The Washington times., 1916-02-14

money transactions and calculations
would be easier IL measures wefc in the
corresponding system.
But all this Is rot tho ARGUMENT that
Ii impressirg Congress just now. There
was rather lanyuid interest In the met
nc proposal. as there always has been
in the past. until Secretary OF Com
merce iSedneId sent the director OF the
Bureau OF Standards Ia tell a Congress
sici,al committee how important II was
to make the change. Then the corr
mittee listened eagerly. II was told
that this sys STEM, IL Obligatory in all
Britain. and II is legal there. II II the
sole system In all Latiu-Amefica; and
10 legal, and fast Increasing In nopular-
ity. In Japan. China. and almost al
icct American commerce TO a great
handicap In countrieg that have II and
that are accustomed to do all their
business In Its terms. The Department
OF the most important DEVELOPMENTS pos
sible ut this time, ms a means OF trade
extension. A universal language IS
about the only international trade ia
cility that could be moro useful
The metric system was one OF the
products OF the great intellectual out
burst TINT marked tho revolutionary
period In Franco. Its inventors be-
versal standard. and In little more than
century their expectation e realized.
In the bureau Of Standards OF the
United States. the director stated to
the Congressional committee. all caicu-
lations are made under the metric svs-
tenn: nobody would think Of wasting
time with the intrlcacies of the Anglo
American tables After results are
reached under the metric computnt tons
they are reduced to terms of feet.
pounds. or whatever my he required.
Based On Earth's Surface.
The French commission that invented
the system was determined TO base II on
some invariable quantity In nature; and
the distance OH the earth's surface from
equator to pole was decided upon. This
was measured and checked repeatedly
by scientific processes; and the ten
millionth part OF this distance wal
made the meter. 1t is now known tina,
this quadrant Is not an absolutely liked
value; also that the measurements wer,
not exact. But the arbitrary Standard
prepared on the basis OF these calcu
iations have been accepted everywhere
One OF the greatest difficulties abou
adopting the metric system in thiI
country has to do with land measure
| ments. All the lands are held on tn,
acre unit basis; to reduce this to hec'
tares-the metric land unit-would IN
volve vast difficulties in reorganizinl
| records. AS matter OF fact, this diff
fculty is not so great as Imagined
! When the United States acquired Texas
| California! and other Southwestern
areas that had been surveyed by TN,
| Spanish. the unit OF measurement TO
land was the Spanish varas. or approx
imately thhty-thrc0 and one-thIr,
| inches. All these measurements had 1,
bc reduced to American units, and 1
was accompanied with comparativei!
little trolble.
The present American system 1
simply chaos. We have, for instance
n dry and a liquid quart; and they d
not correspond to the British quarts
The British liquid quart IL 20 per cen
larger than ours. while their standar,
bushel Is per cent less than ours.
Necessities OF their great foreigl
trade have compelled the English to us
| tho metric system In that department
OF their AFFAIRS. and they are much NOR
familiar with II than are Americans
Japan has legalized the system, AN
It's own national system Is very simiIa
| TO the metric. There Is every reasol
to believe that the United States adop
ton OF the standard would be follows
by It's acceptance in England, whic
would mean almost literal universally