Maech 27, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



461 



been equally fiirnislied by tbe Government 

 to the several States ; that the customary 

 system has been adopted by the Treasury 

 Department for use in the custom houses, 

 but that the same Departmnet by formal 

 order has adopted the metric standards as 

 the ' fundamental standards ' from which 

 the measures of the customary system shall 

 be derived. This presents a condition of 

 legal complication and practical confusion 

 that ought not to continue. The constitu- 

 tional power vested in Congress should be 

 exercised. Before considering how this 

 should be done, it may be instructive to 

 consider the attempts that have heretofore 

 been unsuccessfully made in that direction. 



Your committee are not blind to the fact 

 that considerable temporary inconvenience 

 will accompany the change, but they believe 

 that this is greatly overestimated and that 

 it will be of short duration . This belief is 

 founded on the experience of other nations 

 less agile and versatile of intellect than we 

 are, but whether the inconvenience be little 

 or great it must some time be encountered, 

 and it will not be decreased by the increase 

 of our population. It will be no easier for 

 a. hundred millions of people ten years hence 

 to make the change than for seventy mil- 

 lions to-day. It is simply a question 

 whether this generation shall accept the an- 

 noyance and inconvenience of the change 

 largely for the benefit of the next, or shall 

 we selfishly consult only our own ease and 

 impose on our children the double burden 

 of learning and then discarding the present 

 'brain-wasting system.' The present gen- 

 eration must meet this test of selfishness 

 ■or unselfishness, and answer to posterity for 

 duty performed or neglected. The neglect of 

 our fathers cannot justify us. They de- 

 layed for a greater light and clearer way. 

 Passing years have broughtthe light, and the 

 action of other nations has cleared the way. 



A nation ordinarily progressive can not 



longer afford to linger in the rear of this 

 great movement. A position of isolation is 

 not consistent with American capacity or 

 American destiny. Her sister American 

 republics have appealed to this country to 

 unite with them in this great reform. Her 

 great Secretary of State joined in this ap- 

 peal. Successive Secretaries of the Treas- 

 ury, iQcluding the present head of that De- 

 partment, have formally recommended it. 

 Other eminent citizens, many representa- 

 tives of a great commercial interest, the 

 prevailing sentiment among her educators, 

 the practically unanimous voice of her sci- 

 entific men, ask for this legislation. By 

 formal memorial the Governor and Legisla- 

 ture of a sovereign State join in this appeal. 

 The experience of other nations confirms 

 the belief in its wisdom. The commercial 

 interests of our people, the economy of 

 time, the saving of effort, even national 

 honor, demand action on this subject. 



The signature of our duly accredited rep- 

 resentative leads the signatures to the com- 

 pact of 1876, creating an agency " to dis- 

 cuss and initiate measures necessary for the 

 dissemination and improvement of the met- 

 rical system," and since then she has been 

 one of the largest contributors and most 

 prominent actors in the work of guarding 

 and testing the international metric stand- 

 ards and of constructing and distributing 

 prototype copies of the same to other na- 

 tions. On what theory are we thus zeal- 

 ously engaged in the ' dissemiijation ' of the 

 metric system except that its universal use 

 is desirable ; and if desirable for the other 

 nations, why not for the United States? 

 " With what measure ye mete, it shall be 

 measured to you again." 



In 1888 (by resolution of May 24) this 

 country invited the republics of Central and 

 South America, Mexico, Haiti and San 

 Domingo, to a conference to be held in the 

 city of Washington to consider among other 

 things ' the adoption of a uniform system 



