily recognized when 1t is
remembered that in ancient times many
of the standards were based on nothing
more certain and Interchangeable than the
length Of mans forearm or the distance
he could reach. Thus a cubit was the
distance from the point of the elbow to
the tip OF the middle finger; the fathom
was the distance a man could cover with
outstretched arm; the original foot was
the distance from the heel to the end of
the great toe.