INCHING TOWARD THE METRIC SYSTEM, 1959-79 491 



starts by the Highway Administration, had forced the Science Com- 

 mittee to give the public a clarification which was really the responsi- 

 bility of the helpless infant Metric Board which was still struggling 

 to stay alive in an incubator. 



Whenever Teague went home to his district, he was bombarded 

 with critical inquiries from average people who were disturbed that 

 they were going to be forced into a mandatory metric system overnight. 

 Angry letters expressed the same view. To all of these protests, Teague 

 responded that the act was purely voluntary. The answer mollified 

 those making the inquiries, until they began bringing up the example 

 of the Highway Administration, along with expressing the fear that 

 other agencies would certainly come along with mandatory regula- 

 tions. Teague answered: 



If they interpret this Act as not being voluntary, then I'll introduce legislation 

 to get it repealed. 



To be sure that everybody knew that he wasn't kidding, Teague 

 instructed Dr. Holmfeld of the staff to prepare a draft bill to repeal the 

 Metric Conversion Act of 1975- The draft was ready, but fortunately 

 Teague never had to use it. 



Friends of the metric system were deeply disturbed by the events of 

 19~~. Teague and McClory decided to send a joint letter to invite 

 concerned Congressmen to discuss what could be done to get imple- 

 mentation of the Metric Act back on the track. In a letter dated July 

 29, 1977, they pointed out that "there has been a slowdown in Federal 

 Metric activities," illustrated by the counterproductive proposal of the 

 Highway Administration which "may have led to a slowdown of 

 progress by other Federal agencies." 



The congressional meeting took place in room 2317 of the Rayburn 

 Building on August 4, 1977. Senator Pell came over and several House 

 staff members were present. Malcolm O'Hagan, president of the Na- 

 tional Metric Council, who was later named Executive Director of the 

 Metric Board, was present. There was a great deal of hand wringing, 

 and some constructive suggestions were batted around, but the under- 

 lying conclusion was that most of the problems would not be solved 

 until or unless the Metric Board was firmly established and actively 

 operating. 



THE PLUSES AND MINUSES OF 1977 



There were both pluses and minuses in 1977. The wine bottlers and 

 distillers decided to move into metric measurements by 1979- The 

 Department of Agriculture decided to release its data on crop yields in 

 metric terms. The Patent and Trademark Office issued a requirement for 



