The Washington herald., 1921-03-14

puSIsestsss An ths op>. o~~s
are requested % Bsks thesf
esatrtbssfsns - wer<s 90 iss&
ANOTHER OPINION ON TEE
METRIC SYSTEM.
To the Editor, Ise washinstoa Herald:
In Mr.. Duryea's home town an
itinerant sophist once sold q 1T
tie pamphlet he had written. enti-'
tied 'One Hundred Proofs that the.
world Is Flat" IL may be thaf
the mere coincidence that Mr.. Dur
yea halls from the same city LED
him to write out several reasons"
why the metric system is Nimprse-
ticahle for the entertainment OF
your readers.
Seriously. however. would we 80
back TO q nondecimsl system OF
numbers IL we could? England Was
century behind the continent OF
Europe in abandoning the old Ro-
man numbers in accounting. She
IL quite as long behind the last
Of the nations in her adoption OF
the metric system The decimal sys-
tenn Of enumeration Is applied in
machine shops. after men like Mr..
Duryea had for several decades
claimed that halves, quarters and
eighths were more convenient in
measuring. Mr.. Duryea knows that
modern industry does not measure
that way. He should visit Mr.. Vau-
CLAIM, and see how the Baldwin Lo-
connective Works has manufactured
hundreds Of locomotives using only
metric units and without a cent
extra cost and with fewer mis-
takes" The finest machine work
is done with decimals We would
not abandon the decimal system IL
we could. and the metric system is,
the only completely decimal syst
tenn OF measurement n
II would take q volume to re-'
hearse the advantages Of the metric
system without repetition. The
chapter headings would run some
thing as follows: The Universal
Language OF Measurement in Ten
Words" Self defining Names OF
Units Far from Ambiguity" The
Metric System Wins Its Way by
Sheer Efficiency" why All the Sci
ences OF the World Are Using the
Metric System" why Have Thirty
four Nations Made the Metric Sys-
tenn the Legal System" How Mod
ern China Made the Metric system
a Legal Standard Equal with Its
Own" The Metric System Ampli-
ies All Computing and Permits
Solving Many Problems without
Any Computing" sketch Of the Es-
tablishment at Paris Of the Inter-
national Bureau OF Weights and
Measures for the Custody of the
World Metric System under the
Joint Control and Maintenance OF
the Leading Powers Of the world-
The story is a long and Interest,"
Ing one, and / can only compare the
snti-metric attitude with that OF
Rip Van Wrinkle. who swoke to hnd
the world had moved by him whee
even China declares the netrb
system as equally standard with itsx
own. and authorizes its executive.
departments to discontinue the old
measures at any opportune time,
IL Is time America avoke to the
fact that we are clinging to . sys-
tenn Of measures in harmony with
that OF no other country In the
world.
By all means let us fall in lins
with modern progress and not be
the laggsrds. but establish a uni
form system Of weights and meas
ures as We have already established
a uniform calendar. a uniform sys-
TEN OF time, uniform system Of
measurement OF angles. expression
OF music, mathematical symbols.
and the fixing of positions Of lati-
tude and longitude. There are GER
tain things which demand a single
UNIFORM system, and weights and
measures is the most fundsmenyal
of these. II is too late in the dsy to
4 declare impossible what science has
already accomplished.
II. d. X.
Chevy Chase, Nd. March 10.