472 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Despite the care with which Davis explained the changes which 

 had been made to meet labor's objections, the olive branch was re- 

 jected by the AFL-CIO, which continued to mount a more vigorous 

 campaign against the legislation. Labor felt very strongly that the 

 promises of relief for plants and industrial workers thrown out of work 

 by foreign, low-wage-nation imports had proven to be empty in 

 practice. 



Teague, Davis, Hechler, Bell, and McClory testified before the 

 Rules Committee, but the atmosphere was hostile. On the Republican 

 side, an old antagonist, Dave Martin of Nebraska, led the fight against 

 the bill, and on the Democratic side, Claude Pepper of Florida spoke 

 out in opposition. Martin said it would cost millions of dollars to 

 recalibrate scales and change gasoline pumps to the metric system. He 

 charged: 



You say it is voluntary, but in a few years you will come back with another bill 

 that it is going to be mandatory. 



Pepper said during the Rules Committee hearing: 



I have been approached by some of the labor representatives * * * . They felt that 

 many of the working people, particularly skilled people, would have to learn a new 

 system and maybe would be unemployed if they didn't learn it adequately. They 

 would also have to change their tools. 



LABOR AND RIGHTWING OPPOSITION TO METRIC SYSTEM 



An unlikely coalition began to develop between labor and right- 

 wing groups opposed to metric. Representative John R. Rarick 

 (Democrat of Louisiana) best expressed the view of the latter when he 

 described the change as "about as simple as abolishing the English 

 language" and teaching Americans "to reeducate themselves in a 

 foreign tongue." 



Chairman Teague decided to make another run at the Rules 

 Committee. On January 24, 1974, he appealed to the Rules Committee 

 Chairman, Ray J. Madden (Democrat of Indiana), in a persuasive 

 three-page letter. Teague pointed out that much more support was 

 building in the scientific community. The school systems in California, 

 Maryland, and Michigan were moving to teach the metric system, 

 and additional support was mounting among American industries. 

 But Chairman Madden was a friend of labor and labor remained gener- 

 ally opposed. The Committee on Rules surprised the Science Committee 

 by voting an open rule and specifically making in order an amendment 

 by Representative Spark M. Matsunaga (Democrat of Hawaii) to 

 subsidize workers for the purchase of tools, an amendment which 

 otherwise might have been ruled not germane. 



