Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-29
Everybody knows that the adage
A pint's q pound
Tho yunrI6 arnItud

A pint's pound
The world around
was the accepted standard of meas
urement in the kitchens OF our
esrandmothers, but, as in the case OF
many another bit of knowledge
such as William Tells little apple
and George Washington's cherry tree
and hatchet-modern research like
that of the Bureau of Standards is
seeking to demonstrate that II is not
ultra scientific and is therefore un-
reliable.
Whatever n pint may have been be-
fore the Volstesd law, or anterior to
the organization of the "AllAmerica
Standards Council in Advocacy of
Uniform Commodity Standards for
All the Americas" it Is alleged to
be no longer accurate enough for
this scientific age Of precision.
How, indeed. could any oldtime
method of measurement be adapted
to computations even of the linear
dimension of the name of the afore-
said organization, not to mention its
avoirdupois? Surely only the more
modern unit. based upon the exact
length of the meridian from the
Equator to the North Pole-the me-
trio system-could suffice; and not
common fractions, but the more cru
dite decimals. must be used to punctu-
ate a title requiring so many lines to
record. 1t is lucky to get off with
out triang ulation.
This ponderously named council of
"All-America" Is holding a meeting
in Washington today and tomorrow,
with the confessed purpose OF prov
ing the malignant complications in
the relation of a pint and a pound
and demonstrating that the poem"
no longer should be hidden or cam
ouflaged in old English, but should
read in as refreshing modernity, as a
futurist canvas:
The world around
The gram and meter
Are all that's sound
To make weights teeter.
listeRer-tn at the debates now in
progress in the Pan-American Build
ing may get the impression that at
least in the cubic dimensions of the
arguments. there are six or seven
sides, depending, Of course, on where
Is to be decimated.
X X X r
The metric system may be traced
back to the French Revolution of
1793, which abolished religion in or
der to broaden the field Of expression.
1t replaced the "systeme usuelle" at
the same time that the Age of Reason
superseded religion. In this metric
system everything was to be divided
by Ia year was to have 10 months,
a week 10 days, a. day 10 hours. All
quantities and weights were to be
composed Of units Of tens. The new
system was enforced by law from
1893 to 1872, when Napoleon abolish
ed 1t as failure after it's 10 years of
trial. He found that It only compli-
Gated matters with a double standard,
since in common practice 1T was ig-
nored for the familiar measures.
In 1897 the metric system was again
made legally compulsory in France,
and 1t has so remained ever since
except in common practice
In Science for August S, 1904, is the
following admission by one of the
advocates of the theory of the metric
system, Prof. J. LIE Conte Stevens:
"a century has not been sufficient
to cause the abolition of old names
and units among the common people
of France, whether In city or coun-
try, resort to them being usual when
no penalty 10 involved. The same is
ltrus In Germany and awttzsxaand and