Evening star., 1920-02-15
PARIS, February :. 1920.


thing to do was to divide II. first. into
shares Of fl s. and Sd. They worked
on the problem q week.
How do you divide ia ss and I'D
by fl n sd!' they inquired Of a Brit
ish pal -Just ~ easy- replied the
latter. and he jotted down a page OF
ngures- In ten minutes he had the
answer. aren't that spinyw admired
the dollAra-and-cents boys, Il guinea
II - sAippings. half a crowns two
and-six and 3 forms is bob. Why
not divide s7s.a4 by 35.ss. just six fig
ures and it's done-'
The British answ sred-that to change
from quid to dollars would scrap all
their cash registers. But the boys re-
piled. '.Ha-ha. you'll get it back in
saving on auditors lead pencils" Such
drooling objection.
Now those boys Of ours are home
again and happy. They just revel in
IL inches I foot, feet 1 yard and
1.7s0 yards 1 mile. They put in happy
hours over pennyweights and fluid
ounces, in short tons and long tons
aud the American gallon. which is il
legal in Canada: the Canadian bushel,
which is illegal in New York; the
; Pennsylvania barrel, which Kentucky
don't believe in. and four sizes of
pints and quarts to dispute about, all
over.
why not use the dollar system for
All that" asked cousin. who had
been with the machine guns at Camp
.tOh," they objected, 'ft would"
Now, what would It?
Twice, now. I have been requested
by psrsonages at home. whose merit
makes 1t hattering, to tell some OF my
long experience as war and-ca1e cor
respondent In Europe with respect 70
Americas handicap when up against
the universal metric system OF
weights and measures. 1t Is univer-
eal In Europe-with the single excep-
tion Of the British isles. and premier
and parliament. being strongly inter-
ested. may beat Us to It,
At this moment. when the prosper
fly of all Americans is tangled up
with Americas new call to be world
trader, Congress is being urged as
never before to 1egislate our exciu
aive use OF meter -liter-gram instead
solute duty-and high business op-
portunity-for all. Of US to INFORM
ourselves and push the measure. 1t
10 not stupid. dull or dry. II IS as
interesting as an adventure story.
The FIRST chance had: twenty YEAR,
money in Paris was when I brought
toeether a manufacturer of North
CS1olina pine marQuetry and q PARIS
wholesaler OF those polished noo1s
which they love 20 universshy; II
was a grand affair. capable OF m
mite extension, and (being twenty
fiye years old or thereabouts). ! saw
n fortune rolling in to me ana then.
It SHOULD. for all was sound ana SET:
but at the last moment the Nortn
Caroline man pricksd up pnn;oea'x, ms ear 'n at
the words 'ameter." "centimeter:
:smi,,imeter" "T can't make boards
of those dimensions" he said. hope
Iessiy, I'VE can't change our
GauEes.- That was the end OF 1t:
affer It's quite recent. An oil COM
1anv Of the United States sent mil
Han dollars worth OF supplies ano
pipe lines to Rumania to be inetalIeo
there. but at the last moment II was
found that there could be no QUICK.
.SenTate and cheap repairs made in
Rumania except on metric hnes.
Therefore, 1t was deemed Impossible
TO Join up all this costly ana oulky
material conceived in inches and gal
Ions. 1t may have been q pre.eatS; pS
butt worked: and 1t transformed
You see. Between these extremes
AZ time {andcof. fair young hopes and
1aundfced nonchalance). a seem 70
iook back on q long series Of nissers
ef the vrittnx nan n, sttemp.'ng Temp. u Cor Cor
dova, machine tools in St Etienne 10
comotivee IN Lisbon. Tut. tush! Ham
Tas cursed for doing it to Noah-why
ofYer self to q. cruel worlds ma ma:
All the same. only yesterday, on ,.S .nS
States government bureau of stand
ards at Washington. an American
Isnufacturer in 1916 made 100 loco.
motives for the Russian government
1Don the metric system OF measure'
sSsent. and found that he accomplish
81 a. without any more expense than
Vpop the old standard.
Times are certainly changing for
America. Oue scarcely recognizes our
6ehipdhand brethren. so enterprisine
Hsves they become. The director
Knows . packer and Gamer exporting
- south America who said that the
chanHe did not cost him cent. r: ~
Wells. president Of the Greennelo
v&hsn & I he Wa .over here iprls1s.:: said
mai .by the use of the rneter-liter-
cram system on indispensable war
sfuff they had earned An adoitloMa.
dividend Of. $4,000. and that tne
change costs nothing !! Inssu ms, an.
1sscSnrer Of The British Isles made
the change at an outlay equal TO 1
Der Cent Of a years dividend,
The war Jared US into it we 1ouno
our nation striving to work WIN a.nes
With whom we were not standardized
WE found thirty, allies using the metric
system; but. on the other hand. tne
Tfnfted States and Great Britain we're
not even employing systems identicai
with one another
England. to gain emciency IN
fare. early in August. 1914. found ner-
.siS Sorcefa to use some Of the metric
units: and the American expeditionary
forcex. to be truly efficient, aoopteo
meter-litre-gram by the force OF Things
O., gradually. then more and more
in the air servicel. or by abrupt oroel'
Like this: War Department Order NO.
/, January 2. 1918. reads:
.sT3e metric system has been adopted
for uae in France for all firing data Tor
artillery and machine guns. In the
preparation OF operation orders and IN
map construction"
Virtually, the same orders went into
effect An an training camps in the Unit
cd States. and Representative F1orello
IA (.,rardia Of New York. who, as major
In the air service. commanded air forces
on the Italian front. admitted in Paris.
before his return, the difficulties expe-
rienc4d. the loss of time and confusion
occasioned by our obsolete system OF
weights and measures. we lost much
time in translating Specifications and
more errors were caused on this &C
count than by anything else." he says
In France there were less, because SO
much material was French. and the boys
got to thinking in meters per second.
kiiogrammes-pressio per square milli-
meter. and breaking strains Of wire in