Evening star., 1927-10-01

An important event occurred 100
years ago this month which few peo-
pie recognize as a centennial. On Oc-
tober IL, 1927, President Adams gave
an official certificate of recognition
and placed the seal of the United
States upon bar of brass which had
been brought from London by special
messenger from our Ambassador to
England, Albert Gallatin.
+ The bar of brass weighed exactly
one pound. So important was 1t that
this bar should be certified by the
President that Mr.. Adams made a
special trip to Philadelphia, where he
formally opened the mahogany cas-.
ket containing the bar of brass; GER
titled, in writing, to the same; at
tached to the bar the official seal of
the United States and deposited it in
the vault Of the United States Mint
in Philadelphia. The following year
Congress enacted a law making that
bar of brass the standard weight for
all coinage; the public, without legis-
lation, automa tically adopted it as
the measure for all weights.
X X ). X
At the time of our Revolution and in
dependence, confusion existed as to
weights and measures, through the
use of both English and French sys-
tems hence, the Constitution spec1t-
ically gave power to Congress to reg
ulate weights and measures, the States
being forbidden to adopt systems,
other than what Congress provided.
The fifth Congress, in 1893, adopted
the first act regulating the weights
and measures at the customs ports;
but did nothing further. Washington
and jefferson urged congressional ac-
ton in vain. Jefferson, while Secretary
of State, had urged plan ito reduce
every branch of measures to declmal
ratio, already established for coins,
nd thus bring the calculations OF the
principal affairs of life within the
arithmetic of every man who can null
tiply and divide plain numbers Con-
gress, however, declined to take any
action.
After the War of 1912, the matter
was again brought to the attention or
Congress, but without success. While
John Quincy Adams was Secretary or
state, in 1921, he revived it--without
result.
On May 20, 1888, the Senate adopted
a resolution directing the Secretary of
the Treasury to make comparison or
the weights and measures in use at
the principal customhouses. Mr.. +.
r. Hassler of the Coast Survey was
appointed to make the inspection. Inc
result showed great discrepancies
direct violation Of the Constitution,
which directed that all duties, inn
posts and excises should be uniform
throughout tho United States. The
Treasury Department took immediate
steps to correct the evil, with the re.
suit that the necessary weights ana
measures for the customs service We're
constructed, and on June IA, 1886,
Congress passed the following resoIu-
ton:
"Resolved by the Senate and House
Of Representatives of the United
States of America, in Congress as
sembled, That the Secretary OF the
Treasury be, and he hereby is, direct.
ed to cause a complete set or all
weights and measures adopted as
standards and now either made or IN
progress of manufacture for the use
Of the several customhouses, and for
other purposes, to be delivered to the
governor of each State in the Union,
or such person as he may appoint 1Or
the use of the States, respectively, to
the end that uniform standard OF
weights and measures may be estab-
lished throughout the United States"
The act Of 1886 was supplemented
in 1888 by joint resolution Of Con-
gress, which directed the Secretary
of the Treasury to furnish balances
to the States. BY 1850 practically
all the States had been supplied with
complete sets Of weights and meas
ures, and. in addition, sets were pre-
sented to England, France, Japan and
Siam.
On July 2s. 1866, Congress passed
an act legalizing the metric system
of weights and measures in the
United States, and the Secretary of
the Treasury was authorized to fur
nish the States with metric weights
and measures. The first question to
be considered was that of standards.
The practice followed by other coun-
tries which had adopted the metric
system, Of accepting the meter ana
y HI 5izraua sof the archives OF Era ns9s.