Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-02-13
thus easily ineligible to all of the partici-

thus easily Ineligible to all of the partici-
pants.
THE movement of the world toward the
adoption of this international standard is
the natural outgrowth of improved means
of communication. Time was when every
county in England. having little to do with
its neighbors, had different foot. pound
and yard. AS the means of communication
improved and communities were brought
nearer together and had to have more to do
with each other. 1t was found absolutely
necessary to standardize the weights and
measures for the whole country. Unfortu-
nately international communication had not
then been brought up to its present perfec-
ton and each country was satisfied with
national standard. Now the world has gone
forward again and We come to q place
where the nations instead of the counties
have to get together. The International
standard has been fixed as the metre, not
from any particular love of the meter, but
because 1t is decimal system and some
thing that will be Ineligible to all the rest
of the world.
A Universal Need.
when one comes to examine IT, the sys-
tenn is merely what every country needs,
one unit of measure like the yard for ex-
pressing short distances, another like The
mile for expressing long distances, the finer
gradations like the millimeter for mechani-
cal work. and the micron, smaller still, for
lated to each other. Tile same relation
holds good in the weights. the metric ton
for hay and grain, the kilogram for sugar
and -four and the gram and miligram for
physicians and scientific work. The same
common and convenient units are available
for cubic and liquid measure. and one of the
beauties of the system is that all the
weights and measures are inter-related.
based on the dimensions of the meter and
the weight of water, so that they are ex-
ceedingly convenient for mechanical and
structural calculation and mean something
definite, which our present system does not
There Is a good deal of misconception
on the part of the public, and even on the
part of manufacturer who should know
better as to the expense that a change to
the metric system would involve. L was
recently talking to a paint manufacturer OF
the middle west, one of the biggest men In
the business, who said convincedly that 1t
would cost him $4,000 If the metric sys-
tenn should be made obligatory in this
country. L asked IL he-did not do con-
siderable exporting business, and he re-
piled that he did. I asked what he did in
trading with France and Germany, where
paints had to be sold by the liter and kiiC-
gram.
oh" he replied, 1--WE just make the cans
a little bigger"
What do you do" he was asked. "in
trading with Great Britain and the colo
mics, where the measures are different?
Just do the same thing he answered
Don't you think then You would be
ahead If the United States adopted the
metric system and relieved you of one
country where you had to make different
sort Of can from that sold to Germany and
France?" He had never looked at it that
way and admitted that he would.
A Popular Set of Tables.
1.-THE bureau of standards has compiled
a set Of tables giving not only the metric
equivalents of common units Of weights
and measures, but it has even reduced the
corresponding prices of pounds and kiio-
grams as expressed In francs and dollars
The publication is remarkably popular and
there are considerably more calls for it
than can be met.
Another almost too popular publication
was q big chart giving the proportion OF
the yard and meter and their gradations,
the development Of the various metric
measures of weight and capacity from the
meter, and the corresponding sizes of the
measures of this country and Great Britain.
These relations were shown both graphical
ly and in figures. One of the charts got
into the hands Of one of the public schools
in New York, and the next thing was g.
request for a chart for each school house.
Pretty soon there came a letter saying that
it was necessary to carry the chart from
room to room all over the building, ana
could not the bureau furnish chart for
each room in each school. The bureau would
like to have done so, but of course could not.
Still the requests continue to come from
all the principal towns In the country and
display a decidedly practical interest in the
metric system on the part of the rising gen.
Grafton.
1.-THE metric system has already been
adopted universally for electrical units, and
while in many cases now the steam engine
is coupled direct to the dynamo one
scarcely ever hears of the horsepower or
an electric plant, but gets it expressed IN
kilowatts.
Wherever the metric system has been
introduced in this country it has saved an
infinity of work in calculating and design
ing 1t does not take any more trouble 10
think In metric denominations than it does
to think in foreign coinage, which is
trick soon caught, any traveller knows,
and the coming of the system, as fore
Swallowed by the Littauer bill, VIII mean
such saving In this country that we Will
wonder in a few years how We ever got
along without it,