St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1901-07-13
STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT
Variations I'm different American
States and i'm Various COun.
tries of the World.


of standards authorized by the recent
session of congress means ultimately,
though not Immediately, the adop-
ton of standard United States
bushel, ton and every other weight
and measure" explained gentleman
who has taken great interest in the
legislation, says the New Orleans
Times-Democrat. At present some
states have what is called short
tom and a long ton,' the former 1000
pounds and the latter 2,240 pounds,
though nearly all the states which
have legislated on the subject in re-
cent years have adopted a ton of
2,24O pounds as the standard. The
United Stares government has no
standard ton. though in all contracts
when made there is provision stat
ing that the ton shall be 2,24O pounds,
even in states which have a standard
of 1000 pounds for ton. The same
is true in regard to the bushel.
There are lot of instances in which
in the same state the various coun-
ties have different weight stated as
q bushel. It is to remedy all these
conditions and seeming contradic-
lions that national standard is
found to be necessary. OF course the
federal government has no power to
provide standard of anything for .
state without the consent of the
state, but it is understood that, al
the federal government is to provide
a standard, there will be little or no
objection to the adoption of that
standard by the various states. 1t
means a work of some years, how
ever, for each state will have to ac-
cept the federal standard by an ex-
pressed statute. It will be good
thing for all concerned.
"When the standard weights and
measures have been adopted copies of
the same will have to be distributed
to each of the state capitals, SO that
the pound, pint and yard will have to
be absolutely identical in each and
every state and all portions thereof.
The fact that the United States has
adopted standard will have great
influence in securing the acceptance
of the same in all the states, but it
cannot be legalized in the states un-
less the states themselves legislate
on the subject. Strange as it may APP
pear, the British government, though
it has a standard yard, pound and
gallon, has no standard acre, and an
acre in many parts of the British en-
pire means considerably different
from what it means in other parts.
'The term foot has but little
meaning, though as a rule there are
IL inches in every foot. The inch,
however, is not always the same. The
American inch, by common consent
for there is no law on the subjects
identical with the English inch. One
hundred German feet make 1885,
American or English feet. The
French foot varies from ours also,
though it is the same practically.
Though the gas companies charge SO
much for every hundred feet, and the
electric light companies so much for
every hundred watts used, there is no
SldAudl0 gas AOOt VI CACCtIlC WdCG III
this country, that is, legalized
standard. The gas company foot is
an arbitrary thing settled to suit the
gas companies in this country, the
foot of hardly any two gas companies
in this country being absolutely iden-
teal. To standardize such things is
the eventual work of the bureau of
standards. There is no standard
whatever in connection with electr;-
cal measurement, every electric COM
pany working out its own salvation
and profit"