Evening star., 1920-02-15

thing to do was to divide it. first. into
shares Of fl ss and Sd. They worked
on the problem a week.
How do you divide ia 9s and I'D
by II As 9dr' they inquired Of a Brit
ish pal. "Just az easy" replied the
latter. and he jotted down a page of
figures. In ten minutes he had the
answer. Aren't that spiny" admired
the dollars-and-cents boys. Il guinea
is 81 shippings. half a crowns two
and d-six and forms is bob. Why
not divide $7..a4 by $5.ss. just six fig
ures and it's done?"
The British answeredrthat 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
drooiing objection.
Now those boys Of ours are home
again and happy. They just revel in
ls inches 1 foot. feet l yard and
1850 yards / 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 Tor
all that" asked a cousin. who had
been with the machine guns at camp
Meade.
"Oh." they objected, 'ft would
Now, what would it?
Twice, now. I have been requested
by personages at home. whose merit
makes it fattering, to tell some OF my
long experience as war-and-cafe cor
respondent in Europe with respect 10
Americas handicap when up againse
the universal metric system OF
weights and measures. 1t is unlVer-
sal 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
ity of all Americans is tansleo up
with Americas new call to be worid
trader. Congress is being urged as
never before to 1egislate our exciu
sjye use of meter-liter-gram instead
of yards-quarts-poun 1t is an az
solute duty-and high business op
portunity-for all of US to inform
ourselves and push the measure Ii
is not stupid. dull or dry. 1t is as
interesting as an adventure story.
The first chance had. twenty years
ago, to cop out good comneroia.
money in Paris was when l brought
together manufacturer OF North
Carolina pine marauetry and a Paris
wholesaler OF those polished noors
which they love SO universally: IL
was a grand affair." capanle OF IN
finite extension, and (being twenty
five years old or thereabouts). | saw
a fortune rolling in to me and the1h.
It should for all was sound and SET
but at the last moment the NoTtn
Carolina man pricked up ms ears 'ne
The pwords '.meter." "centimeter.
.sni,,imeter." 81 can't make boards
Of those dimensions" he said. hope
Jessly, 1--WE can't change our
gauges" That was the end OF II:
Now. the last chance-twentyy years
after It's quite recent. An oil COM
nanv of the United States sent mil
lion dollars worth of supplies and
pipe lines to Rumania to be instaIIeo
there. but at the last moment 1t was
found that there could be no quick.
adequate and cheap repairs mace IN
Rumania except on metric lines.
Therefore, it was doemed 1mpossiple
to join up all this costly and oulky
material conceived in inches and GAL
Ions. 1t may have been a preteAt;
butt worked; and it Transformed
gain to loss.
Won see. Between these extremes
Of time (andsof. fair young hopes ana
taundiced rionchalance).E Il seem 10
look back on a long series of fivvers
of the writing man attempting con-:
merce-rice in Paris. mules IN COR
dova, machine tools in St Etienne. 10
comotives in Lisbon. Tut. tush: nam
was cursed for doing it to Noah-Why
offer self to a cruel worlds ha ma! !!
All the same, only yesterday, on the
word of the director of the unlteo
states government bureau OF staho-
ards at washington. an american Am rnaai
manufacturer in 1916 made 100 loco.
motives for the Russian government
upon. the metric system of measure
ment. and found that he accomplish
ed IL without any more expense than
upon the old standard.
Times are certainly changing for
America. one scarcely recognizes our
behindhand brethren, SO enterprising
have they become. The oirector
Lnows a packer and Gamer exporting
IN south America who said that the
change did not cost him a cent. F. y:
wells. president of the Greenhelu
Tap. Die and Machine Tool company;
when he was cover here in~isis. salo
that by the use of the meter-iiter-
IAN system on indispensable war
stnff they had earned an addlt'Nhal
dividend Of $4,000. and tina: the
change costs nothing II 1nstil ~
gradually. Kxn9ch the oig s's gun made ms
the change at an outlay equal 10
per cent of a years DIVIDEND,
The war jarred US into it we iouhu
our nation striving to work Win ai'iss
with whom we were not stanoarolZeu. u.
We found thirty allies using ,ne & d"e ,hs ,s
system. but, on the other hand, tne
tinted States and Great Britain were
not even employing systems Identical
with one another
ENGLAND. to gain efficiency in war
fare, early in August. 1914. found nei-
units; and the American expeditionary
forces to be truly efficient, adopted
meter-litre-gram by the force OF things
Gas. gradually. then more and more
in the air service). or by abrupt order
Like this: War Department Oruer No
l. January 2. 1918. reads:
..The metric system has been adopted
for use 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 in all training camps in the Unit
ed States. and Representative t1oreilo
Ia G,.ardia of New York, who, as major
in the air service, comma nded air forces
on the Italian front. admitted in Paris
before his return, the difficulties expe-
rienced, the loss Of time and confusion
accustomed by our obsolete system OF
weights and measures. I'VE lost much
time in translating specifications and
more errors were caused on TINS ac-
count than by anything else. he says
In France there were less. because sc
much material was French. and the boys
got to thinking in meters per second
kiiogrammes-pressions per square milli-
meter, and breaking strains OF wire IN