Evening star., 1901-02-01
BUREAU OF STANDARDS
SECRETARY CAGES PLEA FOR ITS
ESTABLISHMENT.
Accuracy Now Absolutely Necessary
ON Account of the Competition
of Foreign Nations.

Treasury officials say that one Of the
most important measures pending before
Congress is the bill providing for the es-
tablfshment of a national bureau of stand
ards. The term weights and measures
which formerly applied to the simpler cases
of length, weight and capacity, now in
cludes in addition to these, a great variety
of standards and instruments used in the
measurement of pressure, heat, light,
electricity and other physical quantities.
The standards in the custody of the gov
ernment should, 1t is claimed, include all
of those necessary in commerce, manu-
featuring and scientific Investigations. They
should be properly cared for, and the IA
cilities provided for their should be
such that the public may derive from them
the greatest good. The graduations and in
dicationS of meters, balances, thermome-
ters, electrical and other measuring instru.
ments must agree with the fundamental
standards and without the facilities on the
part of the government for the testing ana
verification of such instruments the puphc
is deprived of the greatest benefits to be
derived from uniform and reliable stand
ards.
The manufacturers of meters measuring
apparatus and scientific instruments must
have access to the standards recognized py
the government, that their products may
be uniform and reliable. Manufacturers
and the public are frequently compelled 10
send Such apparatus aDTodu loi NSiiiS"
ton at the institutions of foreign govern
ments The necessity for and great I'M
portance of the proposed bureau Is clearly
set forth in the statement of the Secretary
of the Treasury before the Senate commit
tee on commerce, in which ne says
Secretary Cages Statement.
"In a most general way ] may state that
it is omen to our observation that new
country is raw in its methods. 1t does not
work by close rule. There is often
large margin for waste. The technical ana
scientific side of affairs comes later on,
when by the development of society the re-
| lation of things will become more COM
plex. The law of competition becomes more
closely applied, and we learn by slow ana
painful steps that accuracy and closeness
and scientific skill are required to supple,
ment what went on in tolerably skillful
way before.
"This country has now advanced to q
point where in all the great things of life
it Is in competition with the older and
more thoroughly established nations Of the
world. and by more thoroughly mean ln
the experience of trade, in the scientific
application of IDEAS and in all the eco
| Monies which save waste and aid eff1clency.
| I'm this particular of standardizing
weights and measures and testing appara-
| tus of every kind the older countries are
| far ahead of us; in fact, it may be said
| that there is no comparison between us
We are dependent utterly upon Germany,
Il
| land for our measurements and those
| standards which we are obliged to resort
| to in testing and comparing when we en-
| ter into competitive work against them.
| The application of a standardiZing bureau,
| If established, will be very wide. 1t touch
es the manufacturing arts and commerce
and all scientific efforts, and it will be most
| important in the general work of education.
We have come to a period where guessWOrk
will not do, and, to use AN old familiar
| phrase, pretty near does not count. EX-
| actness and absolute conformity to stand
| ards and uniformity are the essentials
The Moral Aspect.
"There is another side to that which oc-
ours to me- 1t may appear to many to
have a more sentimental than practical
| value. but it gives the proposition, to my
mind, great force, and that is what might
| be called the moral aspect of this question.
The recognition by the government of an
| absolute standard, to which fidelity in all
the relations of life affected by that stand
| ard is required. We are the victim of loose
| ness in our methods; Of too much loOseness
| in ideas; of too much of that sort of
| spirit born out of our rapid development,
| perhaps, Of a disregard or lack of compre-
hension of the binding sanction of accu-
| racy In every relation of life.
| Now the establishment of a bureau like
| this, where the government is the custodian
| and the originator Of these standards of
| weights and measures as applied to all the
| higher scientific aspects of life which we
are so rapidly developing in, has, to my
| mind, value far and above the mere ply
| scal considerations which affect it, al
| though those physical considerations are
| fundamental and most important. Nothing
can dignity this government more than to
| be the patron Of and the establisher of
absolutely correct scientific standards and
| such legislation as will hold our people to
| faithfully regard and absolutely obey the
| requirements of law In adhesion to those
true and correct standards. The plan to es-
| ablish the bureau has been supported with
| the greatest unanimity by the higher sides
Of commercial and manufacturing life in
| America, by scientific bodies and by our
| schools and univerSities.'