Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-13

Stratton, director of the government bureau
of standards. The bureau has been using
the system ever since 1t was established,
and while of course it standardizes for the
public in yards, pounds and gallons, it uses
the metric system exclusively in its work
and translates the results for publication.
DIR. Stratton, In speaking to a Star reporter,
said:
"If the people at large could fully appre-
ciate the saving that will be involved in
the change to the metric standard, and the
fact that it will cost practically nothing
when 1t does come, the system would be
adopted tomorrow. AS it Is, there Is now
a bill before Congress that probably will
be passed without opposition at the present
session providing for the adoption of the
metric system by all the departments of
the government. If this is once done, the
general public will come quickly to realize
the convenience of the system and will be-
gin to think in metric terms. That done,
all the trouble viii be over.
Brief but Effective Bill.
The bill referred to by DIR. Stratton was
introduced by Mr.. Littauer, and Is one OF
the shortest measures on record. It looks
almost like the pure food bill after Senator
Money had struck out all except the enact
ing clause. The vital provision says simply:
THAT after the 1st of July 1908, all the
departments of the government of the
United States in the transaction of business
requiring the use Of weights and meas
ureS, Shall employ the weights and meas
ureS of the metric system
That Is brief and simple enough, but 1t
will work a revolution. What sort of
revolution it Will be, DR.. Stratton says, may
be understood If we could think of our
selves for moment using the English sys-
tenn of money, -four farthings make
penny. twelve pennies make shilling,
twenty shillinss make a pound" and then
changing suddenly from that to our pres
ent decimal system of coinage. Yet the
English monetary system, reasonless and
cumbersome as 1t Is, is not SO bad he
present system of weights and measures in
England and the United States. In this
connection DR.. Strattan said:
1--WE have three different sorts of weights
in this country, each one of them with
different set of ratios and none of them
decimal. We have a different dry quart
and liquid quart and both of them different
from the English measures of the same
names. We have enough extra work and
trouble with our absurd old system OF
weights and measures to pay for the change
to the metric system In the first fifteen min
utes it was in use.
Metric System Already in Use.
"It will surprise many people to find how
widely the metric system is already In
in this country and the number of cases in
which 1t has been legalized
THE metric system was legalized in the
United States by the Revised Statutes in
1866.
1.-The office of weights and measures was
directed by the Secretary of the Treasury
IL 1893 to regard the international standard
meter and kilogram as standards in ac-
cordance with the Revised Statutes.
THE Postmaster General has been direct
ed by law TO furnish all offices exchanging
malls with foreign countries with postal
balances registering in grams of the metric
system, and for purposes of postal ex-
change the ratio of fifteen grams to hair
an ounce has been fixed by law.
sEha vUptqhf of silver coins has
by metric grams by the Revised Statutes
'"rhe Secretary of the Treasury has been
directed by law to furnish the several
states with standard sets of the metric
weights and measures.
This country in 1875 joined the lnterna-
tional Metric Union, with headquarters at
Paris, where the standards of the metric
system are kept.
Congress in 1894 adopted electrical units
based on the metric system as the legal
electrical measure for the United States
1.-THE War Department has officially d.
rected the use of the metric system In all
the work of the medical department
1.-THE use of the metric system has been
| made legal in the Philippines and oblIga-
tory In Porto Rico, and has been officially
adopted in the marine hospital service
Used in Sports.
"These are the places where its use has
| been made obligatory. The War and Navy
Departments are using it in their work
without compulsion. The public schools all
over the country are taking It up. and there
are 1.00o-meter runs, 100 and 200-meter
| dashes established In many of the public
| school games. When tho metric system
/ gets into athletics 1t gains popular place
/ In this country. 1t will not be long before
1 the length of the gridiron will be expressed
] In meters. and we will be reading in the
| foot ball reports of one side being held on
!, the second down with three meters to gain
AT all OF the Oiympian games the
weights and distances have always been