The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-19
No Trouble to Change.


transpOsing, not more than one caIcu-
lation, namely, from total yards to to-
tai meters.
system is once established, a portion,
possibly a large pONton, OF the goods
now invoiced under the old system by
m iiartila6t Request be inIoiced and
marked in the new, thus reducing the
difficult to a minimum In any event,
l am satisfied that the adoption OF the
metric system would result in general
good to all people. Speaking from the
standpoint of a merchant oeneVe ne
is abundantly able TO take care of him
self under the new system as under the
old, and is willing to put up with tenn
pOrary inconvenience to secure perma-
nent and lasting good
TaInage Favors Change.
Il am now and always have been IN
favor of the establishment of the metric
system of mensuratiOn for all uses" said
Professor James z. Talmage OF the uni
versity Of Utah. spent some time time
ington attempting to have the metric
system established by law, but 1 met
with defeat because certain powerful
politicians were not fully. convinced thar
my deductions were right The benefit
viii be universal when the metric syS-
tenn becomes our standard All classes
of men, from the scientists to the Ia
borers. will be helped out Of hole they
are now in. Application of the metric
system requires less brain work than
the present United states system, Tor X
is simpler and more logical on its face.
Performers in neurology are active at
the present time in Great Britain, and
have been for the past few years. Eng
land will be ready to make this great
change shortly. Indeed, it is felt that the
change will be forced upon England
through the fact that is now becoming
more and more prominent every day, that
the meter and the ktloSram are to be
the units Of length and mass for the civil
lized world, and that countries that have
already adopted them are having and
will continue to have a very declded ad-
vantage in the markets Of the world, es-
pecial1 as far as machinery is concerned
Already English manufacturers have ex-
perienced the truth Of this statement and
the United States shall feel it, I am
sure, before very long.
Considered merely as a labOr-savtng ma
chine it is a new power offered to man
incOmparably greater than that which he
has acquired by the new agency which
he has given to steam It Is in design the
great test invention Of human ingenuity
since that of printing"
Transition Gradual in Austria.
THE metric system was introduced in
Austria some twenty years ago, taking
the place Of one very similar to the pres
ent American system The transition from
one to the other was made gradual, taxi
ing uD a period of one year. The last year
of the old standards was at the same time
the first year Of the new standards. Dur
ing that year the use Of both was legal
and optional Long before the year was
over il was found that the metric system
had crowded out the old units. It was q
survival Of the fittest after remarkably
short struggle
LAS for the engineering profession, It
IS not difficult to see that the decimal
system would be Of the greatest advan-
tage IN the numerous calculations con-
nected with an engineers work Time is
fr1rsf
putatiOns, when the shifting Of a decimal
point might yield the required result in
an instant, and infallibly. Even now sur
vevors find It convenient in their work
to change the existing system into
decimal system, and in the modified form
they never speak of feet and inches, but
Of feet, tenths Of feet, hundredths Of feet,
etc, thus demonstrating by their practice
the fnefficiency of the present plan. OF
{ curse il still remains for them to strug-
gle with figures like $50 feet to mile,
e, $50 square feet to an acre, or q cubic
feet to q cubic yard"
During the years Of 1896 to 1899 there
was considerable agitation over metrol-
Ogy. At the time Of the constitutional con-
vention just after the admission of Utah
into the Union, an effort was made to
have inserted in the constitution clause
whereby the metric system would be-
come the only system Of measurement
used generally, and taught in the public
schools. After much effort on the part
Of the hackers Of NEUROLOGY, a compro-
mise was effected between them and po-
litical leaders It was decided that the
metric system should be taught in schools
but not to the exclusion of the present
systems in use The metric system failed
therefore, of Equalization at that time.
Metric System Simplest.
The metric system is, it is claimed the
simplest known standard of mensuration.
tt is based on the decimal principle and
is now in operation in the United States
system. The treasury depart
ment uses it entirely, as do most engf-
neers and scientists.
Beginning with a fundamental OF theo-
reticaI unit, the meter, for mensuration,
whether surface, cubic or linear the en-
tire system is built up to fit the various
kinds of mensuration. The meter is also
used as absolute unit Of length. Tt is
theoretically supposed to be one ten
millionth the length of the earth's quad
rant In inches the meter is figured as
being 1887 or 3 feet 3ss inches. The unit
Of surface measure is the ARE" which is
Loo square meters. The theoretical unit
Of volume is the "stere," which is a cubic
meter. The unit of volume measure for
market purposes is called the liter and
has the volume Of one kilogram of dis
TILED water at its maximum density For
the various differenta tons of the units
Of weight measure and volume Latin pre-
fixes, designating 10 times. 100 times loo
times and 1000 times. etc, are used