The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-08-07
METRIC CHAOS.
What the System Would Mean in
Everyday Life.

In domestic life:
Grocer's scales all require new poise
weights, all notched balance beams
scrapped and new ones provided, with
new sliding weights.
Peek and bushel measures discarded.
Litre larger than a quart, new con-
tainers required.
Hectolitre, equal to % bushels, not
q practical unit.
Prices on all commodities to be read
iusted to new units.
IN culinary matters:
All recipes to be readjusted to kilo-
grammes and litres; cook books to be
rewritten; general confusion in kitchen
operations.
New milk bottles.
In other household affairs:
Gas meters to be replaced by new
system of units of volume, or read
ings of meters taken in one system and
converted into the other, to avoid scrap
ping meters in use.
Water meters in same category as
gas meters
Tape measures and yard sticks to
be discarded.
In shopping:
Counter measuring machines to be
reconstructed, yards to metres.
Dry goods to be folded at cotton and
wooden mills in metre folds instead of
yard folds, requiring change of ma
chinery.
Photographic plates in common sizes
to be known by awkward combinations
Of figures. An 2 by / plate becomes
203 by 254 millimetres.
Qnires and reams to be discarded by
decimal multiples, requiring changes at
manufacturing plants.
All containers and cartons to be mod
fed in sizes and shapes to be adapted
to new unit sizes.
Shirts, collars and SUITS to be known
by strange names of sizes. A 16-in.
becomes q 406-millimetre collar A 1877
millimetre hat is worn instead of 3-S
inches
In building materials and construc-
ton:
Abandon board measure and substi-
tute square decimetres, centares, or
ares.
Doors familiar to all builders as it,
6 in. by fit. s in. become 762 by 2,O32
millimetres
An ordinary brick is 81 by 101 by
203 millimetres
Sizes of sash also are converted into
strange units. Weights of tin, terne, cop
per, zinc, lead sheets and plates placed
before builders in unknown units, in
awkward combinations.
Molds and pallets in brickyards to
be changed to new units or incOnven-
lent numbers used to represent sizes
Earth excavation on basis of cubic
metres. representing about 1.3 Gu. yd.
Designation of shovels and dippers in
excavatine machinery to be in frac-
tions of cubic metres instead of definite
yards
All architect s drawings to be in new
units, involving a most perplexing con-
version of current building material
units or made up on a system that
will involve changes In all woodworking
machinery to meet metric units
In railroad affairs:
Change in position and REMEMBERING
of, say. 100000 mile posts, an inciden-
tai and minor affair relative to other
changes.
Standard gage of track becomes
known as ,435 millimetres.
Change in timetable mileages
Books of rules rewritten and speeds
given in new units instead of miles per
hour Slow boards all reprinted with
new speeds thereon.
Speed recorders scrapped or re
modelled
Employees instructed in new method
of estimating speeds.
Dimensions of all wheels, axles, stand
ard parts of the car construction
changed into new units.
Railroad track and warehouse scales
to be reconstructed into metric units.
Capacity of cars to be in new units.
In public land surveys:
Lands in many states surveyed and
staked out in townships, sections, quar-
ter sections and eighth sections. in one