The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-05-14
METRIC CHAOS
 IN DAILY LIFE
What Metric System Would Mean In Some Ordinary
 Affairs.
h domesttc life:

z tWe1ghtS, all notched balance beams fscrapped and new ones provided, with new sliding weights
 Peck and dbushel measures discard ed
 Litre larger than a quart, new con tainers repaired
 Hectoii4re, equal to 2.8 bushels, not Ia practical unit.
 Prices on all commodities to be re- adjusted to new units.
 In culinary matters:
 All recipes to fbe-.readjusted to ki1o- rewritten; general confusion in kit chen operations.
 New milk bottles
 Int other household affairs:
 Gas meters to be replaced by new system of units of volume, read ings of meters taken in one system and converted into the other, to avoid acrapping meters in use.
 Water meters in same category as gas meters.
 Tape measures andFyard sticks to be discarded.
 In shopgdng%
 Counter measuring machines to be reconstructed, yards to metres. Dry goods to be folded at cotton and woolen Gnil1s. in metre folds in stead of yard folds, requiring change of machinery.
 Photographic plates in common sizes to be known by awkward com binations of f-fig1res. An by 10 plate becomes 203 by 254 n1iIliznetres QETires and reaHnss to be displaced by decimal nrultiples, requiring changes at manufacturing plants.
 All containers and cartons to be modified in sizes and shapes to be adapted to new unit sizes.
 Shirts, collars and cuffs to4be known by strange names of sizes. A 16-in. collar becomes a 406-zn1f4imetre collar. A -nniIIimetre hat is worn instead of z73 3-S in.
 In building materials and. construc- ton:
 Abandon board measure and substi- tute square decimetres, centares, or ares.
 Doors familiar to all builders as 2 ft in. by it. in. become 762 by 2o32 r1if9imetres
 An ordinary brick is 51 by 101 by 203 mflhmetres Sizes of sash also are converted into strange units. Weights of tin, terne, copper, zinc, lead sheets and plates placed before builders in { unknown units, in awkward comblna- tions.
 Molds and pallets in brfckyards to be changed to new units or inconven- tent numbers used to represent sizes Earth excavation on basis of cubic metres, representing about 1.3 cI. yd Designation of .sIlovels and diEtpers in xcavating machinery to be in frac- tions of cubic metres instead of defi- nite yards.
 Ala architects drawings to be new units, involving most perpleSinS conv version of current building mate rial units or made up on system : that will ir-voFve- changes in all wood working machinery to meet metric units.
 In railroad affairs:
 Change in position and renumber- ing of, say, 100000 mile posts, an in other changes.
 Standard gage of track becomes known as 1435 n1i3hmetres-
 Changes in timetable nileages.
 Books of rules rewritten and speeds given in new units instead of miles per hour. Slow boards all repainted with new speeds thereon.
 Speed recorders strapped or remOd- eled. Employes instructed in new meth ods of estimating speeds
 Dimensions of all wheels. axles standard parts of car construction chang ed into new units.
 Railroad track and warehouse scales to be reconstructed into metric units i Capacity of cars to be in new units. In public land surveys:
 Lands in many states surveyed ant stal<ed out in townships, sections quarter sections and eighth sections in none of which divisions is there ar easy conversion into metric units
 In reconveyance of lands, present deeds giving metes and bounds ir English units would require expen' sive and elaborate efforts to put di- inensions and areas in metric units which if Correctly made would still bt uninteMigible to most people
 As great .as the confusion in the few respects above mentioned and as eN pensive as the process would be in al the usual affairs of life, these few enum erated examples pale into insig nificance beside the cost involved il making the conversion in the man ufacturing industries. The cost of thu war is but a fraction of that whicl would confront the general industrie- of the country. Virtual scrappines O all small tools and fixtures would b. faced by manufacturers were such al act@of Congress passed.
 A colossal fortune in changes O lead screws and screw cutting gear in lathes alone is involved.
 In all. machinery the changes be come of such a staggering natur their mere contemplatio is most de pressing. Days would be :repuire simply to state the number of change involved in the industries.
 The ravages of war have fixed an definite limits of territory The ray ages of the metric system change would be. universal in domestic af fairs.
 Compulsory legislation in this mat ter would plunge the nation into eco homie disorder, wiping out values i billions of dollars.
 A dual system is confusing beyon description. Two systems do not aG init of being in common use. A grac ual change, piecemeal, is impractics ble, A sudden sweeping change woul throw the entire country into disol der.
 In the chemical laboratory the me ric system is used. Tt is there bt cause it has advantages in chemica work. It was adopted because of i advantages there.
 The metric system would be adop cd by the industries if it possesse advantages for them.