*'Those Tulg"ar F'ractions broke our hearts. 

 And Practice drove us mad/' 



How many tears would have been un- 

 ehed, how many causes of tears have been 

 unfelt, if we h_ad enjoyed the decimal sys- 

 tom of weights, measnires, and money! 

 Eduoationalists draw for us touching pic- 

 tures of the impressive simplicity of the 

 arithmetic in the primary schools on the 

 Continent cf Europe, a« compared with 

 ours. And it is oalculated by experta 

 that undeff the metric system, children 

 ■would save no less than one year oif the 

 time at present devored to arithmetic — 

 that is to say, they would save time suffi- 

 cient to enable them to gain a fair know- 

 ledge of at least one modern language. 

 And yet we profess to be keen in the ca'use 

 of education, and to be earnestly solicit- 

 ous for the welfare of the young. 



Commercial Loss and Gain. 



"When we recall the results of the com- 

 parisons we have instituted, special com- 

 ment on the commercial aspects of our 

 subject is hardly necessary. It is only 

 British pluck that carries us through. 

 Think of the grievous waste of time in 

 British counting-houses and commercial 

 centres — a waste which is increasingly 

 serious, in proportion, as the competitive 

 strain is more keenly felt. The thought 

 0"f the unweildy cumbersomeness of our 

 method? in conducting our home trade is 

 enough in itself to make us agitate for 

 reform. But ivhat shall we say when we 

 •consider its effects upon our foreign 

 trade? Our customers, who use the 

 metric system, are estimated at 483,000,- 

 000. There are few of these who under- 

 stand quotations and specifications based 

 on British standards. And Ave are warned 

 by our Consuls and agents in every pairt 

 of the world, that the consequent hin- 

 drance to our trade is very real, and very 

 grave. These decimal-using folk will not, 

 or cannot, afford the time to work out in- 

 trioate sums, and will not risk the mis- 

 takes Avhich so easily arise in reducing 

 the hopeless confusion of Biritish tables 

 to the metric standards. Consequently, 

 they too often turn ifrom us to Germans 

 and others, whose quotations are clear and 

 plain. Should the British manufacturer 

 make a desperate effort to adapt himself 

 to both sets of conditions, he has to in- 

 crease his clerical staff', sometimes he has 

 to keep double sets of costly pa^tterns, and 

 in these, and many similar vrays, to han- 

 dicap himself in his power to compete in 

 foreign markets. For, with the partial 

 exceptions of E-us'sia and the United 

 States, Great Britain, with her dependen- 

 cies, stands alone in her sys'tem among the 

 great trading communities with whom she 

 chiefly has to deal. As a good typical 



example of what is at stake at home and 

 abroad, I will quote from a paper read in 

 Lancashire: — "The raw cotton, say, is 

 bought in America, and invoiced in 

 pounds; the iireight is charged per ship 

 tons, whilst the Liverpool charges and 

 railway carriage are calculated per ton 

 of 2,2401b. All the charges in the mill 

 are again calculated by the pound, and 

 when the yarn is sold by the merchant, or 

 sold direct by the spinners to foreign 

 markets, it will probably be invoiced in 

 kilos. The carriage to the port of ship- 

 ment is again charged by tons, hundred- 

 weights and quarters, the freight again by 

 ship tons, and the railway carriage in 

 foreign countries by kilos, same as the 

 duty, etc., and all these calculations have 

 to be made by the spinner or merchant. 

 What a change if everywhere kilos, and 

 kilos only, were the basis of calculation. 

 What a saving in cost and brain power ! 



Agitation for Eeform. 



The story of the agitation in Great Bri- 

 tain for reform on the lines of the metric 

 system affords a striking example of Bri- 

 tish slowness and vacillation whenever 

 the trouble o<f a change, however neces- 

 sary and beneficial, has to be faced. The 

 movement has been on foot among us for 

 nearly 100 years, kept alive almost wholly 

 b3^ the zeal and perseverance of indivi- 

 duals and specially-constituted, societies, 

 hitherto Avithout definite or solid success. 

 Mathematical and scientific men have 

 taken their own line, and for scientific, 

 technical, and similar purposes the metric 

 system is well-nigh supreme. But for trade 

 purposes, save for certain departments of 

 engineering, we are much where we were. 

 At the same time there are signs of the 

 growth of a more enlightened public opin- 

 ion. In 1895 a Select Committee of the 

 House oi Commons itself recommended, 

 "that the metric system of weights and 

 measures be at once legalised for all pur- 

 poses,'"' that "aft^r two years it be render- 

 ed compulsory," and that it be taught in 

 all elementary schools, together with the 

 early study of decinials. This committee 

 received support from all manner of pub- 

 lic bodies, city and borough councils, 

 school boards, "and the like. In 1898 the 

 Commercial Department of the Board of 

 Trade issued a most valuable report, con- 

 taining, amongst other matters, a collec- 

 tion of "Opinions of H. M. Uiplomatio 

 and Consular officers" in regard to Bri- 

 tish trade methods. Extracts fo-om 171 

 such opinions proved conclusively that "it 

 is necessary for British traders to adapt 

 themselves to the requirements of their 

 customers." It is especially interesting 

 to note that strong resolutions in favour 

 of reform have come from such different 

 and representative bodies as the National 

 Union of Teachers, the Trades and Labour 



