The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-23

go nan Na F7iiR MS 80
has relief the seperate branches of
service Of d army ana navy, the
Who'll" sngtnounted with a great he
role statue of peace. "a wreath in the
lett hand a raised trumpet in the
otper. This ~t@ntattFG. Suggestion. If.
course, would be improved upon by
the committee thai will select the
design. but the general idea will.
doubtless hc to conform as near as
possible to the intent OF the me-
4+ts4 i4@ affA -fe- MAKE IF ! t-t- Wofthy
sister of The Bartholdi Statue erected
at Bcdloes island.
Colonel KELLEY. of the Virginia
Council of Defense, WAS present when
the resolution Was offered and by his
request Mr.. Crid}ln appeared before
the council in its ielaif. The council
gave il unanimous endorsement and
Colonel Kelley communicated with
the other state councils and with the
secretaries of war and navy regarding
The councils action. 1t is understood
that assurance was given hat the site
could be secured from the govern
fucni ana II is suggested that the gov
eminent donate the foundation and
that the statue be erected by popular
subscription. Other fratcrnal and pa
triotic organizations Will be invited to
cooperate and collectively form an
- IN "a lsd 6Hu
furnish engrossed certificates OF mem
bership To all SCHOOLS, colleges, and
other bodies that contribute to the
fund. and that two volumes, contain
ing the names of contributors be
printed, for deposit in the corner
tone of the statue the other in the
National Library ut Washington. The
memorial will in nc way interfere with
the various state and local memorials
as now projected. hut as "A national
memorial do honor to all branches of
service on land and. sea.
The Metric System.
The resolution, endorsing the
movement TO make the Metric system
obligatory" said Mr.. Cridlin. lis much
more important than IL seems. at first
casual thought"
our mentary system was based on
tho Metric system bv our patriot
fathers and efort was made by many
Or them to include the same system in
cur measures Of length. capacity and
weight. but without avail. The ma
tority OF u forbears were welded to
the old English system and saw no
reason for change. IT was 1cgalfzed.
in the United States. BY act of con-
gross, on July rs, 1866. and therefore
recognized in the construction OF con-
tracts. hut was left optional either in
commercial contracts or ~pleadings in
court.
The Metric system has been brought
INTO renewed prominence by the world
war. 1t is obligatory in over thirty OF
the countries of world. including
nearly every nation. in Europe and
South America. with whom we desire
TO enter INTO close commercial rele-
toms, Their purchases ARE made ac-
cordinG to this system and our export
ers and importers are required TO com
pute the difference between our meas
urefnents and those used by our for
eign buyers, oftimes TO the great loss
OF our merchants. f. Know of one in
stance where an exporter lost over
$4,000 by not having a thorough I'M
Outstanding OF the situation.
Our present system is complicated
ana hard for the foreign merchant to
understand why -four quarts. LIQUID
measure make "a gallon. and eight
quarts dry measure make a bushel:
Low twelve ounces Troy make n pound
hod sixteen ounces. Avoirdupoise ia
necessary for same. is confusing, not
only to them hut. with other complica-
lions, is confusing 10 our own people.
The Metric system is so simple il
can be easily understood by the.
tweive-year-old school boy. Like our
currency system it is based upon the
decimal. and is SO easily calculated that
one is astonished it. has not been
adopted universally. Let mo illustrate
by giving table Of the dollar. meter,
liter, gram.
mifls-one cent; ten cents--one
dime, ten diines-~onc dollar tvalue).
Ten miilimeters--ona ..centimeter:
tel centtn1eters-one decimeter: ten
a"cimeters-one meter nength OF sur
facet. g
Ten nnilliliters-one centileter: ten
centiliters-one dc0ilttcr, ten decil-
ters-one liter ~eineasure OF capacity.
Ten miiligrans--one ccntiRram: TEN
centie rams-one deeiRram: ten deci-
grams~one gram I'm easure Of
weight.
"Deka preflxed to meter, liter. gram,
adds Ten. Example. dekaliters-ten
lit"rs. Hectic pFehxed TO same adds 100.
Example, hectogram-t00 grams.
kilo prenxed TO same adds 1000.
Example, kflometer-l, goo meters.
Vow 10 reduce these terms 10 our
system, we find that a meter lis 39.37
inches, q kiIoneter. $3.50 feet, ten
inches. A liter 'is o sos quarts dry and
l05G7 quarts liquid measure. A gram
is o-3527 of an ounce.
what "a complicated array Of fg-
ures for the average man to puzzle
over. suppose. for instance. one of
our grain merchants receives an order,
from abroad. for 2D,h00 hectoiiters OF
wheat. Would he know what 10 sende
He would have Ia comnuta ~ he haa